There is no better way to keep in touch and nurture a potential lead than with an irresistible opt-in for your destination or tour company.

Do you have an opt-in box on your travel, tourism or hospitality website? 

An opt-in can be one of the most powerful marketing tools for a successful travel and tourism company. By engaging potential customers through newsletters, you can significantly increase your sales.

The question is, in a world of spam and overflowing inboxes, how can you get people to want your newsletters and emails? Basically, you have to make sure that your opt-in is so irresistible, it will be a temptation to every person who comes across it. Of course, not everyone will decide to subscribe but, if you play your card rights, everyone who does subscribe will be part of your target audience.

It may seem difficult to convince people to willingly accept getting emails from your destination or tour company. However, there are a few highly effective tricks that will make it easy as pie:

1. Include a freebie with subscription:

The best way to make readers excited about your opt-in is to offer something to everyone who subscribes. Of course, what you offer needs to meet a want or need that your potential clients have. For travel and tourism businesses, anything that gives interesting information, fun facts, or useful tools will catch the attention of travelers. For example, if your company does small group tours around the world, you can offer subscribers a free guidebook to one of the regions that you cover. If you focus on a specific destination, you can send a packing list, or a file with music from that destination. Whatever you decide to offer, be creative, fun, and, more than anything, useful!

2. Send exclusive information

One of the main reasons people sign up for mailing lists is to get valuable information they can’t get anywhere else. This information should include things that travelers highly desire like discounts and deals. If people know they will get exclusive information, they will be excited to sign up. This is where your opt-in needs to be informative and, in an eye-catching, simple way, tell people about the benefits they will receive. Sending exclusive information can also help you increase your sales, since people are more likely to book your tour/buy your product if they see a discount. This strategy is travel marketing gold!

3. Make your headline sparkle

If your opt-in doesn’t catch people’s attention the second they see it, chances are they won’t even bother reading what it’s about. Use an irresistible headline that grabs people instantly and makes them want to read everything else in your opt-in. One of the most effective ways to do this is to tell people what they’re going to receive right off the bat. Because you already have a system that gives people freebies and exclusive info, let them know it! Headlines like “Never miss a deal!” or “Get the secrets of South America,” are bold and interesting, and will make readers think twice before ignoring them. But be careful, this form of travel marketing- when done maliciously, is called “link baiting.” So be sure your headline is directly related to your offer.

4. Be specific

So now you know the most important travel marketing strategies for creating a great opt-in. However, there is one thing many hospitality and tour companies fail to do when implementing these marketing strategies: Being specific. See, people like knowing what exactly they are going to receive. The more specific you get, the more appealing your opt-in will be. “Get a free guidebook to Asia” is good, but “Get a free guidebook to the best hotels, restaurants, and destinations in Asia” is better. If you can work in numbers, it’s a homerun! Use numbers to prove your popularity: “10,000 people have already gotten deals on tours around Europe, will you?” Remember to always talk to your target audience. A luxury travel tour company isn’t talking to backpackers, and it should let its audience know. The more specific you are, the more useful your information, and the more irresistible your opt-in will be.
Don’t let a boring opt-in drive potential customers away. Your company is unique, and your opt-in should reflect this. Let people know that the benefits of signing up, and convert curiosity into real sales!

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