In the competitive world of hotel marketing, precision and accuracy are key to successful campaigns. However, a common pitfall that many hotels encounter is including OTA (Online Travel Agency) domains in their campaign segmentation. This practice can significantly distort your campaign KPIs and impact your overall marketing effectiveness.
Understanding OTA Domains
OTA domains, such as those associated with Expedia reservations (e.g., m.expediapartnercentral.com), are typically disposable email addresses. These emails are used temporarily during the booking process and become inactive after the guest’s check-out. While marketing emails may appear to be delivered successfully, they often do not reach the end consumer due to their temporary nature. Before a guest checks in, transactional emails to OTA domains are usually delivered, depending on the specific OTA.
The Impact on Campaign KPIs
Including OTA domains in your marketing email campaigns can lead to several issues:
Distorted Engagement Metrics
Since these emails are often inactive post-reservation, any engagement metrics (opens, clicks) recorded are likely due to bot activity rather than genuine consumer interaction. This can give a false impression of your campaign’s success.
Increased Bounce Rates
Sending emails to these disposable addresses can result in higher bounce rates, negatively impacting your sender reputation and deliverability rates.
Misleading Deliver Rates
Emails sent to OTA domains may show as delivered, but they do not reach the actual hotel guest. This skews your delivery metrics and can lead to misguided strategic decisions.
Best Practices for Hotel Marketers
To ensure your marketing campaigns are effective and your KPIs are accurate, it is crucial to exclude OTA domains from your Marketing Campaign email segmentation. Here are some steps you can take:
Identify and Suppress OTA Domains
Use your Cendyn CRM to create a segmentation that excludes common OTA domains. This will help ensure that your emails are reaching genuine consumers.
Sample Segmentation with OTA Domains:
Sample Use of the Domain Exclusion Segmentation:
Regular Database Maintenance
Periodically review and clean your email database to remove any outdated or inactive addresses, including OTA domains.
Monitor and Adjust
Continuously monitor your campaign performance and adjust your segmentation criteria as needed to maintain high engagement and deliverability rates.
Common OTA Domains to Exclude
Here is a list of some common OTA domains that you should consider excluding from your email campaigns:
- m.expediapartnercentral.com
- agoda-messaging.com
- guest.booking.com
- guest.booking.co
- bkddcl.ctrip.com
- guest.trip.com
- guest.airbnb.com
- hotel.check24.de
Often times, hotels also opt to exclude sends to the root/main OTA domain. Some examples include:
- airbnb.com
- booking.com
- ctrip.com
- ebookers.com
- edreams.com
- expedia.com
- hopper.com
- hostelworld.com
- hotels.com
- hotwire.com
- kayak.com
- lastminute.com
- orbitz.com
- travelocity.com
- trivago.com
- turo.com
- wotif.com
- vrbo.com
By taking these steps, you can improve the accuracy of your campaign metrics and ensure that your marketing efforts are truly reaching your target audience. Remember, the goal is to engage with real consumers, not temporary email addresses.
Implementing these best practices will help you optimize your email marketing strategy and achieve better results with your Cendyn CRM.
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.