Fixing Your Hotel Email Unsubscribing Issue

If you’re like most hoteliers, you’re constantly working to build up your email database. Each time a new customer makes a reservation or checks out, you’re diligently asking them to subscribe to your email list. Everything seems to be going great until you realize that you’re actually losing more subscribers than you’re gaining! For every one new email address that gets added to your list, another two drop off! What gives?

Generally, hotels struggle with their email subscriptions for one primary reason: you’re not giving your subscribers what they want. While this is a pretty major problem, we’re here to tell you that your email marketing strategy isn’t a lost cause. This post will highlight some of the most common problems with hotel email subscription services and how these problems can be resolved.

Problem #1 – You’re Sending Way Too Many Emails!

The number one reason why people jump ship on hotel emails is that they’re getting blasted with way too many messages. After all, how would you feel if multiple emails were popping up in your inbox each week? While there’s no “hard and fast” rule to the number of marketing emails you should send out, you can experiment with frequency and see what works for you. For single hotels, even just one email a month can make a huge difference in sales. Larger chains have been successful with one email per week. The bottom line is that if you’re struggling to keep subscribers, start testing your frequency rates and find your sweet spot.

Problem #2 – Your Content Is Working as a Sleep Aid

If your subscribers are nodding off from boredom when they open your emails, they’re not going to keep opening them anymore. In fact, they’re likely to click the “unsubscribe” button and fall off your radar forever. When subscribers sign up for emails, they expect inspiring photography, amazing vacation and travel ideas, and fabulous deals. If you’re not delivering this, but instead are loading up your emails with boring, substandard content, your readers are going to start dropping like flies. The good news is that it takes a little while for people to make the decision to unsubscribe due to boredom, so there’s still time to pump up your emails and make them exciting!

Problem #3 – The Bait and Switch

If you offered your subscribers exclusive access to deals and savings for subscribing to your emails, you better follow through on your promises! Consumers don’t like to feel like they’ve been tricked, and as soon as they start to get the impression that you’re not going to make good on what you originally offered, they will abandon you (and they’ll probably leave some negative feedback for potential future guests). Review the promises you’ve made to new subscribers and make sure that you’re regularly keeping your word with your emails.

Problem #4 – You’re Marketing to the Wrong People

Perhaps you went to a trade show and came back with a huge list of email addresses from attendees. Unless you actually asked those people whether or not they wanted to be added to your email subscription list, however, you don’t have the right to start sending them marketing emails. If people don’t know that they were signed up to be subscribed, they’re not going to be happy with you, and they’ll unsubscribe right away. In addition to this, some might even flag you as spam or report you. Always make sure that your subscribers give their consent, and consider reminding your subscribers how they came to be signed up for your regular emails in your footer.

It’s never too late to start improving your email marketing strategy, and the experts at Madison Taylor Marketing can help.