Why disastrous times in travel needn’t mean a disastrous email campaign.
2010 may be looked back on as the ‘annus horribilis’ for those connected to the travel industry. As if the slow economic recovery wasn’t enough of a problem (with more people choosing to holiday at home or not at all) the industry has also been a victim of volcanic ash leading to grounded flights, the collapse of several travel companies and airlines such as Goldtrail and Kiss Flights and all in all millions lost in revenue. It’s fair to say 2010 hasn’t been a great year for travel. Add this misfortune to badly-received and ill-timed tactical campaign decisions by the likes of RyanAir, and you are left with more than a few new frown lines on the faces of the travel top brass.
However, there’s a small silver lining in the ash cloud and now the dust has just about settled, online marketers are rethinking their use of email marketing particularly as a way to become more reactive in the face of travel adversity.
As the use of email as a marketing channel becomes more and more intelligent, so does the ability to target groups more effectively. In times of crisis, marketers are finding a reliable communications source is vital. An effective email marketing campaign will not only communicate messages quickly and cheaply but also enable marketers to maintain or even grow their brand through an otherwise disastrous time.
During the Icelandic volcano disruptions Swiss Airlines received praise for their dedicated Facebook page allowing customers to pass on tips and information to other customers. Whilst passing on information, the page also attracted an impressive 7000 ‘fans’ in a very short space of time. Other airlines and travel companies such as On The Beach set up similar pages or added more information to existing ones. With all the deserved acclaim that social media receives, primarily derived from having in place an effective 21st century feedback loop, we as marketers must still remember to look at what our customers are ‘telling us’ without them actually telling us. In other words, we need to look at onsite behaviour and know how to use this to turn a negative into a positive.
So it transpires that being more reactive and making use of all available resources efficiently is key to maintaining and even building strong relationships with customers. It seems obvious but a surprising amount of large companies fail when it comes to providing readily available information at times when it is needed most.
Behavioural email marketing allows us to identify how customers are behaving and send them email communication relevant to this. Types of behaviour to monitor include on site activity such as what people are doing on a website, key areas users are visiting and what has and hasn’t been purchased. Collecting this type of behavioural information provides the marketer with a powerful tool to build an effective communications campaign on. Behavioural email can be used to bridge the gap between what we are being told and what we are seeing.
During the recent collapse of several travel companies, one travel company reacted by using web analytics to analyse how customers were reacting to the problems within the industry. Web analytics allowed the company to see where customers were dropping off during the booking process, whether customers were searching for help regarding existing bookings or recent problems or whether there was simply an increased churn rate.
When dealing with a crisis companies have to balance the information they provide; on the one hand, they need to communicate to affected passengers, on the other, try not to focus on the doom and gloom of a bad situation. Behavioural email is an effective way of segmenting affected customers from unaffected customers to produce highly targeted campaigns using minimum resources. An action as simple as excluding affected groups from promotional offers will lower customer agitation. Alternatively you could set up an automated email campaign for affected customers providing links to specific landing pages, forums or social networking pages where the customer can get information, help and advice. Using behavioural email marketing in this way will ensure the customer feels looked after with minimal impact on an already diminished marketing budget.
Having access to a comprehensive database and being able to use this information to target customers effectively is becoming more and more relevant to email marketers. In a market crisis, being able to deliver information quickly is paramount and in the last 12 months several savvy companies have been able to take advantage of this. When the volcano struck, these forward thinking companies were able to respond by identifying affected customers and emailing relevant information to help them deal with the problems, while at the same time suppressing affected customers from promotional emails that would not be appropriate. Anyone else interested in volcano related information could be targeted with dynamically merged information on existing emails. Simple links back to a microsite or even a Facebook page have a big impact when it comes to customer care and retention. Using advanced segmentation, such as RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) data, high value customers can be singled out. This enables the marketer to split out a campaign by customer type and monitor response accordingly.
Following a crisis it’s important to continue to act with the same sensitivity and forethought as during a crisis. At times like this, the risk of losing custom is increased; any sensible marketer would aim to use their data wisely and design a campaign based around damage limitation. Following the collapse of two travel companies recently, one customer-centric tour operator continued to suppress affected passengers from any offer-led emails for several weeks and instead, sent alternative, more helpful emails to these travellers. This move not only ensured customers were treated respectfully but also lowered the risk of reactive unsubscribes from angry, irritated customers. By analysing on-site behaviour and identifying when the customer is ready to return to receiving offers, a well constructed behavioural campaign can be sent to carefully entice them back.
While it may not be possible to avert a crisis, knowing who to target, when to target and what messages to communicate is becoming increasingly important. Tools such as behavioural email, social media and feedback loops are obvious channels. Knowing how to use them may help limit damage to your brand or perhaps even improve your reputation in the face of adversity.