Different Types of Guest Email Communications

Communicating with your guests via emails is vital for tour operators to establish a friendly relationship with their guests.

Tour and activity operators can send their customers two types of email: Transactional or Promotional.

Transactional Emails

Transactional emails are a result of a transaction and are sent immediately when a transaction occurs. These emails provide simple information such as:

• Customer itineraries/receipts
• Notification/confirmation of cancellation or reservation change
• Confirmation to the consultant of a successful booking (concierge, travel agent/hotel, travel agency etc)
• Notification of booking to third-party suppliers

Promotional Emails

Promotional guest email communications serve a broader range of functions. They can be scheduled to be sent at a selected time – either before or after the tour occurs. At a high level, promotional emails provide an additional ‘touch point’, or reason to reach out to customers; however, they also offer tour and activity operators a huge opportunity to grow and improve their businesses.

Pre-Tour Guest Email Communications:

The Reminder Email

Get Ready! Build anticipation and excitement about the impending event. Provide information such as maps and driving directions, what to wear, bring etc. Opportunity to have guests complete online paperwork such as online waiver forms to save time on the day. Opportunity to share recent photos from your website or on social networks. Invite to social networks with an incentive for example ‘Like’ our Facebook page for the chance to win back the cost of your tour.

The Up-Sell Email

Make your experience unforgettable! Encourage your customers to upgrade their tour or activity. For example, if they have booked an activity that is part of a package, let them know they can upgrade to the package at a discounted rate. Or encourage them to invite friends by sending them a promo code they can use, for example, “It’s not too late to bring your friends along—here is a promo code for a discount”.

Post-Tour Guest Email Communications:

The Feedback Request

Tell us about your experience! This is a huge opportunity to learn and improve. Drive customers towards review sites like TripAdvisor to increase or freshen up your customer reviews for potential customers to read. Just make sure to address any negative or neutral feedback you get!

Understanding your strong and weak points helps refine and improve your operation. Consider sending a link to a short survey with Google Forms or Survey Monkey. Key Tips: Less is more. Ask only small tasks of your customers to improve your response rate. Consider offering a small incentive for completion of the task such as going into a draw to win a free tour or an item like a camera or tablet.

The Social Share

People love posting about their holiday adventures, and the content they generate while on your tour can really resonate with potential customers. Leverage this User-Generated Content by encouraging your customers to share media of their experiences with your company through social media.

User-Generated Content is especially powerful in the tourism industry. In fact, social media company Stackla calls travel user-generated content A Goldmine Hiding in Plain Sight. Again, you may need to offer an incentive for customers to share and tag media, ‘like’ your Facebook page, or use certain hashtags. Just don’t forget to get permission to use the content your campaign generates!

The Repeat Customer Hook

Get 10% off your next visit! If a sizable proportion of your customer base is made up of repeat customers, consider giving them an incentive to book with you again. Send them a promo code offering them a discount on their next purchase. Create a code that is unique to this offer so you can track how effective your campaign was.

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