Email automation for tour and activity operators

Updated March 2024 – Did you know? The average person spends around 3 hours a day on email. Tour operators on the other hand spend much more time than the average person. And what could be worse than spending time on repetitive tasks such as sending the same emails over and over again?

One of the most effective tools to help tour & activity operators save time and streamline the booking process is automated communication. Tourism industry professionals, like yourselves, have a lot of responsibilities and tasks to manage, and finding ways to streamline your operations all while maintaining quality throughout the entire customer journey is essential.

Automated emails are pre-written email templates that are triggered by specific actions or events, such as a customer booking a tour or requesting information. These emails can be highly customizable and provide customers with a range of real-time information, from confirmation of a booking to requesting post-tour testimonials.

Automated emails can help tour operators like yourself save time by either automating administrative tasks or amp up your digital marketing activities.

Automating administrative tasks with automated emails

Automated emails are a powerful tool in boosting your marketing efforts and automating your workflows. With automated emails, you’re able to reach a large portion of your target audience, including your potential customers with any important information they may need. This could include welcome emails, email marketing campaigns (i.e 10% off for new subscribers), payment reminders, booking confirmations, and many more.

The best part about automated emails are that you don’t have to spend time crafting individual emails for each customer. This can save hours each week, freeing you up to focus on other important tasks, such as planning tours and managing bookings.

Here are just some of these automated emails available on Rezdy:

1) Booking confirmations:

These emails are sent shortly after a customer books one of your tours or activities, to inform the customer that you have received their booking request and have confirmed their spot. Confirmation emails can also include important information about the tour, such as the date, time, location, and what to bring.

2) Booking reminders:

You can set up any number of reminders in the days and weeks coming up to the tour or activity date to remind your customer about their upcoming booking. Again, also reminding them about the important details of the tour such as what to prepare.

3) Payment request:

Some customers may prefer to pay for their booking at a later date, rather than at the time of purchase. Especially for big-ticket activities such as multi-day tours or yacht charters. They may even want to pay in portions. Payment request emails allow you to automatically send out emails in the weeks leading up to the booking. For example, you could take 50% at the time of booking and automatically send out an email requesting the remaining 50% of the payment one week prior to the activity.

4) Booking cancellations:

These emails are set up with all the information and frequently asked questions that a customer would need to know when their booking is canceled. Such as: why the tour was canceled, what happens next (refund or reschedule), how to get in touch, etc.

The email can be sent out automatically to all relevant customers when either the customer cancels the booking themselves or you cancel a session (eg. due to weather or unforeseen circumstances).

5) Tickets:

You could also have your ticket automatically generated and sent to your customer via email before their tour. Your tickets can include a QR code which you can scan to check your customers in at the start of your tour.

6) Gathering customer feedback:

Automated emails can also be used to gather customer feedback after tours. By sending a follow-up email to customers, you can quickly and easily gather important information about the tour, such as what customers liked and what could be improved. This feedback can be extremely valuable, as it can help you make improvements and enhance the overall tour experience for customers.

Marketing automation

Tour operators like yourself can also use automated communication to leverage your email marketing strategy to generate more sales. Here are just some of these automated emails available on Rezdy:

1) Optional add-ons and recommendations

You can create automated emails recommending add-ons, upgrades, and other recommended tours and activities. You can even make a commission by including other tour operators in the email.

For example, if someone booked a kayaking tour, your email could recommend add-ons such as water bottles, drinks, or waterproof bags. You could also offer to upgrade the customer to a transparent kayak for a fee and recommend another tour or activity that the customer might enjoy. Then conclude the email with a special offer for a picnic provided by a nearby operator that the customer can enjoy after their kayaking tour.

This email can be sent in the weeks leading up to the booking or after the booking (remove add-ons and upgrades if sent after). It’s a great and easy way to optimize your experiences and maximize your revenue per customer.

2) Generating reviews

These are emails that will request online reviews from your customer for your business (eg. reviews for Tripadvisor). These emails can be sent out automatically at the end of each tour and activity.

3) Promoting future tours & activities

Automated email campaigns can be used to promote future tours and activities and offer incentives to book with your business again. For example, after a customer has completed a tour, an automated email can be sent offering them a discount on a future tour. This type of promotional email content not only saves you time but also provides an easy and effective way to promote future tours, reel potential clients, and increase customer loyalty.

Added benefits of automated emails

In addition to all the ways automated emails can help you save time, as shown above, automated emails also come with a wide range of additional benefits:

1) Improving response time

Automated emails can also help you improve your response time. For example, when a customer requests information about a tour, an automated email can be sent immediately, providing the customer with the information they need in a timely manner. This can help provide excellent customer service and build strong relationships with customers.

2) Building customer relationships

One of the key benefits of automated emails is the ability to build strong relationships with customers. By sending personalized emails to customers, you will show your appreciation and build a strong connection with your customers. This, in turn, can help to increase customer loyalty and increase your conversion rates. An added bonus is that you’re able to filter through your customers and create email lists via segmentation.

For example, try sending automated birthday or anniversary emails to customers, wishing them a happy celebration, and offering a special discount or free tour as a token of appreciation. This type of personal touch can help to build strong customer relationships and foster customer loyalty.

3) Improving customer experience

Finally, automated emails can help to improve the overall customer experience. By providing timely, personalized, and relevant information to customers, tour and activity operators like yourself can enhance the customer experience and increase customer satisfaction.

As mentioned before, automated booking confirmations and reminders provide customers with important information such as meeting locations, tour itineraries, and emergency contact information. This type of information can help to prepare customers for their tour and make the overall customer experience more seamless and enjoyable.

Get started with automated emails today

As you can see, automated emails can help streamline many parts of your business, as well as provide a wide range of benefits.

Rezdy enables you to automatically send all the right emails mentioned above. Ready to experience the ease of automated communication with Rezdy? Start your FREE 21-day trial or book a demo today.

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