Dynamic email – HTML content within an email that automatically changes based on the end user – has almost unlimited application for the travel industry.
Is there any other industry as dependent on real-time communication as the travel industry?
Flight itineraries, baggage claim, weather patterns – any can change at a moment’s notice, and potentially throw off an entire day of travel for hundreds of people.
So, how are top travel marketers combating these uncertainties and ensuring their customers are well informed and have all their needs met during their journey? With ultra-engaging, dynamic emails.
Dynamic email – HTML content within an email that automatically changes based on the end user – has almost unlimited application for the travel industry.
Dynamic Email For Personalization
Today’s travelers expect up-to-the-minute information about their upcoming travel itineraries and details. It falls on the shoulders of travel marketers to deliver this information and ensure first-time travelers become loyal customers.
It’s time to breathe a sigh of relief, travel marketers.
Advanced marketing technology helps travel marketers create dynamic emails, where messages are personalized at the moment a recipient opens an email for ultimate real-time messaging.
The most common example of this is using a merge tag within your email service provider to pull in a customer’s name at the beginning on an email.
Unlike traditional automation and personalization solutions, dynamic content “populates” based on when the email is opened – not when it’s sent.
This is done with “content blocks,” similar to website widgets, so recipients always have the most up-to-date information about their travel plans.
If, for example, an individual is traveling from Minnesota to Florida, why would they need to know Minnesota’s weather after they’ve landed at their destination? Dynamic email makes it possible to provide real-time, location-based updates, like weather, based on where the customer is in their journey.
But dynamic email can do a lot more than supply travelers with local weather reports.
The advanced automation and AI-powered data systems that make dynamic email possible actually learn from every message sent and received, allowing marketers to send emails with constantly changing content. These small changes drastically influence the traveler’s experience.
Dynamic email has proven impact for marketing teams, helping you:
- Increase CTRs by 10%–20%
- Drive engagement to push click-to-open ratios more than 15%
- Deliver high-quality content on a consistent basis without increasing resources
Let’s take a look at what you can do with dynamic email.
How Can Dynamic Email Be Used in the Travel Industry?
Consumers are always looking for ways to make their lives easier. Travelers are no different, and are searching for the most effortless, seamless travel experience possible. Dynamic email helps travel marketers deliver these incredibly high levels of personalization in a variety of ways. Here are five quick ways to increase personalization with dynamic emails.
Live Pricing and Flight Availability
Even before a passenger books a trip or takes a flight, travel marketers can impress them by presenting live pricing and flight information, making it easy for travelers to book new trips.
Dynamic emails are also “smart.” The more a traveler engages with dynamic email, the more intelligent the marketing platform will become. If a traveler historically travels to Denver each February, an email to them in December or January could automatically show them live flight prices to Denver during those weeks. This becomes a continuous process of machine learning and optimization, to ensure the right content is delivered to the right individual, at the right time.
Seating Options and Car Rental
While this may sound like a no-brainer, the transportation and car rental process both demonstrate the real value of dynamic email.
Real-time options about seat and rental availability take the guesswork out of the equation, and make travelers feel as though they have all the information they need to travel smoothly and stress-free.
Live Currency Exchange Rates
For marketers serving international travelers, providing live currency exchange rates provides immense value to customers.
This is particularly smart for companies that offer currency exchange services, as it drives business by always offering the most current information available, all in a single email.
Countdown Timers
Automated countdown timers help travelers plan for critical milestones throughout their journeys, such as checking in and boarding.
These time-based notifications can add value by showing customers how much time is left until they must complete some task, and help travelers keep to a timely schedule when they need it most – in transit.
Personalized Incentives
Travel marketers can leverage dynamic email solutions to track a traveler’s favorite destinations, hotels, and even restaurants, and then target them with customized special offers and incentives. This knowledge of the customer is echoed in the content and messaging at the time of open.
Final Thoughts
Dynamic emails give travel marketers a chance to take personalization and optimization to new heights.
Travel marketers can define rule parameters specific to any device, weather forecast, date, itinerary, geolocation, and more. This all ensures that not only factually correct content gets delivered to the customer every time they open the email, but that the content is also personally relevant and helpful – which pays off as engagement rates and customer satisfaction increases. Is your travel brand ready to take flight?
Lindsay Tjepkema is Director of Content at Emarsys.
