Cultural Travels nearing the 1 million user mark!
What does that mean to you? A $150,000,000 marketplace for your products. (Average sale price of $5,000 per couple).
Dear Sheri:
I am delighted with the exposure that my web listing has received. Since I've been listed with Cultural Travels, approximately one-third of the referrals that I receive have resulted in direct sales. Other referrals have generated proposals for custom tours for future groups. Intrigued by the response I've gotten from Cultural Travels, I took the time to evaluate the referrals generated by another web listing service I've been with for six years. I've decided not to renew with them, as I have little indication that my listing is ever seen. With The Cultured Traveler, there is no doubt that my company is benefiting from the listing. I have a file full of referral letters to prove it. Thanks for providing this incredible marketing service. You make it possible to compete with the bigger tour companies.
Sincerely, M. B., Tennessee
Travel Weekly quotes us on playing the pricing game
Squeaky wheels get the grease – and get noticed. After Cultural Travels’ CEO Sheri Leigh wrote about her attempt to find low-priced airfare and hotel rates (see: “Online booking sites —a whopping 400% difference in rates!” in the February 2004 issue of The Cultured Traveler), Travel Weekly editor Alan Fredericks, CTC, contacted her to discuss her conclusion that, when all is said and done, savvy travelers should always hook up with a travel agent. Fredericks covers the interview in his March 1 column, titled “Been Searchin’,” in Travel Weekly’s online TW Crossroads publication. Concludes Leigh: “Travel agents are searching for allies and finding them in experienced travelers like me and our readers. Thanks to sites like Cultural Travels, the day of the agent is coming back.”
The effects of great newsletters - a response
Sheri...
Thank you! I own Uniglobe Firstworld Travel of Atlanta, and in my regular
e-mail to our corporate clients two days ago, I gave them an update on the
Internet, etc. I also linked four of your articles about the shortcomings of
the Internet and the value of travel agents vs. the Internet. You wouldn't
believe the response I'm getting. One CEO prospect that has been on my "A"
list for 3 years sent me a copy of an internal e-mail to his travel arranger
that said: "I'm impressed with the "drip" campaign by Firstworld. These
articles make me want to use their services, etc., etc." They're going to
give us a shot - and it's a big account.
I copied the corporate people at Uniglobe and one said: "This is really great stuff." Do you mind if they use your letters in their corporate marketing material which is currently being revised and updated?
Thanks
again, and please keep writing these articles!
M. I. - Atlanta
Survey shows the Internet is no substitute for the human touch
While the Internet’s speed and convenience have become must-have parts of most consumers’ lives, many of them still prefer personal contact in their transactions. For example, in a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, Boston-based Havas’ Arnold Worldwide Partners found that while 53% of respondents would prefer to book a cruise online, 47% said they’d rather book through a travel agent. It’s likely that these numbers won’t change drastically – travel consumers have accumulated enough online experience to know that no matter how quick and sophisticated websites become, they will never match the savvy, experience and consciousness of live human beings. These figures throw another well-deserved bucket of cold water on reports about the demise of the travel agent.
Get Published - The Cultured Traveler’s upcoming themes
With over 65,000 monthly visitors and growing, a newsletter article is the best way to get your name in Search Engine lights! Just in case you want to write an article for The Cultured Traveler (see Item 3 in The Nanny Corner below), here are the themes we’re working on through December.
May: Summer
Music Festivals
Jun: Eco-Ventures
Jul: Walled and Ancient Cities
Aug: Art Workshops
Sep: Literary Places
Oct: Festive Foods
Nov: Indigenous Cultures
Dec: Gardens and Nature Adventures
3 rules that will make your online newsletter popular with clients
In its just-published Email Newsletter Usability, 2nd Edition, Nielsen-Norman Group says that frequency, length and convenience are the three most important ingredients online newsletter publishers must keep in mind. The report warns that publishing too often (frequency) can make recipients feel overwhelmed. Piling on long, unsummarized articles (length) that look like a lot of work will turn most readers off. And making it difficult for recipients to unsubscribe (convenience) can quickly turn would-be clients into people who actively resent your company. The rules of thumb here are simple: Adhere to a predictable publishing schedule (say, monthly); if you run longish articles, write concise summaries that give readers the gist and let them decide whether to read further; don’t be like the boy/girlfriend who’s outlasted their welcome – give readers an easy way to say goodbye. BTW – Can-Spam makes it the law to provide an Opt-Out link for every email you send. Make sure, your Emarketing company knows the ropes, or you will be the one in trouble – NOT THEM!!
- DoubleClick reports that e-mail click-through rates in the travel industry rose 31% in the fourth quarter of 2003 over Q4 in 2002, from 5.8% to 7.6%. This means that 7.6% of all recipients who opened travel-oriented e-mails sent to them clicked through to the senders’ web sites.
- Email open and click-thrus are very high when the sender knows who you are, e.g. your own in-house list. Cultural Travels open rates average over 50% within 24 hours! On the other hand, open rates fall short of 1% with bulk mass mailings. What sounds cheap in terms of volume, is quite expensive when you get no response.
- Can-Spam makes it the
law to include a Opt-Out link in all email messages. When
renting an email list it is almost imposable to know where those address
came from unless you use a highly creditable source, and pay top dollar.
The chance of your message being "Spamvertised" is very high with all those
cheap bulk mailing houses, so beware you get what you pay for. For more
information on Can-Spam
http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html.
Have you remembered to:
- Update your trips on the Cultural Travels web site? www.culturaltravels.com/Services/
- Make it easy for your clients to subscribe or unsubscribe to your newsletter?
- Write an article for The Cultured Traveler – a great free way to get noticed! www.theculturedtraveler.com/Submissions/Submissions.htm