3 Ways to Effectively Engage Your Visitors with Email Marketing
Creating an email strategy to engage with your guests before, during, and after their stay can be an economical and effective way to keep your guests excited about your property. Luckily, your PMS (Property Management System) provider likely has features that enhance your email campaigns, and below we’ll help you identify those features as well as refine your email content and timing strategies.
1. Look for built-in email marketing features in your PMS
Your PMS provider might offer a built-in email marketing module for free or a subscription fee. Look for the following features that will help you streamline your email strategy from within your PMS database.
- Design tools to match your brand style: Look for design tools like custom colors, image galleries, videos, buttons, and text boxes with numerous font styles. Attention-grabbing, unique emails create more engagement from your recipients. If you’re new to designing emails, you may have access to templates in the email marketing module that you can customize to your brand.
- Customer filtering and list creation: Tools that enable you to filter and pull targeted customer lists ensure you’re reaching a specific audience without manually selecting recipients. For example, if you want to retarget guests who stayed at your property last year for Independence Day, filter for guests who stayed with you on July 4, 2023. Built-in segmentation tools are an easy way to provide personalized experiences for your guests.
- Custom merge fields that automate personalization: Merge fields enable you to create email templates that will pull your recipient's unique details, like their name, reservation information, anniversary date, birthdate, and even guest loyalty points balance. You can often save templates you created, so once you’ve created your design and plugged in your merge fields, save it for later use.
- Triggered and scheduled emails: Worried you won’t remember to send all the beautiful, customized emails you’ve created? You may not have to. Some PMS providers offer Triggered Correspondence – a set-and-forget feature that allows certain visitor actions to trigger email sends, like a stay summary when a guest checks out. For emails that aren’t being sent based on a reservation action, schedule ahead of time.
- Reporting that gauges email performance: Check your PMS for reports that cover campaign progress and performance. Data to look for include open rates, top links clicked, unsubscribes, bounces, and more. Thorough reporting options enable you to make future marketing decisions based on which emails are performing well – or losing subscribers.
2. Nurture your guests with meaningful messaging
Most companies practice email marketing, so it’s important to stand out in your visitors’ inboxes by creating meaningful, personalized content. Around 75% of marketers believe a personalized experience increases sales and the likelihood of a contact becoming a repeat customer, so it’s important to avoid sending out “canned” mass emails. In addition to using merge fields in your email campaigns, you can get creative in your messaging to increase the success of your emails while improving the likelihood of repeat bookings. Some ideas that provide a personal touch include:
- Offering your guest the same site as their last visit
- Discounting the nightly rate for returning visitors
- Using intel from notes or past stays to offer personalized activity ideas
- Showcasing upgrades or new offerings at your property since their last stay
- Acknowledging milestones, like if your guests mentioned it’s their anniversary
You can also use any design tools available to you to create beautifully designed emails that will capture your reader’s attention. Are the leaves starting to change at your property? Create a punny fall subject line or include some fall colors in your design.
3. Optimize your email engagement with strategic timing
Once you’ve identified your PMS email marketing features and written personalized and inviting content, you can start mapping out your outreach timeline.
If you can configure Triggered Correspondence in your PMS, try to schedule emails that send during the following stages:
- Booking: This may be the first impression you make with a new guest, so be sure to address your guest by their name, confirm their booking details, and showcase features of your property that will make them feel confident about staying with you. This may also be a good opportunity to prompt a rewards program sign-up too.
- Pre-check in: Let your guest know that you’re excited to see them soon while requesting any documents you need, or things they need to know before arrival, i.e. vehicle information, closed areas, etc. You can also use this as an opportunity for offering upsells or add-ons, like champaign or a room upgrade.
- Check-in: Warmly welcome your guest, providing details of their booking and information they may need, like the WIFI password or pool hours.
- Check-out: Thank your guest for staying with you, provide a summary of their stay, and notify them of upcoming events at your property.
- In-between nurturing: Gentle email nurturing keeps you on campers’ radars and lets them know you appreciate their business. Send a discounted rate offer for slow weekends or provide updates about the goings-on at your property. You can also send holiday emails to keep guests engaged.
While you don’t want to overwhelm your guests with communications, sometimes people just miss an email. Your PMS just might have a filter for this too.
Make the most of your email marketing tools and have fun growing your brand. With the right email marketing strategy and practice creating campaigns, you can make a positive, ongoing impression on your visitors.
For successful branding strategies, personalized email marketing templates, and other engagement tips, download your free Marketing Tookit.
