Pioneer Pushes Invite Envelope

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Evite has stopped partying like it’s 1999. The West Hollywood online invitation company has unveiled its first product since launching in the late ’90s.

Although Evite pioneered the ad-driven invitation sent via email, the company is straying from its model with a new line of ad-free invitations that users pay to customize and send out virtually.

The new product, Postmark, has a separate website from Evite’s free cards and features high-quality invitations for everything from baby showers to poker nights.

Hans Woolley, Evite’s chief executive, said Postmark was created to be the company’s luxury line that could be used for more formal events.

“We believe we can bring style and modern etiquette to our online invitations,” he said. “We want to mimic the offline experience.”

Some customers have critiqued Evite over the years because of the large banner ads displayed above invitations on the website. That might be fine for a casual barbecue with friends, but customers haven’t always liked having ads associated with more formal events, such as a 50th wedding anniversary.

Evite addressed those concerns with a 2010 website redesign, which added updated designs and streamlined the process for sending out invitations.

Now the company has gone a step further and to give the option of eliminating the ads entirely with Postmark. Instead, people can buy credits for card customization, such as adding a photo or an insert with parking instructions. The cost comes out to about $5 for 20 to 30 cards, or 25 cents a card or less.

The new invitations put more emphasis on design than standard online cards. In fact, many Postmark designers craft printed cards first and then translate them to the digital image.

Woolley said Postmark gives existing Evite users a larger selection.

“I think our users will use both,” he said. “For those events that you want to be casual, Evite is great. If you want something without ads, Postmark may be the right fit.”

Customized invitations

Evite was the first online invitation company when it launched in 1998. But competitors eventually began offering upscale cards without the ads. New York startup Paperless Post launched in 2008 with customized online invites for a fee. Cocodot in Hollywood also began selling stylized online invitations and printed cards.

Those services have become popular with people looking to have more formal events, said Anna Sergeeva, co-founder of Planana, a Hollywood company that helps plan professional events such as conferences or 5k runs.

“In the last couple of years there’s been a shift away from Evite to a more customized invitation,” she said. “It’s a more unique invitation experience. It feels more professional.”

But the paid-invitation sites face the challenge of trying to compete against free products such as Evite, which has close to 50 million registered users. Shawn Gold, founder and former chief executive of Cocodot, said it’s harder to build a big audience with a paid service.

“It’s very difficult to make significant money in the paid online space when there are free options,” said Gold, who is now on Cocodot’s board. “It’s hard to raise money and scale.”

As such, Cocodot has started offering its online invitations for free while charging for printed products. Meanwhile, Paperless Post has moved to a freemium model, in which it offers basic invites for free but charges for customization. It has also begun selling printed invitations.

Gold said Evite is already behind competitors by launching its paid product. It will need to provide a freemium model or other paid services, such as printed cards, to find success.

“I’m very doubtful that Evite will be able to make a successful business on paid invitations,” he said. “To be competitive, they have to offer a better product. But I don’t think the pay-to-play model is going to work.”

Evite has trailed competitors in offering customized invites due to limitations from its old technology platform, Woolley said. As part of the website’s redesign in 2010, the company upgraded to technology that made it easier to launch products.

First test

The company tested its first Postmark products during last year’s Academy Awards with specially designed invites for Oscars viewing parties. The company also partnered with designer Marc Friedland, who designed the official Oscars envelope, to create a set of special invites for Postmark’s launch.

As Evite expands into new products, its staff is growing. The company, which is owned by Liberty Media in Englewood, Colo., and does not disclose revenue, recently moved into a bigger office in its building overlooking Sunset Boulevard.

Woolley said the office comfortably holds Evite’s 35 employees, but he expects to outgrow the space in the next six months.

Now that Evite has launched Postmark, he said the company plans to roll out several products in the coming months, including an upgraded mobile app that will also work on iPads.

“We’re taking the experience of online invitations and we’re trying to innovate,” he said. “It’s good to finally get it out the door and start talking about what the future looks like.”

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