If you are in the hospitality sector, then you would be welcoming guests to your hotel. If your hotel has to succeed, then you need to bring in more customers. Before making a booking, it is highly likely that your prospective customers would check out reviews of your hotel online. The most popular review site in the world is TripAdvisor. This website has authentic reviews by hotel customers who share their experiences.
This is why a majority of people who want to book a hotel room first search on TripAdvisor. They search for reviews to understand how satisfied guests have been and how they have rated the hotel. A hotel with good reviews has a better chance of doing well. As a hotel owner, you must ensure that all your guests post reviews on TripAdvisors and share their experiences. The more the reviews, the better is your chance of getting new bookings. You can make use of text message marketing
to help you in this.
Text Message Marketing: An Overview
Text message marketing is a simple and effective way by which businesses can reach out to their prospective customers. It involves sending text messages or SMS to customers to engage with them. This engagement can help produce results in terms of increased sales. Text messages can be sent to any mobile phone. Since people frequently check their mobile phones, it is a great way of reaching out to customers. An SMS is likely to be read by 97% of customers within 3 minutes of receipt.
SMS is a preferred way of communication for customers. A study showed that 76% of customers preferred to receive promotional messages through SMS. An SMS sent is most likely to be seen by the recipient. It has a very high response rate as compared to other tools like email marketing. Customers too prefer receiving text messages since they are convenient. All these explain why text messages marketing has become very popular and is extensively used by businesses.
Text message marketing to get TripAdvisor reviews
If you are running a hotel or any other hospitality venture, you can use text message marketing to reach out to your customers. This will help you get more reviews on TripAdvisor that is beneficial in boosting your brand. Here are some tips to help you get more TripAdvisor reviews through SMS marketing:
1. Ask them directly
The best way to get your customers to post reviews on TripAdvisor is to ask them. When they check out from your hotel, request them to post a review. You can then use SMS marketing to send a follow-up message. The message can be as below:
Thanks for staying with us. We hope you had a good time. Could you please help us by leaving a review on TripAdvisor?
Most customers would click on the link that should redirect them to the TripAdvisor page, where they can share their reviews. If they have enjoyed their stay at your hotel, they would definitely be willing to review.
2. Follow-up until the review is shared
There is no harm in following up with your customers until they post their reviews on TripAdvisor. Send the first message a couple of days after they check out. Then wait for a week. If they do not post a review, send a gentle reminder. Don’t be pushy or don’t plead for the review. Let the message a gentle reminder requesting for a review to share their experiences. You can end the message by saying “your opinion matters”.
Keep sending reminder messages once in 10 or 15 days. If the customer does not respond even after 2 or 3 such reminders then it is unlikely you will get a response. You must take care to ensure your follow-up messages are not sent every week or every few days as this can irritate the Customer.
3. Incentivize the review
If you can afford it, offer an incentive for reviews shared on TripAdvisor. Remember that positive reviews on TripAdvisor can help you get new bookings. So, you can offer an incentive to your customers so that they are motivated to fill the review and submit it. Don’t make it look like a bribe. You can use the words “here is a small gift/voucher from us to thank you for sparing the time to complete the review.”
4. Thank them for the review
Once the review is posted, send a thanks message through SMS. This is a courtesy message that completes the process of getting the review.
The tips listed above are those you can start following from today. Subscribe to a text messages marketing service provider and start using text messaging. Send messages to all your customers so you get more TripAdvisor reviews so you can get new bookings easily and effectively.
