When we talk about digital marketing, it’s always about social media ads as well as AdWords ads, but somehow in the background is Email marketing, which is much less written and talked about, and which certainly deserves much more attention. Especially in tourism where email marketing has always been present or from the very beginning, whether we are talking about hotels, hosts in family accommodation or travel agencies. Email marketing is closely related to tourism, has always been and always will be.But Email marketing will never be the same again. According to the new General Regulation on Personal Data Protection (GDPR), spears are currently being broken and there is panic, how to monetize the whole process of email marketing, what is allowed and what is not, what to do with current databases, how to organize newsletters…Namely, according to the GDPR, all entities that possess someone’s personal data (employees, customers, users, associates) are obliged to protect them and take the prescribed measures and procedures prescribed by law and the General Regulation – GDPR. Failure to comply with the new rules of the General Regulation (GDPR) can result in fines of up to € 20 million or 4% of annual turnover.Lots of questions, and little agreement, and even less time because the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) starts to apply from 25.05.2018. One thing is for sure, GDPR will affect email marketing and the way we use it the most so far.But, as in everything, good preparation is key, there is still time for good organization, and there are various experts who “graduated” on the impact of GDPR on email marketing and who offer solutions to problems. I talked about Email marketing in Croatia and the impact of the GDPR on the tourism sector with Martin Šepić Rumin , director of the company MailPlus Adria, the leading company in Croatia specializing in Email marketing.When we talk about marketing, online marketing through the media and social networks is constantly in focus, and marketing through newsletters is somehow on the sidelines, ie not in focus. What is the situation when we talk about newsletter communication. Is it rising or falling? What is the effectiveness of the newsletter and what is the optimal click-to-open rate to say how successful the campaign is? The popularity of social networks and advertising through that channel has certainly and obviously grown in the past few years, but that does not mean that this channel has overrun or even “killed” the email channel. Social networks are a simple and fast way to convey brand information to customers, but when we talk about the efficiency of the channel, then email is certainly much more specific and successful than its urban and modern “cousins” Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others. The fact that the return on investment in the email marketing channel is 1:44, which means that for $ 1 invested, $ 44 is returned to you (according to the latest research) Campaign monitor) while for Social media (either organic or paid advertising) it is almost twice less (source; Optinmonster). The explanation lies in the fact that an email channel can reach a much higher conversion rate at a much lower cost than is the case with expensive social media ads.However, personally, I would not exclusively look at which channel is more popular and which is more profitable because I do not see them as enemies but on the contrary very close associates. In Omnichannel’s definition, which I hope every organization strives for today, the starting point is in the multi-channel approach to marketing, sales and customer service, all in order to create an integrated and cohesive user experience no matter how or where the customer learned about the brand . So if we translate that to the relation of social networks vs. email channels I would say that social media marketing strategy should be focused on brand awareness and building relationships with the target audience while email marketing strategy should be focused on generating traffic, direct conversions and maintaining customer relationships.When we talk about the success or failure of a particular channel and our efforts to use those channels, the numbers in the newsletter campaign report tell us everything and we need to know how to read them, read them regularly and learn from them for each subsequent campaign. The success of email marketing does not depend so much on the system used for email marketing activities, the biggest impact here is primarily “know-how”, and this includes not only knowledge of when and which campaign to send but detailed knowledge of your subscribers to the newsletter, but also the market. which you work with or your competition. So there is no one-size-fits-all XY% open rate indicator that anyone involved in email marketing can take as a ladder to reach or skip, or else be unsuccessful. Because each industry is specific, someone offers products of daily consumption while someone offers services such as holidays and it is actually an offer that is very limited in time and it is clear that then the strategy of communicating through newsletters is different.The big challenge is that businesses will potentially be left without a large part of their painstakingly and not very cheaply collected database of email subscribers.However globally there is still a benchmark across all industries that tells us that the average open rate is 21.73%. I will not mention specific names, but we have, for example, clients who use our newsletter system and the complete email marketing service we offer, which far exceed that benchmark, which can actually be attributed to our expertise in creating quality content (in this case specifically Subject line). ) which is why this newsletter is open in the sea of other emails that we receive in our inbox every day.A successful campaign is one that has achieved a conversion (either sales, participation in a prize game, membership in the loyalty program, registration for the event, additional likes / followers on social networks or any goal we set for ourselves to be realized by sending a newsletter) – very simple! If this happens and you still spend a minimum of money, because email itself is not an expensive channel through which you can communicate unlike the previously mentioned “relatives”, you get great results, a new or additional satisfied customer, satisfied boss and earn You get yourself a bonus for a job well done.Each newsletter campaign is different and there are many tactics, but can you recommend how, when and in what way it is best to communicate in the tourism sector?Email marketing does not consist only of newsletters and for a start the best tactic is not to limit the email communication channel only to the newsletter or sales emails. We communicate with subscribers via email at all points of his user journey, from the moment he first encounters the brand / product / service (awareness phase), then when he expresses interest in the product we offer (consideration phase), further when the subscriber has already made a decision and buys a product or service (decision phase) and no less important after the purchase it is necessary to maintain a relationship with the customer in order to repurchase the product or service (retention phase). So it is important to communicate with the subscriber via email in each of the mentioned phases. Customizing the content of the email at each of these stages is also an extremely important tactic, as different and customized messages are required at each point in the specified user journey. For example, in the tourism sector, a potential guest analyzes the offer of the hotel in which he will stay, and various channels are available for him to search for the ideal option. Let’s say that through a friend on Facebook he received an invitation to participate in the prize game, left his email address and gave consent for direct marketing communication, and although he may not be a lucky winner, he consciously expressed interest in our brand, then follows the first address to a new subscriber. foreign hotel group where we introduce him to the complete offer.Already through the statistics of the first email and its activity in the received email we can detect which level of service, ie product it is interested in (3, 4 or 5 * hotels), or which destination suits it and in the next email we serve only the content for which it is expressed interest. In this step, we make an effort to turn a subscriber who has been a potential guest so far into a guest (ie customer), of course these efforts still result best if there is a special offer and discount in the background. If after 3-4 days we find that for some reason the subscriber did not open the newsletter, we send him a new one with a more aggressive or attractive “Call to Action” email title and content. When he finally bought what he wanted and what we managed to persuade him in some way, the story is not over, because we want to make his stay in our hotel as meaningful and interesting as possible, and in this pre-stay phase is the right time to communicate via email additional content, trips, concerts, gourmet experiences with which he can enrich his stay and we actually serve him everything in his inbox and save him the time he would spend looking for the same things online in the sea of offers. After a quality stay, the mentioned retention phase follows, in which we express how valuable our guest is and invite him to join our “family” of VIP guests through membership in the loyalty program, examine his satisfaction with the stay, announce a new offer, all for the purpose of coming again. to the hotel.In my work, I often encounter a question from clients, what is the best time to send a newsletter in order to achieve increased conversion. There is no single recipe. It is best for shopping centers to communicate on Thursday or Friday because the weekend is approaching when people have more time to shop, and then (before the weekend) it is effective to communicate the weekend offer and actions of the shopping center. In the context of tourism, seasonality is what dictates to us in Croatia when is the best time to send a particular message or offer. But advanced email marketing goes to such a level that it takes into account even the current weather forecast in the target market and decides accordingly whether or not to send a newsletter. Let’s say by promoting a summer vacation characterized by sun, sea and high temperatures, you would agree that it makes sense to send a newsletter to Reiner in Germany who is currently sitting in the office looking out the window on a rainy and depressed day and fantasizing about vacation and sun, and in that second gets an email title containing one of the keywords he is currently fantasizing about “Summer, sun, sea, vacation…”. There is no doubt that interest has been created and that newsletter will be open.When we mention newsletter marketing, the global leader MailChimp comes to mind first. Why Mailplus Adria and not MailChimp? What are your strengths and how do you deal with this global competitor in our market? Personally, I really like the competition because it makes me be better, to develop, grow and learn a lot based on that “competitive” spirit. I would say a rough estimate that about 70% of the companies in the region we talk to are at some point or still use the MailChimp system to send newsletters, but with the advent of the GDPR, that is slowly changing. That which MailPlus Adria offers as a unique benefit to its customers is local customer support and partner in the true sense of the word, which instills security in our customers, but also a high level of know-how because we know our region best and how it works. When we talk about security, it is very important to our clients that our servers are within the EU, so the data about their subscribers to the newsletter is stored within the EU in accordance with the GDPR, and the software itself complies with all GDPR requirements.The MailPlus newsletter system is extremely easy to use. It makes life much easier for web shop owners because it allows very easy insertion of products from the webshop database into the newsletter, thus reducing the possibility of incorrect double entry of the price or product description because all of the above is automatically withdrawn from the web. Drag and drop technology works flawlessly without annoying “loading” circles, so you’re done with the newsletter very quickly.MailPlus user targeting according to their preferences, it simply turns your message into personalized content for each subscriber. The reporting functionality offered by MailPlus is very detailed, and it also offers the option of remarketing based on newsletter results. Why are we the best choice for any European? It is an important fact that the software is a Dutch product with servers in the EU and a high rate of email delivery (as much as 99.7%), which is a very important item for any business entity that invests in email marketing.At the end of this “self-promotion” part of this interview, I will emphasize once again what MailPlus definitely puts out of competition when it comes to choosing a system for sending newsletters, and that is definitely local customer support and a team of Email marketing experts. focus. At MailPlus, we educate and help the client not only if he or she gets stuck in connection with the creation of a newsletter or the use of MailPlus software, but we also provide advice related to email marketing based on the trends that surround us. In the true sense of the word, we are a partner to our clients and we try to be an “extended arm” of their marketing department at every step.How will the GDPR affect the tourism sector? So what is the function of private renters when it comes to GDPR? The GDPR obliges us to focus on developing a subscriber base management strategy and properly managing subscriber consent and rights. It is actually an opportunity for businesses to improve the quality of their subscriber base which will ultimately result in greater success of email marketing campaigns.On the part of us, vendors of software solutions, it is important that our internal processes, and the tool we offer, be GDPR ready by May 25.05.2018, XNUMX. All with the aim of being able to respond to all the subscriber rights that the GDPR brings us, such as; The right to erasure (forgetfulness), the right to correct the data of an individual subscriber, the right to access data, the right to information, the right to restrict processing, the right to transfer data to another controller and most importantly The right to object direct marketing communication or so-called OPT-out. With us in MailPlus Preparations for this big day began actively in the middle of last year and we are currently nearing the end of the process of implementing information security management system according to the requirements of EN ISO 27001: 2013 certification, but also the harmonization of all internal processes as processors with GDPR requirements.Regardless of which sector we are talking about all the above rights after 25.05. they should be known to every business entity that communicates with individuals and, of course, they should be able to transparently prove that they respect all the rights of EU regulations in their activities. In tourism as well as in the telecommunications sector, the largest number of data of service users, specific for tourism, is that most of the data are foreign citizens, some of whom are EU citizens, while some are not. The biggest challenge for the mentioned sectors is until 25.05. arrange all databases collected so far and harmonize them with the requirements of the GDPR.THE GENERAL REGULATION ON DATA PROTECTION GDPR SHALL APPLY FROM 25.05.2018.The big challenge is that businesses will potentially be left without much of their painstakingly and not cheaply collected email subscriber base. Why? If we do not have a clear record of each individual when the address was collected and whether the subscriber has explicitly given his consent and whether the consent was given for all purposes for which we plan to contact that individual after 25.05, then we must review the consent. Specifically, this means that a repeated email request will be sent to that part of the database to seek consent and consent, clearly stating all the purposes for which we will use the collected data. The purposes are in the tourism sector for example; notification of special benefits and novelties, customer satisfaction survey, marketing research, statistical data processing, communication with the subscriber in the pre and post stay phase, if he is a member of the loyalty program then in addition to sales and information messages we also send messages to maintain and nurture a special relationship with njime etc.….For now, the regulations have not clearly defined whether all requirements set for B2C communication also apply to B2B, ie it is allowed to communicate with a business entity whose email address is publicly available without prior consent to contact. However if that email address consists of name.surname@tvrtka.hr, in that case we still know the personal data (name and surname) and then we can not just handle that data, but there must be consent or agreement with the business entity in which the communication between the two entities is defined, and for B2B addresses special records should be kept separate from B2C addresses.Private renters cooperate on the one hand with agencies (B2B) that “fill” their accommodation capacity, with which they have a regulated relationship by contract, and on the other hand with guests. The most sensitive part where we come into contact with the personal data of the guest is the check-in itself, where in order for the guest to use the accommodation service he is obliged to provide his personal data through a valid identification document otherwise he cannot use the service. The landlord has a legal obligation to register the guest and the basis for the processing of personal data in this case is the law that has “supremacy” over the regulations. In the process of registering a guest, I personally witnessed a situation when a private renter took a picture of all passports with a mobile phone during check-in and later entered the application in eVisitor. This can be very risky because it poses a risk that the personal data of these guests will end up in unwanted hands if the cell phone is lost.Therefore, any taking or photocopying of personal documents for the purpose of fulfilling the legal obligation to report a guest to the Ministry of the Interior is not allowed because it poses a danger in terms of personal data protection. What is allowed and what larger hoteliers, who have hundreds of guests at the same time at check-in already have in their practice, is the use of software solutions that scan the ID card to automatically enter only relevant data into the reception system or eVisitor. These software applications are still welcome after 25.05. but their functionalities must be within the limits defined by law as permissible and binding, ie for which the respondent has given consent. The same rules apply to private renters when it comes to the guest and the privacy of his data as it applies to large hotel groups, there is no tolerance.In the tourism sector, newsletter campaigns are mostly used by the hotel industry, what are your tips on how to best use the communication channel? How much does the Croatian tourism sector use newsletter campaigns in relation to the competition, ie Europe? Are we lagging behind or are we ahead?The tourism sector does not only include the service of providing accommodation and for that reason I am sorry that in other service activities the email channel is not more represented. For example, restaurants that also have their own base of loyal guests, which also have a diverse offer, which also “suffer” seasonality, but also different intensity of consumption of their service during one day, I see no reason why restaurants would not introduce a newsletter in addition to Facebook posting. marketing. You can communicate and target so much through the newsletter, which you can’t do through social media to such an extent. Most of them are blocked by the fact that they do not have their own website, but that must change because today, if you do not have a website, you are not alive, you practically do not exist. Luckily, there are various partners with affiliate programs, so service providers are somehow “dragging” through the partner communication channel. But the question is how long it will be profitable for them.Although a year ago I physically “came out” of the largest and leading Croatian hotel group, I still follow with all my senses what is happening in tourism and continue with education and specialization in this sector, both privately and professionally. Namely, my current clients are active players in the tourism sector, so because of my personal satisfaction and because of quality consulting with clients, I am constantly at the source of information and trends when it comes to email marketing and marketing in tourism in general.However, if I talk about email marketing in the hotel industry, I am generally very satisfied with the use of this communication channel in Croatia, compared to Europe. Of course, Croatian hotel leaders are leaders in that sense as well, but the rest follow them very well. In the last two or three years, more and more hotel companies are introducing serious CRM systems into their business, strategically planning marketing activities according to the Omnichannel principle and everyone is turning to the simplest possible user experience and faster and shorter booking process. all this strategy has long been transferred to mobile devices. But in addition to this, additional advice would be “Meet your subscribers” starting from the level that you know which of them prefers a vacation in the peak season, and who is more interested in a late summer vacation.Small hoteliers lag behind the previously mentioned leaders, which is indisputable, both because of the budget and because of the lack of human potential that could bring it all out. That is why we all need to work together to extend the tourist season so that our budgets are no longer a limiting moment for investing in marketing, specifically email marketing, and we should rely on the right partners who will contribute to the tourism sector to be even more successful year after year.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;<br /><br />
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