Suffering from January blues? Dreaming of your next holiday already? The majority of people start researching and booking their summer holidays within the first week of being back at work after Christmas so, now is the time to target them with your holiday marketing!

The Christmas decorations are back in their box and everyone is starting to get back to the daily grind. January is cold, dreary and long so lots of people tend to brighten up this time by booking their summer holiday, giving them something to work towards and look forward to.

How can you set sail on your summer holiday marketing campaigns?

Dynamic Content and Personalisation

On average, users receive an average of 88 emails per day so it’s easy for your emails to get lost in their inbox. The majority of your subscribers will be previous customers so you should have saved details of their last purchases including destinations, preferred budget, type of holiday etc. Even if they are not previous customers, ensuring they create an account at sign up, you should have details of their favourited/saved holidays, hotels and destinations.

It’s important to use this information to your advantage by tailoring emails to include destinations and holiday types relevant to each customer. If you know a recipient is a dedicated beach goer – there’s little point in sending them deals for a skiing holiday in the Alps!

Using dynamic content and personalistion will allow you to have a much better chance at engaging with your subscribers and encouraging them to book their holiday!

Imagery

You want to get your recipients daydreaming and picturing themselves relaxing on that beach or exploring that city. This can easily be done by using good imagery – after all a picture can say a thousand words!

Make sure you read through your planned content and think about the kind of images that could be related to it. There are plenty of stock photo providers out there offering thousands and thousands of breathtaking pictures that are ready to be dropped into your emails at the click of a button.

If you want to step up your game from images you could think about including some gifs within your emails. They are a super easy way to add a little bit of character and fun into your email marketing campaigns. Not only do they encourage more engagement, they can also be beneficial for recipients.

Information

Ultimately the aim of your email marketing is to make sales however, it pays off to not go in with a complete hard sell. Recipients can sometimes be put off with SALE or BUY NOW plastered everywhere throughout the email. Take the time to actually collect content for your subscribers, give them interesting information and get people interested.

Automated Email Programmes

As all Marketers know by now, automated email marketing programmes are a must and this certainly applies to those within the travel industry. Whether it’s cart abandonment or cross sell, having automated email programmes allow you to enhance your customers experience by engaging with them at crucial times with relevant emails based on behaviour and actions.

Some of the other crucial programmes you should be creating include:

  • Welcome
  • Loyalty
  • Milestone
  • Local weather
  • Additional information after purchase
  • Anniversary/Birthday


Find out more about getting the most out of marketing automation here.