Hotels have been collecting guest data for years. But what exactly are they doing with that data? Since the GDPR came into effect in Europe, marketers are more conscious and concerned about how their data is used. The biggest and most important group of people to focus on when it comes to email marketing is your own database. This includes people who have stayed at your property in the past but also those who have signed up for an e-newsletter or offers through your website.
Hotel email marketing is a topic that many businesses are overlooking. Hotels have a great opportunity to gain more business because of their perfect position in between the customer and the travel journey. The hospitality industry is also growing rapidly and has a lot of untapped potential. Many people start researching their vacations on the internet. This can be done by simply typing in “Hotels” and they instantly see thousands of websites that cater to this need, but only a handful of these sites offer the price comparison features that travelers are looking for; and not just one country at a time.
Content is king.
Content is king. If you have a hotel that offers high-quality, affordable accommodation and a strong customer service team, you’re already ahead of the competition. But what can you do to make sure your emails stand out from the crowd?
- Content is everything. The best way to get email signups and keep customers coming back for more is by providing them with useful information on the goings-on at your hotel or resort. Let’s say you want to share news about an upcoming concert at one of your restaurants or events happening at a nearby beach bar; just write an email that highlights all those details! You can even include links so people can buy tickets if they like what they see!
- Keep things relevant. One reason people don’t open emails as often these days is because they’re getting bombarded with messages from companies that aren’t relevant to their interests—or worse yet, because they simply don’t care about what those businesses have to say in their marketing campaigns! That’s why it’s important not only for businesses like yours but also consumers who receive mailings from them too: make sure everything being sent out has some kind relevance between sender and recipient before hitting send button.”
Send emails periodically.
To avoid falling into the trap of sending emails too often or too infrequently, you need to know what your customers want. As an example, if you’re a hotel with a conference center, you should know when your ideal customers will be checking their email during the day. The best way to do this is by using email marketing software that tracks analytics and allows you to segment your lists according to location and demographics like age and gender.
Another thing that can help improve the quality of these emails is making sure they’re relevant to recipients’ interests. If someone isn’t interested in sports equipment right now, there’s no point in sending them an ad for a new tennis racket!
Personalize your message with the guest’s name.
You should personalize all emails to your guests. Personalization doesn’t just improve your open rate and click-through rate; it also improves conversion rates, which means that personalized emails will increase the amount of money you make from each guest who stays in your hotel. Plus, personalizing emails can increase lifetime value and customer satisfaction.
Here are some tips for getting started with personalized email marketing:
- Personalize based on the guest’s name. This is one of the easiest ways to personalize an email and can be easily integrated into any CMS (content management system) or email service provider (ESP). If you want more ways to incorporate it into your current system, we recommend using a third party tool like Rejoiner, whose software allows you to do this automatically with minimal effort.
- Let guest preferences dictate what they see in their inboxes so they don’t get too many messages at once—you don’t want them unsubscribing from all of them because they’re overwhelmed by how much communication there is between you!
Create eye-catching and engaging subject lines.
The subject line is the first thing a recipient sees, so it’s important to make it count. The goal of the subject line should be to get readers’ attention and make them want to read more.
To achieve this, keep your subject lines short and sweet—no more than 50 characters (including spaces). Use action words like “see” or “get” instead of vague terms like “today.” Also, if you’re sending out an email newsletter with multiple articles in it, personalize each one by including the article title in your preheader text so that readers know what they’re clicking into before they get there. Finally, use similar language as you will use throughout the rest of your email: don’t switch between formal and casual speech; stick with whatever voice works best for your brand!
Always include an attention-grabbing headline.
The headline is the first thing your customers see and it’s up to you to make sure they don’t ignore it. The best headlines are short and sweet, but they can still pack a punch.
Here are some examples of attention-grabbing headlines that we’ve seen work well:
- “We have something special for you.”
- “You won’t believe what happened next…”
- “Everything you wanted to ask about our new product.”
Create a simple and direct call to action.
- Keep it simple. Use a single call to action (CTA), and keep it short and sweet. Don’t include multiple CTAs in one email; that just confuses your reader and makes them more likely to ignore the whole message.
- Speak directly to your audience. Use the word “you” whenever possible, because it helps you connect with readers more personally than if you used passive language like “one” or “they.”
- Make it easy for recipients to act on your CTA—make sure the button is prominent, large enough for people with poor eyesight, easy for mobile phone users to press quickly on their touchscreens, etc.—and make sure what happens after they click is exactly what they expect (for example: a new page opens up).
- Use action verbs like get or try instead of words that don’t inspire any sort of movement (like learn). You want your reader’s blood pumping!
Use professional images in your messages and make them mobile-friendly.
- Use a mix of personal and professional images.
- Make sure your images are large enough to catch attention, but not too big that they overwhelm the reader.
- A professional photographer can take high-quality pictures that fit the brand identity. If you don’t have one, there’s always Google Images!
- Use relevant images that relate directly to what you’re sending in your message (this is especially important when it comes to subject lines). If it’s an image featuring a group of people partying at a bar, make sure there’s something about this party in the body copy itself!
- Make sure your email is mobile friendly—no one likes getting messages on their phone full of huge blocks of text and tiny buttons for them to click through every time they want read something new from an email client like Gmail or Yahoo Mail
Utilize links to drive traffic to your website.
- Link to your website in your email message
- Link to your website in your email signature
- Link to your hotel’s social media channels
- Link to your website in your social media posts
- Include a link to the hotel’s YouTube channel
Email marketing should be a part of any hotel’s marketing strategy
Email marketing is a powerful tool that can help a hotel to build customer loyalty, increase brand awareness and improve the reputation of a business.
It’s important to note that it’s not just a one-way communication channel but also an interactive one. A hotel can ask its customers for feedback on any service or product; this helps them understand how consumers feel about their products and services, which in turn helps them make informed decisions about how they want to market themselves in future communications.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that email marketing for hotels should be personal, relevant, and timely. With the right strategy in place, hoteliers can use email to create a strong customer base that’s not only retained but also always expanding. It may seem daunting to try and reach out to thousands of people with your message, but by following these guidelines for effective hotel email marketing and segmenting your list by one or more characteristics you can easily send targeted emails to the people that are most likely to convert. The clear call to action, strong call to emotion or value, and professional graphics will help draw customers in and get them excited about your hotel.