Return on Ideas – Summer Holiday’s Mailing

Yes, I know the Summer Holidays seem some time away, but I thought I’d brighten up these January days with a little story of how one travel provider delivered a fabulous return on ideas (ROI) using intelligent use of data.

Background

Alfresco was one of the UK’s leading bespoke holiday companies. They wanted to target previous customers and encourage them to re-book.

Idea

By analysing the data, each mailing took advantage of digital print technology to be a unique communication to the recipient.

Featured in the six-page one-piece mailing were images of the holiday the recipient had booked previously because research had shown that many people liked to return to the same destination if they had enjoyed a good experience there previously.

Also shown in the mailing were images of holidays the recipient was known to have visited online.

Variability of the mailing was also determined by the customer’s booking history with Alfresco, their demographics and status – e.g., families with toddlers, families with children or couples with no kids.

Results

The mailing delivered an additional 300 bookings compared to the 2011 campaign. The travel company expressed themselves to be more than satisfied with the results.

Synergy Says

This is data used to brilliant effect.

Each mailing did more than show the recipient images of where they’d holidayed before, it showed images of where they had been online. Taking the data about which properties they’d been looking at, Alfresco was able to show a range of similar holidays, thus increasing the chances of one being absolutely perfect.

What this means is that data is actually helping save trees! Rather than mail out a huge, fat catalogue of all their holidays, Alfresco can look at their customers’ online preferences and mail out a single sheet of paper.

The lesson here is that the relationship between digital and mail is getting deeper and more personal. And more valuable.

Browse through more fabulous Return on Ideas campaigns in our 100 page publication ‘ROI Volume 2’. Order your copy here https://synergy-print.co.uk/insight-advice/insight/.