Having well-managed and maintained email list is essential for creating successful marketing campaigns – but it can seem like an overwhelming task if you’re new to the world of digital marketing.
To help, in this guide, we’ll discuss the different ways to build functional and segmented lists, strategies for keeping a clean and engaged data set, utilizing automation tools effectively, using analytics to track your performance, plus smart compliance measures all marketers should bear in mind. So let’s dive right into the fundamentals of email list management.
Defining your target audience and goals is one of the most important steps in building an effective email list. Understanding who your customers are and what they need can help you create email campaigns that will yield high engagement rates.
It’s helpful to research potential subscribers’ demographics, interests, preferences, and behaviors so you can craft content tailored to their needs or desires that align with your ultimate goal.
Your goals might be to boost brand recognition, generate leads, increase traffic to a website or web page, increase sales conversions or consultations or sign-ups for an event—whatever the goal may be ensure clarity when formulating segmentation strategies so that you can optimize time and resource efficiency in appealing towards each type of customer at varying levels when needed.
Building an effective email list for any marketing campaign requires the creation of compelling opt-in forms and landing pages. Opt-in forms should be fast to fill out, simple to understand and spell out the benefits with a clear call to action.
Colors and branding elements can make these more alluring for prospects too. For maximum impact, thoroughly optimize each opt-in form throughout the main customer journey channels such as web search listings, organic traffic from website visitors, social media sharing links, etc.
Implementing lead generation strategies is essential when it comes to building an email list that performs well. Strategies like website engagement, ads, content creation and distribution, SEO optimization, guest blogging, and webinars can be incredibly effective in drawing potential customers’ attention to the offerings a business has.
When starting the journey of filling an email list with highly targeted contacts elaborate methods like referral programs or social media blitzes should also take a role alongside these basic tactics. Commission- or prize-driven incentives are great to drive leads from platforms like Twitter & Instagram upwards (as if it were pointing towards driving Leads towards your signup forms on landing pages).
For a wider reach, Facebook Ads work wonders as the cost is relatively low compared with impressions gained. Furthermore use specific words to capture attention with catchy headlines & descriptions when marketing on this platform, try and keep users curious to ensure that those they garnered aren’t a detriment to your resources.
When constructing an email list, it is essential to ensure compliance with data protection regulations. Especially when working across different countries and jurisdictions, each may have different regulations outlining how customer data must be handled with respect to privacy and security.
Disregarding any of these laws can lead to serious legal ramifications for your organization, making it critical that you’re familiar with the applicable jurisdictions’ laws and get any necessary permissions or consent before using the subscriber’s personal data in emails.
Building trust with your customers builds long-term loyalty so transparency about how their data will be used from opt-in all the way through campaigns is a necessity for your success as a marketer.
Segmentation plays a key role in email list management. By grouping people into different categories, marketers can craft tailored messages to more precisely fit the needs of each individual subscriber or segment. Segmentation requires marketing professionals to understand their target audience as best they can in order to create and adjust meaningful criteria for groupings within their subscribers.
Ultimately, this will reduce the generalization of messaging causing it to perform better across groups over time while likely creating better overall relationships between the consumer and business.
Through segmentation, marketers are able to garner action from and develop deeper engagement with key groups all while achieving desired click/ open rates from one-on-one sounding campaigns quickly driving return on investments upwards due in part to effective email list management caused by timely and contextual messages.
Identifying relevant segmentation criteria is an important component of effective email list management. The criteria you choose to use will depend upon your industry, target customer base, and campaign goal.
For example, some typical options include age/generation, geographic location, purchase history, and interests. You should also consider setting up filter settings based on user interactions such as the number of opens/closes or clicks that determine engagement levels.
One strategy successful email list managers use to ensure that subscribers receive targeted messages is segmentation. It entails organizing people in a specific target audience into various groups according to types of data such as demographics and interests.
Creating and managing subscriber profiles plays a big part in accomplishing this efficiently. To properly accomplish segmenting, each contributor must fit into an individual profile & organized per required criteria, custom email campaigns are created according to these criteria, then sent optimal results can be produced effectively.
Cleaning and maintaining an organized email list helps marketers maximize their chances of delivering their campaigns successfully. Regular address verification is one of the most basic hygiene practices to implement and will help make sure recipients can properly receive emails by deleting inactive addresses or automatically updating spelling, domain, or syntax errors.
Additionally, periodically profiling customers with a validation solutions engine can illicit a picture of each individual user by screening reviews they’ve provided about the services as well as how active they remain on campaigns throughout time. Doing this monthly ensures that data is up-to-date before being utilized for any targeted messaging purposes; thus speeding up detailed analysis later on when needed.
In order to maintain a clean and engaged email list, marketers need to have effective strategies in place for reducing unsubscribe rates and spam complaints. To reduce by unsubscribe rate by keeping content engaging by personalizing emails with subscriber data or offering discounts and promotions.
Gmail filters can also be tweaked so your legitimate marketing emails don’t get lost among unessential messages. To combat SPAM there needs consistent monitoring of data protection laws regarding opt-in list opt-outs sent complex passwords multiple factor authentication checks deleted confidential information in line with company protocol.
This coupled with re-engaging customers who are too easily slipping off the hook can help send fewer bad reviews garner better newsletter feedback as well as win back potential brand supporters gone affray.
Reengagement campaigns are used to reenergize your inactive subscribers in an effort to keep them from unsubscribing. An email is sent out offering a signup bonus or special incentive as a thank you for returned subscribers’ business and loyalty.
Alternatively, running A/B tests utilizing subject lines specifically designed to discern their interest and other mindful modifications should be done concurrently to ensure relevance when reaching out. To appear fresh and minimize burnout-addressing triggered emails on a time-based span is also advisable for those frequenters who have lost touch with one’s newsletter.
Handling bouncebacks helps to ensure that emails are delivered successfully to your prior, current, and potential customers. Bouncebacks should trigger the removal of the email address from your list or place it in suppressions so subsequent campaigns won’t attempt delivery again until you specifically add them back.
If possible, verify susceptibility rates ahead for new subscribers for hard and soft bounce purposes as well as make sure to set up at least one automated response when invalid addresses enter your lists helping you reach contacts with valid addresses more quickly.
Personalization and automation are key components in effective email list management. Utilizing rich customer data is essential for creating more targeted messaging that will resonate with customers or prospects.
Some data-driven personalization techniques include customization of the subject line based on individual preferences, recommendations of related products or services based on previous purchase history, tailored content segments considering gender topics, geolocation targeting with messages related to appropriate events, and showing current points & gift card balance info during engagement campaigns.
Automation tools and workflows empower marketers with the ability to automatically deliver personalized campaigns at scale. Automations can be used for everything from sending welcome emails and order confirmations, to automated triggered and drip campaigns.
Marketers must first define their primary objective when creating complex automation tools—then utilize a combination of email segments, user event flow triggers, and other data points that help ensure they are focusing on automating the right processes in view of the
Milestone goals set out. With the proper setup of effective automation systems and workflow triggers, companies can bring targeted conversations straight up to their customers without having to manually create them.
Personalization and Automation are techniques utilized by marketers to send timely, relevant content to address the particular needs of our audience. Triggered email campaigns allow us to identify user behavior and then trigger an appropriate message to these customers based on that criteria.
These highly personalized messages have proven to uplift in saving customers’ time offline as well as online from personal prevention campaigns to follow-up messages post-purchase histories or behaviors.
A/B testing is a key element of personalization and automation that enables marketers to optimize email content for maximum results. A typical A/B test involves creating two versions of an email, each slightly different than the other, and then sending out both variations to a sample group of users.
By tracking how the emails performed in metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, or conversions your monitoring services can identify which version yielded better results suggesting what elements of the original message are ineffective.
This allows you to refine your approach toward creating successful campaigns through optimization. Ultimately this process also gives you invaluable insights into customer behavior that implement positive changes in future marketing strategies traveling beyond just email management.
Key metrics for measuring email marketing success are open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe or opt-out requests.
Open rate denotes how many users opened your benchmark messaging content while click-through rate highlights how many people clicked on any area contained within the mailing material being removed from the primary server.
Conversion rate tracks customer behavior once engaged which leads them to become buyers remaining on a website longer thereby increasing their value as possible customers.
In order to understand exactly how effective your email lists are, you need to measure the performance of each campaign.
Open and click-through rates provide insights into how subscribers interacted with your emails while tracking conversions can reveal ROI on marketing activities. Annual open rate averages will also give direction for correlation analysis of various alterations over time; as to if improving or worsened after changes are made.
Combining this data leads to a deep understanding regarding what strategies entice people reactions, stay loyal and positively respond towards those particular aids in optimization when creating future campaigns.
Analyzing and tracking email performance is critical to evaluating the success of campaigns. Subscriber engagement and behavior should be closely monitored by measuring open rates, click-throughs, unsubscribe rates, spam complaints, and relayed messages.
This information provides insight into subject appeal, newsletter value ad how frequently an email list should be sent out. Knowing each segment’s core preferences will put your personalization efforts on steroids by targeting the right customers with more refined messaging at just the right time.
Advanced analytics can extend this approach even farther by understanding motivated buying behaviors based on regularly tracked cycles and patterns.
Analyzing and tracking email performance helps marketers make informed decisions that affect future campaigns.
Advanced analytics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions can reveal insights into individual subscriber behavior that can be used to further customize content or create automated workflows for tailored offerings and messages.
Marketers should also take note of undeliverable emails in order to correct issues with hygiene/list cleaning distribution lists for improved deliverability rates. The analysis of campaign metrics can then lead to opportunities to optimize content, schedule adjustments, and improved user segmentation targets.
Email list management is an essential component of digital marketing success. By effectively building, segmenting, maintaining, and personalizing campaigns based on relevant data and insights, companies can dramatically increase their email engagement rates, resulting in higher click-throughs and conversions.
It’s also important to continually monitor performance tracking metrics such as open rate, unsubscribes, and bounce rates in order to reconfigure strategies as needed for continuous improvement. Read the content discussed here and apply these best practices to ensure successful email list management in your next marketing campaign!
Are you looking for a PPC agency to manage your paid media spend? Look no further than PPC.co!
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The keyword jockey era is officially over. For years, PPC agencies were basically just click machines. You gave them a budget, they bid on keywords, and you got traffic. But that model is fading out. Platforms like Google Ads now handle bidding automatically, and anyone can buy clicks. What separates winners from losers today isn’t the company that spends more – it’s the ones who turn clicks into paying customers.
PPC ads are still a legitimate way to generate cheap traffic but the end goal is ultimately conversions. Until recently, many PPC agencies have only focused on generating traffic without focusing on customizing strategies to produce profitable outcomes. This requires more than just selecting keywords. It requires testing ad creatives, fine-tuning landing pages, and ruthlessly optimizing funnels.
If you’re working with a PPC agency that only talks about CPC while ignoring conversion rates and lifetime customer value (LTV), it’s time to upgrade to an agency that focuses on results measurable in dollars.
Ad platforms like Google Ads and Meta have made manual bidding almost obsolete. Their algorithms now choose how to get you the best conversion value, not just the cheapest click. That means the old “bid manager” agency model is toast.
Smart Bidding and bundled campaign types (like Performance Max) push optimization toward conversion value rather than just clicks. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s an invitation to apply your marketing budget to the things humans do best: messaging, creative strategy, and conversion rate optimization).
The algorithms do the heavy lifting now. Google’s Performance Max and Smart Bidding automatically find high-converting audiences. The system handles keyword strategy better than humans ever could. And it makes sense that these companies would invest the time and money into perfecting their systems because the better results you get, the more likely you are to keep running ads.
With the backend tech handling bidding, your agency’s edge comes from improving elements outside of the algorithm, like your ads and landing pages. The best PPC agencies no longer promise a lower CPC – they promise results.
That’s the key shift here. Automation didn’t eliminate the need for human marketers, no matter what the fear headlines say. It just readjusted the roles between humans and machines.
The agencies that survive this shift will be the ones who stop fighting automation and start building it into their workflows. Rather than wasting time micromanaging bids, cutting-edge agencies are using those hours to test headlines, improve page experience, and analyze conversion data to find out what’s really working.
Automation can never tell you why people click, bounce, or buy. That’s where humans are and always will be needed. When you understand your customer’s motivation better than the competition, you can write better ad copy and design better landing pages.
At the end of the day, automation leveled the playing field for media buying. What was once a technical advantage is now table stakes. Anyone can run their own ads. The agencies leading this new PPC era are competing on conversions, not the simple ability to run ads.
In the old days, you could buy the right keyword and call it a day. That isn’t how it works anymore. Two ads that target the same keyword can perform completely differently based on how they look, sound, and feel. Your ad creatives drive results when they’re optimized and waste your ad spend when they’re not.
Although all elements are important, the majority of an ad’s performance comes from creative quality, not targeting or bids. The best bidding strategy and perfect keyword targeting won’t get people to click on an ad that isn’t enticing.
The best PPC agencies continually test images, headlines, and even video styles to find out what converts best. That’s where the most notable performance gains come from. At the end of the day, keywords get you visibility but good creatives get you customers.
This shift continues to be confirmed over and over. Reports have confirmed that creative quality accounts for 49%-70% of an ad’s success, which outweighs media placement or targeting. In other words, creative isn’t just part of the equation. It’s the final factor.
The top performing brands run hundreds of ad variants every month. They’re not guessing. They’re structuring creative experiments and the winning ads are often the ones that break traditional marketing rules. These are the ads that use raw, authentic imagery, short unpolished videos, or headlines that sound like something a real customer would say. Regardless of what you think should work, constant testing uncovers what actually triggers action.
When your landing page converts better, every click becomes more valuable. Improving your conversion rate by even a few percentage points can provide better results than just a few months of ad optimization. And where landing page optimization is concerned, it’s not always about optimizing the offer (although that’s crucial). Sometimes small things make a massive, measurable difference.
For example, page load time is critical. Walmart found that for every 1-second improvement in load time, conversions increased by around 2%. And that’s not an anomaly. Plenty of businesses achieve similar increases (and even higher) just by optimizing the time it takes their landing pages to load.
Other small adjustments can have a profound impact, like adding social proof near your CTA, reducing the number of form fields, and clarifying your headlines.
When optimizing a landing page, design and clarity matter just as much as speed. Visitors make up their minds within seconds. If your pages are currently cluttered, switching to clean visuals, a clear CTA, and a simple layout can generate more conversions from existing traffic without spending another dollar on ads.
That’s the secret to all of this. Conversion rate optimization multiplies every dollar you already spend. If your ad campaign is driving 1,000 clicks and your conversion rate doubles from 2% to 4%, you’ve just cut your cost per acquisition in half without spending more money. This improvement comes from the one thing an algorithm can’t fix for you: the user experience after the click.
Good conversion rate optimization requires understanding the psychology behind what makes your audience hesitate and then eliminating that hesitation one element at a time. Landing page testing is similar to ad creative testing where it’s an ongoing process, not a one-time project. When you can create a seamless path from ad to action, that’s when your ad spend will perform better and it gets easier to scale.
Clicks and your CPC stats won’t tell you if you’re actually making money unless you’re also measuring profits from conversions. The best PPC agencies focus on metrics that get results measurable in dollars, like profit per visitor and customer lifetime value. Today, you won’t win the PPC game by getting cheaper clicks. You need to turn customers into repeat buyers.
This is the truth many marketers don’t get. Traffic isn’t a KPI if it doesn’t pay off in measurable dollars somewhere down the line. A campaign can drive thousands of clicks with a great CTR and still lose money if those visitors don’t convert or come back. That’s why the best PPC agencies today don’t brag about being able to get cheap traffic. They’re advertising meaningful results.
But sometimes results can’t be measured by what clicks led to a purchase. For example, a $10 click that becomes a loyal customer who spends $1,000 over time is far better than a $1 click that buys a $25 product. That’s why it’s crucial to account for profit-based metrics like customer lifetime value (LTV), return on ad spend (ROAS), and profit per visitor.
PPC success is ultimately measured by how efficiently you can turn paid traffic into long-term profits. That means understanding the customer journey past the initial click. You need to know what they’ll buy next, how often they’ll come back, and what will keep them loyal. Building strategies that account for this increase the value of every customer acquired.
The most amazing ad in the world that generates a 100% click through rate (CTR) can’t save a weak landing page. This applies to sales pages, squeeze pages, blog posts, home pages, and product pages. Wherever visitors are taken after they click on your ad needs to be just as good as your ad to convert.
On platforms like Amazon and Shopify, your product page is everything. It’s not enough to list your product at a good price. You need high-quality, detailed photos to increase buyer confidence. And it helps to use photos of real products, not mockups. Customers can tell the difference and computer-generated mockups (including AI models) reduce confidence and are a red flag for drop shipping. If you are drop shipping, it’s worth getting professional photos taken of everything you sell.
It costs more today to acquire a new customer than ever before. Even if your CPC drops one month, your overall ad costs will continue to rise long-term. The only way to win here is to make every click more profitable, and that boils down to conversion rate optimization. You can’t outspend your competitors forever. You need to out-convert them.
Digital advertising costs have been rising for years. The average customer acquisition cost (CAC) for online retailers is now between $68-$78, which is double what it was in 2013. Every year, it gets more expensive to get your ads in front of your customers. Algorithms are saturated, CPMs fluctuate unpredictably, and privacy updates (thanks, Apple) make it harder to target audiences efficiently. You can no longer buy your way to visibility.
A strong conversion strategy converts more existing traffic without needing to increase ad spend. This is exactly why the most effective PPC agencies focus on the entire funnel, not just the top.
Agencies that optimize per channel (like one for search, social, display, etc.) miss how those channels work together. Most conversions come from multiple touchpoints, but many teams only credit the final click. That can cause misguided budgets and stifle growth. Brands that use cross-channel attribution or marketing mix models see much better optimization. You need a PPC agency that will optimize for whatever will grow your business, not just what looks good on any given platform.
The agencies that win today are replacing the model that sells traffic with one that sells results. They don’t focus on vanity metrics, but rather, contribution margin, customer lifetime value, etc. They’ll help you with more than just ads. They’ll fix your sales page content, pricing issues, and even your page layouts because they know ads perform best with great landing pages. The new PPC agencies are full funnel growth partners, not just media buyers.
The future of PPC marketing is no longer about who can spend the most or manually tweak their bids the fastest. It’s about whoever can understand the customer journey and turn traffic into profit. The next generation of PPC agencies don’t sell clicks. That’s the old model. Instead, they sell you outcomes. And that’s exactly what every brand needs to thrive.
The age of “set it and forget it” PPC is over. Automation has leveled the playing field and brands chasing cheap clicks will be left behind. Winners understand that profit comes from performance beyond the ad and requires a landing page that builds trust and converts.
If your agency or in-house team is still talking about CPCs rather than profit, it’s time to upgrade your strategy. At PPC.co, we build campaigns engineered for outcomes over clicks. We optimize for conversions, revenue, and long-term customer value, and turn your ad spend into measurable business growth. Reach out today to learn how our team can transform your PPC performance into real profit.
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads can generate a steady stream of guests for anyone in the hospitality industry, whether you run a hotel, motel, hostel, vacation rental, or an Airbnb. In terms of marketing strategies, PPC ads convert 50% better than SEO and it’s easier to measure than results from organic search.
But a successful ad campaign isn’t just a matter of getting ads in front of people who are looking to book right now. You can also use PPC ads to find people who are just starting to think about their getaway and those who are comparing options. An effective strategy will reach a variety of people to get bookings now, fill future pipelines, and get repeat guests.
If you’re in the hospitality industry, here’s how paid advertising can help you drive more revenue.
To run a successful PPC campaign you need to understand the guest journey. Different people are doing different things at different times. For example, some people are researching destinations and others are comparing lodging, all while another group of people are ready to book. If you serve all these people the same ads, you won’t get the best results.
1. Define your funnel stages
There are four main stages to a hospitality funnel: awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty. Reaching leads at each stage requires different messaging and targeting. That’s where audience segmentation comes in.
2. Segment your audience by intent
Since each lead needs to be given a different message, it’s crucial to segment them by intent first. For example, the dreamers are people who search for “things to do in X city,” “best beach getaway,” and “romantic weekend destinations.”
The comparers search for “hotel vs. motel in X city,” “4-star stays in X city,” and “Airbnb vs. boutique hotel.”
The bookers search for a specific brand + location + dates.
Each audience segment should be served different ad copy, different offers, and of course – different landing pages.
3. Measure results according to stage
Finally, you need to measure results in several ways, like impressions, click-throughs, content engagement, and email signups. This will give you the bigger picture regarding how your ads are working (or not). For example, to measure the conversion stage, look at bookings, CPA, and revenue per booking. For the loyalty stage, look for repeat stays or referral leads.
Once you know how you’ll segment your audience and track the results, you can allocate your budget smartly. Otherwise, you risk overspending on high-intent leads and ignoring the long-term value of leads in earlier stages of the journey.
If you only bid on keyword phrases like “hotel room booking tonight,” you’ll miss all the people researching and thinking about their vacation. These people can convert, too, even if it doesn’t happen in the moment. They’re worth pursuing. You can capture their email, get them to like your social media pages, and you can also use remarketing to serve them additional ads.
The following are the general types of keywords you want to focus on:
· Broad/discovery keywords. These keywords will reach people in the awareness stage. Phrases like, “Best beaches in [location],” “Top things to do in [location],” and “Travel inspiration [country].” When you use broad modifiers (like “top,” “best,” “where to stay”) you’ll attract people in the research stage.
· Middle-funnel comparative keywords. These are phrases like, “Boutique hotel vs. Airbnb in [location],” “Hotel deals vs. motel,” and “Hotel amenities comparison.” With phrases like these, people are narrowing down their choices. The right PPC campaign can help them pick your business.
· Branded and high-intent booking keywords. These keywords reach people further down the funnel. Phrases like, “[Your hotel name] rooms,” “Hotel in [location] near [landmark],” and “cheap hotel [location][dates].” These phrases typically provide the highest conversion rates but can be competitive, so they may cost more.
· Negative keywords. To prevent wasted ad spend on irrelevant clicks, you can add certain keywords to your negative keyword list. This ensures your ads won’t show up when people search for these terms. Common negative keywords used in the hospitality industry include, “Free stay” and “Jobs at [hotel].”
Since most hotels and motels stick with keywords that target people ready to book, you can expand your reach by running ads for people in other stages. Just make sure you have a system in place to nurture your leads so they don’t go cold.
What you say matters just as much as when you say it. Copy that works for someone researching won’t work for someone ready to book with you. Every part of your ad needs to match intent, including the imagery, tone, copy, and offers. Here’s how to reach each stage:
· Awareness stage ads. At this stage, people will respond to emotional and inspirational copy. Phrases like, “Discover tranquil stays in the mountains,” or “Unwind by the sea.” Use imagery to provoke desire. Beautiful views and relaxing room setups work like a charm.
· Consideration stage ads. These people need more information, so hit ‘em with your amenities (Wi-Fi, breakfast), comparisons, reviews, ratings, and testimonials. Show them visuals of your accommodations and the local area.
· Booking/conversion stage ads. Urgency works best here. Phrases that get people to click to book now, like “Limited rooms available,” and “Book now and save.”
· Loyalty stage ads. Guests who have stayed with you before, even just once, are more cost-effective to convert again compared to chasing down new customers. Create some ads for these people by highlighting perks, upgrades, and exclusive deals they can’t get through other places. For example, you can use lines like:
“Book direct for free late checkout,” “Exclusive returning guest discount,” or “VIP upgrade on your next stay.” It also helps to use personalized copy like, “Welcome back to [your hotel name].” along with imagery of your best amenities.
Loyalty ads drive repeat bookings and increase lifetime value by bringing people back.
· Remarketing and nurturing prospects who got away. In addition to targeting people in all funnel stages, you want to bring people back who clicked but never booked or signed up for your email list. Run retargeting ads to show them what they looked at and offer them incentives or discounts. This is a great time to leverage social proof.
By matching your ad content to meet potential leads where they are in their journey, your ads will be more relevant and you’ll get more conversions.
Having a great ad doesn’t necessarily mean it will drive conversions. If your landing page is confusing or the booking process is clunky, you’ll lose people. That’s why landing page optimization is often where people see the biggest gains.
As a foundation, create a specific landing page for each target audience. You need a dedicated landing page for ads that target each funnel stage. Landing pages should be simple and clear and should be free from all distractions (like links and menus) that invite a user to click away. You want one offer and one call to action.
Social proof is critical in the hospitality industry. Show guest reviews from Tripadvisor, Google, Trustpilot, etc. It also helps to show photos of real guests enjoying their stay (with their permission). Showcasing reviews will reduce anxiety and hesitation, especially for people comparing you with other options.
If your landing pages show pricing, make sure you’re up front about all fees. Be clear about what’s included, like tax, breakfast, and service fees. People hate hidden fees. If a guest’s experience doesn’t match the impression they get from the page where they booked, they’ll probably leave a bad review.
Talk to your website developer and have them trigger a follow-up email that goes out to people who start filling out a booking form but stop. The email should show them what they left behind and you can sweeten the deal by offering a small discount or other incentive.
Having a smooth flow after a person clicks on your ad can help you convert far more prospects. Everything you can do to reduce friction and increase trust compounds.
To get conversions, your bidding strategy and budget need to align with a variety of factors, including funnel stage and seasonality.
· Increase bids for high-intent keywords, use moderate bids for middle-funnel ads, and go lower for awareness and discovery.
· Watch for online travel agents (OTAs) and large hotel chains that bid on your property’s name or similar keywords. If they undercut you in rate or bid too aggressively, you could end up with arbitrarily inflated costs per click. Research data shows this can cost around 47% more per click.
· Adjust your bids and budget during travel seasons, events, and holidays. During off-peak seasons you may want to stick with pushing awareness.
· Allocate your budget proportionately across all funnel stages.
· Use Google’s automated bidding tool for the conversion stage, but use manual methods for the consideration and awareness stage.
The right bidding strategy will ensure you don’t overspend for low-intent clicks or underinvest in more profitable funnel stages.
PPC is more than search. When you use different channels and ad formats you’ll reach people in a variety of places.
· Search ads (Google, Bing). Search ads capture high-intent demand users. They’re great for the conversion and compare phases and can make use of extensions like call, location, and reviews.
· Display and discovery/native ads. Display ads are excellent for the awareness stage. They reach people browsing travel blogs and using apps. With these ads, visuals are everything.
· Social media ads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are great for the awareness and consideration stages. They’re especially powerful for remarketing.
· Video ads. Short-form videos can stir emotion, show off ambiance, and be used to create a mini virtual tour. These ads are great for top and middle funnel prospects.
· Email ads. If you’re using email marketing, offer loyalty deals and off-peak discounts.
Paid search on social media converts better in hospitality than it does in other industries.
Location matters in hospitality. Geotargeting can significantly improve your conversions and reduce wasted ad spend. You can use radius bids and location extensions to target people looking for accommodations within a certain radius.
It pays to bid higher for people in feeder markets and origin cities during the holidays. You can also target departure cities for Arbnbs if that’s relevant to you.
In your ad copy, include local cues like “Only 30 mins from downtown,” and “15 minutes from airport. If you know your audience well, include the origin city (“Fly in from Seattle & Stay with us just outside Olympia”).
When offered by the ad platform, use local extensions to note your address, phone number, and any other elements offered. This will generate more bookings from mobile users.
Most people who click your ads or visit your website won’t book right away. Retargeting will help convert these “warm but not ready” leads into guests eventually.
When you target people who visited your site without converting, show them ads with refreshed offers like a free breakfast or an upgraded view. Visual reminders will help bring them back.
Show the specific rooms and properties to the prospect so the ad feels personalized. Use tools like Google dynamic remarketing and Facebook Product Ads.
For guests who did convert, show them additional special offers and upgrades. Keeping them in your funnel will make future conversions easier.
It’s crucial to know when to pull back, push forward, test more, or scale.
· Define clear ROI goals. Know your target Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), and guest Lifetime Value (LTV). If your ad spend yields bookings but loses money, it’s not working.
· Perform weekly and monthly audits. Refine keywords, ad creatives, and keep testing.
· Scale what works. Once you have a campaign producing consistent returns, increase the budget there while watching for diminishing returns.
· Adjust your offers and pricing. If conversion rates drop or your CPCs rise, start offering special packages like early-bird deals and loyalty perks.
The average travel and hospitality conversion rate for search is 3.55% so if you’re under that, there’s room for improvement. If you’re over that, scale carefully.
If you’re ready to transform your PPC campaign into a reliable machine that fills your rooms and builds a solid pipeline for the future, we can help. At PPC.co, we specialize in creating full funnel PPC strategies for hotels, motels, and Airbnbs that convert into bookings, repeat guests, and long-term loyalty. Contact us today and let’s craft a PPC strategy that drives bookings and turns first-time guests into lifelong customers.
