One of the most important things for tour operators to do is to figure out the most profitable angle and how to maintain a good relationship with their customers.
The following is a guide with tips for travel operators for the best email marketing practices.
1. Building Your Email List
The first thing you want to do is get an email list of your customers. You can do this through a simple procedure of collecting customer information whenever someone purchases a ticket for their tour.
A tour operator may also consider setting up a simple registration form on their website and asking all visitors to fill it out in exchange for rewards such as discounts or gifts.
2. Keep Them Subscribed
Once you have built your list, it is important to keep the subscribers engaged by sending them informative and engaging emails regularly. You can create newsletters and send them out once every week or once every month.
The key is to be consistent and interesting enough so that the customers would be interested in reading your emails. It is also good to target your emails and send them out only to people interested in the subject of your emails.
3. Use Email Attachments
Many customers may be hesitant to purchase travel packages because they feel it is a hassle to print out the itinerary and all the required information and carry it around with them. An email attachment can be a useful solution for this problem because it serves as an easy-to-understand guide that can help potential tourists understand their trip.
Adding a virtual tour of the tourist attraction or the city and its sites together in the email can help promote tourism and boost sales at the same time.
4. Get Personal
Tourists feel more comfortable when they are not being bombarded with constant ads, so try to get personal with them. An effective way to do this is by sending out a birthday email greeting that wishes a happy birthday to customers who have signed up for your newsletter.
Furthermore, you can also send a personal email to those who have just signed up for the newsletter, thanking them for signing up. This will help develop a good relationship with the subscribers and increase your chances of further sales.
5. Providing Useful Information
Another effective way of promoting tourism is by providing your customers with helpful information. For example, you can provide them with useful travel tips and information on different tourist attractions that they may be visiting. These types of emails are more likely to be opened by customers and provide a good reason for them to read the rest of your email.
You can also provide special discounts and how-to guides that can be used as reference material when you are back home.
6. Customer Support
Contrary to popular belief, email is a form of marketing that works well because it's fast, "meaningful," and convenient. You can use an email address that has already been set up in your customer database to send out customer support emails. For example, you can provide them with the information they need or feedback on how their tour is going.
7. Test Before You Send
Before you send an email to your customers, it is important to test it first to be sure that it would not cause any problems when being opened. You should also check for spelling and grammar errors. Moreover, it is also a good idea to mail only those subscribers who are interested in your email subject.
8. Ensure it Mobile Friendly
If your customers are mostly tourists, it is essential to ensure that your email is mobile-friendly to view it easily on their mobile phones as they travel around.
In addition, you may also consider adding an opt-in check box on your mobile phone application so that you can easily collect customer information whenever they purchase a ticket for the tour.
However, if you are sending out newsletters to your customers, you may consider including a link in the email to allow them to download the application and register.
Once they have downloaded the application, they can easily log in to their account and add subscribers.
9. Use Attracting Headings
It is always important to include appealing sub-headings on your emails to be more likely to open and read them.
Also, it would be a good idea to add images or GIF files to your email so that they can make it more enjoyable as well as fun.
In case of an attachment, you may also consider uploading a video to the email to show them how the tour works in real life (which is much better than just showing text).
10. Integrating with Social Media
Social media is one of the best tools for promoting tourism. You can easily engage with customers directly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and such by using social media. You can also provide them with a way to share their experience with their friends and family.
By integrating social media, you can even do an interactive marketing campaign. For example, if someone posts a photo on Instagram of their recent vacation, you can respond and ask them to share it with your other customers.
In this way, you can enhance customer experiences and make the journey more engaging.
11. Subject Lines Are Essential
You can use a lot of creativity in crafting the subject line of your email so that it would be interesting enough for them to open it.
In case they receive many emails daily, it is essential to make an effort to grab their attention and make them want to read your email.
12. Track Your Results
Another great way to measure the success of your email is by tracking the results. You can track your e-commerce sales, conversions, and even website traffic.
It is also important to create a good tracking system so that you can easily follow up with customers after they have purchased a package. This will help you to develop and maintain long-term relationships with them.
13. Respect People's Privacy
It is your job to ensure that every email you send out is not only relevant to your customers but also respects their privacy.
If you plan to add a video or a photo to the email, it would be best if you first ask for their permission. You can do this by including a signup box where customers can indicate which information they are comfortable with sharing. A good option would be having three options: private, friends and family, and public.
An email is an excellent tool for promoting tourism because it is fast and convenient. However, you have to be careful not to bombard your customers with too many emails that would be confusing.
There are many email marketing services that you can use. Some of them are Email Autoresponder, Graphic Email Marketing, Email Marketing Service, etc. Whatever email marketing service you choose, make sure that it meets all your communication needs.
