Thinking of winding down as the end of the year approaches? Think again. Statistics show that 56% of people start their Christmas shopping as early as October!
As we cruise into the Christmas period, it’s the perfect time to ramp up your airport’s marketing efforts and capitalise on customers’ willingness to spend a little more. You can create an effective Christmas email campaign for your airport to increase brand awareness, drive revenue and build customer loyalty.
Why create a Christmas email campaign for your airport?
We know what you’re thinking—why bother sending our holiday emails from your airport when you can engage with customers quickly and easily via social media?
The truth is that while social media is integral to your airport’s marketing mix, email marketing still generates 50 to 100 times more click-throughs and offers a better return on investment.
So what are you waiting for? Follow our top tips for adding festive cheer to your airport’s Christmas email marketing campaigns.
1. Share seasonal content and promotions
Our first tip is to get your Christmas content on point. Use your airport website data to see what customers are searching for at this time of year.
For example, people might be looking to book flights home to visit family for Christmas. They might be searching for last-minute Christmas market breaks. Or, you might find they are already considering booking next year’s summer holiday to beat the winter blues.
Use these search trends to create promotions that give customers what they’re looking for.
2. Create Christmas email content that resonates with your customers and aligns with their needs.
Holiday gift guides are a great way to add value to your airport’s Christmas marketing emails. In 2021, a poll of 2,000 adults found that one in five planned on giving an experience for Christmas. Statistics also show that 76% of consumers prefer to spend on experiences rather than material items. With this in mind, it’s well worth creating a holiday gift guide full of incredible travel experiences customers can buy for loved ones at Christmas.
Another fun, festive idea is creating Christmas email promotions for your airport. How about an advent calendar, where you send subscribers a different travel deal every day in the run-up to the big day? Make the deals time-sensitive to encourage customers to book right away.
3. Make your Christmas email content exclusive to subscribers
Consider making your airport holiday gift guide and advent calendar of travel deals exclusive to subscribers. Create a landing page for your holiday gift guide and Christmas deals with an email sign-up form and a call to action button that says, ‘ Subscribe to get our exclusive holiday experience gift guide’ or ‘subscribe to open today’s airport advent deal.’ The power of FOMO (fear of missing out) is a great draw!
Designing landing pages and Christmas email campaigns is easy with Rezcomm’s Drag & Drop Email and Landing Page Builder. Access and customise templates or build your own with those all-important festive design features, including Christmas imagery and gifs, as well as fun and engaging copy laden with puns and seasonal emojis!
4. Personalise your airport Christmas email campaigns
Did you know that 47% of people will open an email based on just the subject line? Even better, personalising your email subject lines can increase opening rates by 50%. Adding the customer’s name to your email subject line will stop the scroll through their crowded inbox and make them feel valued.
But personalising your airport’s email marketing campaigns at Christmas is so much more than just customer names alone. It’s also about segmenting your email subscribers to send more targeted emails using dynamic content, which can lead to a whopping 760% increase in email revenue.
Here are some examples of how you could segment your airport email subscribers:
- Demographics (age, personas, gender, location, etc.)
- New and loyal customers
- High-order value customers and price-sensitive customers
- All-year-round customers and seasonal buyers
- Customers who haven’t interacted with your airport recently
Once you’ve segmented your customer base, think about the type of Christmas content that will connect with them and use it to personalise your campaigns. Remember to draw on data from your CRM system, such as previous booking data, to personalise your airport Christmas marketing emails.
5. Thank loyal customers
Christmas is a time for togetherness, bringing feelings of nostalgia and happiness. By tapping into these emotions, you can engage with customers on a deeper level. Don’t create an airport email marketing campaign that’s just about selling more flights, holidays and hotels to increase revenue. Thank loyal customers for their support. A simple season’s greetings can go a long way to ensure they continue booking future travel with your airport.
Make your Christmas email campaign extra special for loyal customers by including a small gift. It doesn’t have to be huge or expensive to make a difference. For example, a free spiced gingerbread latte from one of your airport coffee shops is on-theme and will go a long way with your customers. This simple yet effective token of appreciation will make your customers feel valued and ensure you remain their favourite airport.
6. Increase brand awareness
You can use your airport’s Christmas email marketing to not just boost sales and customer loyalty, but also to make more people aware of your brand. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Create a festive email campaign for new customers and those who still need to book with you and let them know about your travel booking service. Include user-generated content to boost trust in your airport.
- Share behind-the-scenes pictures of your airport and key achievements over the last year. Thank members of your team. It’ll help customers connect to your brand and understand what you’re all about.
- Partner with an organisation or charity important to your business and bring customers together for a good cause.
Share any Christmas activities at the airport for local people. For example, carol singing, meeting Santa and Christmas shopping events.
7. Get the timing spot on
Plan your Christmas email marketing campaigns well in advance. Please don’t leave it until the last minute!
It’s much better to start your Christmas email marketing early and get people excited about your holiday promotions. Tell customers about upcoming Christmas discounts and offers, and tease them with countdown timers in your emails to build anticipation.
Use your airport data to determine the best time to send your airport’s Christmas marketing emails. Remember that if you’re segmenting your audience, you might find it more effective to send emails at different times.
Automating your Christmas email marketing campaign will save valuable time during the busy festive period. Use Rezcomm’s Email Sending Service to set up workflows to welcome new subscribers, share your Christmas-themed content, promote offers, thank customers and re-capture any missed leads with cart abandonment emails. In addition, you’ll benefit from our powerful tracking tools to help you evaluate the ROI of your airport Christmas email marketing.
8. Align with other seasonal marketing efforts
While we’ve focused on building the perfect Christmas email marketing campaign for airports, it’s important to keep your other marketing efforts from slipping. So align your Christmas email marketing campaign with your airport’s social media marketing, paid advertising and offline marketing to ensure everything is geared towards achieving your goals.
For instance, if you’re running an airport advent calendar of daily travel deals, share it on social media with a link to a dedicated landing page where people can subscribe to your emails and get in on the action. You can also feature banners in your airport promoting your airport advent calendar and include a QR code customers can scan to sign up for your emails.
Or, if you’re running some festive events like ‘Meet & Greet Santa’ or ‘VIP Christmas Shopping’ at your airport, why not create a hashtag that customers can use when uploading their photos to social media? Then, with customers’ permission, you can use these photos in your holiday campaigns via email and social media to show all the exciting things happening at your airport and use the feeling of ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out) to sell even more tickets for your events.
When it comes to Christmas marketing, it’s all about injecting your campaigns with fun, engaging, charismatic content. It’s the best time of year to really connect with your customers and show them your airport is way more than just tarmac and terminals. We hope you’ve found our email marketing tips for airports helpful, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Create Airport Christmas Email Campaigns with Rezcomm
Designing and building the perfect Christmas email marketing campaign is easy with Rezcomm’s powerful suite of marketing modules. We have everything you need to take your festive marketing to the next level, including a team of airport marketing experts to help you every step of the way. Download our marketing brochure, watch our video, and book a meeting with our team to get started.
Cultivating Rezcomm’s brand presence, Sarah Marks is our Director of Communications. A T-shaped marketer at heart, she has a broad skill set, with a particular passion for SEO and email marketing. While her core focus is on strengthening Rezcomm’s brand, she also provides strategic advice to clients.
