In the vibrant Hospitality industry,personalized customer experience(the so-called customer experience) is the real differentiator.

Here, Marketing Automation (MA) processes emerge as true catalysts, turning every interaction between customer and company into an opportunity to impress and… build loyalty.

Here is a series of topics that will help us better understand the promise contained in the title of this article: how marketing automation revolutionizes the way Hospitality is done. Happy reading.

What is meant by Marketing Automation?

Marketing Automation refers to the use of software to automate repetitive marketing tasks. In the context of Hospitality, this translates into personalized and timely communication automatically sent to the right customer, at the right time.

Practical Message Examples

In the hotel ecosystem, Marketing Automation manifests itself in unique and powerful ways:

• Personalized welcome messages: As soon as a guest makes a reservation, they receive a welcome email that includes details about special services and local attractions, creating a positive impression from the start.
• Tailored offers based on booking behavior: By analyzing historical data, you can send customized promotions, such as a discount for an off-season return to guests who stayed during the high season.
• Automated post-stay feedback: Automatically sends satisfaction surveys at check-out to collect feedback and stimulate positive online reviews.
• Reminders and upsells: Automated emails to remind guests of their reservation and offer room upgrades or additional services, such as special dinners or spa treatments.

These examples demonstrate how Marketing Automation can enrich the guest experience and optimize revenue for the hotel.

Features of the best Marketing Automation platforms for Hospitality

An excellent platform offers PMS integration, advanced segmentation, detailed analysis and deep customization, all with an intuitive interface.

I marketer del mondo dell’Hospitality così, hanno la possibilità di creare e gestire campagne che non solo migliorano l’esperienza cliente, ma ottimizzano i ricavi. Il contenuto ha il ruolo di mediare e fa da collegamento vitale tra tecnologia ed esperienza dell’ospite.

PMS data and the impact of marketing automation

In the hotel market, which is characterized by rapid changes in supply and demand, Marketing Automation enables hotels to react with targeted promotions and improve occupancy rates.

PMS data provide valuable insights to personalize communications and offers, thereby improving marketing effectiveness.

Customer segmentation strategies for the hotel industry

Segmentation makes it possible to tailor the approach to different types of customers:

• Registry criteria: For example, special offers for families with children during school vacations or romantic packages for couples on occasions such as Valentine’s Day.
• Booking behavior: Identify guests who prefer long stays or those who book at the last minute to offer targeted promotions that encourage specific behaviors.
• Past preferences and behaviors: Segment guests based on choices made during previous stays, such as preference for rooms with a sea view or frequent use of the spa, to send personalized offers that resonate with their known preferences.

Through these segmentation strategies, hotels can create meaningful communications that increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Conclusions

MA – Marketing Automation transcends the traditional definition of a software; it is a true strategic partner for Hospitality.

Discover it, right?

L'articolo How Marketing Automation revolutionizes the world of Hospitality proviene da MA.

Why segment your audience?

Partly, we have already answered this question, but it is time to delve deeper, providing examples as well. The principles of segmenting the tourism market pose a real challenge for company marketers. This is an activity that involves creative elements, yet linked to tactical actions dictated by strategy.

Here are some examples of benefits associated with segmentation:

• sending targeted offers: today’s technologies allow us to fully leverage all the data in the PMS. So, if the data collection of the facility/group or chain is homogeneous and follows at least some basic rational criteria, it would already be possible to create and utilize targets such as: “VIP Guests,” “medium clients,” “occasional clients”; and also: guests grouped by geographic criteria, type of booking (couples, families, business), etc.
• the right message: having created the target, it’s now up to the message, which needs to be persuasive, in line with the preferences of the potential customer, and must leverage commercial levers typical of the sector. Digital marketing campaigns allow us to curate and personalize content (specific offers, promotion of special events, promotion of new services, etc.) and to collect subsequent structured feedback on performance. A guest of our facility, who travels as a couple and is passionate about our bike tour service, will not hesitate to respond positively to a promotion that matches the profile just outlined.
• audience engagement: the analysis of the performance of our campaigns ultimately provides us with structured data related to individual audiences or specific targets of our campaigns. We can collect and analyze data on audience responsiveness in relation to our offers. Or analyze data related to the content of our messages or the timing of opening and booking. This allows us to optimize subsequent advertising actions we have planned, adopting a data-driven approach. Indispensable today.

PMS, CRM and Marketing Automation

There is a lot of confusion today between the concepts of CRM and Marketing Automation, especially if we take the tourism market as a contextual reference and to the main tool in the sector, namely the PMS. On the technological front, there are specific tools and other instruments that include the same integrated functionalities. Furthermore, on a strategic level, we are referring to two absolutely interdependent concepts.

Indeed, there is a link that connects CRM and Marketing Automation on a purely strategic level: ranging from the theme of customer relationship to that of customer experience. To summarize: in everyday life, we establish more or less solid relationships based on what we know about the other and from the experience we share with them. The same applies to business relationships: the information we have about our current and potential clientele forms the basis of any strategy.

On one hand, the Property Management System of a facility is tasked with collecting and storing demographic data, booking details, and other structural information. On the other hand, CRM and Marketing Automation tools have the function of activating these data (which would otherwise be sitting there, almost parked). By “activate,” we mean using them to generate new business actions.

In this sense, CRM cannot be seen as “the tool that produces and sends quotes” or a sales force management tool. And, at the same time, it is reductive to limit marketing actions to just mailing activities. Market segmentation in tourism is thus at the core of the technology we equip ourselves with, but it serves the strategy we have in mind.

Marketing Automation and Segmentation

We have spoken elsewhere about the value of marketing automation systems for hospitality. we could say that it is now clear that, in a highly competitive market such as the tourism one, equipping oneself with advanced segmentation and automation tools has now become fundamental. The needs and preferences of customers can vary rapidly or remain stable over time. In both cases, to establish lasting (and scalable) relationships, it’s necessary to automate efficiency.

An effective Marketing Automation tool must therefore have a strong ability to acquire data from the PMS (and beyond). Exactly, it should be fully integrated. But above all, this technology must have the ability to orchestrate the data, organize it, and then automatically segment and create coherent targets for the tourism market.

Absolutely, the points described in this article are naturally key aspects of a broader perspective: that of Customer Relationship Management. Exactly, it’s about a strategic approach that doesn’t end with the booking of a stay but focuses on managing the already acquired clientele. And it extends towards the logic of re-engaging a customer.

For more technical content and to learn more about our solutions: visit the dedicated page or request a demo!

L'articolo Tourism market segmentation: leverage PMS data proviene da MA.

The customer, as is now known, chooses to stay at a facility for a series of reasons… intertwined with each other. An example of a choice process could start from a normal online search, then move on to reading various reviews, then to the evaluation of the commercial offer, the location of the facility, the services, etc… Another process, instead, could start from a recommendation, from the so-called word of mouth. And so on.

But once you have decided, once you have chosen a structure among hundreds of other possibilities, further processes come into play – probably those that require greater attention. Our efforts, in fact, cannot fail to focus on establishing a direct relationship; in addition to – of course – keeping every promise made to the customer when he chose us…

In general, a Loyalty Program for Hotels can be characterized in different ways: it can focus on a series of rewards and/or incentives useful for improving the guest’s in house experience; incentivize the return to the facility by promising a better experience, etc…

Let’s now look at some examples and best practices that can guide us.

The advantages (in general) of Loyalty program for Hotels

Data in hand, Hotel Loyalty Programs play a crucial role in the hotel business today. In fact, they favor long-term relationships: they reward the guest’s continuity, giving him value and making him feel welcome; and the latter, in turn, will encourage other potential customers to choose the same structure.

Here, in extreme synthesis, we could close the discussion here. But let’s now outline the advantages:

1. Improved Customer Experience

A loyalty program must be based on a qualitative collection of customer data. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee that they will never be neglected during their stay. Collecting and using data on loyalty program members allows you to create (and automate) personalized communications on the guest’s preferences, who would thus feel recognized and unique. Collecting information is essential to generate new business from data.

L'articolo Loyalty Program for Hotels: Examples and Best Practices proviene da MA.

Evaluating the performance of your email communications is an activity no less important than the actual creation of campaigns. This type of activity can not only be easily planned, but can also provide us with key indicators to better understand our audience, enhance what works, and discover what does not bring results.

In summary? After launching the first email campaigns, we already have a series of key information available to optimize our strategy.

Mail Marketing Metrics: Planning

At the exact moment in which you are about to create an email campaign it is essential to think about a measurement, evaluation and analysis plan. These are three fundamental phases, which allow us to also work on a less executive and more strategic plan.

Three steps for a more complete picture:

• Time period: defining a period of time taken into consideration is essential, not only to commit to measurement but also for possible comparisons with previous periods. In this way it will be possible to evaluate whether the optimizations made to our messages are actually improving the results. Performance must be tracked on an ongoing basis. Consistency always pays. So before defining KPIs and email marketing metrics, we could say that it is good practice to create a performance tracking program; we can divide it by type of campaign, weekly, monthly, etc… The improvement patterns identified can also refer to a specific audience segment, then related to a specific offer or a type of message;
• Objective Definition: Performance tracking must (necessarily) be consistent with the objectives of a campaign. It therefore becomes necessary to ask yourself: for what specific objective am I sending this communication? And how can I measure it?
• Call to Action: This is where the so-called calls to action come into play. What exactly does our audience / target have to do? Yes, we have to tell them. The subsequent analysis can then shed light on various aspects: the audience’s involvement with the type of message, or the reactivity with the type of content (images, text, other links), etc…; this is behavioral information of interest towards the proposed content.

Metrics or KPIs? Definitions and Differences

First of all, let’s answer (briefly) the question: what is a KPI? And how does it differ (conceptually) from the metrics we’ve talked about so far?

In general, a KPI – an acronym for Key Performance Indicator – is a value that measures the effectiveness with which a company is achieving a specific objective. These are essential metrics, also used to measure the performance of marketing campaigns. In a broad sense, whether you are implementing a social strategy, or organic positioning of content within search engines or, again, a customer relationship strategy, understanding which metrics and KPIs to monitor are essential.

Quindi, come differiscono i due concetti? Possiamo rispondere a questa domanda sostenendo che le metriche si riferiscono a tutto ciò che in una campagna è, di fatto, misurabile. Si tratta di dati, perlopiù, quantitativi.

KPIs, as we can also deduce from the meaning of the term, are qualitative and quantitative data that allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of a marketing action or of the same strategy (starting from the proposed objectives).

Metrics & KPIs: Measurement & Optimization

Let’s get back to the heart of the matter: which email marketing metrics should you always monitor?

To understand the impact that email marketing activities have on our corporate marketing strategy, it is necessary to understand the meaning of each metric. Here are the main metrics common to all tools and to MA – Marketing Automation:

• Message Delivery: expresses the number of email messages actually delivered to the recipients / targets of a campaign;
• Open Rate (opening rate): ratio between the number of emails opened by contacts and the total number of emails delivered. There are types of campaigns, called A/B tests, that allow you to test different subjects of the emails to obtain more information on what drives a contact to open (and read) one communication compared to another;
• Click-through Rate (click rate): this is the ratio between the total number of openings of an email and the total number of clicks received within the links (such as CTAs) in the body of the email; in this case too, A/B test campaigns can be very useful as indicators of engagement of target contacts;
• Bounce Rate: measures all those messages that have been rejected by a mail server. In this case it is the ratio between the total number of emails sent to our target and the number of those rejected. It is distinguished in hard bounce and soft bounce: the first is permanent (the email address is no longer active). In the second case we can classify the classic out of office;
• Unsubscribe: the total number of contacts who have decided not to receive our communications anymore. Naturally, users unsubscribe for many reasons. The data to monitor is essential above all to improve the deliverability of our messages and, also, the quality and interest in what we offer;
• Device statistics: This is an often overlooked piece of data. But in light of the latest regulatory and contractual changes from some of the big tech players, we can no longer ignore this information. It is an aggregate of metrics relating to which devices are used by our audience to read emails. If we take into consideration a segment / campaign target to which it is now easy to match a type of device. This could make a big difference in the type of message designed for them.

Conclusions

The world of email marketing is constantly evolving, but despite the various changes taking place, the metrics and KPIs we have referred to in this article always remain unchanged.

In the first part of this content, we insisted on the importance of planning: it is an essential part of designing a successful strategy; where measurement, evaluation and analysis come before any set of metrics of email marketing or any other communication channel.

L'articolo Email Marketing Metrics Every Business Should Track proviene da MA.

Why segment your audience?

Partly, we have already answered this question, but it is time to delve deeper, providing examples as well. The principles of segmenting the tourism market pose a real challenge for company marketers. It is an activity that involves creative elements, yet is tied to tactical actions dictated by strategy.

Here are some examples of benefits associated with segmentation:

• sending targeted offers: today’s technologies allow us to fully leverage all the data in the PMS. So, if the data collection of the facility/group or chain is homogeneous and follows at least some basic rational criteria, it would already be possible to create and utilize targets such as: “VIP Guests,” “medium clients,” “occasional clients”; and also: guests grouped by geographic criteria, type of booking (couples, families, business), etc.
• the right message: having created the target, it’s now up to the message, which needs to be persuasive, in line with the preferences of the potential customer, and must leverage commercial levers typical of the sector. Digital marketing campaigns allow us to curate and personalize content (specific offers, promotion of special events, promotion of new services, etc.) and to collect subsequent structured feedback on performance. A guest of our facility, who travels as a couple and is passionate about our bike tour service, will not hesitate to respond positively to a promotion that matches the profile just outlined.
• audience engagement: the analysis of the performance of our campaigns ultimately provides us with structured data related to individual audiences or specific targets of our campaigns. We can collect and analyze data on audience responsiveness in relation to our offers. Or analyze data related to the content of our messages or the timing of opening and booking. This allows us to optimize subsequent advertising actions we have planned, adopting a data-driven approach. Today, it’s essential.

PMS, CRM, and Marketing Automation

There is a lot of confusion today between the concepts of CRM and Marketing Automation, especially when we consider the tourism market as a contextual reference. On the technological front, there are specific tools and other instruments that include the same integrated functionalities. Strategically speaking, we also refer to two concepts that are absolutely interdependent.

Indeed, there is a link that connects CRM and Marketing Automation on a purely strategic level: ranging from the theme of customer relationship to that of customer experience. To summarize: in everyday life, we establish more or less solid relationships based on what we know about the other and from the experience we share with them. The same applies to business relationships: the information we have about our current and potential clientele forms the basis of any strategy.

On one hand, the Property Management System of a facility is tasked with collecting and storing demographic data, booking details, and other structural information. On the other hand, CRM and Marketing Automation tools have the function of activating these data (which would otherwise be sitting there, almost parked). By “activate,” we mean using them to generate new business actions.

In this sense, CRM cannot be seen as “the tool that produces and sends quotes” or a sales force management tool. And, at the same time, it is reductive to limit marketing actions to just mailing activities. Market segmentation in tourism is thus at the core of the technology we equip ourselves with, but it serves the strategy we have in mind.

Marketing Automation and Segmentation

Nowadays, in a highly competitive market like tourism, equipping oneself with advanced tools for segmentation and automation has become essential. The needs and preferences of customers can vary rapidly or remain stable over time. In both cases, to establish lasting (and scalable) relationships, it’s necessary to automate efficiency.

An effective Marketing Automation tool must therefore have a strong ability to acquire data from the PMS (and beyond). Exactly, it should be fully integrated. But above all, this technology must have the ability to orchestrate the data, organize it, and then automatically segment and create coherent targets for the tourism market.

Absolutely, the points described in this article are naturally key aspects of a broader perspective: that of Customer Relationship Management. Exactly, it’s about a strategic approach that doesn’t end with the booking of a stay but focuses on managing the already acquired clientele. And it extends towards the logic of re-engaging a customer.

L'articolo Tourism market segmentation: leverage PMS data proviene da MA.