In a world where every swipe, click, and scroll counts as a customer interaction, attractions and tour operators must go beyond traditional marketing tactics to create meaningful connections with their customers. That’s where customer experience marketing comes into play.
It’s a proven marketing approach that focuses on enhancing every touchpoint of the customer journey, from initial discovery to post-visit engagement. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and fostering emotional connections, operators can transform casual visitors into loyal brand advocates.
Discover how customer experience campaigns can grow your business and leave a lasting impression on your guests.
- What is customer experience marketing?
- The significance of customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
- Key elements of customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
- Strategies to improve customer experience in tours and attractions
- 7 most common challenges with customer experience marketing
- Customer experience marketing KPIs to monitor
- Future trends in customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
What is customer experience marketing?
Customer experience marketing is a strategic marketing approach in which a brand uses creative and immersive experiences to leave a lasting impression on potential customers. Unlike traditional marketing, which primarily emphasizes promotions and sales, this approach often features in-person or digital interactions that give customers a sneak peek of what your brand can offer them.
The significance of customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
At the heart of every successful tour or attraction lies the satisfaction and loyalty of its guests. Enter customer experience marketing. As you learned above, this marketing approach is about creating memorable interactions at every touchpoint of the guest journey.
What does this look like in real life? Let’s look at an example of an experiential marketing campaign created by Spotify. Dubbed “Spotify Everywhere,” the campaign featured an event in a NYC venue where various rooms showcased products and tools from Spotify partners for listening to audio. The venue included a kitchen with food from local bakeries and a fridge filled with Easter eggs, each containing a scannable code to a Spotify playlist. This event appealed to Spotify’s Gen Z audience, who enjoyed discovering hidden Easter eggs and new music.
The campaign aimed to educate users about Spotify’s app features and brand partnerships. And to engage those who couldn’t attend in person, Spotify hosted a live virtual tour on Instagram.
Let’s look at how these campaigns can foster long-term relationships and encourage repeat visits from your guests.
1. Enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty
At the heart of every successful tour or attraction lies the satisfaction and loyalty of its guests.
We may forget that customer loyalty can start early in the customer relationship. An experiential marketing campaign attracts curious bystanders to learn more about your brand.
Yet, after interacting with your brand, they may quickly evolve into paying guests. When those customers make a booking, they have already put a face to the brand—they recognize your logo, colors, and messaging, and, more importantly, they like how you engage with your customers.
When they walk into your attraction, they’re already smiling. And that’s the best kind of customer to have. Customer experience marketing prioritizes creating memorable interactions at every touchpoint on the guest journey, including at the start.
Three in four customers believe brand loyalty grows when they feel understood and appreciated. News flash: simply offering customers discounts and loyalty rewards has a lower impact.
2. Influencing purchasing decisions and boosting bookings
A simple Instagram ad won’t make your brand stand out in today’s ultra-competitive attractions landscape. Luckily, experiential marketing campaigns can do a whole lot more than make a customer aware of your brand.
As mentioned above, allowing customers to interact with your brand can influence their purchasing decisions. As an attraction, for example, giving customers an interactive sneak peek of what to expect during their visit can drive them to make a booking on the spot.
3. Building a strong brand reputation
Experiential marketing campaigns are a great way to introduce new customers to your brand. The interactive element makes them more memorable than a static ad, helping promote your brand reputation in a more tangible manner.
Word of these campaigns typically travels fast, too.
For instance, a water sports company might host exclusive sunset paddleboarding sessions followed by beach bonfires. A friend might tell a friend who tells a friend until, next thing you know, the whole group shows up to the event. These unique experiences also generate organic social media shares, boosting reach and reputation.
Additionally, brands offering exceptional activities, like distillery tours with master distillers or TV studio behind-the-scenes tours, can quickly differentiate themselves from competitors.
4. More word-of-mouth marketing
Positive guest experiences are powerful catalysts for word-of-mouth marketing. Customer experience marketing is all about providing different avenues of interaction for your guests—including outside of the actual visit.
This gives them an extra opportunity to talk about your brand, share it with their friends and family, and post about it on social media. This organic sharing extends your brand’s reach, as personal recommendations and authentic testimonials are more trusted and influential than traditional advertising.
Key elements of customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
From personalization to technology integration, these elements play a crucial role in shaping unforgettable experiences for guests and driving business growth for attraction operators.
Personalization
Personalization is a cornerstone of customer experience marketing, especially in the tours and attractions industry. It’s about making each guest feel like their experience is uniquely tailored to them. When you know your guests’ preferences and interests, you can provide recommendations and services that resonate with them on a personal level.
For instance, imagine a whale-watching tour company that uses booking software to track customer preferences and previous bookings. If a returning guest previously booked a sunset tour, the company could offer them a personalized package that includes a gourmet dinner and a private viewing area on their next visit. This level of personalization makes the guest feel valued and increases the likelihood of repeat bookings and positive reviews.
By leveraging data and technology to customize the guest experience, tour operators can create memorable, one-of-a-kind adventures that stand out in a crowded market. This personal touch fosters stronger connections with guests, turning them into loyal advocates for your brand.
Technology integration
Technology has revolutionized how businesses design and implement customer experience campaigns.
- Advanced data analytics and AI algorithms allow businesses to gather and analyze vast amounts of customer data, enabling them to create highly personalized marketing campaigns. For example, Spotify’s “Wrapped” campaign leverages user data to provide personalized year-end summaries of listening habits. This campaign engages users by highlighting their favorite songs and artists and encourages sharing on social media, amplifying brand reach. Similarly, tour operators can use AI to recommend personalized itineraries or activities based on customers’ past bookings and interests.
- AR and VR technologies can create immersive experiences that captivate customers. For instance, Marriott Hotels introduced a VR campaign called “The Teleporter,” which allowed users to travel to different Marriott properties around the world virtually. The Louvre Museum, on the other hand, developed an AR app that provides visitors with an interactive tour of the museum. Visitors can point their smartphones at artworks to access detailed information and other multimedia content, which enriches their overall museum experience.
- Advanced booking systems like Xola streamline the reservation process, making it easy for customers to book tours and activities on the spot. So, if a customer wants to make a booking or upgrade their experience, having Xola integrated with your campaign will allow them to do so.
Emotional connection
By tapping into customers’ emotions, you can create memorable and impactful experiences that resonate long after the visit ends. Disney parks excel in this: Through immersive storytelling and character interactions, visitors don’t just see attractions but feel part of the magic.
Consider a wildlife safari tour that personalizes experiences based on guests’ preferences and interests. Guides can evoke compassion and excitement throughout the visit by sharing stories about the animals and their conservation efforts. This emotional engagement enhances the immediate experience and encourages guests to share their stories with others.
This, in turn, boosts word-of-mouth marketing and fosters a deeper connection with the brand.
Proactively seek out customer feedback
Businesses can ensure they continuously improve and meet customer expectations by directly integrating feedback mechanisms into the campaign.
One effective strategy is to implement real-time such as surveys and polls during critical touchpoints of the customer journey. For example, you could send a quick survey to guests immediately after their visit, asking for their thoughts on various aspects of the experience.
Another approach is leveraging your social media pages to engage with customers and encourage them to share their experiences. Brands can create dedicated hashtags for their customer experience campaigns, making tracking and responding to feedback easier.
Imagine an adventure travel company called “TrailBlaze Adventures” launches a new campaign called #BlazeYourTrail. The campaign is designed to engage customers during and after their hikes, encouraging them to share their experiences on social media using the dedicated hashtag.
When a customer posts a photo on Instagram of a beautiful sunset and captions it with, “Amazing views on today’s hike with @TrailBlazeAdventures! #BlazeYourTrail,” the company’s social media team quickly responds with a comment thanking the customer.
Strategies to improve customer experience in tours and attractions
The customer experience is at the center of every travel business. After all, you are in the business of offering memorable experiences to your guests. Here are a few strategies to ensure you do the best job possible.
Leveraging booking software for seamless bookings and guest check-ins
Advanced booking software like Xola enables tour and attraction operators to streamline the booking process and guest check-ins during interactive marketing campaigns. With features such as online booking portals and mobile check-in options, customers can easily reserve their spot on a tour and complete the necessary paperwork beforehand. This reduces wait times and administrative burdens and creates a seamless experience for guests—starting from the moment they decide to book a tour.
Training staff to deliver exceptional customer service
Of course, your customer service is the cornerstone of a positive visitor experience. Investing in comprehensive training programs for your staff ensures that every interaction with guests is professional—and friendly. You’re in the travel business, and friendliness goes a long way. Your staff should have the skills to handle customer requests, resolve issues, and provide personalized recommendations to make every visit exceptional.
Designing engaging and unique tour experiences
Differentiate yourself in the market by offering engaging and unique tour experiences that captivate your customers. Think: Interactive elements, storytelling, or hands-on activities make a tour or visit more immersive.
Let’s say you run a culinary tour. Rather than just having the ingredients prepped and ready when your guests arrive, why not take them on a local market tour instead? You can show them where you purchase your produce, explain what you look for, and tell them what’s in season. The interactive market visit might be even more significant than the class itself because it allows them to interact with local culture in a way they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
Implementing effective communication channels before, during, and after the tour
Effective communication is critical to managing customer expectations: Operators should always establish clear communication channels to provide guests with important information before, during, and after the tour.
This could include sending pre-tour emails with details about meeting points and what to expect, providing real-time updates during the tour, and following up with post-tour surveys or thank-you emails to gather feedback. Open and transparent communication builds trust and confidence in the tour operator and enhances the customer experience.
7 most common challenges with customer experience marketing
- Lack of personalization: Failing to tailor experiences to individual preferences and needs can result in generic offerings that fail to resonate with your customers.
- Inadequate staff training: Without proper training, staff may struggle to deliver the right messaging or customer service so that the guests can interact appropriately with the campaign.
- Data privacy and security: With the increasing emphasis on personalization in customer experience marketing, businesses collect vast amounts of customer data. However, managing this data while ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations (like GDPR or CCPA) is complex. Mishandling data can lead to security breaches and loss of customer trust.
- Consistency across touchpoints: Customers interact with brands across multiple channels (social media, email, websites, or in-person). Providing a consistent experience across all these touchpoints is challenging but essential for maintaining brand integrity and customer satisfaction.
- Balancing automation with human touch: While automation can improve efficiency, overreliance on technology may diminish the human element of the customer experience.
- Measuring campaign effectiveness: Quantifying the impact of these initiatives can be tricky. Unlike traditional marketing metrics, customer experience metrics like customer satisfaction and loyalty are often qualitative and require sophisticated tools to measure accurately.
- Dealing with negative feedback: Negative feedback is inevitable, but managing it effectively is crucial. It involves addressing the immediate concern and implementing changes to prevent similar issues in the future. Mishandling negative feedback can lead to public relations issues and damage the brand’s reputation.
Customer experience marketing KPIs to monitor
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking customers how likely they are to recommend the tour or attraction to others. Calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (those unlikely to recommend) from promoters (those highly likely to recommend), NPS provides valuable insights into overall customer sentiment and advocacy.
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): CSAT measures customers’ satisfaction with their tour or visit through post-experience surveys or feedback forms. It helps gauge satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement by asking customers to rate their experience on a numerical scale or provide qualitative feedback.
- Customer Effort Score (CES): CES measures the ease with which customers can complete their desired actions, such as booking a tour, navigating the website, or resolving an issue. Tour operators can enhance the overall experience and increase satisfaction by minimizing customer effort.
- Repeat Customer Rate: The repeat customer rate tracks the percentage of customers who return for additional tours or visits. A high repeat customer rate indicates strong customer loyalty and satisfaction, while a low rate may signal opportunities for improvement in the customer experience.
- Average Order Value (AOV): AOV measures the average amount customers spend on a booking. By monitoring AOV, tour operators can assess the effectiveness of upselling and cross-selling strategies and identify opportunities to increase revenue per customer.
- Customer Retention Rate: Customer retention rate measures the percentage of customers who continue to engage with the tour operator over a specified period. High retention rates indicate strong customer loyalty and satisfaction, while low rates may signal customer experience or service quality issues.
- Online Reviews and Ratings: Monitoring online reviews and ratings on platforms like TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, or Yelp provides valuable customer feedback—positive reviews and high ratings can attract new customers, while negative reviews may highlight areas for improvement.
Future trends in customer experience marketing for tours and attractions
So, what can we expect to see in the customer experience space in 2024 and beyond? These are the travel marketing trends to keep an eye on.
Customer approval of artificial intelligence is rising
Customers are increasingly comfortable using artificial intelligence in their interactions with brands online. As of 2023, 86% of them approved of brands using AI in ways such as:
- product descriptions
- marketing content
- chatbots
- automated voice systems
- predictions on products needed
The high level of approval suggests that customers are developing a more profound sense of trust in AI’s ability to describe products accurately, target them with the right marketing content, and help them solve customer service issues.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of customer service and support organizations will use generative AI technology to improve agent productivity and customer experience. AI is mainly used for content creation, AI-supported chatbots, and human work automation.
Personalization continues to be king
Those targeted marketing ads on Instagram? Your customers love them. Brands prioritizing personalization saw their customer loyalty improve 1.5x more effectively than brands that didn’t.
Customers are incredibly open to receiving personalized offers, product recommendations, SMS marketing, ads, and email marketing.
In fact, 50% of consumers are willing to share personal information for a more personalized experience. However, trust is nonnegotiable. Over 60% want to know precisely how your company uses its data.
Voice and conversational interfaces
With the rise of smart speakers and voice-enabled devices, more people use voice assistants for tasks like placing orders, seeking information, and accessing customer service. We can expect the following voice-assisted technologies to increase across the travel industry:
- Voice AI: Voice AI imitates human voices to enable a two-way conversation between the customer and the business.
- VoiceBots: A voicebot is a conversational software that understands, interprets, and analyzes customer queries in natural human language.
- Voice Assistants: Voice assistants are devices/apps that use voice recognition technology, NLP (natural language processing), and AI to understand a customer query and provide a relevant response.
Another notable feature is conversational IVR, which allows customers to communicate naturally on the phone—even when there isn’t an actual human on the other end. Unlike traditional pre-recorded menus, conversational IVR will enable customers to interrupt automated responses to request a live agent anytime quickly.
***
The importance of customer experience marketing cannot be overstated. By creating personalized, tech-enhanced, and emotionally resonant experiences, you can attract new visitors and foster long-term loyalty and advocacy.
