INTRODUCTION
Effective email marketing campaigns can help your hotel build long-term relationships with guests by making personal connections, understanding their interests and establishing trust. They are also good for your bottom line.
According to a 2016 survey conducted by the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) and Direct Metric, email marketing had a median ROI of 122 percent, which was more than four times higher than social media, direct mail or paid search efforts. As with any strategy, the best email marketing for hotels starts with a well-designed plan.
Following are five tips for successful email marketing in the hotel industry:
1. Segment your audience. MailChimp research shows that segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.31 percent higher that non-segmented campaigns. Guests have different reasons for subscribing to your emails. Some may be looking for deals and special offers, while others may be interested in local seasonal activities, hotel services or news.
Categorizing subscribers upfront and dividing them into small, specific groups based on their commonalities is the first step to effective email marketing. For example, you may have business travelers that only stay once per quarter. Once you create your segmented lists, maintain them by removing old, invalid or duplicate emails on a regular basis.
2. Deliver a relevant and compelling message. Instead of sending mass emails to your entire audience, you should tailor messaging to the individual groups identified through segmentation. This starts with short, attention-grabbing subject lines designed to appeal to the recipients’ interests and to encourage opens.
Your content also should match the guests’ expectations and align with their reasons for subscribing. Quality resources, such as relevant landing pages and clear calls to action, can help add value to your email by giving your message a specific purpose.
3. Test emails on multiple devices. A 2016 Litmus study revealed that more than half of all emails are opened on a mobile device. More and more people view email on the go, which means an adaptable, mobile-friendly template is a must. For example, make sure links are easy to click with a fingertip, and the content isn’t so long that a reader has to keep scrolling and scrolling to get through it all. Send test emails to examine content for missing data, broken links and other design flaws on various devices before launching.
4. Set up automated emails. Email automation can help your team manage marketing efforts by delivering messaging more efficiently. Event triggers may be set up to launch autoresponders at optimal times. For instance, your team can automate welcome emails for new members of your rewards program or set up confirmation and room upgrade emails for those who just booked their stay.
5. Monitor key metrics. As with any type of marketing effort, your email marketing should include measurement of efficacy. Metrics such as open rates, clicks, conversions and unsubscribe rates can help improve your hotel’s email marketing strategy by providing insight into what is working and what’s not.
For example, a low open rate may tell you that your subject line needs some sprucing up, while a high unsubscribe rate could mean you’ve missed the mark with your messaging. A/B testing takes this one step further by allowing your team to experiment with subject lines and content to pinpoint what your guests respond to.