With 4 billion email users globally, email marketing is an extremely effective way for hotels to promote offers and interact with guests. Email campaigns can be extremely targeted if executed well – hitting its mark every time!
Utilizing persuasive language and urgency, these emails encourage subscribers to act. This helps drive up open rates.
Send a Welcome Email
Welcome emails are your first opportunity to make a great first impression with new customers, so it is crucial that they tell an engaging narrative that shows exactly what services you can provide and how it will improve their lives. Ideally, this should also be evident from their subject lines.
By gathering subscriber email addresses through lead generation campaigns, you can use that data to tailor their experience of receiving content relevant to their interests – especially if they include family vacations, romance getaways or corporate conferences as targets of your hotel services. A personalized approach like this one can help generate more bookings and revenue by targeting specific segments with targeted emails lists.
As part of your brand loyalty effort, use the welcome email to offer special discounts on your products – especially for e-commerce businesses where even a small reduction in pricing can make an impressionful first impression.
Attracting potential customers can also be done through sharing stories about guests who have booked last-minute deals at your hotel, which helps create a sense of community while inspiriting others to book with you for their vacations. You can also keep customers up-to-date with hotel facilities by sharing photos or videos showing pools, billiards zones, caravan services, etc. via social media and emails.
Your welcome email should not be too sales-y, since customers are typically not ready to purchase at this stage. Instead, it should focus on building relationships by offering something of value, like recommendations for similar content or an immediate call-to-action (CTA). Using personalized greetings like those seen in Brevo hotel chain’s example email.
In this email from a travel company, they identify their most likely customer segment and greet them by name. Additionally, they include images and videos related to the type of vacation the recipient plans on booking as well as top-of-the-line amenities and service they can expect when planning a trip with them. Finally, this email includes a clear call-to-action as well as an impressive social proof quote from one of their satisfied customers.
Send a Pre-Arrival Email
Pre-arrival emails present hoteliers with an opportunity to promote upsell options that will enhance the guest experience and generate incremental revenue. According to research, targeted upsell emails sent before arrival have proven to increase conversion rates by 8.23 percent.
This email goes beyond booking confirmation in providing guests with more detailed information about what they can expect during their stay at your hotel, such as check-in/check-out dates/times/room details as well as maps and amenities available on property. Guests can use this information to plan their trip and decide what upgrades/add-ons may need to be booked.
These emails can help hotels reduce last-minute cancellations by encouraging guests to plan their trips well in advance. In addition, these messages can increase brand loyalty and create an air of anticipation among customers while simultaneously increasing customer engagement through highlighting special offers or promotions.
Pre-arrival upsells should be carefully tailored to each guest’s preferences. For instance, room upgrades or spa packages tailored specifically to their tastes might appeal; or perhaps recommending restaurants or tours may also appeal. It is key that irrelevant upsells don’t turn potential guests away!
According to the type of trip, hoteliers should send one or two pre-arrival emails to their guests prior to arrival. Ideally, these should arrive twelve days in advance and ten or nine in advance so guests have enough time to review your offerings and make an informed decision before coming onto property.
Send a pre-arrival email in their native tongue if possible; this will ensure that their message is understood without misunderstanding, and show them you care about meeting their individual needs and requirements.
Send a Post-Arrival Email
Email marketing is an ideal tool for hotels to reach, engage and convert target audiences quickly and cost-effectively. According to Sale Cycle’s research, businesses can expect an average return on investment of $42 for every dollar spent on hotel email marketing campaigns; it is however essential that they form part of an integrated digital marketing strategy for optimal performance.
Your best bet for encouraging potential guests to join your hotel email list is including an opt-in form on landing pages, headers and footers of your website. Also add one in transactional emails such as booking confirmations and inquiries so that warm leads can sign up and hear more about what services and offers your hotel has.
Installing a call-to-action such as “Book now” or “Get the best deal” into your email signature will encourage people to book again with you in future. Offering discounts increases chances of customers taking action; and finally including both email address and phone number can further drive conversions.
Email post-arrival messages provide hotels with an invaluable opportunity to showcase their facilities and amenities, such as their proximity to nearby attractions, list of restaurants with contact info for each, services that are provided by your hotel etc. Additionally, this email could even serve to upsell their room by offering them complimentary upgrades or exclusive packages available only through your hotel.
Pre-arrival emails can be an excellent way to build brand loyalty, increase hotel bookings and reduce last-minute cancellations. By tailoring these messages according to subscriber data such as their preferred language and budget as well as whether or not they’re traveling for business or pleasure (i.e. dates of stay etc), pre-arrival emails create a sense of urgency among potential guests who need last-minute hotel deals.
Send a Follow-Up Email
Once a potential customer has booked a last-minute hotel deal with your company, it is vital that you follow up to ensure their booking experience goes smoothly and meets or surpasses their expectations. A simple email can be highly effective in building relationships and increasing conversions.
Personalizing follow-up emails is key to building lasting customer relationships and increasing engagement with recipients. By customizing each message specifically to them, recipients feel like it was sent specifically for them versus being part of some generic mailing list. Email personalization can increase engagement while helping close more sales and build stronger customer relations.
Start personalizing your follow-up email by starting with an attention-grabbing subject line that clearly articulates its purpose, so your recipient opens and reads all of it. In general, keep subject lines under 60 characters for best results.
Your follow-up email should include an eye-catching and compelling message about the value your product or service provides, while providing a strong call-to-action (CTA), encouraging recipients to book their stay.
As you send follow-up emails, keep in mind that recipients are busy people. Sending too many follow-ups in short order may come off as spammy and turn your prospects away; therefore it is recommended to send follow-ups 3-5 days post initial outreach.
As long as you keep these tips in mind, your chances of closing sales with last-minute hotel offers or other types of online products or services can increase significantly. Omnisend email automation software makes managing follow-up email sequences much simpler so you can focus on other aspects of your business instead. And for more tips and information on optimizing online marketing visit our blog.