Master hotel email marketing: engage guests better
Email marketing tools are vital for hotels, resorts, and all businesses in the hospitality industry. Let’s go on a compelling journey in mastering the art of hotel email marketing strategies.
Traveling is a wonderful way to discover the unknown, meet people, and expand our horizons. We all crave a sense of relaxation and adventure, searching for new experiences that will create lasting memories.
As a hotel manager or owner, your goal is to make these desires become reality by offering personalized encounters that draw guests in. The ultimate objective? Making sure that hospitality customers pick your company. And you know what? Achieving this may be as simple as sending an email.
What is hotel email marketing?
Email marketing involves sending targeted and personalized emails to prospective guests, returning customers, and business partners. This digital marketing strategy aims to share promotional messages about hotel offerings, provide information about upcoming events or attractions in or near the property, highlight loyalty programs, and even share personal stories to build brand affinity.
Benefits of hotel email marketing
When it comes to digital communications, integrating hotel email marketing into your business strategy holds immense importance. It goes beyond mere customer outreach and offers potential benefits that can significantly enhance the growth of your hotel business.
Brand awareness
Utilizing hotel email marketing provides a valuable opportunity to establish strong brand recognition. Imagine the impact each time a subscriber opens their inbox and discovers an appealing, professionally crafted email from your hotel. It positions your brand directly in front of them.
By incorporating compelling visuals, sharing motivational stories about your hotel offerings, or providing valuable updates, you can remind customers of what makes staying at your establishment appealing. As users develop the habit of engaging with these elements, the connection between them and your company strengthens.
Customer engagement
Thanks to personalized messaging, customer engagement has reached new benchmarks of success. By utilizing data analytics to understand user preferences, businesses can create tailored strategies that offer guests immersive interactions. One example of this is hotels sending post-stay appreciation emails, expressing gratitude for their guests’ stay, and fostering long-lasting relationships.
Increased ROI
When it comes to promoting services in the hospitality sector, there are a variety of methods available. However, few approaches can match the return on investment (ROI) provided by effective hotel email marketing. Research suggests that for every dollar spent on well-executed email campaigns, businesses can expect an average return of $36. The financial advantage of implementing a successful email marketing strategy becomes evident when considering data like this.
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Now let’s look at how you can enhance your hotel’s email marketing efforts. We’ll begin by selecting the appropriate email marketing software and then dive into other essential components of a strong strategy.
Choose an email marketing software
As any experienced marketer would agree, choosing the right tool is key to success. When selecting email marketing software for a hotel, it’s important to look for features such as segmenting, A/B testing, personalization options, and detailed analytics. There are several well-known providers that offer distinct advantages to meet different needs. Some notable options include Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Sender.
Grow your email list
Once you have established your business, the next step is to grow your customer base by attracting potential guests. One strategy to achieve this is by giving special offers or insider information and interesting email content in exchange for signing up for your newsletters. These transactional emails are very useful for getting more subscribers.
Another effective approach is to organize contests and giveaways aimed at your target audience. However, it’s important to prioritize quality over quantity when collecting email subscribers. Focus on gathering emails from individuals who are genuinely interested in hospitality services similar to yours as these will most likely lead to future bookings. Having a wider audience might seem positive, but it might not lead to more bookings.
Select different email types
Hotel email marketing goes beyond promotional blasts and encompasses various types of emails designed to achieve specific goals. Here are some popular marketing emails that follow guests through the customer journey:
- Confirmation emails: Acknowledging reservations or changes made
- Pre-arrival emails: Countdown leading up to their stay
- Feedback request emails: Post-stay emails seeking guest reviews.
Design pitch-perfect campaigns
When creating campaigns of any kind, it’s important to strike a balance between visual appeal and clear information. In today’s digital landscape, aesthetics matter in order to keep your target audience engaged. Incorporate interactive design elements while also considering readability factors such as font size and contrast.
Nail your email copywriting
Craft your words with care and watch the magic unfold. Let this mantra inspire your copywriting. When composing emails, strive for content that is both concise and captivating while reflecting your hotel’s distinct personality. Also, ensure that your call-to-action is compelling and easy to understand, motivating potential guests to respond promptly.
Personalize your messages
Personalization plays a crucial role in hotel email marketing. By addressing recipients by their names and tailoring promotional messages to reflect their stay preferences, hotels can create a lasting impression and foster long-term brand loyalty. To achieve this, segmenting the email list based on demographics or past interactions can prove to be extremely effective.
Track essential email metrics
Lastly, it’s important to regularly monitor key metrics to assess the success of your strategies. Keeping an eye on open rates, click-through rates (CTR), bounce rates, and conversions will give you valuable information about what’s working and what needs improvement. Remember, the goal is continuous refinement as you track these essential email metrics.
Hotel email marketing tactics and examples
To understand the extent of hotel email marketing, let’s explore the various types of email marketing efforts that hotels focus on. These examples can provide valuable insights when creating your own impactful campaigns. All of these, and more, are skills and tactics that you can learn when you study hospitality.
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Luxury brand management onlineConfirmation emails
Confirmation emails are an essential means of communication between hotels and their guests. After making a booking, it is vital to send an email that reinforces important details such as check-in/check-out times, room type reservation, and total cost. These emails serve as proof of the transaction for guests while also allowing you to reinforce your brand’s professionalism.
Preference and upselling emails
To enhance the overall quality of service and potentially generate additional revenue, it is advisable to send preference query emails before guests’ arrival. This helps capture potential upsell opportunities and allows for a more personalized experience. For example, inquire if guests require airport pickup services or if they would like to upgrade their room. By doing so, not only can you promote other services but also tailor the guest experiences offered based on individual desires.
Pre-arrival emails
A few days before your guests arrive is a great opportunity to build excitement about their upcoming stay by sending a pre-arrival email. These messages can include recommendations for nearby attractions or updates on any ongoing promotions at your on-site restaurant, spa treatments, or special events that might boost the guest experience you offer. The key is to make each email engaging and informative without sounding too salesy.
Request for feedback emails
Don’t stop engaging with guests once they check out of your hotel. Send them follow-up emails requesting their feedback and honest thoughts about their stay. By demonstrating that you genuinely value their opinions, you’re taking the initial step in fostering long-term customer relationships while also collecting valuable feedback to enhance the services provided.
Appreciation emails
Showing gratitude can go a long way in giving your brand a more personal touch. Sending appreciation emails to thank your guests after their stay not only shows that you value their visit but also leaves a positive impression. In these emails, express your delight in hosting them and extend warm wishes for the future. You can also subtly mention the option of re-booking with possible loyalty discounts to provide an added incentive.
Hotel loyalty program emails
To reward loyal guests, it’s recommended to send personalized emails highlighting the exclusive benefits of a hotel’s loyalty program. By emphasizing additional services, room upgrades, or discounts available only to members, you not only show appreciation for loyal customers but also inspire other future guests to sign up with their email addresses.
Hotel awarding emails
Hotel campaigns can offer customers the opportunity to earn rewards through email promotions. These rewards can range from benefits for future stays, upgrades on their next booking, or even complimentary breakfast options. With these tactics, customers generally perceive a higher value in your brand and are more likely to make direct bookings.
Hotel event emails
Take advantage of holidays and local events by creating themed email campaigns. Send out invitations for upcoming Christmas dinners at your dining outlet or showcase New Year celebration packages, letting guests know about the benefits they can enjoy during these special occasions when they choose to spend them with you.
Abandoned booking emails
It’s a common occurrence for potential guests to start the booking process but then abandon it halfway through. In these situations, sending personalized emails highlighting available rooms that were previously abandoned can serve as a gentle nudge for completing the booking. Sometimes, all that’s needed is a friendly reminder about an incomplete action.
Best practices for hotel email marketing
To fully leverage the potential of hotel email marketing, it is essential to implement best practices that optimize efficiency and deliver high impact. This includes utilizing advanced digital features, such as segmenting email lists, incorporating visually appealing elements, and conducting A/B campaign tests.
Utilizing list segmentation
Segmenting your email list, also referred to as subscriber segmentation, is the process of dividing your list into smaller groups based on specific criteria such as demographics (age or location), behavior (booking history or engagement with previous emails), or customer status (new customer vs returning). This enables you to send more customized and personalized promotional emails that are highly relevant to each recipient.
Maximizing visuals
Visuals play a crucial role in driving conversions, particularly in hotel email marketing campaigns. A single image has the power to grab attention and convey messages swiftly and effectively. Make sure to showcase captivating photos of your hotel’s amenities, such as the swimming pool, restaurant decor, and rooms. Additionally, include stunning exterior shots to increase excitement.
Start A/B testing campaigns
To maximize the effectiveness of your hotel email marketing, conducting A/B testing is crucial. This process entails creating two different variations of an email, version A and version B, and randomly sending them to a small percentage of your subscribers. The version that performs better in terms of open rates or click-through rates is then selected as the winning version and sent out to the rest of your subscriber list.
It’s important to experiment with various elements such as subject lines, email layouts, call-to-action buttons, and color schemes. However, remember that for meaningful results, only one element should be tested at a time.
How to learn email marketing best practices
If you want to learn how to implement these email marketing practices, you can gain experience through practice, or study a hospitality degree. Studying for a degree course will help you become familiar with these practices and let you work out how to apply it to your business.
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Luxury brand management onlineHow do you measure the success of email marketing?
When assessing the success of your hotel email marketing, there are several key metrics that should be taken into account.
- Open rate: The percentage of recipients who open your email.
- Click-through rate (CTR): This measures how many people clicked on a link within your hotel email.
- Conversion rate: The conversion rate measures the percentage of click-throughs that lead to the desired action, such as booking a room.
- Bounce rate: This metric indicates the number of emails that were not successfully delivered and provides insights into the reasons behind the failures.
- Unsubscribe rate: This metric indicates the number of recipients who have chosen to stop receiving any future communication.
Conclusion
Becoming adept at hotel email marketing is a valuable way to actively engage guests and enhance their overall experience. By creating personalized, timely, and captivating email campaigns, hotel owners can establish enduring connections with their guests, cultivate loyalty, and drive revenue.
If you’re looking to enhance your skills in the hotel industry and gain a thorough understanding of this dynamic field, Glion offers exceptional hospitality degrees. Our renowned programs provide comprehensive knowledge and practical insights that will empower you to excel in the world of hospitality. Or, maybe you’d like to find out more about luxury hospitality marketing trends.
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