SMS marketing can be adequately utilized for almost all industries. This is especially true for those businesses that offer non-necessity products or convenience products.
For the past decade, the traveling culture has completely remodeled throughout the world. Tourism is currently one of the most fast-growing industries. People travel for many purposes: to see new things, explore, or work, or to spend a weekend somewhere else. The rise in travel agencies has been huge, and so is the competition in the industry. Providing the best offers and staying relevant is a serious challenge for all such companies. To be ambitious, travel agencies need to employ the best SMS marketing techniques for a distinguished service and offering.
For a travel agency, SMS services must be an essential part of its marketing strategy. The texting platform is currently the most used communication channel with a 98% open-rate. According to Forrester Research, six billion SMS messages are sent per day, and over 2.2 trillion are sent a year only in the US. Globally, 8.6 trillion text messages are sent each year, according to Portio Research.
It’s extremely important to integrate SMS mass texting service into existing market strategies. Let’s take a look into the ways how travel agencies are using SMS marketing for their business.
Confirm Bookings by SMS and Make Quick Updates through Notifications
Travel agencies use SMS marketing to deliver peace of mind to their customers. Traveling usually involves a lot of confusion and uncertainty. Making sure that everything is properly organized is time-consuming and tiring. That’s why travel agencies use SMS services to reduce the stress level of the users. Sending a booking confirmation and keeping the customer updated regarding their booking via SMS is very helpful. Booking confirmation messages are usually automated.
An SMS alert about the upcoming booking must contain the most essential information about the trip. For example, nowadays, people love making bookings months and weeks in advance. So, SMS mass texting services also work as reminders. When the customer made booking months in advance, there’s a big chance that he/she can mix up the exact date. So sending a message to remind them about an upcoming trip can be extremely beneficial. This will enhance the overall experience with a brand and make the customers use these services again.
SMS Boarding Passes
Another way of ensuring certainty to customers is to provide them with a trackable and secure ticket via a text message. The aim is to make the booking process more convenient and less stressful for the customer. This strategy is used by Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines is successfully using SMS marketing and has shown great results. The company has the happiest customers in the US, so SMS strategy can be a great customer support tool if used properly.
One of the most important benefits of text marketing is the immediacy at which agencies can connect to the customer. SMS texting can be used to update the customers on any possible changes regarding their flight or booking. Ensuring superior customer service is essential for business’s future success. Only through powerful customer support, travel agency can have repeat customers and improve its reputation in the industry.
Advanced Customer Loyalty
Having a loyalty program is very important to industries where shoppers look through a bunch of deals, rather than just sticking to one business. Using text message services can improve customer loyalty. So any travel industry business should have a loyalty program. The idea behind boosting customers’ loyalty is to make them feel special. Here’s how travel agencies can do that via SMS services:
- Special offers – use text messaging to make exclusive offers to customers. For example, inform them about a special trip that is available for a limited time only. Also, to provide customers with a special promo code valid for specific trips and bookings.
- Rewards – another way to create loyal customers is to reward them. Rewards are the business’s way of saying thank you. If the customer has booked a trip from a certain agency, this agency wants to thank them and make sure that they will be back. This type of tailored marketing creates a special bond between an agency and the customer.
Handling Emergency Situations
Just like any other service-related business, travel agencies can sometimes get into a crisis that needs to be resolved in no time. Anything that involves traveling requires a lot of responsibility. That’s why travel agencies must be highly responsive. If a company is responsible for hundreds of tourists gathered in one area, this business needs to have a fast communication channel. Anyone wrong action can cost their whole reputation.
Travel agencies using SMS marketing have instant access to the phones of their customers. Considering the usage of mobiles, it’s the fastest and most reliable source of connecting with people and informing them about any emergency. Also, since most people carry their mobiles with them all the time, messaging can be used by the customer to contact an agency when lost or unaccounted for.
Brand Building
People take traveling seriously, so they will most surely choose a travel agency that they feel is reliable and professional. Brand building is closely related to the emotional attachment the business is creating. An agency should use SMS marketing to build its brand image. By providing continuous customer service via SMS to the customers, agencies make sure that they’re increasing the trustworthiness of a business. When customers trust a business, they are more loyal, the retention rate is high and sales is increasing.
Feedback
Collecting feedback is an essential part of any business that wants to have long-term success. Given the high open-rates, text message services are ideal for collecting feedback. There are big chances that the customer will see and fill in the survey when it’s sent via an SMS. Feedback is very important for getting closer to the customer. Marketers need to listen to them, to understand what to improve in a business.
SMS marketing helps the travel agency sect to prosper in every way with the end client.
Enhanced customer service via text messaging is the most efficient form of SMS marketing. As the most widely used communication method, it makes a perfect sense to utilize the texting platform for keeping in touch with the customers.
Modern-day consumers have higher expectations of service providers in all walks of life and their expectations of the travel industry are no exception. Finally, for travel agencies, SMS marketing eases the process of bookings through an agency, improves the customer’s experience, and develops a higher level of lasting brand loyalty.