Utilizing email to promote special events at your hotel can make a big difference in both revenue and guest satisfaction – but only when done strategically and targeted towards specific audiences.
Avoid sending generic emails to all your subscribers and use your data to segment your list and send hyper-personalized emails that meet each segment’s specific needs.
Email Marketing Platforms
Email marketing can be a valuable asset to hotels looking to reach out and build relationships with guests on an expansive scale, foster long-term relationships and drive promotional offers during annual demand decreases or low leisure travel seasons. Email can also serve as an excellent means for communicating post-stay and upselling special events to guests – but before using email effectively it must first have an effective email marketing strategy in place.
There are various email marketing services on the market, each with different features and scalability capabilities. When choosing one for yourself, look for one with an intuitive user-interface that makes creating engaging campaigns easy without needing coding knowledge. Also look for platforms which support automation, segmentation and tracking features for an in-depth view into campaign performance.
Hoteliers often mistake email as being spammy digital marketing, but email can actually provide a unique channel for personalized messaging at scale. Done correctly, emails should feel more like an authentic dialogue than sales pitches; therefore it’s crucial that hoteliers spend enough time planning and optimizing their email campaigns.
Setting email campaigns that align with your business goals can ensure you’re reaching the appropriate audiences at the appropriate times. For instance, if your goal is to expand your email list by encouraging guests to sign up for it or upsell or cross-sell products with free gift offers could help.
Selecting an effective email marketing software can make all the difference when it comes to running successful campaigns. To optimize your return on investment, consider platforms offering flexible templates and design tools as well as automation and detailed reporting capabilities. It’s also worthwhile setting up regular team meetings where email metrics can be discussed as a whole and ways of improving efforts explored.
MailerLite is an ideal solution for small businesses, offering an extensive suite of email and landing page building tools with an emphasis on ease. These include drag-and-drop editor tools as well as automated workflows for email and social media. Plus, their unique pricing model based on emails sent rather than contacts stored makes MailerLite ideal for smaller organizations just beginning email marketing.
Email Templates
Email lists can be one of the hotel’s greatest digital marketing assets, yet in order to unlock their full potential they must be carefully nurtured over time. Email templates provide a practical solution by automating this process – sending relevant emails at precisely the right time!
Email automation refers to the act of automatically sending an email response in response to certain user actions (such as booking, checking-in or out). These emails can contain important guest information like their room details or reminders from staff about completing post-stay surveys.
An event-related email should aim to generate excitement about your event or promotion by employing bold subject lines and images that draw the recipient’s eye, such as showing what makes your event or offer unique. You could also include a call-to-action like RSVPing or signing up, to encourage the reader to take the next step and sign up or RSVPing themselves.
Your email template should be mobile-friendly in order to facilitate viewing on various devices, without hindering open rates or negatively affecting responses. A responsive template will render correctly across platforms, so investing in one that will is worth your while.
Consider including a link to your hotel website in event-related emails so as to increase traffic and engagement with your promotional campaign, then using this traffic data as a measure of its success or failure.
Hotels should consider adding an opt-in form to their website in order to encourage visitors to join your email list and increase the chance of maximizing ROI from campaigns. This will create an effective email list and maximize returns from campaigns.
Content for email campaigns from hotels is key in reaching their audience effectively, so making informed choices will bring maximum return for investment. There is an array of formats and types of material to choose from but ultimately what matters is what resonates best with them.
Upselling and Cross-Selling Campaigns
Upselling and cross-selling are strategies hotels use to generate additional revenue from existing customers, typically existing clients of the hotel. When implemented successfully, upselling/cross-selling strategies can create win-win situations between hotels and their guests.
Upselling involves convincing customers to purchase higher-priced products than they initially planned on buying, either by emphasizing its additional features or offering complementary services with it. Upselling can be particularly effective at increasing average room rate (ADR) and encouraging return customers in hospitality environments.
Hotel email marketing can help hotels use cross-selling tactics to attract customers with activities and services that go beyond those offered at their property, such as city tours, day trips to scenic natural destinations or rejuvenating spa packages.
Timing of cross-selling campaigns is of paramount importance. A hotel should make an effort not to appear pushy by offering cross-selling opportunities when customers have already expressed an interest in what you offer them. A good rule of thumb would be offering such opportunities at points in their sales cycle when customers have expressed a genuine desire for what it has to offer.
Remarketing campaigns can also help sell up and cross-sell. These automated email messages sent out after someone has made a conversion are targeted towards repeat visitors that could convert again.
Tracking the performance of upselling and cross-selling campaigns is vitally important. By evaluating metrics such as open and click-through rates, hotels can identify what strategies are working well and which need improvement.
Hotel marketers can leverage advanced digital tools that provide maximum return on investment to boost the effectiveness of their email campaigns, such as segmenting email lists and incorporating visually pleasing elements in promotional material. It is also crucial that A/B test campaigns be run to ascertain which messaging and visual designs are most successful; with such tools at their disposal hotel marketers can generate substantial profits through email marketing efforts.
Email Campaign Design
Email campaigns are an effective way to drive brand recognition and bookings for any organization, while connecting with subscribers on an intimate and memorable level. Key components to their success include captivating visuals, unique packages, and emotive messages that resonate with subscribers.
First, identify which hotel events you would like to promote and create an email campaign around them. Do this by checking your hotel records or property management system for customer contact information and then creating separate landing pages attached to different subscriber groups (by location for example), this way delivering emails that are more tailored and targeted at each segment of your audience.
Once your email campaign is in place, it’s time to create the content for it. Leverage what you know about your target audience and travel stages when creating email content; for instance, pre-arrival emails should include all necessary information a guest needs before arriving such as check-in times/directions/room details/breakfast options etc. They’re also an opportunity to promote local attractions/activities near your hotel during busy seasons when tourists may visit your area more regularly.
Your post-stay email should serve to both remind past guests why they enjoyed their stay and encourage them to return in the future. Take this opportunity to offer special rates or free amenities – or mention any new facilities since their last stay – plus give early bird discounts for future stays.
Be mindful when creating hotel email campaigns about how they will look on mobile devices. With most people accessing emails via phones or tablets, having a responsive design is essential to its success. A responsive layout automatically adapts itself according to screen size for easy reading; well-designed emails tend to get opened, clicked-on and acted upon more readily than less well designed ones.