How to use email to sleigh hotel sales this holiday season

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year provide huge opportunities to connect with your database, guests and followers. For hoteliers seeking to tap into the seasonal spirit of family getaways and gifts, email deliverability should be at the heart of their marketing strategy.

However, email success depends on more than just a witty subject line or a great value offer; maintaining a strong reputation as a sender of email campaigns is key to landing in the largest number of inboxes and driving conversion through email marketing.

Ho, ho – oh no! Factors impacting deliverability of festive cheer

Sadly, it’s not hard working elves who deliver emails into inboxes. There are a number of factors which impact the deliverability of your emails – and the best way to stay on top of them is to constantly review and action any hiccups before bad habits place you on Santa’s naughty list.

IP and Domain reputation are key to deliverability. The former is based on activity from your specific sending server; the latter refers to the trust email service providers (ESPs) such as Google, Yahoo and Outlook have in your internet domain (eg cendyn.com). Domain reputation is based on a number of factors such as list hygiene, recipient engagement, and sender authentication.

Both factors will impact email performance, which is why regular reviews of sent emails are essential, tackling each issue as it arises. Failure to act delivers a fate worse than Rudolph not being allowed to join in any reindeer games. A poor reputation sees your emails land in spam or junk folders, or even be blocked entirely. A positive reputation signals your emails are legitimate and desired by recipients.

Don’t let greed Scrooge your campaigns

The adage ‘quality over quantity’ is key with your list management – having incorrect email addresses which bounce or sending to those who haven’t opened and clicked your emails in a year or more may help inflate your database total, but you’re better having 1,000 active subscribers from a list of 1,000, than 10,000 total email addresses with just 1,000 engaged.

Protect your domain reputation and boost your chances of successful delivery by:

• Regularly reviewing your email campaign performance
• Resolving any issues as they arise – aim for 98% delivery rate and 2% or lower bounce rate, regularly cleanse your database
• Avoid the temptation to use misleading or deceptive subject lines. While they may boost your open rate, they increase the likelihood of your emails marked as spam or encourage unsubscribes
• Be strategic in your campaign calendar to avoid inundating recipients with too many or irrelevant emails.

Making a list… or ten

Santa doesn’t deliver the same gift to everyone – and nor should you deliver the same email to every contact. Just as the man in the red suit segments into naughty and nice, hoteliers should divide their audience into carefully targeted audiences to conquer the holiday season.

By tailoring content – for example, sending family-friendly stay packages to families or gift vouchers for cocktail making classes to people who’ve visited your bar – you are more likely to have engaged subscribers.

Optimized email campaigns are the gift that keeps giving

By optimizing your email database and marketing campaigns, conversions will increase. It’s a simple principle but requires consistent input and a strategic approach. Nurturing a highly engaged database is not just a job for the holidays – it should be cultivated year-round to ensure consistent results. Remember:

•  Review audience lists, ensuring that relevant segmentation is clear and up-to-date.
• Assess the level of engagement by audience type. We classify ‘engaged audiences’ as people who have clicked in the last six months. Opens are not a clear sign of engagement as they can be machine-driven.
• Consider your average campaign size – Inconsistent volumes can harm your IP and domain reputation; a balanced approach is beneficial, and don’t exceed twice your average send volume.
• Plan – and execute with tracking and review processes – your communication strategy for each target segment. A failure to plan is a plan to fail!
• Allow for 7 days between emails. Ensuring you are spreading information in a timely yet not spammy way.
• Send emails to your most engaged subscribers first. This will allow you to gauge what messaging best connects with your audience, while boosting your domain reputation with high engagement rates.

As the holiday season swings into motion, hoteliers should be reviewing their email deliverability now and putting the finishing touches on a holiday campaign schedule. Maximizing engagement with your emails is key – not only will this deliver greater bookings, it will help boost your domain reputation and improve the chances of future emails landing in the right inbox year-round.As the holiday season swings into motion, hoteliers should be reviewing their email deliverability now and putting the finishing touches on a holiday campaign schedule. Following the right strategy – not only will deliver greater bookings, it will help boost your domain reputation and improve the chances of future emails landing in the right inbox year-round. Maximizing engagement with your emails and getting guests to your website is key to generating more revenue this holiday season.