HOTELMARKETING.COM

E-mail loyalty high in travel sector

March 24, 2009 | Internet Marketing

According to a new study, travel reflected better loyalty than other industries, with 63% of recipients of permission-based email from travel companies more likely to buy from companies that send them email.

The receipt of permission-based email makes travel consumers more likely to do business with a travel company, according to the latest Epsilon research.

The study also indicated that this also results in generation of a more favourable opinion of the company and even a stronger sense of loyalty to its brand. Also, 50 percent of survey respondents who receive permission-based email from travel companies said they feel more loyal towards the sending companies and their brands.

The email branding study is based on a mid-October 2008 survey of 1517 consumers.

The other key travel-related results from the email marketing research were as follows:

- 86 percent of respondents who opt to receive email from travel companies do so to learn about sales, discounts and special offers;
- 51 percent subscribe to learn about existing packages and destinations;
- 48 percent subscribe to receive coupons;
- 46 percent subscribe to hear about new packages, routes and destinations;
- 69 percent want to receive personalized content based on their website activity and past purchases, rather than generic content;
- 48 percent of respondents who receive permission-based email from a travel company said the email has a direct impact on offline purchases.

The Epsilon research was intended to analyse activities that take place offline or cannot be measured by click-thru rates and email open rates. The findings showed that 71 percent of recipients of an email from a travel company visit an aggregator site as a direct result of receiving the email; 33 percent type or copy a URL directly into their browser and 14 percent contact a travel agent.

Download the “Flying High: Measuring the Value of Email Marketing for the Travel Industry” at epsilon (PDF 80KB)

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