On average, escape room owners see $19,825.78 per year come in from recovered bookings by adding Xola’s abandoned booking email to their escape room marketing plan.
But that’s just an average.
Some escape rooms make less than the average, and some make more.
Some escape room owners have even chosen to forgo sending abandoned booking emails based on the myth that these emails are “spammy” or unwelcomed by their customers.
But the truth is, the difference between high-performing, low-performing, and spammy abandoned booking email campaigns has nothing to do with the whether or not you send an email, and everything to do with what kind of email you send.
A poorly written email will be deleted or sent to the spam folder. On the other hand, a well written email can delight readers and create memorable customer moments.
Here are the four factors that will determine if your escape room abandoned booking emails generate more bookings or get tossed in the trash.
1. The Right Person
In standard email blasts, it’s hard to tell who will enjoy your email and who will be frustrated by it. Abandoned booking emails, on the other hand, are only sent to people who have initiated checkout but left without completing their purchase. This is a strong indicator of booking intent.
Often the abandoner is just steps away from completing their booking. Because of this, abandoned booking emails are highly likely to reach the right audience, and avoid people who aren’t ready to book your room.
2. The Right Time
Timing is everything. Nobody likes to receive promotional emails about activities that they aren’t interested in booking. But they love it when you offer them more info, or a discount, for a purchase they’re already considering.
An abandoned cart is a strong indicator of purchase intent. Sending an email within 24 hours of abandonment is a surefire way to reach people at the right time, and motivate them to complete their booking.
3. The Right Message
People don’t want emails in their inbox that shout “10% OFF ALL OUR ROOMS! BOOK NOW!” Flashy images, loud text, and clever marketing quips are a quick way to get your emails deleted (or worse, flagged as spam).
On the other hand, a simple plain-text email written in a customer service voice provides a breath of fresh air from the usual email fluff, and creates great customer moments.
When someone opens an email and sees large images and bold text, their first thoughts are often “this is spam!”. A personalized, plain-text email avoids flashy salesmanship and offers a helpful tone that is sure to delight customers.
4. Provide Value
Great abandoned booking emails are all about the customer:
“How can we help you?”
Bad emails, on the other hand, are all about your escape room:
“Hey! Book our rooms!”
Taking a customer service approach is a great way to focus on the customer and offer value, but still give them a gentle ‘nudge’ to finish their booking.
Offer to help your future customers through the booking process. Offer to answer their questions. Give your contact info so they can reach out to you. You can always throw in a discount code if you think they abandoned because the prices were too high.
Crafting a Great Email
At Xola, we know that the difference between a bad, good, great abandoned booking email has everything to do with how you craft the email.
That’s why we work with our customers to help them craft delightful emails that generate more revenue and create great customer moments. Here’s an example of what a great email might look like:
For tactical advice on how to write your own great abandoned booking emails, read our article on abandoned booking tactics.
Conclusion
With more than five years of experience, our team can help you build better emails that do more than avoid spam filters. To learn more about how Xola can help you generate almost $20,000 per year from abandoned booking emails contact us at join@xola.com, +1 (855) 909-9652, or click here to speak with a product specialist.
