Leveraging Variable Data Printing for Personalized Travel Marketing

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Your customer is going through his mail and is in the process of throwing most of it away when a colorful travel brochure catches his eye. The brochure is full of tantalizing photos of a destination he has always wanted to visit. Enclosed with the brochure is a letter addressed to him by name that references the highlights of that region and offers him an attractive discount if he books a vacation there without delay. Your company’s contact information is prominently located in the letter and on the brochure. He reaches for his phone….

Personalizing a direct mail campaign with VDP can greatly increase its impact and effectiveness. In fact, Printing Impressions reported that a recent survey found nearly 85% of respondents are more likely to open mail that has a personalized touch.

Here are four ways that travel marketers can use VDP to enhance their direct mail campaigns.

Personalized Greetings. The days of addressing a travel brochure “To the resident at…” are long gone – or should be! Today, a full-service printing solutions provider will use VDP to pull individual names from a customer database to personalize both the envelope and the mail piece inside.

Dynamic Content. VDP lets you replace specific text blocks and images in a templated letter, brochure or other mail piece with text and images that match the interests of a customer or group of customers. For example, brides planning a destination wedding could receive images of local event venues in a particular region and read about what they have to offer, while customers considering a family vacation view images and content about kid-friendly resorts and activities in the same region.

Personalized Itineraries. To provide an even more memorable experience, you can include a personalized itinerary for a customer’s desired destination in their mailer. Use the customer’s previous trip data, wishlists, or online browsing history to curate recommendations for hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, museums, outdoor activities and more. For example, if a customer interested in booking a trip to Paris and you know he is a foodie from his online shopping habits, instead of simply including photos of the Eiffel Tower and other iconic sites in his mailer, you could insert photos and reviews of a Michelin-starred restaurant, a popular bistro, the Musée Vivant du Fromage, and a Parisian cooking class in an itinerary created specifically for him.
Demographic Data. Knowing your customers’ demographic data also helps you to personalize your direct mail campaign using VDP. For your example, if you plan to include a discount offer in your mailer, you can develop a range of discounts and swap in the offer that best matches the recipient’s income level. Or, if a customer has shared information about her ancestry online, insert images and text in your mail piece that encourages heritage tourism. “At Hilton, we’ve noticed a rising interest in self-discovery and the desire for an even deeper understanding of one’s heritage…. In Asia Pacific, 77% of travelers reported they will look to travel to destinations that allow them to better understand their cultural or ancestral heritage.” said Alex Jaritz, senior vice president, brand management, Asia Pacific, Hilton.

Thanks to VDP, there is no need to send generic cruise or travel brochures. Personalizing your direct mail campaign increases the customer’s attention, interaction and experience with that mail piece. If you follow up with personalized email and social media messaging, it will heighten your campaign’s impact even more.

High-tech data analytics and high-speed VDP are just part of the full suite of tools Boombox propelled by Southeastern offers travel marketers to increase the ROI of their direct mail campaigns. Contact your rep today to book a Boombox demo today.

For more information on variable data printing and other ways to engage your target audience, contact your Southeastern representative, or email sales@seprint.com.