Oldies but Goodies
  1. Oldies but Goodies
Matt Landau
  • Founder, VRMB

130 Weeks of MMMs!

This post is about newsletters: the single best way to stay in touch with former guests, generate new referrals, and keep your business brain sharpened and focused.

I am something of a newsletter nerd. I sign up to receive newsletters (and assess them), I've spent every week for the last 5 years sending out VRMB's weekly newsletter, and prior to that, I spent a solid 5 years sending out one for my vacation rental business. I love newsletters (or mailers or updates or whatever you want to call them).

But Here's The Honest Truth...

Newsletters are one of the top investments to generate repeat/referral bookings because they compound: you put the same effort into one newsletter but as your list grows, the returns multiple. However, newsletters require a plan and discipline over time which, with limited resources, seems to be enough to keep many vacation rental professionals from benefitting from the practice.

Newsletters warrant limited resources.

In our latest podcast interview, Rafat Ali of Skift insists that a newsletter should be the core of any modern day travel company. And to encourage yours, I want to share some common denominators of the best newsletters I have observed over 10+ years to get you started, calibrated, and/or pushing forward.

How Often To Send?

The sweet spot for a vacation rental business seems to be once a month or once every 3 months. So long as you are pretty consistent, the intervals needn't be precise. But do place future reminders on your calendar and stay committed. It's like a diet in that on and off does not work.

Your List​

Think of your list like a garden: you need to plant, water, cultivate, and prune, in order to enjoy the growth. A 1,000 person list with 10% of people who open is less valuable than a 200 person list where 50% open. Quality over quantity aaaaaaaall day. I suggest you delete contacts who do not open your emails after 3 sends. It will keep your costs down. Also make sure people have given you permission to join. Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.

Subject Lines

I like two schools of thought for subject lines: Creative vs. Recognizable. Creative subject lines pique interest. They require removing yourself from the situation and asking "what would get me curious enough to open this email?" Recognizable subject lines are more generic: your business + name of newsletter + date. Both creative and recognizable subject lines work. I also like a hybrid of putting your recognizable in [brackets] after the creative.

What's It Look & Feel Like?

Make your newsletter look and feel like a gorgeous email. Think of it like an outfit for a formal event. You want personality, but not too much distraction. Avoid multiple fonts/colors, too many images, and fancy formatting (a huge waste of time). Simple, classic, refined. But also YOU: don't forget to write in your voice -- even if that means breaking some grammar rules in the process.

What to Include?

For content breakdown, I like to suggest one part friend, one part destination ambassador, one part small business owner. The friend opens with an update about their (and their team's) lives: the ambassador shares ongoings of the region (restaurant news, events, re-openings): and the small business owner makes relevant offers. Do not send only special offers. People will delete. Put real thought into your newsletter content: former guests who matter can feel it. So can the people they forward it to. Which reminds me...

The Newsletter Sign-up Link​

Because great newsletters get forwarded to friends, family, and colleagues, it's important to have a link where those new people can sign-up. All you need is a simple landing page to capture email addresses. The best place to put this link...

The P.S.

The P.S. statement always commands attention so consider a new member sign up page, humble brag, or call to action sales line. Since it only gets read by those who have taken the time to get there, the quality of the P.S. interaction is peak.

It's Best to Segment

The more you segment your recipients, the better you can personalize each message and the better you can personalize the higher open rates and click-through rates you see. A tweaked message to guests who stayed in a particular home in a particular time of year will yield exponentially greater engagement than a blanket message to all guests who stayed across all properties all year. Segmenting means one big job up front (sorting contacts the best you can into home-stayed, date, group size, vacation type), then ongoing tagging/categorizing as the list grows. Sending tailored messages to different segments is one of the most underrated activities in vacation rental marketing. It's a comparatively cheaper and easier activity than generating new bookings.

Remove Outbound Links

The fewer links you include, the more people will click on the links that tap your bottom line. It can be tempting to want to include many hyperlinks to "read more" but ask yourself, "Is the link 100% truly necessary here?"

Bonus Tips​

Here are some random lessons that didn't seem to warrant their own sections. I will add to this list as the good ideas come rolling in (please share):
  • Occasionally, I like adding FWD: or Re: to the beginning of a subject line and crafting the body message itself to look like a separate email that has been forwarded to the recipient. This only works when the message itself makes sense to be forwarded. And done only occasionally.
  • For the occasional and supremely important sales email, I have seen senders "accidentally" send two copies (one right after the other), which draws attention and increases open rates. FWIW: This is definitely not a "best practice" but it's interesting.
  • The {merge} feature of many platforms that allows you to batch insert personal details like 'First Name' very rarely achieves its goal (often the opposite).
  • In terms of metrics, open rates are fine but actual engagement is better. Ask your recipients to "Click Reply" and let you know what they think. This kind of human interaction is actually the most valuable outcome from an automated tool like email marketing.
  • Most vacation rental businesses simul-publish their email newsletters to a page on their website, which is good for a variety of reasons. But you do not need a website to send a newsletter.
  • Don't be afraid to re-use materials from previous newsletters. Updating is a beautiful thing. Don't feel the need to come up with brilliant stuff each time.
  • You need to use an email marketing platform (Mailchimp for free, Infusionsoft for more enterprise level) or your property management software (check out our Keystone Awards here). Please do not send out bulk emails from your personal email. Quick route to the spam folder.
 
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Thank you Matt! You inspire me, since you are always a real life example of what we are striving for in marketing and communications. Thanks! I’m going to try it!
Thanks Ruth! Truth is, I learned a lot of these things with my vacation rental newsletter: that’s “where I got my chops!”

If you are by chance just getting started, this Email Marketing 101 course is a great place to start.
 
Matt,

If I haven't said it lately, I really appreciate your emails and all the work to help everyone!

Love your thoughts on the 1,000 most interactive vs 10,000 email addresses. So true! Those who are engaged can really help everyone out.

Thanks,
Tricia Moore
Founder & Executive Director
Citizens 4 STR
Cell 703-624-1165
www.citizens4str.org
https://www.facebook.com/Citizens-4-STR-451238335320813/
https://www.gofundme.com/ffx-cty-property-rights-cal
It’s been wonderful to watch you evolve into such a STR advocate/leader! Looking forward to seeing you one of these days in DC!
 
Thanks Matt - I love your persistence too! Sometimes when things get busy, I miss a few of your posts, but you haven't deleted me yet and I hope you never do! I just bought an Echo Plus and a few echo dots for around the house, so now I need to figure out how to get Alexa to read your motivations to me as part of my "Alexa, Good Morning" routine! :)
 
Matt Landau Matt Landau what JOest JOest suggests is doable. It would mean you would need to publish MMMs as an Alexa 'Flash Briefing'. I believe this is actually free and automated if you use the capability from a company called Witlingo. You would download their Castlingo app to you phone, and then hit the record button and read the MMM aloud. It would then automatically get published as a Flash Briefing update. Then Jenny and anyone else can add your flash briefing to their news feed and 'Good Morning' routine. At that point, the MMM is available amidst the other news of the day when you say "Alexa, good morning".
 
Matt Landau Matt Landau what JOest JOest suggests is doable. It would mean you would need to publish MMMs as an Alexa 'Flash Briefing'. I believe this is actually free and automated if you use the capability from a company called Witlingo. You would download their Castlingo app to you phone, and then hit the record button and read the MMM aloud. It would then automatically get published as a Flash Briefing update. Then Jenny and anyone else can add your flash briefing to their news feed and 'Good Morning' routine. At that point, the MMM is available amidst the other news of the day when you say "Alexa, good morning".
Wow, my brain just broke for a moment there. Sounds fascinating. Now, JOest JOest how badly do you want this function :eek:
 
Wow, my brain just broke for a moment there. Sounds fascinating. Now, JOest JOest how badly do you want this function :eek:
That's awesome! How hard is it to do?? Maybe you could try one and I could set it up at my end. Then together we test the delivery?
 
Thanks Matt Landau Matt Landau for your inspirations. I am dusting off my newsletter my container is "Did You Know" I use to use it a few years ago and after reading you post, I am reviving it. One way I segment my list is by Alway Open, Sometime Open, Rarely Open and Don't Open. I delete once or twice per year. I will follow your recommendation on providing 75% of useful information.

Other than the monthly newsletter, I like to send out regular emails for last minute deals etc.
 
Matt Landau Matt Landau That post was fantastic, perfect timing for me. What a great assortment of tips that will help me focus strategies and timing. I definitely need to become consistent with scheduling e-mails. I like the container headlines and pruning makes great sense as does segmenting. Thanks for bringing up E-mail Marketing 101 since my efforts have not progressed far beyond “beginner’s launch.” The best thing about your post was that it gave me a needed boost of encouragement with a positive shift back to a “can do” perspective. Thanks, Matt!
 
I love MMM! My husband had to remind me the other day that he gets them too so I don’t need to rehash every line to him .

I aspire to creating an email newsletter that as short, interesting, informative, and inspiring for my guests as MMM is to me and my business growth.

Kudos to Matt Landau Matt Landau

I think my last newsletter was New Years. Maybe I will commit to quarterly.
 
  • Don't be afraid to re-use materials from previous newsletters. Updating is a beautiful thing. Don't feel the need to come up with brilliant stuff each time.
I so love this point.

"Do the work once, then use it many times" is my mantra. I can't remember where I left my keys, let alone a story I read in a newsletter two years ago. Be confident in recycling your existing content!

Like Matt advised, update pre-published material. Boldly re-use content verbatim (if you're self conscious, lead in with something like, "This was one of our most popular stories in 2019, and, even though Covid-19 has turned the world upside-down, it remainsl absolutely relevant"), and write a new headline or use a new photo for the same story.
 
Some added thoughts...

Commit
: if you don't commit to sending out emails to former guests regularly, when you do actually send them out, it will appear too isolated and needy. Email marketing is a nurture marketing tool -- to earn trust and respect -- so commit to doing a little bit regularly in order to see any real results.

The question "how big is your list?" is often misguided. I've had lists of 10,000 contacts perform way worse than a list of 1,000. And lists of 100 perform better than lists of 1,000. Focus less on the amount of contacts and more on the open- and click-rates of existing contacts: these are the key metrics you should be worried about. To increase these rates...

Aim for a minimum of 75% helpful (not salesy) information in the body of your emails: links to new restaurants in town, special events, funny/interesting/weird things to do in the area. (Shoutout to TeenaNH TeenaNH) This 75% of helpfulness will counter-balance your sales offers (perfect, by the way, for bookings in the low season or special dates). Oh and to increase open rates...

Try "Container" subject lines -- instead of having to come up with a new subject line for each newsletter, try one clutch subject line (like "Monday Morning Motivation" or "Veronica's Vail Vacation Digest") as the container. If you are consistent with this (once a week/month/quarter) and your newsletter information is helpful (not salesy) your contacts will be more inclined to open every email because they know it may contain something of fun/interest (this as opposed to some subject lines intruiging certain individuals more than others).

Delete contacts. I really dislike having dead contacts on my list -- not dead people, just people who don't interact -- so once every quarter I go through and delete contacts that have not opened emails in months. I have deleted thousands and thousands of contacts over the years and it feels good because I'm not bothering them anymore. Bonus: Deleting contacts also keeps my monthly email marketing costs low (ha!)

Segmenting your list is directly correlated with your ability to personalize emails which is directly correlated with the engagement. So segment your guests into month of visit, repeats, referrals, group type, home residence...etc. Sending the exact same message with only a few different phrases (catered to each segment) makes a huge difference. And can be especially useful to book important last minute weeks.

Reach out to guests who are engaged. With most softwares you can see who is opening and clicking the most. These folks are curious about something. So not reaching out and offering to make yourself helpful is a mistake (and if worded properly, will rarely offend recipients). Sometimes it's merely answering a question. Other times it doesn't result in a booking, but rather a friendship.

Please just click reply is a really helpful phrase people respond to. In a mass-emailer, it's a chance to get personal and connected.
 

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