How To Use SMS Marketing For Travel Agencies

As the COVID-19 pandemic winds down, the travel industry is beginning to return to normal. Travel agencies are rebounding slowly after experiencing 2020’s massive tourism decline, so it’s crucial to utilize modern marketing strategies to get your travel business back on track.

Travel professionals need to lure customers away from the temptation of DIY travel and self-booking apps. But how? With outstanding customer service. 93% of consumers are more likely to make repeat purchases at companies that offer excellent customer service.

Providing your clients with customized, personal service is more important now than ever. If you own a travel agency, SMS must be an essential part of your marketing strategy. 

SMS marketing is currently the most popular communication channel, boasting a 98% open rate. According to Statista, 2.2 trillion SMS messages are sent every year in the U.S., that amounts to about six billion texts per day. 

If you haven’t yet integrated SMS texting into your existing market strategy, you’re missing out on an extremely valuable communication method. Today, we’ll discuss how travel agency marketing SMS can help you stay afloat in a very competitive business.

Confirm Bookings and Make Quick Updates

Travel agencies use SMS marketing to deliver peace of mind to their customers. Let’s be honest: travel planning can be time-consuming and tiring. That’s why travel agencies use SMS services to reduce users’ stress levels. 

SMS alerts about upcoming bookings should contain essential information about the trip. As people often book trips months in advance, SMS texts serve as valuable reminders. 

These booking confirmations will improve customers’ overall experience with your business and encourage them to return for their next trip. 

SAMPLE TEXT TEMPLATE:

Hi [Name], your flight to [Departure Location] to [Arrival Location] has been confirmed.

[Date]

[Flight #]

[Depart]

[Arrive]

RETURN

[Date]

[Flight #]

[Depart]

[Arrive]

Pro tip: By using templates, you can customize your messages so that your branding is consistent, which is especially important when multiple agents are representing your company. For individual agents, a cohesive branding message can help to enhance confidence in your small business and make you appear "larger.”

SMS Boarding Passes

Another way of ensuring customer peace of mind is by providing a trackable and secure ticket via text message marketing. You can also use SMS texting to update them on any changes to their itinerary. 

Through stellar customer support, your travel agency will have repeat customers and improve your reputation as a trustworthy, professional business.

Improved Customer Loyalty

Loyalty programs are proven to work wonders for customer retention marketing in all industries. In addition, having a customer loyalty program is vital in industries where shoppers often comparison-shop. Here are some ideas to incorporate into an SMS customer loyalty program: 

• Special offers: Inform customers about special deals available only to subscribers. You can also provide customers with a promo code valid for specific trips and limited-time offers.
  
• Rewards: Another way to create loyal customers is to reward them. If the customer has booked a trip from your agency, you want to make it worthwhile to do business with you again. Reward programs incentivize customers to make you their travel agent of choice.
  
• Travel tips:  As your customers’ trips approach, consider sending them helpful information and bits of advice about the destination. For example, you can inform them about expected weather, how to pack, or currency exchange details. 

Handling Emergency Situations

Like any other service-related business, travel can sometimes involve crises that must be resolved quickly. Given that you are essentially responsible for hundreds of tourists gathered in one area, you need an efficient communication channel. 

Travel agencies using SMS marketing have immediate access to their customers’ phone numbers. Mobile devices are the fastest and most reliable source of connecting with people to inform them of an emergency. In addition, since most people carry their mobile phones with them, customers can contact your agency via text if something unexpected occurs. 

Brand Building

People take traveling seriously, so choosing a travel agency that they feel is trustworthy, reliable and professional is essential. In addition, brand building is closely related to the emotional attachment you’re creating with your company. 

Using SMS marketing wisely helps build your brand image. By providing continuous customer service via SMS, you ensure that you’re increasing the trustworthiness of your business. When customers trust you, they are more loyal, the retention rate is higher and sales increase.

Hi [Name],

Did you know you can get discounts on hotels when you book your airfare through us?

Call today to learn more about our special pricing!

[Agency Name]

Text STOP to end

Customer Surveys

Sending customer surveys and polls is essential for any business that employs a long-term success strategy. Text message services are ideal for collecting customer feedback to help improve your service efforts. 

Ask them questions about their overall experience, how they’d rate the service provider, and if they have suggestions on how you could provide a better future experience.  

Choose Textedly to Build Your Travel Agency Business 

Enhanced customer service via text messaging is one of the most efficient forms of digital marketing. As the most widely used communication method, it makes perfect sense to utilize texting to keep in touch with your customers and build long-term connections.

Marketing and follow-up through personalized, automated texting is one way to deliver this customized level of travel service, and SMS marketing software like Textedly makes it easy.

 Textedly allows you to track keywords and provides analytics designed to improve your SMS campaigns. In addition, there are a variety of plans available, based on how many messages you wish to send each month.

Easily send bulk SMS or MMS travel text messages to lists from 10 to 100,000 with Textedly. Start your 14-day free trial today!