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Enhancing the overall consumer proposition with ancillary products

By Ritesh Gupta

Ancillary revenue products vary by complexity, cost and their impact on consumers.

Ancillary performance is about identifying what added services and products your customers place value on and how much that value is worth to them.

Hotels have been implementing ancillary revenue boosting strategies.

Assessing the maturity level of such initiatives in the hotel industry, Jennifer Keen, director, Total Revenue Solutions, says a lot more needs to be done.

“In comparison to other sectors within the hospitality industry, we have a long way to go in hotels to really maximise the ancillary opportunities. As an industry, we need to get closer to two areas; what really drives “value” for our customers, and what has an impact at the bottom line for the business,” said Keen.

She added, “Too often, I see packages that are deemed as “popular” by the hotel, so they spend money to market them, commit money to the package inclusions and use valuable resources to deliver the package. These packages are popular as they provide such great value the customers want them....however, they make little or no additional revenue for the hotel and thus have no commercial viability.”

“Moving away from the idea of packaging to consider add on sales, this is also an area where hoteliers traditionally struggle. Quite simple, we don’t commit enough time and resources to dialogue with our customers about what they want, and then train our teams to deliver a tailored proposition,” added Keen, who is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming Revenue Management and Pricing in Travel 2010 conference, scheduled to take place in Amsterdam (23-24 November).

What makes sense to the customer, what fit seamlessly in the customer’s purchase life cycle and how the overall consumer proposition can be enhanced with ancillary products. If simplicity and customer service is an objective for the partner then limiting the number of ancillary partners to core product makes sense.

Standalone or joint effort

Travel suppliers and intermediaries acknowledge that any single travel player cannot truly be a “one stop shop” for everything linked to travel. In this context, what should hotels offer other than their core offering?

Keen pointed out, “If you go to an airline website, a car rental site (or of course any of the major third party intermediaries), you can book multiple travel components. Typically, if you visit a hotels website you can only book a bedroom. Most companies have yet to figure out how to sell their own add-ons and upsells, yet alone offering other components of the travel process.”

She further explained: the first step for hotels needs to be to ascertain what additional items they can sell online, that customers will be willing to pre-purchase and commit to in advance. Recognising that the emotional impact of spending money is far easier when all that is required is a “tick in a box”, we need to be able to tailor the options that appear before each customer at the close of the sale.

“For instance, if a guest has booked a corporate room only rate, then offer them wi-fi packages, pre purchased breakfast or advance purchase parking. If they have booked a Romance Package, offer them a late checkout package, flowers or upgraded bathroom amenities,” she said.

“So, the primary considerations need to be – what adds value to both the customer and the organisation, and how is the message tailored by booking segment.”

Partnering with one or limited specialists that can provide multiple products also helps reduce the complexity and management costs for the travel supplier whilst maximising profitability. If site performance is critical to revenues, and it typically always is, multiple partners can sometimes slow down integration efforts and ultimately site performance.

For their part, partners must ensure that the ancillary product is integrated throughout their retailing strategy from marketing communications, to all customer touch points including offline channels. Getting this aspect of the partnership right is just the beginning though, as the integration also needs a high level of relevancy from a perspective of supply and demand matching but also from a customer purchase lifecycle relevance.

Overall, it is clear that ancillary revenue has become increasingly important for most travel suppliers as they strive to maximise share of wallet of their customers, however just bolting on an ancillary product to their existing offering is no longer sufficient.

Today successful suppliers need to fully integrate their ancillary partner seamlessly into their website offering customer the ability to add ancillary products either as individual components or fully integrated as a dynamic package.

For certain products, one may have the right assets within the company to launch a new ancillary stream, or the complexity and cost of running the product is too high. It’s important to remain focused on operations and resources of your core products. The benefits of partnering with specialist in the market place can allow you to offer more to your customers than maybe you could on your own and take advantage of the latest innovations and developments they are using.

Revenue Management and Pricing in Travel 2010 conference

Jennifer Keen, director, Total Revenue Solutions is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming Revenue Management and Pricing in Travel 2010 conference, scheduled to take place in Amsterdam (23-24 November).

For more information, click here:

Or contact

Rosie Akenhead
rosie@eyefortravel.com
0044 (0) 207 375 7229

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Coming to terms with cost structures associated with search, social media and mobile evolution

IN-DEPTH: Interview with Brij Bhushan Chachra, director, Revenue Account Management – India, Middle East & Africa Preferred Hotel Group

Hoteliers are always trying to find the optimal point in a cost benefit analysis with regards to technology.

However, it is said that often that analysis is difficult to accomplish since there are so many factors that impact the business. Clearly, hotels and other businesses want to focus their energies on the highest lifetime value customers but investing in technology and resources to segment those customers and develop strategies to retain them is an expensive undertaking.

Significantly when it comes to controlling costs, hoteliers often miss out on technology costs and support costs. Also, ideally, if the focus is on highest revenue customer with the lowest required support with the highest lifetime value that books through the lowest cost channel, how tough is it today to manage the same?

Acknowledging such predicament, Brij Bhushan Chachra, director, Revenue Account Management – India, Middle East & Africa Preferred Hotel Group, says although in this part of the world hoteliers do understand the importance of technology they do more than often take it is as "a good to have rather than must have".

“Today technology is changing the landscape of communication and distribution and there is no way a hotelier can ignore the same. While we have managed to understand the management of the channels, it is the new channels and evolving landscape of the Internet through search, social media, mobile evolution is to define how the cost structures and the lifetime value will change. It is therefore something we will need to continue to adapt and will continue to be a challenge to manage,” says who is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming Travel Distribution Summit India 2010, to be held in Mumbai (6-7 October).

Chachra also spoke to EyeforTravel’s Ritesh about the main considerations in formulating a distribution strategy. Excerpts:

Changing a hotel’s market mix does not happen overnight even as one reacts to changing market conditions. Would it be right to say that those suppliers, who have been focusing on going direct to consumers, have lost out on indirect channel partners?

To me, it is not losing out if you have gone direct but the hotels who have not maintained a balance between the direct and indirect channels have lost. Therefore, it is imperative that the hotel maintains a healthy balance between the two. Both distribution channels have their advantages and disadvantages and revenue managers have to maintain the equilibrium for maximising revenues. We need to keep in mind that each of the channels is having a different end user and the existence of various channels is to address the different needs of the client. Therefore, it is important to maintain the alignment between the direct and indirect channels. With the change in the global economic landscape, you would like to use as many distribution channels to have the maximum and the best reach to the consumers hence have better market shares and revenues.

The nature of the lodging business is that there are always peaks and troughs of demand related to the supply available in any given market. This can be seasonal, development-related, or economic. What factors do you take into consideration for all five channels - hotel direct, voice / reservation center, 3rd party Internet, brand web and GDS / agency – as the external environment varies?

It is important to understand the reach and contribution of all of the mentioned channels depends upon the hotel and the segment of business it targets. The geographies where the hotel wants to target the business from will also influence the channel mix. While we may debate on cost on distribution as a key point, my view will be to look at the revenue contribution from the various channels. For example, although the cost of distribution on the GDS may be higher than the hotel website, however if the market moves a high volume of international corporate business it is logical to focus more on the GDS channel. The other factors which can be looked into are branding and influence on the image of the hotel to consider the various channels. It is important that the hotel when considering the channels uses channels which enhance the image of the hotel in accordance to its physical persona.

In case of hotels, customers are purchasing more than just a convenience. Customer decision making is influenced by a mix of tangible and intangible benefits represented by the brand or the physical asset. For their part, OTAs say that they offer tools that help consumers discover value as a function of the benefit that matters to them. How do you think OTAs have played their part in today’s environment?

OTA’s have played a very important role in forming todays’ electronic environment. The OTA’s were the first to show the power of the Internet. From making electronic brochures of their websites to using the Internet as a powerful sales and distribution tool was highlighted by the OTA’s. With their focus on the web OTA’s have evolved and providing tools to the consumers to discover value as a function of the benefit that matters to them. However, the environment has changed today. The hotels have realised the importance of the web and are providing similar tools. Also with the advent of social media and the ability of the hotels to reach out to their client base in a cost effective manner is reducing the reliance on these channels.

Online channels allow hotels to be more dynamic in fast-acting in their rate management strategies. OTAs say the very dynamic nature of online channels does make them the most effective channels for quickly driving demand and occupancy via pricing strategy flexibility. Discounting, when applied in a targeted and strategic manner, should positively impact occupancy and revenue. Are OTAs associated with “last minute” production or do you think there are strategies in place for months or even 365 days a year?

Every channel has its own business model, lead time and patterns. Therefore it will not be correct to define OTA’s as a “last minute” solution. It always pays to have a long term strategy looking at your peaks and valleys. However, the truth is that not many hoteliers and revenue managers are doing it. One of the tips we give to our hotels is to keep a rolling 13 months of inventory open. Once per month, add one more month of rates on an on-going basis – by doing so, you can use the experience of the month you just finished to apply appropriate strategies for the same time period next year. Also this helps to exploit the full potential of electronic systems and would help to improve the image of the OTA’s from a “last minute” solution to a strategic thought after distribution medium.

The industry has witnessed the emergence of a new referral marketing platform that intends to reach out to friends, families and followers of existing customers on different social networks. Such platform allows businesses to engage and reward their customers as they emerge into brand ambassadors and open up a new and cost efficient channel of distribution. The industry has also seen the activation of the travel industry’s first ecommerce capability on Facebook (Delta’s initiative). How do you assess such developments pertaining to social media?

It is going to be a great way of reaching to consumer through a credited source. Companies will gain if they go for the first mover advantage. In my opinion although it is a great idea, the referral is only going to influence business for selective hotels who have a strong product and consumer focus. Also the key will be the level of electronic engagement from the hotel with the consumer. Again the channel mix is a key driver here. Also the luxury segment may gain more than the budget segment as a consumer always want to showcase about the prestige associated with the same in social networks. This is an extremely interesting new platform and we will need to wait and see the emergence.

Travel Distribution Summit India 2010

EyeforTravel is scheduled conduct its annual Travel Distribution Summit India 2010 event next month in Mumbai (6-7 October).

For more information, click here:

Or contact:

Simon Carkeek
Executive Director
EyeforTravel
+44 (0)2073757181
simon@eyefortravel.com

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Online travel making significant gains across the European travel landscape

Online travel and the technology that powers travel distribution have revolutionised the European travel industry, maintaining strong growth prospects despite tough economic conditions, according to a study commissioned by ETTSA (European Technology and Travel Services Association).

The report shows how independent travel distribution has stimulated pricing transparency and eased consumer access to travel product and pricing information for airfares, hotel rooms, car rental and other travel products, and promoted growth and innovation.

“Technology unleashed a revolution in travel distribution, spawning unrivalled innovation in retailing and commercial models and breaking down the barriers to competition. The study reveals the scope of that transformation in Europe,” says Tom Parker, Secretary General of ETTSA, whose members include both online travel agents (OTAs) and global distribution systems (GDSs).

During the dramatic global recession of 2009, the European travel industry experienced a steep 10% decline in gross revenues, shaving some €26 billion off of 2008 sales and ending the year at €232 billion. The European travel market will experience a restrained recovery through 2011 as the region gradually emerges from the economic malaise. Single-digit growth (at best) is anticipated through 2011 : The market is expected to post €233 billion in gross sales in 2010, a €1 billion (<1%) increase, followed by a more promising €5 billion (2%) gain in 2011.

Online travel represents a relatively bright spot on the European travel landscape. Internet booking channels markedly outperformed the broader industry from 2006 through 2009, posting sales gains every year as more consumers turn to the Internet for shopping and booking.

Total online sales even grew slightly in 2009. Year-over-year growth is expected to continue through 2011, although the rich double-digit increases of 2007 (up 24%) and 2008 (up 13%) may be a thing of the past. Online growth rates are expected to reach high single digits (9% in 2011) as the European economy and travel industry regain their health. Online travel has continued to make significant gains in penetration, especially during the recession in 2009. Bargain hungry travellers sought discounts via the Web and travel suppliers used online channels to push special offers and sales amid the falloff in demand. Online penetration for all of Europe will reach the one-third threshold in 2010.

Share

There are significant differences in market share, growth rates, and trends among the more mature travel markets of the 17 Western European countries and the emerging travel markets of the EU NE 12. Western Europe represents well over 90% of the total European travel market in terms of supplier revenues – its regional travel market posted gross sales of €214 billion in 2009, versus the EU NE 12’s €18 billion.

The travel market of the EU NE 12 may be relatively small compared to that of Western Europe, but it has been growing at a faster pace (or, in 2009, declining at a slower pace). The EU NE 12 is steadily gaining share of the total European travel market, from 6% in 2006 to a projected 8% in 2011, reflecting the faster growth rate expected in an emerging market. While travel in Western Europe is expected to slip slightly to €213.7 billion in 2010, the EU NE 12 is projected to see a 5% increase in gross travel sales to €18.9 billion.

Online travel is making steady and significant gains across the European travel landscape. Online penetration will surge from just 21% of all travel in Western Europe in 2006 to 36% in 2011. Online penetration in the EU NE 12, while much lower at just 18% in 2009 (versus 32% for Western Europe), is also making steady gains. In 2010, one fifth of all travel sold in the EU NE 12 will be sold online. Growth of online travel sales in both regions will continue to outperform the total travel markets through 2011.

Key Points:

• Independent travel distribution provides substantial highquality employment across the European Union. The GDSs employ about 6,000 people in Europe, and the OTAs about 13,000. Traditional travel agencies, which rely on GDSs for accessing and booking travel products, employ approximately 300,000 travel professionals across the 27 member states. At the GDSs and OTAs, one quarter of employment qualifies as high-tech.

• The economic impact of independent travel distribution extends far beyond direct employment and reaches across the European travel economy. Independent travel distribution indirectly supports growth and employment in airlines, railways, hotels and resorts, car rental companies, and the wider European tourism industry.

• Western Europe represents about 90% of total travel sales in the EU, and the EU NE12 (Member States that joined in 2005 and 2007) represent 10%. Central and Eastern Europe have experienced stronger growth than Western Europe, however, in both total travel sales and online travel sales.

• Although the European travel industry saw a 10% decline in revenues in 2009 due to the global economic recession, a restrained recovery is expected for the years to come, with 1-2% growth predicted for 2010 and 2011.

• Online travel sales have grown significantly in the last decade, and their market share is now one third of all travel sales in the EU.

• The GDSs represent one fifth of total travel sales in Europe. This is a slight decrease over recent years, mainly attributable to the growth in direct sales on airline websites.

• OTAs have been star performers, with 6% growth in 2009 despite the recession. They are expected to nearly double their share of total travel sales to 11% by 2011 (from 6% in 2006).

• The OTAs are growing particularly fast in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, and will become even more important as travellers broaden their demand for regional and international travel.

• The GDSs are integral to the OTA business model. Most OTAs today rely on a GDS to access and book flights, rail, hotels, cars, packages, and cruises.

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Travel experts to take over @bmibaby_com twitterfeed starting today

Expert travel and tourism photographer, Tony Pleavin, is set to take part in a live Twitter interview today at 3pm (UK time).

The Q&A session will be the first in a series that will see travel experts take over the bmibaby twitterfeed.

Pleavin, an established commercial destination, travel and tourism photographer, will be taking over the @bmibaby_com twitterfeed for an hour to answer questions about his profession and the numerous destinations he has visited through work, such as Canada, New Zealand and Fiji.

Pleavin will answer all travel and photography related questions.

A full copy of all questions asked and answers will be published online following the Twitter interview session on September 30th.

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Creating a more memorable experience for guests through their mobile devices

IN-DEPTH: Interview with Kerry Kennedy, Vice President, Omni Hotels

Mobile technology is particularly useful for all types of travellers, because it provides them with easy access to important travel information while they are on the road. Both leisure and business travellers need to keep their plans organised and have trip information like flight numbers, hotel addresses and driving directions readily on hand.

For their part, conceptually, hotels would like to connect with the guest at all stops along the buying lifecycle.

As far the mobile technology is concerned, at this stage, one needs to assess where the focus should be: Should it be related with being more about a service tool or offering `manage my booking’ and check-in functions plus accessing travel information such as hotel maps and directions?

It should be both, says Kerry Kennedy, Vice President, Omni Hotels.

“Guests are using mobile sites and apps for both bookings and other travel functions. Appropriate focus should be given to ensure that “bookability” is quick, easy, and intuitive to ensure an appropriate ROI for the tool. However, added functions to enhance the guest experience should not be overlooked such as mobile check-in and check-out, resort walking maps, location based services suggestions, as well as GPS functions and more,” pointed out Kennedy, who is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010, to be held in Chicago (13-14 October).

Kennedy spoke to EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta about the utility of mobile devices, the scope of improvement and lot more. Excerpts:

Booking – especially last minute bookings – along with pre stay planning and in market arrival can be natural fits for the mobile channel. How do you assess the utility of the mobile phones in the hotel industry?

Kerry Kennedy:

Mobile is becoming increasingly important in the hotel industry. With the proliferation of smart phones expected to surpass regular mobile phones in 2011, more and more savvy business travellers (as well as astute leisure travellers) are coming to expect full functionality of a business’ website via their smart phones and other devices such as iPads. These mobile devices serve the hospitality industry well in allowing us to showcase our properties in ways we never could before and reach loyal guests and new potential guests at the point of purchase decision or even during stay to enhance their overall experience with us. Touch screens, larger iPad screens, HD screens and faster 3G, 4G, and WiFi connections are making it easier to serve the guest rich media that envelops their site experience and leads to higher conversion ratios.

One area where mobile can help the deliberate planning process is with social networking. Users can quickly share plans and get feedback from co-travellers who are not collocated for the planning process. How do you assess the potential of such approach?

Kerry Kennedy:

The potential for social and mobile integration is high. It is already virtually impossible to purchase a new smart phone without the social apps already loaded as part of the mobile desktop setup. Going forward, I envision that mobile and social functions will be married together to create a more interactive and compelling experience whereby users will be able to have dialogue, seek advice, and share & post their thoughts and opinions of their travel purchases and stays with their social network circle which will have a great effect on the hospitality industry to ensure that the best experience is provided to all guests.

The choice of hotel for most people is an involved process – location, facilities, brand, price all have a role to play especially when people are choosing their annual holiday. This perhaps makes it more suitable for PC-based browsing. What’s your opinion regarding mobile screen vs PC debate?

Kerry Kennedy:

At this time, I think that is still true for the most part as PC browsing is a bit easier for navigate during the shop and comparison process. However, the quality of mobile screens are becoming better and better with the advent of larger screens on the iPad, high resolution HD screens, high performing backlit screens and easy-to-use touch screens. This gives hoteliers the opportunities to quickly and easily showcase their properties in ways we’ve never be able to before and reach a new niche of guests that are on- or near-location at the point of purchase decision. I see mobile distribution as another up-and-coming channel that will allow us to grow our over share of the pie, not merely shift the existing pieces of the pie.

One of the major developments this year has been the availability of free navigation systems on mobile handsets. And the way applications are mushrooming around location-based services, one can only expect more excitement in this arena. What do you make of such developments from the travel industry’s perspective?

Kerry Kennedy:

I think this is a very important shift in the way we can reach and market to guests from a new platform. In addition to marketing a hotel based on guest demographics, loyal members, price, and other traditional factors, we can now also develop strategy around marketing to guests who are visiting a city for a particular reason, event or location. For example, we can now pair our hotel with a specific service or address location and parallel the sale of the hotel to the primary reason for the guest’s trip. That’s not to say this strategy should replace traditional sales strategies, but it’s a new one that can enhance the overall distribution of the brand.

Has the industry realised that focusing on location is just one of the ways to best use mobile capability to drive optimal consumer response to your efforts?

Kerry Kennedy:

The industry has not fully realised that yet, but it is fast approaching. This is one way that we can create a more memorable experience for the guest and have great interaction with them during their stay. Providing the guest with relevant information through their mobile devices at the desired and initiated request of the guest helps to garner a more satisfied and loyal guest.

Recently, a travel guide publisher in the US introduced travel guides for iPhone, featuring Augmented Reality feature along side user-generated content and automated trip planner (the guide suggests the most personalised trip). How do you assess such developments related to applications for smart phones?

Kerry Kennedy:

I think these are great pilot ideas that fill a need of the more discerning traveller. However, I think it important to note that these apps should be easy and intuitive to use, serve the user relevant information, and not bombard the user with mobile display ads or push notice advertisements. If they do, they will turn off the user.

Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010

Kerry Kennedy, Vice President, Omni Hotels, is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming Travel Distribution Summit North America 2010, to be held in Chicago (13-14 October). The two-day event will feature over 80 speakers, including the ones from Hilton, Wyndham, Travelport, Lufthansa, Expedia, Google and from many other such organisations of repute.

For more information, click here:

Or contact:

Marco Saio
Event Director
marco@eyefortravel.com
0044 (0) 207 375 7219

Or

Rosie Akenhead
Event Director
rosie@eyefortravel.com
0044 (0) 207 375 7229

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Delta and Air France KLM launch experiential marketing campaign

Delta Airlines and JV partners Air France KLM are taking on British Airways with the launch of their first joint experiential marketing campaign at Heathrow Terminal 5, reports mad.co.uk.

The report says Delta is looking to build on the recent upturn in business travel as the recession eases by boosting the on board facilities it offers to its transatlantic business passengers. The initiative come at a stage when it is being highlighted that corporate travel continues to rebound at a rapid pace, through August 2010, with a double-digit increase year over year in overall demand.

The campaign features a virtual flight experience to showcase Delta’s new flat bed seats as well as an interactive wall, developed to maximise engagement of passing business travellers. Infra-red beams are broken as travellers walk past the wall which trigger imagery to promote key destination messages. Travellers can further interact with the wall by touching the screen to play a game which highlights products available from the Delta and Air France KLM joint venture.

As far as the signs of recovery are concerned, Europe, led by Germany’s astonishing economic performance in the first half of the year, saw significant jumps in demand (IATA reports the region showed 6.2 percent increase in demand year-over-year in July) and in average ticket price in all categories during the second quarter. The most surprising category was regional business class, which showed a significant upward tick in the second quarter, according to a third-quarter update to the 2010 Industry Forecast published by BCD Travel consulting unit Advito.

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New social media application to raise awareness of European rail travel

A new social media application for Rail Europe has been unveiled. The application, Travel Comparator, has been designed to enhance travel planning and bookings, strengthen corporate branding and increase user generated content.

Developed by San Diego, CA-based online marketing agency BusinessOnLine, the “Facebook-based” application gives travellers the means to make well informed decisions by instantly comparing travel times via air, train or car between European cities. In addition, the app links back to Rail Europe’s website and Facebook discussion forum allowing travellers to book fares, communicate with Rail Europe representatives and share routes and stories with other travellers and friends.

It is being highlighted that travelling by train offers city centre to city centre connections in Europe. Plus, it is often the best choice in terms of time and cost savings. But outside of Europe, there is not much awareness about such benefits. Hence, the new application has been worked out.

The app utilises multiple application programming interfaces from sites such as Kayak.com and Google Maps to determine travel times, taking into consideration key factors such as transportation time between airport and city centre.

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Flight tracking app brings customisable calendar integration to iPhone

Flight information solutions provider FlightView has added new features to its iPhone app: calendar integration, self-service help and in-flight details.

The new functionality powers iPhone users to manage travel by integrating their flight and travel data directly into their smartphone’s calendar.

FlightView’s new calendar feature provides users with the option of entering flight information into the calendar on a flight-by-flight or trip-by-trip basis, as opposed to an all-or-nothing proposition, which can drain battery life and overpopulate the calendar, stated the company.

FlightView also offers an additional customisation option, enabling users to assign a flight or trip to their work, home, or some other personalised calendar.

Additional new features include:

• Air-Travel Help Section: Tips from the travel experts, including flight tracking advice, flight status definitions and an all new Frequently Asked Questions section.

• In-Air Flight Details: Check out a plane’s position, speed and altitude on the map.

“In the best of circumstances, air travel can be extremely stressful – especially when managing multiple flights and appointments,” says Mike Benjamin, CEO of FlightView. “Our loyal customers asked for calendar integration, and we are proud to be one of the first iPhone flight-tracking apps to offer this capability.”

FlightView’s flight-tracking app is available for $1.99 in the iPhone app store.

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14 tips for your holiday email marketing strategy

Online retailers will face another challenging holiday season – acquiring site traffic, increased sales goals, increased competition and more-savvy, cost-conscious customers; but with the right strategy and tools in place there is tremendous opportunity.

By now you should be finalising your holiday email marketing strategy and preparing for the busiest time of year.

Here are 14 tips to help you fine tune your strategy before your first holiday campaign is deployed.

Tip 1: Review last year’s campaigns

Take some time to look at last year’s creative, messaging, offers, deployment schedule, and metrics, paying close attention to conversions and any spikes in opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and complaints. Also review your segmentation tactics to identify what worked. Finally, look at emails that were forwarded and shared with social networks the most.

Knowing what worked for you last year, and what didn’t, will help you build a successful strategy this year.

Tip 2: Set yourself up for success

Now is the time to start gathering the data you need to make your holiday campaigns truly relevant. Ask customers to update their information in your preference center or send out surveys or product reviews and closely monitor results. That way, you’ll be able to target each subscriber with personalised, relevant offers to increase conversion and sales.

You should also start testing your campaigns in advance before your deployment schedule gets too hectic. You could also promote holiday reward programs early to increase registrations and to get your customers engaged with your brand before your upcoming holiday campaigns.

Tip 3: Follow the phases of the holiday

Your messaging should be progressive and follow the phases of the season:

• August to October – Holiday messaging should be included in your email campaigns, but only as a secondary message as mentioned in Tip 2, not as the primary content of the email
• November to December – Holiday messaging should be the primary focus of the email campaigns
• Thanksgiving – Don’t overlook the Thanksgiving holiday; create a specific Thanksgiving-related email
• Black Friday – While you can send Black Friday teaser messages, you should consider a specific campaign to deploy the day after Thanksgiving, possibly offering subscribers a special discount they can use in store or online
• Cyber Monday – Like Black Friday campaigns, you can announce your sales early, but be sure to send a specific email on Cyber Monday
• Shipping Deadlines – As the holidays approach, send messages about shipping deadlines for standard, express, and guaranteed delivery dates
• Christmas Day – A friendly email wishing your customers happy holidays lets them know you appreciate them while keeping your brand top of mind
• After Christmas – After the holidays, don’t just promote your sales and exchange policies, but take advantage of the opportunity to cross-sell, up-sell and send gift card redemption reminders

Tip 4: Decide on a deployment schedule early and stick with it

Almost every online retailer plans to increase their deployment schedules during the holidays. Don’t just increase the number of campaigns because everyone else is. Instead, put detailed plans in place before the first deployment outlining your message and deployment schedule. Working ahead lets you automate campaigns to free up time and resources and ensures that all of your messages work together to increase revenue.

Tip 5: Pay attention to basic best practices

The holidays are the busiest time of year. You’re probably planning to triple, quadruple, or more, the number of emails you’re sending. But that’s no excuse to let basic best practices slip. Don’t rush through creation and miss important aspects like ALT tags, broken images and links, and other inaccuracies. Pay close attention to:

• CTA – Use a single, clear call-to-action in your messages and resist the urge to pack your emails with too many products, offers, and alerts
• Headers/footers – Use holiday-inspired headers and footers that link to gift centers, customer service, shipping rates, and delivery schedules
• Deliverability – Monitor bounces, complaints, and unsubscribes as the increase in the number of deployments can cause these numbers to spike and may damage your reputation
• Update automated campaigns – If you’re running any automated drip campaigns, review the creative and messaging to give it a holiday flair
• Take the time to test – Email provides almost instant results, so take the time to perform some tests, but run the majority of your tests in September and October before your deployment schedule increases

Tip 6: Design effective landing pages

Getting a customer to click on a link in your message is only half the battle. Getting them to make a purchase is your true goal. Landing pages must be designed to entice and encourage a sale, and must make it very easy for the customer to complete the purchase. Just like your emails, your landing pages should be direct and focus on the product linked from the email. If you require your customers to search for the item you’ll lose them. Also, be sure to include links to Live Chat and/or a phone number to reach customer support so your customers have alternative purchasing options. You can also reduce shopping cart abandonment rates by offering shipping information and delivery schedules up front.

Tip 7: Create a consistent cross-channel campaign

Email is still the best option for engaging your customers, but it’s not your only option. To maximise sales you must communicate with your customers across multiple channels – mobile messaging, social networks, online and print ads, in-store displays, etc. Most importantly, you must be consistent in the content and messaging. You can use a different voice but be sure that the main message, such as prices, dates, specials, etc., remains the same. Your multi-channel campaigns should be designed to work together and support each other – they shouldn’t work against each other.

Tip 8: Engage your customers, don’t overload them with information

Over-communicating with your customers and subscribers can be detrimental to your campaigns as you may be training your audience to tune out instead of tune in. The problem isn’t simply sending too many email campaigns – you must take into consideration the number of times people are hearing from you across the different channels. Your different marketing campaigns can’t exist in a vacuum; you must put a tactical schedule in place and control the cadence of all of your communications carefully.

Tip 9: Launch a special holiday email series

Creating a holiday campaign, such as “12 Days of Christmas”, and promoting it as a special series lets your audience know what to expect in terms of the increased sending schedule and gives them a way to opt-out of the series without leaving your list. There are several ways to implement these campaigns. You could promote it on your website, email, social networks, and mobile messages and require subscribers to opt-in to the series – or you could send it to your entire subscriber base and provide a way for recipients to opt-out of the series without opting out of your list.

Tip 10: Segment your audience by purchase habits

Every subscriber isn’t created equal. Some are your best customers; some have never purchased but have shown interest in your products. These groups shouldn’t receive the same email communications from you. Segmenting your audience by purchase habits helps you create targeted messages surrounding purchase intent. Using the discount ladder approach, you can then maximize your profits by applying larger discounts where they’re needed to encourage a sale, and smaller or no discounts where they aren’t. You can remarket to your one-time buyers with cross-sell, up-sell, or replenishment opportunities as it’s easier and cheaper to sell to a previous customer than a new one.

Tip 11: Put an automated shopping cart abandonment solution in place

If you don’t already have a shopping cart abandonment solution in place, it is crucial that you implement one. You could be losing half of your potential sales to abandoned carts; but an automated reach back campaign can recapture those sales, directly impacting your bottom line and holiday revenue. Our customers are experiencing 20% conversions, 27% increase in the average order value, and an incredible 500% ROI through their shopping cart abandonment campaigns – and these numbers are expected to increase over the holiday season.

Tip 12: Perfect the soft sell in your transactional messages

This holiday season, don’t let the one-time buyers come and go. Instead of sending a generic order confirmation email, include links to related products and special incentives to order more gifts. Or, reward the customer with a special discount for themselves. These offers should be secondary in the message and should be included as a value-added service, not as an attempt to force another sale.

Tip 13: Stand out from the crowd with viral messaging components

The inbox is crowded – especially during the holidays. To stand out, consider implementing a daily sweepstakes or online scavenger hunt across your email campaigns, website, Twitter, and Facebook page.

Not only will people look forward to receiving your messages, they’ll share them with their networks, instantly expanding your audience and increasing your profitability and ROI.

Tip 14: Drive in-store sales with email

Finally, your emails shouldn’t just encourage an online sale. Use your profile fields to send messages that are customized with each subscriber’s local store information – address, hours, buy online/pick up in-store details, local customer service, special promotions, etc. The more targeted your emails are, the better they’ll perform; and one of the easiest segmentations you can perform is location-based.

(This article has been contributed by Megan Ouellet, director of marketing of email marketing firm, Listrak).

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MSC Cruises revamps its passenger reservation system

IT solutions provider IBS Software has completed the first phase of upgrading its Cruise Partner passenger reservation system for MSC Cruises.

The system is to be upgraded in four phases and to be completed by 2012.

The IBS upgrade, named MSC BEE, uses the latest technology to enable the reservation process for the company’s entire fleet via the web with customised interfaces for consumers, travel agents and tour operators.

Underpinned by cruise specific booking flows, the new system will provide MSC the flexibility to introduce product and pricing changes quickly, improved operational efficiencies and critical control of the business. The first release also modernises the business data set up process, saving setup costs and providing a custom workflow that can be adapted to structure changes while ensuring centralised communications and transparency for all stakeholders.

Every level of operational detail is factored into the system; from interchangeable cabin configuration to variable segment embark/disembark pricing, to rules engine-based discounts and commission structures.

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