Email marketing is one of the best ways to retain customers by engaging with past, present (and future) guests.
Smart hotel marketers prioritize keeping up-to-date on email marketing best practices in order to continually improve their programs and reap a growing return on investment. Here are some of our email best practices for hotel and resort marketers looking to improve their profits in 2018:
1. Create one clear call-to-action
One of the biggest mistakes hotel marketing managers make in email marketing is putting too many offers or links into their marketing emails. This dilutes your potential for success, as having multiple calls-to-action or CTAs can confuse your guests.
For this reason, it’s very important to pick one goal or primary objective for your email before you sit down to write your copy and brainstorm your design. Your marketing emails should have one large button that is your main call-to-action or CTA. Campaign Monitor found that having a single, button-based CTA increased click-through rates by 28 percent over a link-based CTA. Also, having a single CTA makes it much simpler to measure the success of your email by looking at click-through rates.
2. Be short and sweet
Although the myth that human beings have the attention span of a goldfish persists, the reality is not much better. Litmus found last year that the average time spent reading an email is around 11 seconds. Therefore, to create a message that resonates with your guests, you must get to the point quickly. Communicate your intent with headlines and images, and don’t spend too much time on body copy that most of your guests probably won’t bother to read.
3. Automate what you can
Whether you’re a managing a small independent property or field marketing for a major brand, your time as a hotel marketer is precious!
Therefore, you should automate as much of your email communications as you can.
How?
Start with a basic booking confirmation email that goes out automatically as soon as the guest’s stay is on your books. Continue with a post-stay series, with a thank you email sent after the guest checks out, and a “we miss you” email inviting them back, sent six weeks to a few months after that.
