While brazen e-mail “spammers” have been rightfully relegated to the status of Web pariahs, a number of travel agencies have discovered a powerful fact about the medium. When leveraged artfully, an ethical e-mail marketing strategy can significantly augment a Web site.
Consider: Emarketer (www.emarketer.com), an Internet market research firm, has determined that e-mail, newsletters or other information that Web users specifically request, will reach 226.7 billion items by the close of the year.
With these kinds of numbers, it’s no wonder that scores of travel agencies, Fortune 500 companies and others have integrated the e-mail medium into the very core of their online marketing strategy.
Specifically, the medium can be used for:
E-mail newsletters with hotlinks
A kind of “next generation” e-mail publication, newsletters with links allow readers to “click back” for more information and graphics on specials, new product announcements and the like. Essentially, hotlinks transform an e-mail newsletter into an interactive Web page. (Most e-mail newsletter software offers a hotlinks option.)
“E-mail this page to a friend” buttons
The old adage “Nothing is more valuable than word-of-mouth promotion” never rang truer in cyberspace. By clicking on a button, the reader can dash off a quick “heads-up” to a friend.
Gardner Travel Service (www.gardnertravel.com), based in Southlake, Texas, uses this technique, as does Cruisin’ Away Travel and Tours (www.cruisinawaytravel.com), based in San Francisco.
E-mail alert services
After signing up for these services at travel agency Web sites, subscribers receive special e-mail alerts when the agency generates news and/or offers of special interest. Preferred Travel Services (www.preferredtraveldenver.com), based in Denver, allows Web site visitors to request e-mail alerts, as does All-Travel.com (www.all-travel.com) in Los Angeles and Avenues of the World Travel & Cruise (http://avenuesoftheworld.vacation.com), based in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Participation in third-party e-mail newsletters:
Topica (www.topica.com) is an e-mail warehouse that tracks more than 90,000 special interest “mailing lists” or newsletters currently circulating the Net. Many corporations regularly add content to these newsletters to keep their brand names in front of readers with highly specific - and highly targetable interests. Other major free mailing services include Yahoo! (http:/groups.yahoo.com) and MSN (http:/groups.msn.com).
MSN, or example, offers more than 7,800 travel-related third party-newsletters, and Yahoo! offers more than 7,200.
Once you’ve experimented with e-mail marketing basics, you may want to move on to more sophisticated uses.
The most popular ones include:
E-mail autoresponders
Already popular with firms savvy in e-mail marketing, autoresponders enable Net surfers to send a simple e-mail to a pre-designated e-mail address and receive an “instant” e-mail back. It’s essentially target marketing at its most precise. You can type “autoresponders” in any search engine for more information.
Free e-mail
Many firms are encouraging repeat visits to their sites by offering free e-mail accounts. Essentially, Net surfers register for the free accounts so they have to return to the company site to send and to receive mail. The primary benefits of offering free e-mail accounts include:
Users must visit your Web site every time they want to send or receive mail so your site becomes their Web home.
Users’ e-mail addresses feature your company name (such as [email protected]). That means everyone who receives such an e-mail is exposed to your company name.
Users’ e-mails feature a small text advertisement about your company.
For more information on free e-mail accounts at your site, type “free e-mail accounts” into any popular search engine.
E-mail pictures to go
Now that sending images over the Net is so easy, companies are using it to put the picture of a product or travel destination - right in front of a reader’s eyes.
All that’s needed is any popular e-mail program.
E-mail slide shows to go
Take another look at the latest incarnation of programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint (www.microsoft.com) and Corel WordPerfect Office (www.corel.com) and you’ll find applications that enable a company to create a slide show and to distribute it via the Net.
E-mail animations to go
Same thing. In addition to those mentioned above, animation software includes Hijaak Pro by IMSI software (www.imsisoft.com) and PrintShop ProPublisher by Broderbund (www.printshop. com).
The audio/video possibilities through such providers as RealNetworks (www.realnetworks.com) are increasing and, if you want to be really cutting-edge, consider panoramic virtual reality.
One of the most sophisticated graphic presentations that can be easily sent via email, panoramic VR enables you to create a 360-degree virtual “walkthroughs” of destinations or accommodations.
Apple Quicktime VR (www.apple.com) pioneered the medium. Other panoramic VR toolmakers include Communique (www.cvcme dia.com) and Infinite Pictures (www.smoothmove.com).
A caveat
None of this e-mail marketing technology will do any company any good if it is used for “spam,” or unsolicited email.
Virtually anyone who has been on the Net more than 24 hours knows that spammers are the scourge of the Net, and that spamming is the quickest path to commercial suicide known today.
It’s just not worth it.
