Email marketing is a vital tool in the travel and hospitality industry, serving as a direct and impactful way to engage with potential customers and nurture relationships with existing ones.
Uncover the secrets to enhancing customer engagement and fostering lasting connections through the power of well-crafted emails in the dynamic and competitive landscape of travel, attractions, and hospitality.
We’ve also found some great examples of emails in travel, attractions & hospitality to show you how some of the big players are making the most of email.
Key elements of successful email marketing in Travel, Attractions & Hospitality
Successful email campaigns depend on two main things: making emails personal and creating interesting content. Personalisation, achieved through segmentation and targeted messaging, tailors the content to individual preferences, creating a more meaningful connection with the audience. This boosts open and click-through rates and fosters a sense of relevance and understanding.
Engaging content, including visually appealing graphics, captivating storytelling, and clear calls to action, ensures that recipients are not just informed but inspired to take desired actions. From attention-grabbing subject lines to a smooth experience inside the email, a good email marketing campaign combines personal touches and engaging content to make a lasting impression on the audience.
Tips for crafting compelling emails
Creating inspiring email content for the travel, attractions, and hospitality industries requires a mix of creativity, engaging visuals, and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs).
Here are some of our top tips on how to create compelling emails:
1. Make the most of subject lines
Invoke wanderlust
Craft email subject lines that evoke wanderlust by painting vivid imagery of destinations and experiences. Use enticing phrases like “Escape to Paradise,” “Discover Hidden Gems,” or “Your Dream Getaway Awaits.” Appeal to the desire for adventure and relaxation with alluring words that ignite the imagination. Keep it concise, impactful, and curiosity-inducing, prompting recipients to open the email and embark on a mental journey through your offerings.
Highlight exclusive deals
Entice recipients with email subject lines that spotlight exclusive deals. Use phrases like “Limited-Time Offers Inside,” “Unlock Exclusive Savings,” or “Your VIP Access to Special Deals.” Create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, compelling readers to open the email and seize the unique opportunities awaiting them.
Personalisation
Personalise email subject lines to captivate recipients. Use individualised touches like “Your Dream Vacation Awaits, [Recipient’s Name],” or “Tailored for You: Exclusive Travel Offers.” By incorporating personal details or past interactions, you establish a direct connection, making recipients feel special and increasing the likelihood of engagement.
Urgency and scarcity
Create urgency and excitement in email subject lines by emphasising limited availability and time-sensitive offers. Use phrases like “Last Chance for Exclusive Discounts,” “Act Fast: Limited Rooms Available,” or “Book Now Before It’s Gone.” Highlighting scarcity compels recipients to take immediate action, instilling a sense of urgency that drives engagement and bookings.
2. Put visuals to good use
High-quality imagery
High-quality imagery is key in email marketing as it instantly transports recipients to enticing destinations and experiences. Striking visuals evoke emotions, inspire wanderlust, and preview destinations; they make readers feel the excitement and want to check it out themselves. Think vibrant landscapes, fancy hotels, and unforgettable experiences—all in one glance.
These stunning visuals don’t just make the email look good; they make people more likely to get involved and join the fun.
Video content
Video content is a game-changer in email marketing, providing a dynamic, immersive showcase of destinations and experiences. From virtual tours to customer testimonials, videos bring destinations to life, evoke emotions, and capture attention effectively. This visual storytelling enhances engagement, increases booking likelihood, and fosters a deeper connection that goes beyond static images.
User-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content (UGC) brings authenticity to email marketing, featuring real customer photos and testimonials that build trust and credibility. UGC provides a genuine glimpse into the customer experience, serving as social proof that resonates with potential customers, inspiring confidence, and driving engagement, ultimately increasing conversion likelihood.
Consistent branding
Consistent branding in email marketing solidifies brand identity, fostering recognition through cohesive visuals like colours and fonts. This professional and trustworthy image enhances brand recall, establishing reliability, crucial in trust-centric industries. Consistent branding not only creates a polished and memorable aesthetic but also instils confidence in recipients, encouraging them to engage with the content and reinforcing a positive perception of the brand.
3. Capitalise on CTAs
Clear and compelling language
A Call-to-Action’s (CTA) effectiveness relies on clear and compelling language. Clarity ensures the audience understands the expected action, eliminating confusion. A concise, straightforward message prompts quick decision-making. Compelling language adds urgency and excitement, motivating immediate action. Words like “Unlock”, “Save”, or “Discover” enhance persuasion, making the CTA more enticing and increasing the likelihood of audience engagement and desired action.
Create a sense of urgency
Injecting a sense of urgency into a Call-to-Action (CTA) drives immediate action by using language that implies limited time or exclusive opportunities, like “Act Now” or “Limited-Time Offer.” This taps into the fear of missing out (FOMO), encouraging quicker decision-making and response for a more effective CTA.
Direct to a landing page
Directing users to a landing page in email marketing boosts Call-to-Action (CTA) effectiveness by offering a dedicated, optimised space for the intended action. Rather than overwhelming recipients with the email content, a well-crafted CTA guides them to a conversion-focused landing page, extending the email experience with detailed information, visuals, and a clear path for action. Ensuring a seamless and user-friendly journey from email to landing page increases conversion likelihood, streamlines customer engagement, and provides valuable data for future marketing efforts.
Incentivise clicks
In email marketing, incentivising clicks in a Call-to-Action (CTA) means offering rewards or benefits to motivate engagement. Using language like “Unlock a Special Discount” or “Click for Exclusive Access” creates a sense of value. This encourages users to click through, increasing engagement, fostering positive brand association, and boosting the likelihood of conversion and satisfaction.
4. Segment your audience
Boosting customer engagement requires targeted email campaigns tailored to preferences, past bookings, and demographics. Using data-driven insights, personalised content, such as suggesting dream destinations and exclusive deals based on travel history, enhances engagement. Personalisation strengthens the brand-customer bond, demonstrating a commitment to understanding individual needs and elevating the overall travel experience.
5. Tell compelling stories
When highlighting the intrinsic value of travel experiences, storytelling is a powerful tool. Storytelling ignites wanderlust by sharing personal anecdotes that illustrate how journeys are transformative, but also demonstrates how services contribute to unforgettable experiences. Through the use of this art, enriching experiences are vividly depicted, deeper connections are made, and the brand is positioned as a storyteller of extraordinary adventures and experiences.
6. Optimise for mobile
Since mobile devices dominate our everyday communication, crafting emails for a seamless smartphone experience is crucial. With a large user base checking emails on mobile, prioritising mobile-friendly content is essential. Optimise visuals and calls-to-action (CTAs) for different screen sizes, ensuring a user-friendly experience. Every element, from appealing graphics to clear CTAs, should enhance readability and interaction. Emphasising mobile optimization caters to on-the-go preferences, ensuring accessible and impactful content, and fostering a positive engagement experience for your audience.
7. Encourage social sharing
Boost the impact of your travel, attractions, or hospitality offerings by integrating social sharing elements. Embed social media buttons to effortlessly encourage users to share deals, expanding brand visibility through viral potential. Leverage social proof with customer testimonials, reinforcing your offerings’ value and fostering community-driven endorsement. This strategic approach builds credibility, positioning your brand as a trusted choice in the competitive travel and hospitality sector, and creating a lasting impression on potential customers.
By combining enticing subject lines, captivating visuals, and compelling CTAs, you can create inspiring email content that motivates recipients to explore what your business has to offer.
Segmentation and targeting in email marketing
Segmenting email lists is crucial for effective email marketing in travel, attractions, and hospitality. Instead of sending the same message to everyone, segmentation involves sorting subscribers based on things like age, past behaviour, or what they like. This helps marketers send more fitting content. For example, someone into luxury stays might not care about budget deals. By using segmentation, emails can be more targeted, making it more likely people will engage and take action.
Segmentation also means making emails more personal, improving the overall customer experience. When emails speak to what a person likes or needs, it shows the brand gets them. This personal touch doesn’t just increase engagement; it also builds trust and loyalty, which is really important in an industry where happy customers matter a lot. In the competitive world of travel and hospitality, using segmentation in email marketing is a key part of making campaigns that really connect with customers.
Inspiring email examples from leading industry players
Suiteness – Consider a Staycation
Suiteness is a platform specialising in booking suite accommodations in major cities, and this email specifically targets those on their list who reside in or near Temple, Texas, showcasing potential suites for a local staycation. The email includes a link to their website for more suite options in the city as a helpful CTA, alongside a”Tips Concierge” section which outlines some tips for things to do while on vacation, such as signing up for a tour.
Priceline – Mystery Coupon
Priceline’s Black Friday email combines urgency, special deals and personalisation while incentivising the click with a ‘mystery coupon’. A great way to get users to click and explore – in the hopes of a BIG discount!
Ace Hotel – Pay it Forward
Ace Hotel’s ‘Pay it Forward for Future You’ email offers an interesting concept – booking a prepaid stay to earn 20% off the tab. The email also highlights Pride at one of the destinations they have a location at (Palm Springs) and a restaurant that has just opened at their location in Kyoto, alongside their robe, blanket and towel range available to purchase on their online shop – showing that cross-selling doesn’t always have to be for the same product or service.
Kayak – Check out Your Travel Plans
This booking confirmation email from KAYAK is simple yet effective. It includes all flight information in an easy-to-digest format and highlights KAYAK Trips to the recipient, along with CTAs to download KAYAK Trips to their iPhone or Android device.
In conclusion, crafting inspiring emails for travel, attractions, and hospitality is like mixing art with clever planning. The showcased examples illustrate the impact of catchy subject lines, cool visuals, and personal touches make a real impact.
Want to up your email game? Try embracing segmentation for tailored communication, creating a sense of urgency through clear CTAs, and leveraging user-generated content for authenticity.
Remember, the adventure doesn’t stop once recipients open the email; give them a smooth ride on your website too. With these tricks up your sleeve, you’ll not only capture attention but also foster lasting connections, enticing travellers to embark on unforgettable journeys with your brand.
