As though it were a new toy, you may have become hyper focused on social media, banishing other marketing efforts to the dusty corner of the shelf. One that you've likely been neglecting: email. But direct email marketing can be a powerful tool. Experian Marketing Services reports that, for the travel industry, "email provides a means for ongoing conversations with travelers across all travel categories." Another recent study from Silverpop finds that email open rates for the lodging and travel industry are almost 57 percent, the highest rate among all 17 industries reviewed in this study. What does that mean for you? That you have a better than 50-percent chance of engaging a potential customer.So it's high time for you to begin nurturing and maintaining an email list. Here are some of the most effective ways for tour and activity businesses to grow their email list:

1. Run a social media contest.

If you have a strong social media presence or are just starting to build a following on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, consider running a contest where entrants have to subscribe to your newsletter or join your email list as part of the entry. Whether you're running a giveaway of free tickets or extending a deep discount to new subscribers, take full advantage of social media platforms you use regularly to spread the word.

What You Can Do:

Implement an email subscription widget on your Facebook Page and direct fans to the subscription area at every opportunity. For instance, Hillarys Boat Harbour's Facebook page features a clean and simple newsletter signup widget that takes seconds to fill out. If you have a dedicated page on your website with a simple subscription form, drop links on your Facebook page, Twitter stream, and post about it on Instagram to encourage people to sign up immediately.

2. Ask for emails upon check-in.

Customers that may have booked over the phone or walk-in customers may not have had a chance to share all of their contact information, including an email address.

You will want guests to share their email address as part of the check-in process

You will want guests to share their email address as part of the check-in process, which will help you populate your database.

What You Can Do:

Place a tablet computer at the check-in desk and train staff to capture emails at every opportunity. If you prefer to use a paper method, make sure someone is encouraging guests to sign in with their email address when they check in so you can add them to the database later.

3. Confirm emails at checkout.

Take full advantage of the online booking process by including the recipient's email as one of the requirements for completing the reservation. The customer would simply need to include their email address alongside other contact information, such as their full name, address, and method of payment. You can send a transaction receipt to this email address and automatically add this customer to the database.

What You Can Do:

Invest in an online booking software program that requires the guest to provide their email address upon checkout. Create email or database lists to organize all incoming emails based on where they are with the sale — just registering as a user, already booked a tour or activity, or are coming back for another visit. This enables you to create customized and targeted emails to send out to each group.

4. Send a monthly or biweekly newsletter.

Even though email can be a valuable marketing channel for small business owners, you don't have to use it solely to share news about special offers and promotions. Consider sending out a newsletter with interesting information an avid traveler or adventure enthusiast might find useful.For example, a zip line tour operator can send a newsletter that includes highlights of a recent excursion, educational information about the rainforest, or rainforest preservation efforts in the area. A boat tour operator can share some insights from the captain, details about a new boat in the fleet, or provide a summary of a recent boating adventure. A real-life example comes from Reef Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel, which posts newsletter content directly on its website in its "Brief from the Reef" series and also has a newsletter signup form at the bottom of its website. The goal is to share interesting stories and insights from the company's perspective to keep the subscriber engaged.

What You Can Do:

Pull together stories from tour guides, captains, and other key employees, or research interesting content about the area in which you operate to use in your newsletter. Consider seasonal themes, such as how colder or warmer temperatures affect your business and how travelers can still enjoy the experience.

5. Add social sharing buttons.

If you are investing time and resources into creating compelling content for your email marketing efforts, make sure you get the maximum exposure you deserve by giving subscribers the option to share the message with a friend. According to SocialTimes, emails embedded with social sharing buttons could boost click-through rates more than 150 percent. For example, if you're running a fall discount on boating tours or running a bring-a-friend promotion on ghost tours for a few weeks, encourage the recipient to share the news by posting the offer on social media. Placing social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram within the email make it easy for the reader to click and share without much effort.

What You Can Do:

Embed social sharing buttons within the email or post them at the bottom of the email near the recipient's name. Include a simple message, such as: 'Share this!' to prompt a click through to the social media site. You can use free tools like AddThis to insert buttons in the body of an email without any HTML or complicated programming.

6. Prevent unsubscribes.

Getting a site visitor to subscribe to your email newsletter or submit their email address for updates is only the first step of an effective email marketing campaign. You need to keep that subscriber engaged for a long enough period of time until they book — and possibly even afterwards for future bookings to prevent unsubscribes. TripIt has had great success with this strategy, focusing on engagement activities for the first 30 days. The company keeps the subscriber updated when new features are rolled out and after a year of joining, sends an anniversary email thanking them for being a member.

What You Can Do:

Implement a series of welcome emails that consist of sending the subscriber a series of introductory emails about your business, latest specials and offers available, and exclusive offers for first-time bookers. Include high-quality photos or even a video link as a teaser within the email so that first-time visitors can get a taste of your tours and activities with little effort. The goal is to keep subscribers engaged and interested enough so they don't unsubscribe.Growing and maintaining your email list is a high priority as a tour and activity operator since email continues to be a preferred method of communication for many of your guests. Use these tips and strategies to grow your email list and maintain a large list of happy subscribers.

The face of the modern traveler continues to get younger. Millennials — those ranging from 16 to 34 years of age — now account for 35 percent of travelers, according to The Boston Consulting Group. While this younger generation of adventure seekers may have limited discretionary income to put towards a travel fund, they're still making time for travel, taking more than four leisure trips per year, reports BCG.Appeal to this younger audience by focusing some of your marketing efforts to what attracts them most. Here are seven ways tour and activity operators can market to millennials.

1. Maintain an Active Facebook Presence

Facebook can be a valuable marketing tool for small businesses targeting millennials. The Statistics Portal reveals 12 percent of those surveyed visited a business's website after seeing a promoted post on Facebook. Those who took advantage of a Facebook offer that could be redeemed at a local store was even higher: 40 percent. In the case of tour and activity operators, running a Facebook offer to complete an online booking would be the equivalent.Whether you decide to run special promotions throughout the season, implement an online booking widget on your Facebook page, or simply share videos and snippets about your activities, staying active on Facebook will help you engage this captive audience.

2. Have a Mobile-Ready Website

According to a study by SDL, the average millennial checks their smartphone 45 times a day and is 56 percent more likely to discover content on social networks versus a search engine or even email. TheNextWeb.com shares some valuable tips for making your website mobile-friendly, highlighting the fact that the layout and design of your site must fit the small screen and images need to be compressed to ensure a fast load time.You will also need to set up a streamlined checkout process so that it only takes a few taps and screen swipes to book a reservation. You can do this with Peek Pro — customers just click on a "Book It" button embedded on each section of the mobile site and are taken to a secure checkout page to complete their reservation.

3. Run Seasonal Packages

Consider that many millennials will be on summer vacation for a few months after the school year, making plans for spring break, or flocking to your area to visit family and friends during the holidays. Create seasonal packages specifically for this market and promote them on social media channels, on your website, and in marketing materials. For example, adventure tour operators could promote an "end of summer getaway" package that includes a tour and gift certificate to an area restaurant. Kayak and boat rental operators could run spring break specials throughout the spring season to attract visitors in and around the area. A food tour or ghost tour operator could run back to school specials to encourage travelers to secure a spot before school starts up again.

4. Promote a Bring-a-Friend Campaign

Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective ways to generate interest about your business. Nielsen reports 92 percent of consumers around the globe say they trust word of mouth or recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising. Let your customers do the marketing for you by prompting them to bring a friend along to join the experience. This not only encourages the guest to share information about your company to that friend, but might also encourage the other party to talk about what they are doing with their friends and acquaintances.

5. Show Off Guest Experiences

Many millennials — as many as 40 percent, according to ICE Portal — are tuning in to social media and websites to consume user-generated content when making travel plans. User-generated content can take the form of everything from online reviews and ratings to photos of guests enjoying the experiences you offer.Show off photos of guests having fun at your venue who have posted their photos on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook. You can re-post these photos and promote those happy moments to your advantage. Another option is to showcase testimonials or reviews you have received in the past week or month. Put the spotlight on rave reviews by sharing them on your website, blog, or a social media status update.

6. Run Social Media Contests

According to a Chase Card Services survey, a whopping 97 percent of millennials will post on social networks to share their experiences with their friends when traveling. In addition, 73 percent will post something at least once per day during their trip. Since these travelers are already keen to post something on social media and engage their fans and followers, join the fun by running a social media contest.As a tour or activity operator, you could encourage guests to use certain hashtags to be entered into a drawing for a package or to respond to questions you post on social media. Encouraging guests to follow you and participate in social media conversations is a form of indirect marketing — every time a user engages with one your accounts, they leave a digital footprint where their friends and followers take notice.

7. Offer Options to Customize

Millennials aren't looking for cookie-cutter experiences — they want to be able to enjoy a unique adventure or experience they can brag about. TravelAgeWest.com reports on how all-inclusive packages are not that attractive to millennial crowds. Instead, "they want their vacations to be personal, authentic and sharable."

Millennials aren't looking for cookie-cutter experiences — they want to be able to enjoy a unique adventure or experience they can brag about

Give your younger travelers as many options as possible when booking a trip so that they feel like they truly are enjoying something the average traveler doesn't or can't have.Offer add-ons at checkout, such as private tour experiences, meal service, or an educational workshop or other special event. You might also offer a discount on a secondary tour or activity booked within a few days of the first one so that the traveler feels like they are customizing their experience. You can set up add-ons and special pricing using an online booking software program like Peek Pro. The platform allows you to create an entire list of add-ons for each tour or activity so travelers can pick and choose what they want as they check out.From running seasonal packages to running social media contests, there are several ways you can reach out to the millennial traveler. Use these marketing tips and strategies to pique the interest and engage this active market of tech-savvy travelers in any season.

Attention spans online have never been shorter. In fact, only 4 percent of website page views lasted more than 10 seconds, according to the Static Brain Research Institute. So when a potential customer lands on your tour website, you need to make sure you're grabbing them and not letting go until they buy.The first place they'll arrive is on a landing page, so that's where you need to be most captivating. Landing page optimization is something of a dark art—and some people are paid big bucks to make sure landing pages on the world's biggest websites are converting as many visitors as possible. But you can easily optimize your landing pages without earning a masters degree in digital marketing. Here are five tips to keep in mind when building your tour landing pages to grab visitors' fleeting attention.

What action do you want visitors to take?

This is the simplest of questions to ask about your landing page, but still one that's frequently overlooked. A landing page might be asking visitors to do too many different things. “Follow us on Twitter!" “Subscribe to Our Newsletter!" "Book Now!"All of this only serves to confuse visitors. If they land on a page about a river cruise, they want to find out more about your cruise, and to possibly book it. So make it easy for them—focus on the action you want the visitor to take, and ditch everything else. Email subscribers and Twitter followers are nice, but you make money when somebody clicks the “Book Now" button.

Focus on the action you want the visitor to take, and ditch everything else

Are you speaking their language?

The text of calls to action on websites are frequently agonized over—what words, and in what order, will make people click?A good rule of thumb to get you started is the WYLTIWLT test. Make sure you're anticipating what your customer wants, not asking them to do something. WYLTIWLT means “Would You Like To" / “I Would Like To", the idea being your buttons should reflect what the visitor is trying to do, not what you're asking them to do.For instance, imagine your site has a page where visitors can search for trips. Your button for the page might say “Trip search." But a more effective call to action might be “Search for trips." Your visitor is thinking “I would like to search for trips," so your call to action is literally finishing their sentence.

How are your visitors viewing your site?

It's no good designing a beautiful landing page for desktop if the majority of your users are on smartphones.In a perfect world, you'll have a responsive site that looks great on all screen sizes. But at the very least you should be looking at which screen sizes are most popular in your website analytics and making sure your site works well on as many as possible. Run your website through Google's mobile-friendliness tester to see how it fares on smaller devices, and think about revising your buttons and links to be easier to hit with large fingers on tiny screens.

Benefits, not features

Humans are emotional beings, and we always respond better to feelings and emotions than bland feature lists. It's the reason Apple ads focus on people having a great time using iPhones, rather than talking about screen resolutions and gigahertz.Are you showing the benefits people will get from your tours and activities, or just listing features? Show them how they'll get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime tour of an unspoiled paradise, or get an insider's view of their favorite breweries. Full-width images and immersive videos are a great way to get your message across, and many big companies have found that making their landing pages more image-heavy increases conversions significantly—by around 40% in some cases.

The first click is the first step

You've got people clicking on your call to action. But your job isn't done yet—that first click is just the beginning. Make sure your customer's journey from first click to final confirmation is as easy as possible.All good website analytics packages will let you identify dropoff rates for each page in your purchasing process—see which pages are performing badly and get to optimizing them. Smooth out any bumps and you'll soon have new customers flying through your checkout.

No-shows are an unfortunate—and sometimes a too-often—occurrence that can have a negative impact on your tour or activity business, especially if you're counting on a certain number of attendees in order to properly coordinate an experience. And while no-shows are unavoidable to a degree, you can (and should) take precautionary measures to help prevent last-minute cancellations and no-shows to help mitigate their negative impacts.Whether you lead brewery tours or zip-line adventures, our complete guide to reducing no-show rates for your tour and activity business can help increase revenue, maintain good customer relations and boost employee morale.

How No-Shows Affect Company Operations

First, it's important to look at the negative effects no-shows can have on your business. Sure, as part of the booking agreement you may end up collecting a customer's deposit—or even their complete payment—when they fail to make their scheduled visit. But while you may have "earned" this revenue, consider this: No-shows also serve as an inconvenience to other guests if the entire trip has to be cancelled due to lac of enough participants. You might also lose revenue because other customers were previously turned away, or wait-listed because of no availability.

Here are some of the most significant ways no-shows affect company operations:

• Changes in employee schedules: If you're in the business of booking one-on-one tours or smaller group tours with a certain tour guide or expert, having to cancel the trip means the employee or contractor has to change their schedule to accommodate the next set of guests. This can be a significant disruption in the employee's schedule, and also creates more administrative work for your company when scheduling an employee's hours.
• Lost income for employees: If employees conducting a tour or activity earn a commission for each tour (along with a portion of any purchases the guests makes after their visit), they miss out on income opportunities when the guest doesn't show up.
• Lost employees or low morale: If no-shows start becoming a trend and occur frequently throughout the season, employees contracted to earn a commission or earn a base rate for each tour booked may become disgruntled and look for opportunities elsewhere.
• Lost revenue for your business: When you're counting on filling a certain number of slots in the calendar week after week to meet your revenue goals, you'll fall short at the end of the quarter when you run into no-shows. Even if the customer agrees to forfeit a deposit or pay a no-show fee, you'll still need to take care of other costs associated with the cancellation, such as paying for supplies or fees for tour guides. If you rent any type of equipment, such as kayaks, boats, bikes, or sailing gear, and have a limited number of units available, you may lose revenue when you turn away guests because all units are reserved, but the original guests fails to show up.

“Karen McLaughlin, owner of Karen’s Kayaks, says it costs her company $1,000 in revenue, on average, when someone cancels her trip. She reports a no-show rate of 15 to 20 per year, which equates to a significant loss in revenue without a firm cancellation policy.”

• Increased administrative expenses: When a customer cancels a reservation at the last minute or fails to show up, one of your staff members has to take care of administrative duties related to following up with the customer, re-booking the tour, and other tasks. This can increase administrative time and expenses that may or may not be covered by the deposit the customer has already paid.
• Disgruntled customers: If you're hosting a smaller group outing, such as a winery or food tour, for which you need a minimum number of guests to coordinate the tour, you may have to cancel and re-book the entire experience when a guest fails to show. Customers who were prepared to show up may be turned off by this and be less inclined to book again—even if they're granted a refund.

Reduce no-show rates, increase revenue, maintain good customer relations and boost employee morale with our world-class online booking software:

Confirming appointments and setting up a system of reservation reminders is one way to keep guests on track for their visit and, in some cases, reduce the risk of last-minute cancellations.

Here are some of the most effective ways to reduce no-shows:

• Charge a no-show fee or require a deposit. This may be just the incentive for guests to follow through on their booking. For example, Southwest Airlines has a straightforward no-show policy: customers who do not cancel or change their reservation within 10 minutes of departure forfeit their entire reservation. As a tour and activity operator, your time frame may be much longer. You could implement a policy where guests who fail to make changes to their reservation within 48 to 72 hours may be subject to your on show policy. Some companies also tack on a handling fee to all penalties, which helps deter no-shows and also takes care of extra expenses incurred as a result of the cancellation.
• Be clear in your terms and conditions. Make sure any fees or charges you impose for last-minute cancellations and no-shows are clearly listed on your Terms and Conditions page, and guests agree to comply with your guidelines when they check out to complete the reservation.
• Phone reminders: If you have an administrative or sales team available to handle phone call reminders, consider setting up a system where every booked guest receives a friendly phone call one or two days before their visit to confirm their appointment. Medical practices do this consistently to reduce no-show rates. Statistics from Televox show that approximately 47 percent of practices who do not send appointment reminders had an average no-show rate of 10 percent, while just under 28 percent of practices who deliver appointment reminders to patients had no-show rates of over 10 percent. Interestingly, more than one-third of practices surveyed received actual complaints from patients who were not reminded of an upcoming appointment.
• Text reminders: This is another option, especially if you don't have a large administrative team that can call each guest with a phone call leading up to their visit. Craft a simple but impactful text message that communicates your excitement to see the guest soon, and provides details about their reservation. If you use text messages, you must state in your Terms and Conditions policy that guests can expect to receive text alerts, unless they notify you otherwise.

Keeping guests engaged up until their visit is a simple and effective way to encourage them to follow through

• Email reminders: Email reminders can be expected when a guest books online. Continue communicating with the guest in this way up until their visit, and also to follow up with them shortly after their experience. You can use an online booking software program to ensure every guest receives a detailed reservation confirmation immediately after booking, plus a series of automated emails leading up to the event. Provide details such as where to park, tips for dressing for the weather or trip, and any other relevant details to ensure guests are fully prepared for their visit—these messages also show you care that they make the most of their experience.
• Use an online booking system: Whether you want to send out automated email reminders, or ensure a streamlined checkout process that clearly outlines your cancellation and no-show policies, using a robust online booking software program like Peek Pro makes all these administrative tasks that much easier. Automating almost all of your customer contact tasks can eliminate administrative time and expenses related to following up with each guest that registers on the site or completes a reservation. Peek Pro even lets you completely personalize and customize automated emails with your logo, and include links to your social media pages if guests wish to stay in touch.

“Automating almost all of your customer contact tasks can eliminate administrative time and expenses related to following up with each guest that registers on the site or completes a reservation.”High no-show rates can negatively impact business operations and also affect your employees. If you want to continue meeting your revenue goals and maintain a loyal following of happy customers, make sure you are taking steps to implement a no-show policy and staying in touch with guests in a timely manner leading up to their visit. Reducing no-show rates will not only increase revenue but will also help you maintain good customer relations and boost employee morale—two areas of business operations that are essential for keeping you in business season after season.

Activities previously enjoyed together with a companion can now be done on your own as more and more travelers are choosing to travel solo as opposed to planning groups or couple trips.

Solo travel on the rise among women and superboomers

In fact, according to a study across 25 countries conducted by Visa on Global Travel Intentions , one in five travelers aged 18-35 chose to travel by themselves in their most recent leisure trips. Solo travel has continued to grow among the affluent and first-time travelers and has increased among the so-called 'superboomers' group - these are adults over the age of 44.

Off-beat destinations preferred by solo travelers

In an interview with Jennifer Halboth, director of channel marketing for the Globus Family of Brands, she shared that solo travelers are in search for exotic and less traveled places, “Solo travelers gravitate more toward exotics and off-the-beaten-path Europe, because people want to be in a group environment when going to those types of places".Tour companies looking to target these travelers have the opportunity to customize trips by holding singles-only food tour, offering promo codes for exclusive for single travelers and incorporate 'feel-good' activities that they could try for the first time and participate with other solo travelers as a group and focusing on boosting promotions towards less-traveled destinations.

Challenging activities appeal to most 'wander women'

Solo travel has also been on the rise among female travelers with 50 percent embracing their solitude and independence during the trip.According to an interview by CTV News with Prof. Gabor Forgacs, from Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, rise of solo travel is a reflection of changing population trends. "The travel industry looks very carefully at demographics, and tries to understand people's changing travel pattern"."They noticed that there's a significant growth in single households; there are more people living alone than ever before, so logically there's a change in travel patterns", Forgacs added."Even people in relationships, more frequently than ever before, are electing to take a solo trip," Forgacs said, noting that different hobbies and interests usually lead couples to take separate holidays."And the industry is eager to capitalize on this growing group of travelers, by offering special packages, tours and accommodations geared towards single people", according to Forgacs.

Those in relationships are also taking solo travel trips due to differing interests

Customized and guided packages for solo travelers

As the numbers of solo travelers move up, more travel and tour companies are paying attention by offering guided tours and getaways customized toward activities preferred by solo travelers such as horseback riding, trekking and rappelling.Recommend activities based on tours taken by similar demographicsBy taking notice at the solo travelers travel behaviors, tour operators could start offering customized experience right from the booking process where they could proactively suggest trip locations and activities based on previously visited destinations by people within a similar demographic. For example, based on the data provided by the solo traveler, the tour operators could either automate the suggestion process or get their account managers to contact the customer by recommending the most popular travel destinations and activities taken by other solo travelers in the past.Other tour operators responded to the rising demand by adding more cabins dedicated to solo travelers and single supplements. Other companies including the taxi-booking app, Uber, decided to offer group discounts to solo travelers. In April, the on-demand car service Uber sent customers an email before a San Francisco Giants game that said, “If you're headed to today's game solo, or even with one friend, opt for uberPOOL. UberPOOL will match you with a rider going to a similar destination, and get you there for $7 or less."With the increase of the demand for solo travels, tour companies could make great use of the upward trend and demand to customize specific packages by providing its travelers a preview of the kind of experiences they would have on their website and social accounts to help solo travelers decide quicker during their planning stages. Incorporating “feel good" and extreme activities and making it really easy to book online will not only elicit interest from solo travelers but also easily convert visitors into loyal customers in the long run.

Like it or not, online reviews can make or break your business. Hidden travel gems have been propelled to must-visit status on the back of a few effusive 5-star reviews, while lackluster destinations can suffer, or even go bankrupt entirely, if they start racking up 1-star feedback.As a tour and activity operator, it's important to do all you can to encourage travelers to review you. A Cornell University study found that there is a direct correlation between positive visitor reviews online and increasing revenue. In fact, a one-star increase in average review translates to nearly a 2-percent increase in revenue. (Read our tips on how to get more reviews here.)Asking isn't enough, though—you have to be smart about it. We've all had automated “Please review us" emails after buying something online or going to a restaurant, but how many times have you acted on them? Probably not very often.The key to getting a glowing review from a customer is to trigger an emotional response —called a “moment of truth" in marketing circles. If you can recreate the feeling they had on the tour they took with you, they're much more likely to give you a good review. This is why those “review your product" emails from Amazon always arrive just after you've taken delivery. You've just received a new toy and Amazon wants to capitalize on that feeling.

The key to a glowing review from a customer is to trigger an emotional response

Tour and activity operators are already in a great position to make this happen. The experience a lifetime—be it discovering decadent foods in a new city, or kayaking for the first time—is a much bigger occasion than buying some new headphones, and people are likely to have much stronger positive feelings about their first scuba dive, a guided hike, or skydiving.Your options for creating your own moment of truth are limited only by your imagination, and the more creative you are the bigger the potential for amazing results.Take a lesson from theme parks: They'll email on-ride photos to their visitors, and the smart ones include a request for a review. What could bring back the memories of an amazing day better than a photo of you having an amazing time?Activity operators are perfectly set up to use a similar tactic. Make sure your guides are taking photos (or even better, video) of your guests having a great time skiing, surfing, jumping out of a plane, or whatever types of activities you offer. Send the photos and videos to the guest shortly after they return from their trip (so your email isn't buried in their post-holiday inbox avalanche, and they have a reliable connection over which to view the video) and watch the memories come flooding back, and the reviews rolling in.For smaller or boutique operators, the best option can often be simply to ask guests. If your personality and customer service are big selling points for your business, it makes sense to ask for a review personally. Explain the value of those five stars to the visitor, and often they'll happily review you. Stephen Peters, director of the Pacific Sands Resort, reports that since he started proactively asking for reviews, their volume has tripled.Finding your moment of truth is as simple as looking at your current reviews—which part of their trip do your reviewers rave about? Find a way to bring back those memories when you ask for a review and both the number and star ratings will go through the roof.