Email marketing is one of the most effective communication
and promotion vehicles in the internet marketplace. 90% of
internet users and 56% of Americans use email on a regular
basis (source: e-marketeer Aug. 2006). Hotels benefit from
email marketing because it's fast, direct, cost-effective,
and builds loyal relationships. It is one of the lowest
cost channels available to the lodging industry to book
rooms and build customer relationships. High quality email
campaigns can deliver effective messaging that drives
action and manages customer relationships.
For email campaigns to be truly effective, they have to be
managed properly and conducted in a professional manner.
This article provides hoteliers with some practical tips
for conducting effective email marketing campaigns that
maximize their return on investment.
Building Reputation & Credibility
Your email marketing practices establish your hotel's image
and reputation in the minds of people of who receive your
campaigns. By following simple guidelines, you can run more
effective email campaigns and ultimately enhance your
reputation.
1. Permission Email Vs. Spamming
Permission Email operates on the premise that the recipient
of your message has in some way established a relationship
with you by indicating an interest in your product or
offer. Spamming is sending unsolicited commercial email
using broadcast methods to multiple recipients without
first establishing a relationship with them and without
regard to their interest.
2. Sender Email Address
Make sure that the sender email address is a genuine email
address and the recipients of the email can see the address
and respond to the email by hitting reply on their email
applications.
3. Unsubscribe
Make sure that all emails you send out have a clear
"Unsubscribe" link where the visitors can click and choose
not to get future mailings from you. While it may seem
counter-intuitive, using this technique ensures that people
do not regard your campaigns as spam.
4 Steps for Conducting Effective Email Marketing
1. Permission-based Email Database
2. Email Marketing Plan
3. Send Email Campaigns
4. Track and Monitor Results
1. Permission Based Email Database
For effective email marketing, it's important for a hotel
to develop a targeted, permission-based database. Email
addresses can be collected on the hotel website or at the
front desk when the hotel guest checks in or out.
Create an opt-in form on your website so visitors to your
site can sign up for specials and promotional offers. You
may want to offer an additional incentive to sign up, such
as an entry into a raffle drawing for a gift basket or a
percentage off their room rate. It's good to ask the
visitor to specify their area of interest, such as
weddings, group meetings, skiing, or wine-tasting so that
you can segment your email database by interest. This is
especially useful in sending out targeted campaigns that
meet the interests of your guests. Once a guest hits "Send"
on the opt-in form, they receive an email confirmation
stating that they have been added to your mailing list. If
they are not interested in getting email specials, they can
simply "unsubscribe." Guests who do not unsubscribe become
part of your powerful marketing tool - the opt-in email
list.
You can also collect email addresses at your front desk
during check in or check out. Ask your guests for
permission on an opt-in card to send specials by email. If
you have done a good job of treating your guests well, they
will most likely want to hear about your future specials.
Ask the front desk staff to enter the information of that
guest on the website form. By following this process, you
ensure all addresses are being collected in the central
database and that they are legitimate email addresses
following the opt-in process.
2. Email Marketing Plan
Once you have an email database, you are ready to conduct
email campaigns. In this step you decide what campaigns you
want to send and how frequently. From our perspective,
there are two kinds of campaigns:
• e-Cards
• e-Newsletters
e-Cards are campaigns that promote one specific special or
item. Some of the campaigns that we have found to be
effective for the lodging industry include: Spa Specials,
Ski Packages, Thanksgiving Specials, Holiday Specials,
Christmas Specials, etc.
e-Newsletters contain multiple specials and news items.
The frequency at which campaigns are sent depends on the
aggressiveness and the input of effort. We recommend
sending out one campaign a month or less. Sending more
often could alienate consumers on your list.
Design and Content of Campaigns
The design and content of e-campaigns are perhaps the most
difficult part for hotels. Some hotels with an in-house
designer and programming capabilities will develop their
campaigns in-house. Most hotels will use their e-marketing
agency for the design of the campaigns and will provide the
content. Some e-marketing agencies, like Milestone, will
provide content ideas as well as the design.
3. Send Email Campaign
A critical component of sending out campaigns is to
determine which email marketing tool you use. There are
several utilities that can be used to send campaigns
depending on the cost and capabilities of the systems. In
general, here are some of the criteria that could be used
to select a system for sending out campaigns:
In-House vs. Outsourced
A critical decision that most hotels face is whether to
outsource the sending of their campaigns to an agency or if
they are going to do it themselves. If the hotel has
resources with reasonable knowledge of html programming and
some design capabilities, there are several solutions
available that hoteliers can use to send campaigns. If the
hotel decides to do this internally, it's important to
evaluate the usability of the system available. There are
systems available that will enable the hotel to send out
campaigns with relative ease.
Several hotels prefer an agency to set up the system for
them, and the hotel to be able to send out the campaigns on
their own. Mixed mode systems are effective in lowering
costs. These solutions are fairly sophisticated, hence few
in number, and can be procured from email marketing
agencies.
Working with ISPs
Another important criterion for selecting a tool is based
on how much technology is being used by the provider of the
tool to ensure that the emails do not get stuck in the spam
folders of the major email providers and ISPs, like Google,
Yahoo!, MSN, etc. Good tool providers spend plenty of time
working with email providers in understanding their spam
guidelines and making sure that your emails make it to the
consumer's inbox. Good tool providers will specify the
guidelines for the design of email campaigns that will
follow the spam-checker guidelines. Once you have designed
your templates and selected the tool that is going to be
used, you are ready to send out your email campaigns.
4. Tracking Campaigns
Good quality email tools have sophisticated reports
available that will tell you the effectiveness of your
campaigns. The tools provide information on how many
recipients of your campaigns opened the emails, how many
unsubscribed and several other statistics related to the
effectiveness of your campaigns.
One of the more effective reports indicates who clicked on
which links of your email campaign. This gives you insight
into the minds of your readers as well as their behavior.
It also points to which particular specials in your email
campaigns are most effective.
More sophisticated tools will allow you to set up the
system so that the consumers who click on specific links
can get a follow-up email that sell them only that
particular special. This feature is particularly effective
when you send multiple specials and you want to send out
more targeted campaigns once you gain a better
understanding of the interests of your target audience.
Using Email Marketing to Up-sell
Email Marketing can be used effectively to up-sell your
hotel. Sending your guests an email a before their arrival
at your property telling them about specials and packages
offers an immense opportunity to increase the revenue
generated per customer. State-of-the-art technologies will
enable you to automate the process where all reservations
received from all your sources - property direct, internet
booking engine, and central reservation systems - can get
such an email. Branded properties should exercise caution
since some of the brands already send such emails to guests.
Email Marketing to Build Relationships and Get Feedback
Some hotels and brands will send their guests a post stay
survey form to get feedback. This helps to build customer
relationships and also understand what guests like and
dislike about your hotel. Online surveys offer instant
feedback to your hotel.
You've probably realized that email marketing is a critical
piece of the online marketing puzzle. Email campaigns, when
conducted effectively, can generate significant return on
investment, build strong customer relationships, and help
hotels understand their customers better. If you are a
branded property, check the brand guidelines before
embarking on email marketing. We recommend that hotels use
this powerful distribution media extensively to book more
rooms and build long-lasting customer relationships.
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For your email campaigns to be truly effective, they have
to be managed properly and conducted in a professional
manner. This article provides hoteliers with some practical
tips, the nuts and bolts, for conducting effective email
marketing campaigns that maximize their return on
investment.
http://www.milestoneinternet.com
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