BOOKING RECOVERY EMAIL THE PERFECT When to send the first email the sUBJECT LINE the EMAIL CONTENT TAKEAWAY: SPEED MATTERS Re-engaging the customer within the first 60 minutes of an abandoned booking increases your conversion rate. Speed is an essential part of a booking recovery email campaign, with a 51% drop in performance after 24 hours. How long should you wait to send an email when a customer has abandoned a hotel, flight, ferry or holiday booking? Here are the average conversion rates from a selection of 100 global travel brands grouped by sending time: What should you include in the subject line to ensure the email gets opened? Here are the average open rates from a selection of 100 global travel brands grouped by content: What should you include in the email content to ensure customers go back and complete their booking? Here are the average click through rates for different links across a selection of 100 global travel brands: 2013 Travel Edition 30 mins 45 mins 60 mins 1-4 hrs 4-24 hrs +24 hrs 5.3% 5.2% 4.9% 3.7% 3.1% 2.7% $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Time FROM ABANDON CONVERSION FROM SEND RATE TAKEAWAY: TESTING, TESTING, TESTING Test different content within your subject line to achieve the best open rates possible. A combination of company name and booking details is a safe bet to ensuring an open rate of over 50%. 48% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 COMPANY NAME 54% BOOKING DETAILS 42% PERSONS NAME 48% URGENT TONE 42% CUSTOMER SERVICE TONE TAKEAWAY: ONE small STEP... Good email creative is essential to optimizing a booking recovery campaign. The most successful emails make it easy for customers to get back to the website as quickly as possible, using a variety of links and options. Clear and simple calls to action such as ‘Complete Your Booking’ consistently perform best. 7% BOOKING DETAILS 10% RECOMMENDATIONS 12% COMPLETE YOUR BOOKING (INTRO) 31% COMPLETE YOUR BOOKING 1.9% SOCIAL LINKS 0.1% UNSUBSCRIBE 10% TEXT HYPERLINKS 8% PROMOTIONAL BANNERS 8% CONTINUE BROWSING 2% cLIENT lOGO 6% NAVIGATION BAR @SaleCycle.com TWEET US VISIT US ONLINE AVERAGE OPEN RATE (%) % = Click Through Rates