Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What is Email Marketing?
- Does it really work?
- Best Email Marketing Tools
- Types of Email Marketing
- Email Marketing Tips for Travel Agencies
- Automation & Email Marketing
Introduction
If you are a Travel Agent, you know that tourists start planning their holidays weeks or even months in advance, and they usually start doing so by researching and reading travel articles, books, magazines, blogs, destination websites and/or destination customer reviews, among others.
This means that as a travel agent, you need to have the right offer at the right time in order to meet your customers’ needs and travel expectations.
For this reason, having an appealing and user friendly website, where consumers can discover the different travel suggestions in order for them to plan and book their dream vacation, is absolutely key. But in order to do so, you must engage them first.
So, what is the best way of doing that?
As previously explained in our Tour operators’ guide to creating an exciting marketing strategy, there are a number of ways that you can increase your brand awareness and improve your business strategy by using different distribution channels such as social media, paid search and content marketing. However, Email Marketing 📥 should not be underestimated and should also be at the top of your strategy list!
Do you want to know why?
According to Statista, in 2020 the number of global e-mail users amounted to four billion, and is set to grow to 4.6 billion users by 2025. 🚀
So, what do you need to get started with Email Marketing?
Let’s figure it out step by step.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is a powerful marketing tool that allows businesses to connect with their existing customers and prospects with engaging content that can, ultimately, boost their sales by:
- Promoting their travel business
- Expanding their brand visibility
- Standing out from their competitors
- Cultivating customer loyalty
- Increasing sales opportunities
Does it really work?
Absolutely yes, and it is very successful!
According to Content Marketing Institute (CMI), the percentage of businesses using email marketing to engage and communicate with their customers is as high as 87%, just behind social media at 91% and company websites or blogs at 89%.
This means that establishing an email distribution channel can perfectly combine with the use of other distribution means, and can help your business reach an audience that you may otherwise miss out on.
Best Email Marketing Tools
So, what are the best Email Marketing tools for Travel Agents?
There are a number of platforms that you can use, and according to Investopedia, the 6 Best Email Marketing Software of 2021 are the following:
- Best Overall: Mailchimp.
- Best for Automation: ActiveCampaign.
- Easiest to Use: MailerLite.
- Best All-in-One Marketing Suite: Hubspot.
- Best Affordable Option: Moosend.
- Best for E-commerce: Drip.
So, once this important marketing tool has been established, how do you know when it’s working in your favor?
According to Campaign Monitor, the average results of good email performance in the travel industry should be:
- Email open rate → between 20-25%.
- Email click-through rate → between 2-3%.
- Email click-to-open rate → between 10-15%.
Therefore, keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is to convince your readers and subscribers to click on your CTAs, the more engaging and attractive your content is, the more ROI you will get for your campaigns.
Types of Email Marketing
Once you have chosen the best email platform for your Travel Agency, the following types of Emails can help you to create dedicated content for your readers and subscribers.
For example:
- Welcome Emails. Ideal for building a good relationship with your leads and giving the best first impression before deciding on introducing a new product or service.
- Email Newsletters. Best way to keep customers informed by nurturing them with company news, travel promotions and other relevant business information. – i.e. ‘Thank you for Subscribing to our Newsletter‘.
- Dedicated Emails. Mostly intended for specific groups of clients or prospects who could be interested in attending specific events, such as webinars or travel fairs. i.e. ‘You are invited‘ / ‘Join us‘.
- Lead Nurturing Emails. Perfect to encourage your leads to move on from the consideration stage – ‘Which holiday do I choose from?’ – to the decision stage of the lead funnel – ‘Let’s book!’ – i.e. ‘You will fall in love with our new Travel proposals‘
- Transactional Emails. Enables customers to complete a specific action that you want them to finalise: purchase, payment, subscription or registration. – i.e. ‘You are one step away from your dreamed holiday!‘ / ‘Your Booking is Confirmed‘ / ‘Thank you for your Purchase‘.
- Reactivation Emails. Encourages your inactive subscribers to re-engage with your content and get interested in your offering again. – i.e. ‘Still thinking about your upcoming holidays? / Check out our latest promotions‘.
Note: According to Active Campaign, turning an inactive subscriber into a customer is 5 times less costly than acquiring a brand new customer.
Email Marketing Tips for Travel Agencies
Great! You are all set and ready to send out your first emails, but in order to do so the following tips will help you improve your communication and grant you the best outcome for your business:
- Segment your List of Subscribers and make sure to send the right message to the right audience
- Personalise your Message by customising your content
- Inspire your readers to Travel, explore and discover new places
- Use captivating Images. Nothing is more attractive than a great picture
- Engage prospective customers with attractive offers that they cannot avoid
- Impress with unique Itineraries or travel packages that your customers cannot find elsewhere
- Include short Videos
- Make it Mobile, adapt your content to be read/viewed through your subscribers smartphones
- Come up with relevant and captivating Subject Lines that will encourage your readers to want to know more. For example:
- Discover the Best of…
- Ready for Your Next Trip?
- Don’t Miss this Exclusive Promotion
- Start Dreaming of Your Next Vacation
- Discover our New Destinations
Note: As stated by Campaign Monitor, Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
Automation & Email Marketing
As previously explained in our blog post Why Travel Agencies should incorporate an online platform now, automation allows businesses to have productive employees and increase their efficiency by avoiding repetitive tasks, reducing manual work, and focusing on more relevant and important daily operations.
For this reason, and although there needs to be a fine balance between automation and face-to-face interactions, automation in Email marketing will help travel brands to establish a successful and effortless communication flow between their different customer segments to ensure that they will engage with your content and, ultimately, complete a business transaction.
If you found this article insightful, we would like to invite you to read more on Automation versus Personalisation and discover Nezasa’s software solutions for Travel Agencies here.