FEBRUARY MARKETING REPORT HOLIDAY COTTAGES Red C Holiday Cottages Report 2015 FF V1.indd 1 12/02/ :00

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1 FEBRUARY 206 MARKETING REPORT HOLIDAY COTTAGES Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 2/02/206 0:00

2 THE BRANDS INTRODUCTION METHOD Despite the unpredictable British weather, short-break holidays in the UK continue to grow, and Mintel forecasts that the number of domestic holiday rentals will reach 6. million in 206, a growth of 2.7% since 200. And whilst good exchange rates against the Euro continue to make overseas breaks attractive, political instability in some popular overseas destinations is expected to have a positive impact on staycation tourism in 206. In the UK holiday cottage market, consumers are opting for shorter breaks, with a decline in trips longer than four nights, but an increase in expenditure as holidaymakers look for higher quality, more authentic properties. Around half of all cottage rentals are booked through an agency, but competition is increasing, with low-cost aggregator sites like HomeAway and Airbnb enjoying rapid growth. Over 75% of all holiday cottage rentals are booked online, and coupled with the sharp increase in competition, we expect skilful use of online marketing techniques - both for attracting new guests and encouraging repeat bookings to be a crucial factor in deciding the winners and losers in the sector in 206. There is no more powerful technique online than the use of personalised, timely and relevant . In this edition of our regular Marketing Report, we have taken a forensic look at how the biggest in the UK holiday cottage rental market are using ecrm to attract visits, build relationships and drive incremental revenue. We have studied how effective each is at acquiring new addresses, what data they collect and how frequently they engage with their audience. We have also identified some best-in-class s in the sector and highlighted the techniques that make them successful. We have analysed the marketing of 5 holiday cottage we received in one month from 5th October 205 to 5th November 205. still has the most reliably beautiful countryside of anywhere in the world. Bill Bryson Britain Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 2-3 2/02/206 0:00

3 SIGN UP How did we sign up?. Entered address on homepage 2. Signed up as part of a brochure request form* 53% 20% *Given that there was no other facility to subscribe to s. 3. Provided address as part of a brochure request form, without giving permission to send s* 3% *Sykes Cottages sent a portal registration which required activation before being added to the file (by default). Sent through to a specific sign up landing page Forest Holidays, Premier Cottages, Alastair Sawday s, Center Parcs, National Trust Holidays and holidaycottages.co.uk Home page footer sign up landing page 4. No method to sign up or request a brochure 3% Brands excluded from this report Brands which didn t send an 30 days after signing up 40% Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 4-5 2/02/206 0:00

4 DATA COLLECTION What information was requested at sign up? address Confirm address First name Last name Title Security Code Holiday Cottages Postcode (optional) 2 out of 8 companies sent a confirmation link via . Premier Cottages Alastair Sawday s SIGN UP Center Parcs 6 out of 8 companies have a specific sign up landing page for their newsletter registration forms. Where on the homepage do they ask for sign up? Forest Holidays 2.5% Top of page National Trust Holidays Middle of page Perfect Stays 2.5% Middle and bottom of page Unique Home Stays Bottom of page 62.5% 2.5% None had a pop-up window asking you to sign up for their newsletter. National Trust Holidays had sign up options at the middle and bottom homepage. The only brand to provide two places to sign up. Relevancy is the key to all marketing channels and is no different, so we recommend that at some point in the subscription process you attempt to collect as much data as you possibly can. This could be at the point of subscription or an follow-up driving recipients through to an Preference Centre. Latest news Offers More info Holiday ideas Properties Competitions No encouragement How is sign up encouraged? We appreciate that there is a lot of competition for homepage real estate, especially above the fold. However, if you have a requirement for new data, we would recommend that you promote subscription in the most prominent position possible Thank you Confirmation of subscription Visit the homepage Manage your preferences Follow us on social media Special offers What did it say on the website post sign up? We encourage our clients to promote their products and services on the post sign-up page as a tactic to reinforce benefits mentioned the unsubscribe option on the post sign up page subscription Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 6-7 2/02/206 0:00

5 WELCOME OR CONFIRMATION S FREQUENCY Welcome s were received from these : When were the s sent? Week 5th-2st October Week 2 22nd-28th October Week 3 29th-4th November Week 4 5th-th November Week 5 2th-5th November Total number of s sent in 30 days Sykes 6 Confirmation s were received from these : Welcome Cottages 6 Alastair Sawday s 5 Holiday Cottages 5 Perfect Stays 4 Welcome or confirmation s were not received from these : National Trust Holidays 4 Forest Holidays 3 Center Parcs 2 Premier Cottages 2 WHEN WERE THE WELCOME OR CONFIRMATION S RECEIVED? We would recommend that a welcome or confirmation is always sent post subscription. In our experience, we see better open and click-through rates when automated welcome s are sent instantly at the point of subscription. Confirmation automatically sent to an subscriber to confirm their decision to subscribe Welcome automatically sent to an subscriber to begin the brand-customer relationship Newsletter multiple offer containing added-value content (blog articles, advice etc.) Postcard single-minded offer 00% of that sent a welcome or confirmation sent it immediately NONE welcome or confirmation s were personalised or incentivised. Personalisation within s attracts high attention levels and is a powerful directional device. Personalisation is a tool to speak to each reader as if they are your only reader. It allows marketers to tailor relevant experiences for each recipient according to their buying patterns and behaviour. Clients regularly ask us how often they should be sending their customers s, but for us, it shouldn t be a question of frequency, instead a question of content and response. If you re sending valuable and relevant content to your recipients and they re responding well, look to push the frequency as high as possible. Premier Cottages sent the same newsletter with different subject lines in Week 4 and 5. Welcome Cottages sent the same postcard twice with the same subject line, on two different days in Week Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 8-9 2/02/206 0:00

6 CONTENT What type of content were using? What was the theme s? Offers Examples of property Property subcategories (e.g. for New Year, with hot tubs) Presentation of new holiday homes Pet friendly facilities Blog articles Competition Owner recruitment Upcoming events Partner offers Vote for Gift vouchers Holiday Cottages Autumn Competition 7th Oct Quirky Cottages (Halloween) 24th Oct 5th October 5th November Last Minute Autumn st Nov Festive Season 7th Nov Group Offer 4th Nov Holiday Cottages Premier Cottages Alastair Sawday s Center Parcs Dorset Cereals B&B Awards Good Spa Guides Regional Awards 205 Premier Cottages Alastair Sawday s Center Parcs Forest Holidays November Newsletter* th Nov Autumn Adventure 6th Oct October Newsletter 6th Oct Free Eden Project Tickets Offer 3rd Nov Best British Hotels Guide 29th Oct Festive Season* 3th Nov Short Breaks 20th Oct Christmas 2th Nov Fireside Escapes 3th Nov Forest Holidays National Trust Holidays Pre-Christmas Breaks 20th Oct Festive Breaks 3rd Nov Christmas Markets th Nov National Trust Holidays Perfect Stays New Property 7th Oct Festive Escape 22nd Oct New Property 3st Oct Last Minute Christmas Cancellation 7th Nov Perfect Stays Sykes Festive Christmas 6th Oct Festive New Year 23rd Oct Region Focused Love Yorkshire 30th Oct Autumn Short Breaks 6th Nov Cottages with Open Fires 3th Nov Sykes Welcome Cottages End of Year Breaks 22nd Oct 00 off Winter Breaks 30th Oct & 2nd Nov 50 off 206 Breaks Last Week Reminder 5th Nov 50 off 206 Breaks Last Night Reminder 9th Nov Next Year Bookings 3th Nov Welcome Cottages *Same content different subject lines Property subcategories (e.g. for New Year, with hot tubs) Competition Vote for... Quirky Cottages (Halloween) Last Minute Christmas Cancellation Festive Christmas Good examples of added-value content include advice features, hints and tips, humorous content and online tools. Blending sales messages and added-value content in an integrated way is very effective in sustaining attention. Moreover, it can increase long-term engagement and reduce unsubscribes Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 0-2/02/206 0:00

7 ENCOURAGING CLICK-THROUGHS What property subcategories are being used to encourage clicks? Christmas holiday Baby and Toddler Sleeping Pub within a mile 8 or more Top Christmas properties Romantic cottages Christmas cottages Cottages with hot tubs All UK cottages Cottages with woodburners or open fires Group cottages Sleeping 0 or more Dog-friendly properties Large properties Our Quirky cottages Cottages for New Year Log Burner Cottages near a pubpet-friendly Sleeping Festive breakscottages 2 or more Rural Coastal properties Festive cottages cottages Our Christmas cottages Cottages for winter breaks Last-minute holidays Short breaks Cottages with swimming pools Cottages with enclosed garden New property What other calls to action are being used? Visit the website Find out more Read Find your Christmas holiday more View our top autumn recipes Buy your vouchers here Buy now Find your perfect cottage here Explore and be inspired today Send to a friend Find out how to enter Get tickets See the collection Explore dog-friendly cottages Find your place... Search now Enter now Discover the spookiest places in the UK Book now Find out more about Gift Memberships Find your nearest Christmas Market Take a closer look Shop now Click here to view properties Book today Read about Browse Christmas Take a closer look Search group cottages Vote now Read our blog for Activities and events near you our top Christmas properties Take your pick of our Halloween masks Browse our cottages for New Year Alastair Sawday s design their Find your place CTA as a search bar. Successful s frequently contain 30+ clickable links hypertext links, multiple calls to action, secondary navigation and footer links all drive incremental clicks. Make clickable elements look clearly clickable. Colour, font, language, size and positioning of CTA buttons all impact on recognition and click propensity. Decisions to click, or not to click, are made in milliseconds. So, in order to build an effective , consider using multiple calls to action, well-positioned to be in close proximity to the featured product or service. According to our case studies, CTAs like View the range or Find out more may prove more clickable than Buy now, as the readers may not be ready to buy what is on offer Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 2-3 2/02/206 0:00

8 EXAMPLE OF AN INFORMATIVE WELCOME EXAMPLE OF AN INSPIRATIONAL Date: 5th October 205 Subject line: Welcome to Forest Holidays This condenses all the essential information a new subscriber would like to know using a simple, eye-catching design. The use map to present the range of locations provided by Forest Holidays is impactful and the rest well-selected images also give a flavour of what the company can offer - a great tactic to implement within welcome s. The copy introduces the services offered for different audiences and their varying needs and tastes. To further demonstrate the ability to offer more tailored services, the brand invites readers to create a profile on their website, through a straightforward CTA to see the latest offers. Date: 6th October 205 Subject line: Stock up on festive cheer This stood out as it landed just over 2 months from Christmas, at a time when you re busy planning your Christmas shopping but need a bit of inspiration. This does just that, helping you to decide where to go with some location advice and recommending a cottage you can stay in. The brand is also encouraging interaction with their #discovercornwall photo competition and generating some valuable content for their website. The subject line created intrigue, encouraging opens and standing out amongst competitors. EXAMPLE OF AN EVENT-DRIVEN NEWSLETTER EXAMPLE OF AN OFFER-LED Date: 24th October 205 Subject line: The quirkiest places to stay this Autumn Along with the intriguing subject line, the introduction grabs attention and encourages the reader to scroll down, with an image of an attractive property and enticing copy. The s theme has been cleverly continued into the property selections showing quirky and frighteningly unique cottages. In addition, location inspiration and activity ideas are included to improve long-term engagement with the programme and demonstrate how the brand can enhance your holiday experience. The use of multiple, hyperlinkstyle CTA s also gives the recipient lots of opportunities to click through. Date: 5th November and 9th November 205 Subject line:. THIS WEEKEND ONLY - 50 off 206 breaks! off 206 breaks - ENDS TONIGHT 0PM! This series of offer-led s made an impact for three reasons their urgency, timing and single-minded approach. In the subject line, the use of uppercase wording catches your attention and the deadline increases the urgency to open now, rather than at a later date. The first landed on a Thursday evening, giving customers enough time to book before the offer ends. The reminder landed on a Monday morning, the day the offer finished, reminding customers there was one last chance to take advantage offer. The design s was single minded and the deadline was clear, both creating more urgency to click through Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 4-5 2/02/206 0:00

9 MARKETING REPORT : FASHION RETAIL : NOVEMBER 204 OUR AGENCY At Red C, we believe producing effective advertising and marketing campaigns can only come from developing a deep and genuine understanding of a client s business, products and customers. We encourage staff to get under the skin of every client s business. We sit in on call centres, accompany field sales staff, work in branches and stores, and analyse and interpret client data online and offline to create real insight. It leads to robust, long-standing relationships with our clients. Strongly analytical in approach, the agency comes from a direct marketing background, yet today 70% of revenue is from online channels, including marketing, paid search, search engine optimisation, social media marketing and web development. So the agency can offer expertise across a full range of channels, online, offline and broadcast, which helps us to tackle client challenges and develop integrated campaigns for a wide range of target audiences, products and services, in a media neutral way. Our client base includes a spectrum of blue chip and industry leading companies JD Williams, Swinton Insurance, Manchester City Football Club, Bupa, Spirit Pub Company, Fish Insurance and TeleWare. This means every day we work closely with leading edge marketing teams. OUR SERVICES Red C is a fully integrated agency which offers a wide range of services, including Strategic Consultancy, Marketing, Social Media Management, Search Engine Optimisation, Content Marketing, Paid Search, Television Production, Advertising, Direct Mail, Print Production and Analysis. CONTACT US info@redcmarketing.com Anchorage, Anchorage Quay, Salford Quays, Manchester M50 3YL Red C Holiday Cottages Report 205 FF V.indd 6 2/02/206 0:00