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Marketing that costs pennies, not pounds
WTM 2005 Special Report: Email marketing is a hugely under-utilised tool in the travel industry.
Emails can cost less than one pence each to send, compared to upwards of 40 pence for a direct postal mail campaign, and the results are faster and more tangible, a seminar at World Travel Market has been told.
Speaking at the CIMTIG and Designate co-ordinated seminar at WTM, E-mail Vision strategic consultant, David Hughes, said: “An email address is the most important thing you can gather in terms of currency.”
Also on the panel was Hitwise director of research, Heather Hopkins, who agreed that while email marketing was widely used in the travel industry, it is not reaching its potential.
Hughes suggested that email campaigns are faster, cheaper, more personalised and more measurable than other marketing campaigns. “Email campaigns can afford to be 200 or 300 times less efficient than direct mail because of the relative costs involved,” said Hughes.
A benefit of email campaigns is that they can help shift distressed inventory. Says Hughes: “You can pick off pockets of prospects and sell them quickly.” He added that 90 per cent of responses come within 72 hours of the email being sent.
His advice to companies thinking of embarking on email marketing campaigns included, first and foremost promoting an email newsletter on their website, with an opportunity for users to fill in their email address and also preferences on holiday destinations and activities. He said that incentives were a good way to encourage people to register, be it exclusive deals, or exclusive early access to deals. Once the user is registered, this should be followed up with a personalised email thanking them for doing so, he said.
Once the campaign is underway, Hughes recommends regular emails to keep in touch, with content catered to the user’s personal preferences and a system should be put in place for measuring response to email campaigns. He added: “A targeted email to readers will be rewarded with higher click-through rates, greater loyalty and lower drop-out rates.”
He also suggested that companies carefully consider the legal issues surrounding email marketing campaigns, which can be viewed at the Direct Marketing Association website, www.dma.org.uk.
Report by Ginny McGrath
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