What Should Be Included in Your Hotel's E-Marketing Messages: A Comprehensive Guide | By Kara Freedman

However, success lies not just in sending emails, but in crafting messages that resonate with guests and drive bookings. With the rise of digital platforms and evolving customer expectations, hotels must craft e-marketing messages that are engaging, informative, and tailored to meet the needs of their target audience. This article explores the essential elements that should be included in your hotel’s e-marketing messages to maximize engagement and conversion rates.

Understanding Your Audience

Before diving into specific content elements, it is crucial to understand that effective e-marketing starts with proper audience segmentation. Your database should be segmented based on criteria such as:

• Past guest behavior (leisure vs. business travelers)
• Booking frequency and loyalty program status
• Geographic location
• Booking preferences (room types, length of stay)
• Special interests (spa services, dining, golf)

Tailoring e-marketing messages to different segments allows for more relevant communication. For example, business travelers might receive promotions for conference room facilities or corporate discounts, while families could be targeted with offers related to family-friendly amenities. This segmentation allows you to tailor your message content to specific audience needs, significantly improving engagement rates.

Use dynamic content in email campaigns and on your website, which changes based on user behavior. For example, if a visitor has previously searched for a spa package, the website could display personalized content about spa treatments, packages, and offers. This level of personalization makes the guest feel valued and understood, leading to higher conversion rates.

Essential Content Elements

1. Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is the gateway to your email content and many recipients open emails based on the subject line alone. Think of it as a first impression. Effective hotel email subject lines should do the following:

• Include personalization when possible ("John, Your Perfect Weekend Getaway Awaits"). This creates a sense of familiarity and connection. Small gestures like this can have a significant impact on the guests’ decisions.
• Create urgency or excitement without appearing spammy, such as ("48-Hour Flash Sale on Ocean View Suites")
• Highlight specific value propositions or key benefits, such as a special offer or exclusive experience. Some examples include, "Earn Triple Points This Summer", “Limited-Time Offer: Free Night When You Book 3”, or “Save 20% on Your Next Stay.”

Subject lines should be kept between 40-50 characters for optimal mobile display.

2. Visual Content That Sells the Experience

In e-marketing messages, visuals are a powerful tool to capture attention and convey your hotel’s ambiance and offerings. Using high-quality imagery and video content is critical to showcasing your hotel’s best features and creating a compelling narrative that resonates with your target audience.

That is why modern hotel email marketing must be visually driven. Key visual elements must include high-quality, professionally shot images of your property or lifestyle photos showing guests enjoying amenities. You want the guest receiving the email to think, I can see myself there. This emotion can be sparked through moving visuals of the overall guest experience at your property.

If you are using video content, make sure you are showcasing unique experiences and keep the professional content to less than 30 seconds. Any business targeted emails that include virtual tours or 360-degree room views should be easy to navigate and not require the email received to click through tons of links. You always want to strive for a seamless mobile-friendly user experience. Additionally, all visual content should be optimized for mobile viewing, as over 60% of email opens now occur on mobile devices.

3. Clear and Concise Messaging

In today’s fast-paced digital world, attention spans are shorter than ever. It’s crucial that your e-marketing messages are concise, easy to read, and to the point. Avoid overwhelming recipients with excessive information and focus on the most important details. Remember, simplicity is key. Aim to keep your e-marketing messages as brief as possible while still delivering the essential information. Focus on the core value proposition.

4. Clear Value Propositions

Every email should clearly communicate the value being offered to the recipient. This might include:

• Exclusive rates or packages
• MEMBER-only benefits
• Added-value inclusions (breakfast, parking, resort credits)
• Flexible cancellation policies
• Special access to facilities or experiences

Make sure that the subject line is targeted to the group segment in which you are emailing. A mismatch value proposition to email will often result in a lack of engagement.

E-marketing messages should clearly communicate your unique selling points. Think, Why should someone choose your hotel over the competition? Whether it’s your location, exceptional amenities, or exclusive experiences, make sure these advantages are highlighted in a tasteful way.

5. Social Proof

One way to build trust and credibility can be incorporating feedback and first-hand accounts in the email. For example, guest testimonials and reviews always carry weight. Including your hotels’ awards and accolades somewhere in the email, may support this venture, as well. Including social media highlights or user-generated content builds a level of trust with the email recipients, the same way it does on other platforms, such as your website.

6. Call-to-Action (CTA) Elements

Every marketing email needs a clear, compelling call to action that guides recipients toward taking the desired action, whether it’s booking a room, exploring packages, or signing up for a loyalty program. It’s important for your CTA to do the following:

• Stand out visually from other content. Consider your placement and design. CTAs should be placed in a prominent location within emails or on web pages. They should stand out visually (e.g., with a contrasting color) to draw the reader’s attention. A strong, clear CTA is often the difference between a passive reader and a customer who takes action.
• Use action-oriented language ("Book Now," "Claim Your Offer")
• Create urgency when appropriate. To encourage immediate action, e-marketing messages should incorporate time-sensitive elements. Phrases such as "Limited Time Offer" or "Book Now, Save 20%" create a sense of urgency, motivating customers to act quickly.
• Are optimized for mobile tapping
• Include multiple placement points throughout longer emails
• Be direct and specific. Instead of using generic CTAs like "Click here," use more specific and action-oriented phrases like "Book Your Stay Now" or "Reserve Your Room Today." Clear CTAs eliminate any confusion about what the customer should do next.

Technical Considerations

Now that we have all the content outlined, there are technical considerations that need to be understood, as well. Mobile optimization is key to a successful campaign, as the majority of emails are being opened on mobile devices. Make sure that you are using responsive design templates that work with mobile viewing, and feature easily tappable buttons. Employ single-column layouts for mobile viewing and use adequate font sizes that highlight appropriately sized images that load quickly.

Loading speed and performance allow you to optimize your email content for quick loading.

Some suggestions include:

• Compressing images appropriately
• Using web-safe fonts
• Limiting the use of heavy graphics
• Testing across different email clients
• Implementing progressive loading for images

With the widespread use of smartphones, it’s crucial to ensure that your e-marketing messages are mobile-friendly. Emails, websites, and booking platforms must be optimized for mobile devices to ensure a seamless user experience.

• Responsive Design: Ensure that your emails and website feature responsive design so that they adjust to different screen sizes. This includes making text readable without zooming, ensuring buttons are clickable, and optimizing images for fast loading.
• Mobile-Friendly Booking: Ensure your booking system is mobile-optimized, with an easy-to-navigate interface that allows users to make reservations quickly and easily from their smartphones.

Testing, Optimization and Measuring

When creating a campaign, you want to make sure it is successful, and this requires testing. Creating A/B tests, that measure if the following is more successful than an alternative, is necessary. Test channels should include:

• Subject lines
• Send times
• Content layout
• CTAs
• Offer presentation
• Visual elements

Measuring the success of emails is also imperative, and can teach you a lot about what should be done in future campaigns, and what recipients are reacting to. Tracking metrics should include:

• Open rates (aim for 20%+ in the hospitality industry)
• Click-through rates (target 2-5%)
• Conversion rates
• Revenue per email
• Unsubscribe rates

Effective hotel e-marketing messages require a careful balance of compelling content, technical optimization, and strategic timing. By including these essential elements while maintaining a focus on personalization and mobile optimization, hotels can create email marketing campaigns that drive engagement and bookings.

Remember that successful email marketing is an iterative process. Regularly analyze performance metrics and gather guest feedback to refine your approach. Stay current with emerging trends and technologies, but always prioritize delivering value to your guests through clear, compelling, and personally relevant content.

Most importantly, view your e-marketing messages as an extension of your hotel’s guest service philosophy. Every email should reflect your brand’s commitment to hospitality excellence and guest satisfaction. When done right, email marketing becomes not just a promotional tool, but a valuable touchpoint in your overall guest experience strategy.

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.