Recommended Reading: The book: Customers.com by Patricia Seybold

Why would customers go to your web site rather than Travelocity? Or my web site, www.onlywaytotravel.com?

Ask yourself: What is it my customer wants from my web site? Better yet, ask your customers!

To get return visitors to your site, it must be user friendly:

1. Fast loading;
2. Easy to navigate; and
3. Pleasing to the eye.

In order to get repeat purchasers you must develop loyalty. The best way to build loyalty is to create a sense of community.

Your web site must provide benefits, not features.

As you update (or design) your site, keep the following goals in mind.

Your web site must provide:

Something of value;

Something new;

A promise of pleasure;

Fulfillment of a dream;

Fulfill a need;

Enrichment.

Each group was given the task of brainstorming about ways a web site may meet the needs listed above. Some of these may overlap somewhat. Here are the lists and the ideas that the groups came up with.

• Experience of agents. i.e. "Our agents have a combined 30 years of experience in the travel industry."
• Agents’ knowledge and accreditations i.e. ACC, MCC, CTA, CTC, destination specialists, etc.
• Agency membership’s i.e. BBB, chamber of commerce, ASTA, IATAN, ARC, ARTA, consortia, etc.
• Agency licensures or registrations and bonding.
• Statement of confidentiality, "We do not sell or exchange your e-mail address or personal information to any other entity."
• Testimonials from clients.
• Your agency contact information, address, phone number, e-mail address, etc.
• Pictures of your staff or office location. (Lends a feeling that you’re a real person or business.)
• Taking credit cards (lends an air of legitimacy).

• Have a photo gallery of pictures from your clients’ travels.
• Have niched focused special interest "clubs" i.e. SCUBA, skiing, festivals, events, and themes.
• Have message boards for clients.
• Have a "Q and A with Our Agents" page.
• Post trip reviews from clients and "club" members.
• Post a site for groups you may have traveling.
• Post specials for your clients.

• Post your newsletter on your web site, something with a personal tone.
• Have photos and testimonials from your clients relating to their travel experiences.
• Have a personalized entry to the site. "Welcome back Donna Wickerham!"
• Education. Information on out of the way spots or unusual tours.
• Hints on destination highlights such as restaurants or tours.
• Bulletin boards.
• Virtual cruise night, on line possibly with streaming videos.
• Posting specials.
• Have a variety of links.
• Let the site be menu driven. Allow the client to build his or her own itinerary.
• Post ship and resort reviews.
• Update customer profiles.
• List staff and provide bios.
• FAQ –i.e. What do you need to know before your first cruise?

• Bulletin Board – Reviews from past travelers.
• Insurance information.
• Customer profiles. If possible, allow the customer the ability to create and update their own personal profiles.
• Travel insurance, information or purchase on line.
• Passport and visa information.
• Travel health information.
• Currency converters.
• Specialty information.
• Travel deals, exclusive offers your agency has, or your consortium.

These are ideas that our groups came up with in just 20 minutes time. Take some time and do some brainstorming with your own agents. Think about what it is your clients call and ask for. Think about what you can put on your web site to provide visitors with fresh and compelling information that will keep them coming back to your web site and buying from your agency over and over again!

Travel Trade’s Cruise-a-thon Presentation
(Read it on line here or Download it now)

Presented by:
Donna and Art Wickerham
The Only Way to Travel, Inc.
December 1, 2002

Creating an effective, pre-qualified e-mail list can be done in just a few easy steps!    If you just think of gathering clients like a "Gravity Well", you will get a better understanding of how this whole process works.

The most important, and most difficult step of the process.

Determine exactly what it is you want to sell via e-mail marketing. Recall the 5th Law of Markerting: "Find a Niche".   Hopefully you have all figured out you can’t be everything to every one. You should be narrowing down your focus.

Do you want to sell cruises or tours? Well so does everyone else in this room. Narrow your focus down even more. Think about exactly to whom you want to market. (You can have e-mail lists for more than one market, but you need to develop the lists one at a time.)

What are some examples of target markets we could reach by e-mail marketing? (Write down your ideas now.)

Let’s say, you have determined you want to sell honeymoons. That’s a pretty narrow market. If you want, you could narrow it down even farther, to cruise honeymoons, or Hawaii honeymoons. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say honeymoons. If you are a seller of Honeymoons, who is your target market? Engaged couples.

So now that you have determined to whom you are marketing, now how do you get the attention of your target market?

It’s easy to say just about anything related to the wedding will interest your target market. But once again, you really need to narrow your focus. This helps you to determine what to give away, and how to market your give-away.

So start brainstorming. What unique interests does the target market, engaged couples, have?

How about a guide to planning the perfect honeymoon? You can offer this guide as a free e-book.

In creating this e-book, you have just established yourself as the expert on honeymoon planning. You can follow-up the guide with the perfect honeymoon newsletter. Potential clients will refer to it repeatedly during the planning of their honeymoon. Then send out honeymoon specials. And of course, every time they refer to the guide or receive a copy of your newsletter, or your specials, they will see your agency’s name! You are slowly becoming their personal expert on honeymoons.

There are many web sites that will let you promote your free stuff, for example at no charge. If you search Google for: "Free stuff" you will find 2,540,000 results. The first six listings offer a free location for you to place a link to your web site. Look for such names as:

And the list goes on

If you search for "Sites that give away free stuff" you get 351,000 sites.

Searching for "Free honeymoons" results in 234,000 listings, the first being a site offering " Free honeymoon vacation planner"

Besides free sites, find other web sites that deal with honeymoon or wedding related services, and get a link between your sites. Remember these related sites we discussed before such as rings, flowers, dresses ? These people and their sites are not your competition.

When visitors get to the site for the free offer, explain that you need to have some information so you can send them the free guide. Of course you will e-mail them the guide because that’s free, but they will understand your need for their e-mail address. Technically you don’t need their e-mail address because you are going to auto-respond to them with your guide, BUT you must get their e-mail address.

Since the guide is about "Honeymoon Planning" you can ask them the date of the wedding or honeymoon. But don’t ask a lot of questions such as what’s their budget or where do they want to go. Many people are reluctant to give personal information for the fear of the sales pitch.

You don’t even need to know their name or address, since you aren’t planning to sell them anything, YET.

At the end of the sign up form we discussed above, ALWAYS explain that you will not sell or give their information to anyone. It’s strictly for your use.

Then tell them about other free services you provide. Such as a monthly newsletter about Honeymoon Destinations and Deals on Honeymoons. Ask them if they want to receive these free e-mails. This is why you wanted their email address.

The number one mistake many people make is trying to use an AOL web site/e-mail to send a large number of e-mails. AOL will not permit this.

The second mistake is trying to send all your e-mails as comma delimited "bcc" e-mail.

• Name

• Address

• Phone number

• Business hours

• Your preferred e-mail address, remember it might be different from the address from which your bulk emails were sent.

• Your "tag line"

• Lastly tell them how to be removed from your email list.

Over time subscribers to your e-mails, newsletters, tips, etc will want to be removed. Don’t take it personally. I’m sure you’ve asked to be removed from e-mail lists too. When you receive a "remove" request do it right away.

You will get threatening e-mails saying what poor advice you have given. People will correct your spelling and grammar. Just move on with your life. You may wish to just remove them from your e-mail list to reduce future stress.

When writing your e-mails, or newsletters ask your readers for suggestions on articles or feedback from their experiences. Remember people may have more than ONE honeymoon. Getting your readers involved helps personalize your writings. Remember who your readers are, the brides to be.

When they call, and they will, now you have a readership who wants to book because they owe you for so many great ideas.