Fully automated personal approach

Result: 60% reduction in booking acquisition cost

The travel organization uses e-mail marketing for their bookings. Customers receive the Happy Home newsletter when they book a trip for the first time. There is also an option available on the website that allows visitors to subscribe to the newsletter. Most of the processes are fully automated, except for those where manual control is preferred.

1. Newsletter

A typical visitor to the website will show interest in a trip and request information. Depending on the request they will receive either a newsletter or a special offer mailing based on the visitor's personal preferences. Mailings to address lists purchased by Happy Home or acquired through other channels receive information in the same basic manner.

2. Bookings

A click-through in the mailing will take the recipient to the website, where visitors will eventually book a trip with the organization. Data concerning the trip is sent to the travel organization's CRM system through the online booking system. Relevant information is then sent from the CRM system to an E-mark server; address information, travel ID, departure date, return date and whether or not travel insurance was purchased with the trip. Every day the mail stream is checked so customers don't receive follow-up mail after a cancellation or personal calamity.

3. Upsell mail

A few days after booking the trip an e-mail is sent to customers who did not purchase travel insurance with the trip. Through this mailing, customers are given the opportunity to reconsider and close travel or cancellation insurance anyway.

4. "Bon Voyage" mail

One day before departure, customers receive an e-mail from the travel organization wishing them a good trip. Via RSS feed this mail can be equipped with useful information, such as a weather forecast for their destination.

5. "Welcome Back" mail

Customers receive a "welcome home" e-mail on the intended return date, or ‘X' days later. Travelers are requested to fill out a survey about their vacation in this e-mail. In the event of no response, the travel organization's account in the system is programmed to send a reminder after a few days. By using a different subject line in the reminder e-mail, the application increases the chance that the recipient will read the e-mail and fill out the survey.

6. Survey (user generated content)

E-mark's application allows the travel organization to generate their own survey quickly and easily and send it out via e-mail. The system allows both multiple choice and essay questions to be added to the organization's survey. The responses to both types of questions are immediately placed on the website as information for new (potential) customers.
The results of the survey also serve as important feedback on the organization's travel portfolio. If a certain trip receives too many poor reviews the travel organization can return to the destination and investigate the claims, or remove the trip / destination from their product range altogether. Answers to essay questions are not placed directly on the website. Instead, the answers are first aggregated on a moderation page and checked for foul language or poor grammar.

7. Uploading pictures (user generated content)

Having just returned from a spectacular vacation, some travelers may want to share photographic material with your organization. Allowing them to dos so can offer other potential customers an enhanced experience that could very well persuade them sooner and more effectively than standard travel brochure material. As a matter of course, all photographic material submitted by past customers is vetted by the travel organization before it appears on their website. Because this approach allows the travel organization to accumulate a large collection of photographic material, the images can also be used to assemble a brochure.

Conclusion

By automating your e-mail campaigns and enriching their content with surveys, picture uploads and up-sell offers does not only allow you to increase customer loyalty and a sense of involvement, but also to approach your customers in a dedicated personal manner with personalized content that is nonetheless generated automatically. Your travel booking sales will increase, while acquisition costs for these sales will decrease at the same time. A 60% decrease in acquisition costs has already been demonstrated in practice.

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