SMS for the travel and tourism industry

Today, travel and technology go hand in hand. We’re using our phones to research and plan our travels and we’re using them when we are away too. When we go on holiday we take our technology with us, using our smartphones to create a more personalised travel experience. They contain our boarding passes, travel plans, directions, and much more as we head around the world, which more and more of us are doing with greater regularity.

Help encourage booking from people that want to travel

The tourism industry is in a privileged position, in that it takes no effort to make what they are selling appealing. People want to travel as much as they can. Even when they don’t have the time or budget to do so, people still look at maps and get excited at the idea of going away. SMS marketers can tailor their special offers, whatever they may be (hotel discounts, special packages, early bird deals and the rest), and send them through at a time when people are most receptive to the idea of booking a holiday.

SMS can be in every aspect of the journey

There are many ways that SMS can be used at every stage of the buyer journey from special offers before booking to confirmations and mobile boarding-passes once the holiday is underway. SMS can be an integral part of the holiday experience. You can send booking confirmations, travel updates, and links to see their full reservations via text message. You can take this further by sending your customers text messages with fun things to do at their booked destination, advice on the weather and what to pack, and even an events guide for the time they’ll be there. Giving customers a value-added service that will encourage the kind of positive experience that results in repeat bookings.

Upsell opportunities

There are also plenty of opportunities to market new products and services once the SMS campaign is underway. For example, sending through tailored links related to additional booking options, such as car rentals, hotel and flight upgrades, and excursion packages.

Real-time updates

One of the main benefits of SMS is that it is delivered almost instantly, and the majority are read right away too. So, bad weather causing a delayed flight? Cancellations because of a strike? Whether you are a travel portal, airline or a tour operator, keeping your customers in the loop through timely notifications using SMS helps minimise repetitive customer services calls and builds goodwill with travellers who feel valued and informed.

After sales and customer satisfaction

Customer engagement shouldn’t end when your booking does – send courtesy messages to your guests thanking them for choosing you, or send through a questionnaire asking them to rate the satisfaction level of their stay.

Just the tip of the iceberg

The relationship between SMS marketing and the travel industry is only just beginning. With smartphones an ever-present aspect of our travelling, there’s real scope to get creative with how you market via SMS. Think outside the box and become a part of your customers’ holidays before, during, and after their travels:

Still need convincing?

Benefits of SMS Marketing in Tourism

There are a lot of reasons why SMS marketing is a great idea for tourism:

High Open Rates. A solid email marketing campaign can expect an open rate of 18-25%; by contrast, a staggering 95% of text messages are opened and seen by the recipient! If you want to get your message out in front of people, texting is a great way to ensure that it’s seen.

Instantaneous. You don’t have to design a complex campaign or spend time printing out flyers; a text message takes almost no time at all to compose and is just as quickly received.

Eco-friendly. Believe it or not, text messaging is one of the least carbon-dependent communication methods—far better than email and light-years ahead of physical mail. So if you’re looking to make your company greener, SMS messaging is one way to do it.

Simple and Direct. People are seriously attached to their smartphones; they’ve permeated every aspect of our lives. A text message is very simple, and gets your message into their hands with no frills necessary. While emails might sit in inboxes unread, very few of us ever ignore text messages. Furthermore, text messages are only about 160 characters; your offers will be short and to the point, immediately showing value to the customer.

Personal. Our email inboxes get flooded with offers, newsletters, and spam; your campaign can be very easily lost in the crowd even if it does make it past the junk mail filters. In contrast, a text message is only sent to people who are actively interested in receiving it, and it’s relatively easy to personalize each message to make the customer feel important.

If you are in the tourism industry and would like to talk to our team about how e-shot™ can help you with both email and SMS campaigns simply give us a call on 020 3320 8777 and find out how we can help you or have a look at how we helped Arvonia Coach and Tour Operator.