Dear hoteliers,
This analysis is based on information gleaned from over 1000 hotels that run Christmas campaigns with us every year.
The first important point is that you should develop your campaign with two questions in mind.
- What is your objective?
- What period do you want to highlight?
Your Christmas strategy must include loyalty activities and a purchase offer.
Segmentation of your database
According to analytics we have run with over 1000 of our hotel partners we see that a personalised marketing e-mail campaign is 5x more powerful in open rates, clicks and conversions.
Although not everybody celebrates Christmas, it is still something that is present everywhere (TV, radio, social media, etc.). So, when it comes to Christmas, you have a very strong opportunity to talk with your entire database. Use this opportunity, as it doesn’t happen often during the year!
Unique offering (Hook)
Our analysis has shown that a simple invitation on a Christmas campaign, such as “Book Now”, does not provide the desired results. You need a hook, a motif and ideas to get the customer to book.
Examples
If you book through our exclusive Christmas newsletter you will receive
- Bottle of prosecco on arrival
- Discount
- Spa Voucher
- Meal Voucher
- Activity tickets (theatre, Christmas markets, Christmas cooking school)
When should you send it?
There are 3 effective strategies you can follow:
Come and celebrate Christmas in our hotel
If your hotel is the kind of place where people would come for Christmas, send your campaign at least 30 days before 25th December.
Happy Christmas!
If this isn’t the case, just send a nice Happy Christmas message (including a little offer for the next year) on 25th December.
I’m too busy and I can’t plan a campaign for 25th December
This is, unfortunately, the case for many independent hotels that aren’t equipped with a proper Hotel CRM. In this case, forget about the “Christmas” campaign and go for the “Happy New Year” campaign. This will give you more time as it is still acceptable to say it during the first couple of weeks in January.
What message should you write?
When analysing the Christmas e-mailings sent last year, we saw that they were divided into 2 main groups: the ones with more than 50% click rate and the ones with less than 10% click rate.
So now you should ask yourself: what was the common denominator of those mails with such a high click rate?
The length!
It wasn’t the design, it wasn’t the date when it was sent, it wasn’t the targeted guest segments and it wasn’t anything that should “make sense”. It was just the length of the content.
So, you should have 4 sentences maximum:
- Introduction
- Little sentence about Christmas
- Advantage for the future guest
- Signature
Here is a very good example of a Christmas e-mailing text:
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALL THE NAME_OF_YOUR_HOTEL TEAM
Dear Mr. NAME_OF_YOUR_CLIENT,
Happy Christmas!
Come visit us in Paris at the most magical time of the year. The City of Lights during the festive season is a once in a life-time experience.
My team and I would be delighted to welcome you back to our hotel. And don’t forget that as a valued client, you will get LIST_OF_THE_ADVANTAGES
Best regards,
YOUR_NAME
NAME_OF_YOUR_HOTEL
PHONE_OF_YOUR_HOTEL
YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS
WEBSITE_OF_YOUR_HOTEL
Gift Vouchers
Remember that 27% of international bookings start with a “Recommendation from a friend”. So, a gift voucher offer can be one of the most effective strategies for driving volume in the next year. It is also your chance to get your current database to refer their friends and families to share in the experience they have already had at your hotel.
It is also an extremely effective way to increase your cash flow for the usually tough months ahead in January and February.
The gift vouchers can be cash vouchers or gift experiences, it doesn’t even hurt to offer the current customer benefits in return for purchasing gift vouchers for their loved ones.
For example, for purchasing £100 gift voucher you get a free drink next time you dine at our restaurant, or 10% off your next stay or a free room upgrade next time you book with us.
How should you structure your emails?
Want to learn more about the best way to structure your e-mails? Read one of our previous articles to get great insights: http://blog.experience-hotel.com/how-can-you-improve-your-hotel-email-campaigns-with-great-simplicity/
