Revinate And Melt Content Share Their Guide On How To Tackle Guests’ Inboxes

SSupported by cloud service provider DigitalOcean – Try DigitalOcean now and receive a $200 when you create a new account!
Listen to this article

Email remains the top source of data for marketing analytics.

Revinate, the software as a service (SaaS) company that helps hotels reinvent the guest experience, and Melt Content, the leading content marketing agency, announce the publication of their joint Guide to Email Marketing: a thought-leading e-book with practical, easy-to-implement steps to help hotels get the most from their email activities.

Research shows that 90% of companies carry out email marketing campaigns, and according to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing sees a $47 ROI for every dollar spent. Email conversion rates are three times higher than those of social media, and consumers interact on a daily basis with more brands through email than via Facebook and Twitter.

Helene Hall, Chief Commercial Officer at Melt Content, says, “A well-planned, creative email marketing campaign based on the right set of tools can help hoteliers retain customers and convert new ones, increasing guests’ satisfaction and maximizing revenue.”

“Basing email sends on a broad range of guest data such as social media activity, stay history or past transactions can lead to highly targeted campaigns that generate more revenue,” says Thomas Landen, Director of Global Field Marketing at Revinate. “According to the Direct Marketing Association, those amount to 58 percent of all revenue from email marketing,” he adds.

Revinate_Melt_Diagram_Email_Marketing_Guide

The three steps for a successful email campaign

According to the Guide to Email Marketing, marketers should tackle three key areas in order to succeed at their email campaigns.

First, they have to set clear goals. Do they want to reactivate lapsed loyalty programme members, boost their social media presence, or upsell activities and experiences to guests who have already booked?

Second, they need to turn those goals into a clear strategy based on insights – who, why and when – and key themes and topics.

Last but not least, they need data. According to Thomas Landen, “The more data, the better. A guest’s email address is just the beginning: by combining it with demographic data, stay history and preferences hoteliers can categorize them and identify target segments, leading up to more effective campaigns not based on guesswork.”

A roadmap for data-first campaigns

The guide includes a simple email marketing framework that shows how data can shape a campaign right from the early stages. It recommends examining available data as a first step, then planning out a wider content strategy before the work of drafting messages begins. A visual checklist highlights key data points, strategic approaches, content elements and metrics to think about at each stage of the process.

Hall says, “Many marketers define their key goals and then immediately start drafting an email. But if you don’t take time to understand the data you’re working with first, you have far less chance of creating an effective message. That’s what appealed to us about working with Revinate. The platform puts data at users’ fingertips, and that echoes the way we approach all content at Melt, whether it’s email activity or a complete marketing plan.”

Revinate_Melt_Diagram

The basic formula for a great email

The Guide to Email Marketing also addresses the five ingredients of composing a successful email: a relevant, meaningful message; a compelling subject line; an engaging body text; visual content; and a clear call-to-action.

These are brought to life through five sample campaign emails drafted by Melt Content’s editorial team. Each represents a different data-driven strategy, and comes with tips and annotations to help hotel marketers sharpen their own email design and copywriting.

The guide also looks at the optimum length for subject lines, helping users to get their message across within the character limitations of common email clients. And it covers important metrics that help marketers to see what’s working and why, including total and unique opens, bounce, click and unsubscribe rates and what devices are most widely used to interact with each campaign.

Written by: Iván Carballido, Director of Deva Barcelona