Check These 5 Things Before Hitting 'Send' On Your Hotel's Next Email Marketing Campaign

Posted on Apr 12th 2017 in Email Marketing

Since sending out any email - let alone an important bulk marketing mail out - is an irreversible process, you have just one shot to get it right.

In today’s post, we’ll look at some of the most common mistakes which could be jeopardising your open and click-through rates. From subject line letdowns to errors with your ALT text, here are 5 dangerous errors to check for before hitting the ‘send’ button.

1. Choosing a ‘baity’ subject line

Subject lines are critical to open rate. It’s no surprise then, that marketers are often advised to try and generate a sense of mystery or excitement in this important snippet of text by coming up with the cleverest, snappiest, most intriguing subject line they can.

This is pretty sound advice, but there are two important things to remember.

Almost 70% of emails are opened on mobile devices
The average Smartphone user receives around 60 notifications each and every day

So, your guests receiving your email notifications on mobile are pretty overwhelmed already. In fact, you can pretty much bet that they’re receiving more message notifications – from social media, email, apps, and SMS - than they can ever hope to read.

Don’t make life harder for them with an overly smart, baity subject line. Sure, a lot of the subject line tips you’ve read about work, but there’s often a drop in user experience that goes along with the surge in open rate. That’s not to say that the odd marketing trick doesn’t have its place, but it’s important to make sure your subject line is an extension of the main content of your email and not just a decoy that will ultimately frustrate guests.

2. Implementing a single click unsubscribe process

Implementing a single click unsubscribe process allows your guests to quickly and easily unsubscribe should they choose to, but it has a pretty major downside.

As you know, most of your guests are viewing your emails from their Smartphones and tablets, and when reading content on a small screen, it’s incredibly easy to accidently tap something you didn’t intend to. So, if a guest with clumsy thumbs accidently clicks ‘unsubscribe’ and there is no further step in the opt-out process which allows them to change their mind, then you just lost a contact you had to work hard for. You’ll be amazed how often this happens. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at this experiment by medium. Adding a second step can decrease your unsubscribe rate by as much as 19%.

3. Using a ‘no reply’ email address

This one is simple: sending your hotel’s marketing emails from a ‘no reply’ address is a big pitfall because it triggers spam filters on many email platforms. What’s more, it’s non-communicative and rude and goes way against the open, social approach to interacting with customers that has come to define marketing in recent years.

4. Forgetting your ALT text

You may already know how important it is to include ALT text with every image on your website. It’s just as crucial to add it to your email campaigns too.

That’s’ because most email clients automatically block images in newsletters and will only display them with the user’s consent. In any instance where your image is not loaded, the ALT text does the important job of providing context to your guests.

5. Sending the same message to your entire contact list

The importance of segmenting your email list is something that has been talked about a lot. But it bears repeating.

Simply put: if you’re not segmenting your contact data base to ensure you send only the most relevant marketing messages to the right guests at the right time, you’re failing at email marketing. The categories you can use to segment are almost endless, from demographic data, to location and booking history. However you choose to chop up your lists, just be sure you’re reaching out to your guests with highly targeted content, and super relevant, enticing offers that speak directly to their needs.

Are you guilty of any of these common email marketing mistakes? Can you think of anymore to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!