Social Media and Marketing

Continental Airlines is using tools to send email messages at the time when recipients are most likely to open, and let email subscribers share their favourite messages with social networking sites.

Published: 26 Aug 2010

Continental Airlines is using tools to send email messages at the time when recipients are most likely to open, and let email subscribers share their favourite messages with social networking sites.

The airline, which has has selected Silverpop, a provider of email marketing and marketing automation solutions, as its email service provider for the UK and Ireland, intends to sharpen its email marketing strategy in order to retain its loyal customer base and build upon the successes it has experienced when communicating locally.

Continental Airlines uses its email programme to increase travel from its nine UK and Irish airports to New York and across the Americas by providing special fare offers to subscribers.

To remain top of mind, the airline also distributes quarterly newsletters and important updates to its trade and corporate clients—such as increased services from Heathrow to New York and the recent introduction of their BusinessFirst Flat Bed Seat. The airline now plans to integrate several of Silverpop’s proprietary features into these campaigns to extend reach and connect with consumers at optimal times.

By using Silverpop’s tools such as Send Time Optimization and Share-to-Social, the airline plans to increase its interaction with customers “by reaching them at the right time”.

Strength

Recent research has indicated that many consumers see email as a way of keeping in touch with brands they already like and frequently buy from.

New research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) – the trade association for digital marketing – and its research partner iCD has revealed that whilst email marketing is arguably the oldest form of digital communication it still resonates with consumers, with a third of people having become interested in a brand or product they weren’t previously aware of as a result of an email.

Efficacy

Emails are very cost effective in delivering targeted and time sensitive campaigns as well as a branding channel to a target audience – be it on demographics, age, lifestyle etc, Mo Bulbrook, head of International, Cheapflights told EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta.

Bulbrook, who is scheduled to speak at the forthcoming two-day Online Marketing and Social Media Strategies for Travel Summit Europe 2010 (5-6, October) to be held in Prague, added, “Email channel in some ways can provide a very positive ROI as the subscribers have chosen to receive the information, on our part we have to ensure that they do receive only the information they have signed up for.”