If you rely on your newsletter for a significant amount of traffic to your website or product purchase, you need to focus more time on your subscribers’ reading habits than the actual content in the newsletter.

According to MarketingSherpa, Travelocity is an innovator when it comes mass emails. They constantly tweak their email campaigns, Low Fare Alert and Farewatchers, so that subscribers get the right mix of emails.

Here is an overview of Travelocity’s strategy.

  • Identify what subject line gets the highest open rate.
  • Determine how much of a price drop is significant to a subscriber.  For a domestic flight, $20 is significant, but it isn’t for an international flight.
  • Limit the number emails to the subscriber so they don’t get annoyed and stop opening them.
  • Capturing the subscriber’s IP address (geocoding) and their activities so they can target the right flights for Fare Watcher.
  • Strategic placement of price offer in the email for maximum impact.

Source: “Email 2.0: Travelocity Takes It Up a Notch - Improvements & Results,” MarketingSherpa, March 27, 2007.