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How Travel and Hospitality Brands Can Level Up Holiday Email Campaigns

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A lot of email marketing, especially for holiday planning, is focused on retail and eCommerce brands. But, virtually any industry can benefit from email marketing, especially travel and hospitality brands. 

If you run a travel or hospitality brand, don’t think you can slide by without any holiday email marketing. The 2021 season also has some unique differences from last year, when the vast majority of the world was limiting travel. As the economy continues to open up and things get back on track, travel is poised to be at the top of everyone’s holiday wish list. 

You don’t want to miss out. Most people start planning vacations about six months out, so keeping that in mind as you prep now for your holiday campaigns can put you in a great position as the season starts. Here are some tips to improve your holiday email campaigns.

Go all-in on personalization

With the ability to tap into data and consumer behavior we have now, there’s no limit to the ways you can personalize your emails for customers. 

We’ve got a few ideas.

Zembula hospitality price email mock up

Use real-time notifications to keep your readers updated on changes in pricing and inventory. If you know they’ve had their eye on one of your hotel rooms for a potential trip, let them know, in real-time, that the prices are changing. That can trigger a little bit of FOMO. And, don’t forget to include real-time ratings and reviews for every property or location you feature.

Something else to do is highlight your customer’s loyalty to your brand. Showcase their points, miles, and times they’ve shopped with you before. Then, use that same data to show them how to use their points and miles to check out new destinations or places to stay. 

Another way to personalize is by using geolocation. Knowing where your customers live (use their zipcode or even home airport) means you can tailor your holiday campaigns around the weather. When it’s cold and dreary in Minneapolis in November, a vacation to Florida in February sounds amazing.

Restaurant booking email mock up

Use geolocation to target customers in the area too. If you’re a national or regional restaurant chain, for example, you can target local customers to book during the holidays.

With real-time updates, your customers never have to worry about missing out on a reservation or booking. What they see has the most up-to-date information.

Create holiday-themed content 

During the holiday season, many retail and eCommerce brands create themed content such as gift guides to include in emails that get people clicking and buying. Hospitality and travel brands can do the same. 

Plan ahead and think about your customer’s biggest needs. Are they dying to get away after being home all last year? Do they want to learn about more fun things they can do in their area as a staycation? Do they want to know how they can cash in those loyalty points for a cool trip or event?

When you have that information, start planning content to help inspire your customers to act over the holiday season. 

Some ideas include:

  • Destination guides (consider breaking these into areas and budgets)
  • Travel themed gifts (for the travel-lover in your life, last minute shopper, etc.)
  • Travel tips (how to pack for a warm weather trip, travel tips from the pros, etc.)
  • Features on destinations that have holiday events and festivals
  • Featured or recommended locations based on customer history or popularity (for example, a holiday-themed 12 days of winter wonderland destinations)

Acting as a source of information can help keep you top of mind during the holiday season and get customers interested in buying.

Smart blocks make it possible

Zembula makes it really easy to create your holiday templates, personalize them, and update them in real-time with Smart Blocks. All you have to do is drop a snippet of code into the templates, and the Smart Blocks do the rest. 

You don’t need to worry about segmenting your list. Zembula’s AI optimizes your emails, automatically picking the content that’s most relevant to your customer and shows it to them, updating in real-time. They’ll see personalized real-time notification banners, perfect for keeping them updated during the busy holiday season. 

The time to start planning your holiday campaigns is now. Zembula can help you do it. Want to learn more? Get in touch. One of our experts will be happy to chat.

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