Visual Data Systems is pleased to share feedback from a survey we
conducted at the end of last summer to help prepare you for this year’s busy
season. Our goal was to collect and analyze information from vacation rental
property management companies, mostly rooted in beach destinations. We had 27
participants share excellent data from August 31, 2012 - August 31, 2011
compared to August 31, 2011 - August 31, 2010. Our participants were made up of
those who are involved in our Online Marketing Promotion program, our Encore
managed Email marketing program, both, or neither. The following is an
explanation of our results along with an infographic of significant
takeaways.
General
Information
Based on our results, we found that:
- 77.78% of companies were up in reservations August 31, 2011 -
August 31, 2012
- 36% of companies said they were up 11-15% in reservations from
August 31, 2011- August 31, 2012
- 46% of companies are managing more properties
- 40% of companies raised rates
- 37.5% of companies say that 30-49% of their reservations are
booked online. 66% are still taking 50%+ of reservations over the phone
Taking reservations online is
advantageous because it’s one less inquiry your reservationists need to field.
It’s therefore important to make sure your website offers a seamless conversion
process and an abundance of easy to navigate information. Consumers are
evolving and are more comfortable than ever before booking online, but
insufficient functionality or information will lead them to call the office.
Yes, some people are more comfortable talking to a person, but think about why
people are calling the office and if there is a change you could have made to
the website to prevent your reservationist being tied up for 20 minutes. Was
the caller looking for more information on rates, unit features, availability,
partial stays, specials?
Other things to consider:
1. If users need to call the office,
make sure your phone number is in a prominent place on your website and that
your reservationists are trained and friendly. This is customer service 101
2. Make sure your reservationist is guiding the user to the
website, suggesting they bookmark it and taking them through the process of
searching online. Users are much more willing to try the process on their own
after a lesson.
- Discount
seekers were seen as the primary challenge (39% of companies answered)
- 96% of companies surveyed said they offered
mini week vacations (less than 7 days)
With the majority of participants offering mini week vacations,
companies should consider the importance of being able to book mini week
vacations through their advanced search. Not every vacation rental
company website has the capability of booking online, and this raises the
question of how many conversions are not completed because of this limited
capability. Since mini week vacations are typically only offered during a
specific time of the year one solution is to provide different searching
and booking criteria requirements determined by season.
- Paid Advertising (44%) followed by Email Marketing (32%) were perceived as the areas of Online Marketing that produce the largest ROI
ROI= Return on Investment, you invest $x and you get $x back, seems simple enough. We found
the data from this question very interesting however, because it highlighted
the perception of those surveyed, not necessarily the largest driver of
revenue. When looking through analytics data for client websites, we
consistently see organic traffic (traffic coming from search engines) as the #1
source of revenue. It’s very difficult however to put an ROI stamp on Search
Engine Optimization because there are so many intricate details. What is the ROI of adding a link to your
homepage? Or changing the keywords within a paragraph? While it’s very
difficult to determine the ROI of SEO, do not overlook it in your marketing
efforts. Email marketing and paid advertising results are easily tracked
however, so measuring ROI is very straightforward. The DMA (Direct Marketing
Association) has consistently named email as the best marketing tactic for ROI.
These mediums can be used very effectively together. While driving traffic to
your site using paid advertising, be sure to capture visitor information
through a contact form so that you can engage with them by sending content that
is relevant to their preferences via email. That keeps your brand in
front of them and sends them back to your website.
Encore Email Marketing Survey Results
- 50% of
companies not in Encore do not perform list cleaning or are unsure if they do
- 89% of
those currently engaged in email marketing were up in reservations from August
31, 2011 – August 31, 2012 by at least 6%
Some list cleaning should
happen automatically during the mailing process. When you send an email,
people who unsubscribe and addresses that return hard bounces should always be
removed from future mailings. List cleaning
can be taken a step further by developing a strategy to keep your data clean by
purging unengaged members and/or invalid email addresses that don’t return a
hard bounce from your list. A basic strategy starts with identifying your
unengaged members. For example, if a subscriber has not interacted with
any messages in the past year, they could be defined as “unengaged”. You
can send this group a message that gives them an opportunity to confirm their
subscription and then remove any members who do not take that action. Benefits include improved
deliverability and metrics. It is better to have a smaller list made up
of engaged subscribers than a huge list with only a small number actually
interested in your services.
- According to results, the focus
of email marketing is specials
- 92.31% of Encore clients felt their email marketing strategy was
successful or very successful in driving last minute booking
- 88% of companies surveyed see summer reservations booked 30+ days
in advance
- 66% of those in Encore for 4+ years reported that summer revenue
was up
- 66.7% of clients engaged in Encore for 4+ years said that most
summer reservations are booked 90+ days in advance
Many guests are inclined to book their summer reservations in
advance to secure their favorite rental home, understanding that the longer
they wait, the less inventory they will have to choose from. Many people
however have different perceptions of “in advance.” The data shows that 88% of
companies surveyed say bookings for the summer season are typically made 30+
days in advance. This is data from all clients, some in promotion, some in
Encore, some not in either program. What we at Visual Data Systems often emphasize
is the importance of procuring reservations even earlier, and this can most
effectively be done through email marketing. 66.7% of clients engaged in Encore
for 4+ years said most summer reservations were booked 90+ days in advance and
that summer revenue was up. These are clients that have worked to understand
the preferences of their consumers and built strong communication with them.
Utilizing email marketing to reach out to your past guests and those interested
in summer stays allows you to proactively get them thinking about summer stays
and booking, rather than waiting for them to come to you. Garnering these
reservations in advance can help prevent the need for last minute discounting,
ultimately strengthening your bottom line.
- 42.86%
of companies in Encore found the CTR the most useful post email analysis
statistic
- Of those who book a
majority of reservations online (50%+), more than half (66.7%) are using Visual
Data Systems’ promotion and email marketing services.
66.7% of the participants that said at least half or more of
their reservations were completed online are Visual Data Systems Promotion and
Email Marketing clients. Survey participants include companies that are
in Visual Data Systems programs and those that are not. This metric
highlights the benefits of having inclusive marketing efforts such as online
marketing and email marketing.
- 50% of companies in Promotion said they
used social media to market a promotion focused on enhancing bookings this past
year
A comprehensive marketing plan involves several marketing strategies that work together towards a specific goal. When a company is aware of how their average visitor prefers to receive information, a business then can determine which mediums would be best applied in their marketing plan. One example of how to pair two strategies together is to promote a Facebook photo contest through an email marketing campaign. Find out what channels work best for your business and your target audience to build your reputation and increase bookings
\ In summary, we found that a majority of our participants, in beach
destinations, were up in reservations from August 31, 2012 - August 31, 2011
vs. August 31, 2011 - August 31, 2010. Through a variety of traditional
business tactics (like raising rates and expanding offers like mini weeks),
online marketing, email marketing, and more, our participants found ways to
maintain and grow excellent business standards. It is our hope to continue
surveying those in the vacation rental industry, and provide important
takeaways that we can all benefit from.
