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I totally agree with you Sandra.  Email marketing (done right) absolutely, positively works!  

I’m not talking about sending out so many emails that people drown in emails (hey I hate that too) but friendly occasional emails that basically just say hi and remind people a/ you’re still there and b/ you remember them, go down well with people. 

 I have people thank me for my emails and touching base with them.  Emails  allow me a great way to build/continue relationships with guests and if people dont want to get the emails ( whether that’s because they’re not interested any more, receiving the emails annoys them or their inbox is just too full) they can easily and painlessly unsubscribe.  

I have nearly 3000 people on my mailchimp account who are all happy to receive my occasional emails (as a one person operator these get sent out ‘occasionally’ when I have time/remember/have something to let people know/wanting to fill a vacancy/have the brain space above everything else to write one and send out).

One day I’ll get organised enough to send out a regular (monthly?) email to these people above the occasionals I do now too

Oh yes, and a direct integration with zapier would make my business admin much easier and owner Rez a much superior product - allowing me to ‘fill in the gaps’ myself with tweaks OR doesn’t provide.  OR is good now,a zapier integration would make it great.

As a long time user of OR I know Zapier integration has been a feature that has been requested many times and for a long time by OR users. 

Can we have a Send Without Quote (or at least the Send) link back for Preempted quotes? Or a trigger for a Quote message template to let guests know when their quote has been preempted by a booking from another guest? Thanks! (I can't figure out how to email a guest whose quote has been preempted, even manually!)

I am listed on Vrbo, BDC, local tourism site, GMB, HTG, of course, my own website, FB, IG. 

Do not know what works in Punta Cana. But like most everywhere, here in the Smoky Mountains, we have high seasons and low seasons. But we are year-round destination so properties book albeit at rates corresponding to the season. With 15K+ vacation rentals in the area, and every minor and major property management company, tourist bureau, attraction etc peppering visitors with emails, I just do not see them as effective. 

 besides spending $500/year per listing on vrbo, I no longer pay for any marketing. 

• FB ads - do not work any longer bc since 2019 FB does not allow "targeting" as it for some reason considers VRs "housing", and thinks that targeting ads to women 35-65 years of age living in certain states is "discrimination" (that is demographic that does most bookings). So no longer spend money on that (never did much).
• Same for IG, that is completely useless. May be different for people selling cheap costume jewelry but not VRs. 
• GMB - I make posts/updates. It is free. 
• Occasional youtube clip - Free. 
• Local tourism site (pretty robust) - free to list if you pay lodging tax (which of course I do).
• BDC - free to list.
• Blog on my website - free and my time. 
• Posting in FB VR groups - free and my time. 

That's about it. So my marketing budget is $1000+/year. I just do not see where more advert money can be spent with any kind of effect. 

The ability to delete multiple inquiries at once from the list would be very helpful, especially in these situations. (see attached photo)

Amen Chris.

(My previous message was supposed to be a reply to Ken T -- I apparently forgot to quote his message in my reply, and trying to edit the post now is giving me a "page not found" error.)

Personally, I'm 100% with you -- I get gobs of marketing emails from companies every day and never pay attention to them (every now and then, I get so frustrated that I start opening every email I received over the last week and hunting for the Unsubscribe link just to try to stem the tide, and I often conduct searches on Priceline/Kayak/Expedia/Airbnb/Vrbo/etc. in Incognito mode just to avoid the ubiquitous "Did you forget to finish booking your Istanbul trip?" emails that come a day later. Marketing emails are largely useless (and occasionally annoying) background noise to me.

But that isn't the case for everyone. In my day job (also travel, but not STR), I oversee our email marketing operations. We send to about 150K subscribers every week. Our open rate ranges from 20-40%, depending on various factors (from season to subject line) and a click rate of between 5-10%. On "newsletter day," our booking volume skyrockets by about 20-30%, largely due to the clicks from the newsletter. We try to put useful content in the newsletter but ultimately it's just a vehicle to kind of "remind" people we exist and to use us as they plan their next trip. And it works! About half the clicks are to the blog articles or other resources we link to in our newsletter, but the other half are just clicks on the header logo or link to our homepage, where people can run a search for our product and make a booking. I'm shocked every week how much the newsletter (sent to the same people 52 times a year) puts us front-of-mind enough to meaningfully drive volume to our site.

My point is that different people process information differently, and the statistics show that email marketing/remarketing DOES objectively work. We (and by that I mean we who operate businesses in the e-commerce sector of all stripes) must be careful not to project our own preferences and tendencies and personalities on our operations and products but rather let the data drive decision-making, and in this case, the data says that email marketing IS not only useful but hugely so.

Totally get that. I was just picturing a ten second delay or something like my Gmail but I understand the negative side as well. Thanks for such a quick reply!

Well, this is the flipside of OwnerRez trying to do everything in realtime that it can... there's not much if any time for an "undo" button to catch an error before the message is out flying across the Internet beyond the ability to recall.  So I doubt a feature like this would be possible, at least not without intentionally delaying and slowing down all message-sending which probably wouldn't be very popular.

What I'm doing right now on my site, is manually uploading them and connecting them to the review (custom-built ACF solution).  Wouldn't object to doing this on OR.

Unfortunately, Airbnb provides no official API method to bring in guest photos.  At present, Channel Bridge can do this, but this is dependent on an unofficial approach and may be restricted by Airbnb at any time.

Hi Ken,

I'm more interested in having this when the guests leave a review through OR.  I like to use the images on my site.

If you rent year-round then you have no need for email marketing. Whatever you are doing is working.

With all due respect just because no one opens your emails does not mean email marketing doesn't work.

I have over an 80% open rate.

Let me finish with this.

Email marketing is not for everyone or every business. We may be in the same vacation rental business but our markets are completely different.

My rentals are in another country. Managing property overseas has its own unique set of challenges. What works for me does not necessarily work for you. Email marketing is a tactic I use to fill the slow season in Punta Cana. It works for me. Every vacation rental business has its own unique challenges and target market which can vary widely.

As I said in an earlier post. Email marketing generates business for me in an otherwise very slow season. July, August and September can be very slow. Email marketing is one of a few marketing tactics I use to fill rentals in this slow time. 

Don't make the mistake of thinking because it doesn't work for you that it doesn't work.

In the end, you have to find what works for your vacation rental business.

I'm in marketing, it's what I do for a living.

Lastly, you say you don't offer discounts. Do you spend money on marketing? Or do you post your listings on Airbnb and VRBO and hope for the best?

Offering discounts is part of my marketing plan and budget. It's the cost of doing business and it works. I can take the money I discount and apply it towards marketing or just offer a discount. In the end, for me, it's all marketing expenses.

The business world is all about supply and demand. That's why two people sitting on the same airline flight most likely paid two different prices. As the demand goes up so goes the cost and as supply goes down so too goes the cost. This is how airlines make money. And quite frankly, it's how I also make money.

You honestly can't compare my market with your market. 

That are some times when I send an email or airbnb message through Ownerrez and quickly realize I made a mistake, lol. An undo button would be cool in order to stop the message from being sent if it's still in the queue.

For these instances, which are few and far between in my particular business, I just send the agreement to myself and sign it. lol

Neither do I. We rent year round. But offering discounts proved fruitless. So I no longer offer them. Other than discounts, is there anything else that urges customers to open emails? 

I'm with you, email marketing does work, even if I only get a few k of bookings from it every year with templates and automation the ROI is definitely worth the effort.

That's a few K that's not going in an OTAS pocket.

Using Mailchimp effectively by dumping the ghosts on your list regularly helps to keep your open rate up. Typically my open rate is around 65%.

I am just curious how does it work if no one opens emails? Ken above said he does not either. Glad you have 80% open rate. 

With all due respect just because no one opens your emails does not mean email marketing doesn't work.

I have over an 80% open rate.

I only offer discounts in the slow season. My goal is to generate income all year round. I never ever lose money.

You said the dreaded two words, EVERY DAY!

Unfortunately, Airbnb provides no official API method to bring in guest photos.  At present, Channel Bridge can do this, but this is dependent on an unofficial approach and may be restricted by Airbnb at any time.

I do not give any of those. I really do not give discounts (except for auto-triggered OR email offering adjacent unbooked nights). I use dynamic pricing and its sets rates according to demand, season, competition etc. I guess it is different if you manage someone else's properties - you can give out discounts. In case of managing your own discounts aren't very effective and so far have not been fruitful, and thus, necessary. So going back to email marketing, I used to send MailChimp campaigns. Not anymore. Most go unopened (even if I offered some discount), I can count on the fingers of one hand when people ever used offers in those emails. I had 3 properties (now 2). Just my take. 

Overstock. com sends me emails every day, sometimes several. Same for Amazon, Ebay, Pizza Hut,  etc. They all offer "something of value" ( a "deal", a sale etc). Guess what: they all get deleted/unsubscribed/sent to spam. When I need something, I just go to that website and look for it. Then I would go to some coupon websites and see if there is a coupon for what I need. I have been Amazon prime member for YEARS. I do not remember EVER buying anything there from an email they sent me. I am no marketing expert, just a consumer. My take is: that consumers are overwhelmed with the amount of email they get. They just tune it out. Heck I do not even give out my real email addy anymore bc of the amount of spam. 

What if the first email I ever sent you offered 10 or 20% off your next booking?

What if the email after that offered free champaign and free airport transfers upon arrival?

What if the email after that offered a free night's stay if you booked 5 nights?

What if I sent you an email offering you up to 40% of last-minute travel?

What if I then sent an email offering free airport transfers to and from my villa in Punta Cana and an in-house professional massage?

I'm not saying you would take me up on any one of these offers. But I have to believe your curiosity would at least get you to open each and every email because your curiosity wants to see what I'm offering next and you have come to know that every email offers something of value. I also have to believe eventually you may take me up on one of these offers. I get about 20 to 30% of people eventually taking me up on one of these offers. They also book directly through my own website so know VRBO or Airbnb fees. 

I'm not looking for every person to take me up on every email. Just a very tiny percent.

It works for me. That much I know.

I couldn't help replying, as I'm fascinated by this discussion and watching it closely.  Let me note that I am speaking personally, and not expressing an official view of OwnerRez.

"If I sent you an email and it included something you could use and or you found value in..."

For myself personally, that basically never happens, except from people who I already know - and, even with companies that I have had dealings with in the past, the only useful information I receive is things along the lines of "Your order has shipped" which are easy to identify.  The time that would be spent on reading sales solicitations so vastly exceeds any possible benefits, that I basically never do - I just delete them out of hand.

I do myself personally occasionally go on vacation, and, yes, I am continually hounded to go back.  This ongoing annoyance of seeing yet another nag ever week has made it extremely unlikely that I ever will.

By way of a guess, I think if the place I stayed last summer sent me one email around 10 months later - so, around the time I'd be making plans to go again, if I were planning to do that - it almost certainly still wouldn't work but at least it wouldn't be annoying.

Think about this. If I sent you an email and it included something you could use and or you found value in. Would you open the next email I sent you? If that next email offered something of value and or something you could use would you open the next email? And so on......

I'm in the marketing business. Email marketing can be super successful if managed properly. The key is to offer something of value in every email that you send and send them sparingly.  Email marketing accounts for over 30% of my revenue. It absolutely works.

Do you really mean that email campaigns have any effect? In my experiences (from a consumer side ) they just clog people's inboxes, get deleted or are reported as spam. Am I wrong?  

As a developer of software myself, Zapier should not be a consideration, it should be a must, a priority. I love the OwnerRez platform but I'm now looking at other vacation rental management platforms because they integrate with Zapier. I use Active Campaign for my email marketing. Active Campaign has a very powerful automated email messaging section which I can't fully take advantage of.  Would be a shame to have to leave OwnerRez because they don't integrate with Zapier. I hope it doesn't come to that. Every serious software company on the planet practically integrates with Zapier.

It would be nice to have the ability for guests to upload a photo to go along with their review, should they choose to and for the profile pic from Air B&B to be pulled in with the review from AB&B.  It adds a greater level of authenticity to the reviews, which is why Air B&B and most review plugins have images on their reviews.  I use images on my direct booking site and the lack of images (as well as not having the full last name displayed) has prevented me from using the review widgets on my site.