Issta is one of Israel's leading travel companies as well as one of the oldest. Launched in 1956 as a student travel organization, Issta has grown by 2007 to over 50 travel agencies in Israel. A number of travel agencies in Europe as well as local daughter companies and call centers also operate under Issta's umbrella. In 2000 the company launched its website, which is used both as a platform for e-commerce and an information center for telephone-based sales.
Issta began mailing travel deal newsletters in 2001. The email database was collected form 3 sources: website visitors who signed up for updates; actual customer base collected in the booking system; and special marketing campaigns that require an email submission in order to receive coupons or discounts. The newsletter was emailed from Issta's local servers.
Although Issta has invested thought and time on the production of the newsletter in terms of content and design, a few problems have surfaced. For start, Issta lacked the tools to track how many of the emails sent were actually opened, how many recipients clicked the links and most importantly, how many clicks resulted in a purchase.
As the email marketing channel grew in its importance and the challenges of better deliverability and user behavior analysis became an urgent need, Issta turned to ActiveTrail to upgrade its capabilities and deliver results.
Shortly after making the switch, Activetrail's email experts advised Issta to focus on the following main points:
- Changing the newsletter layout and graphics for better identification with Issta and Issta's website.
- Newsletter personification: direct, specific titles that refer to the content of the products offered in the newsletter ("Mediterranean Weekend Getaways starting $319"), as opposed to generic titles ("Cool deals with Issta").
- Adjusting the newsletter settings to suit all email platforms and internet browsers by changing the layout.
Issta performed a series of A/B testing, examining various layouts and analyzing the addresses the unopened emails were sent to. As a result the colors and layout of the pages
Omer Gal
Head of Online Marketing, Issta
revenue from reservations
booked through clicking the newsletters has increased by 85%
were adjusted to fit to browsers such as Safari and Opera. Furthermore, more segments of the newsletter were colored in Emerald green, the color of Issta's logo and website, for a stronger connection between the travel website and the email that arrives in recipients' mailboxes every fortnight.
One of the first evidences of improvement was in newsletter deliverability. As opposed to the previous method, the newsletters mailed via ActiveTrail manage to pass through SPAM filters and ISP blockings thanks to its high anti-SPAM standards and investment in ISP relations. Thanks to the changes that took place after analyzing the A/B testing results, the number of opened delivered newsletters has increased by more than 220%. Thus, shortly after switching to Activetrail, Issta's opened newsletter percentages became one of the highest in the market.
Following the A/B testing results Issta's marketing department decided to place a single, attractive product to a near destination – typically a package deal to the Mediterranean or a major European City – as a header titled "Deal of the Week". The "Deal of the Week" has lead to an increase of more than %300 unique clickthroughs thanks to its central location within the newsletter. Most importantly, over the course of several months, revenue from reservations booked through clicking the newsletters has increased by 85%.
The popularity of charter flights and package deals amongst Israeli customers has lead to the phenomenon known as last-minute deals. Last-minute deals are created by travel suppliers if the seats quota they are committed for is not filled as the departure date approaches. Customers whose schedule is flexible enough to go on a holiday within 24-48 hours after the booking are known to browse travel websites and scout for cheap and attractive deals. Issta decided to build a second newsletter that caters for the Last-Minute customers.
In April 2007 a new newsletter called "
The Suitcase Club" was launched. The database for The Suitcase Club, a newsletter that focuses on specific last-minute deals, is collected from a mini-site linked to Issta's homepage. The registration form is more detailed and allows the customers to mark their products of choice:
flights, packages,
domestic and foreign destinations,
ski and
sport deals for specific and effective segmentation. Therefore travel deals offered via The Suitcase Club appeal to the customers for two reasons. First, these are last-minute deals and as such cheaper than the products offered in the standard newsletter. Second, the deals offered are tailored according to the database collected in forms attached to the newsletter. Thus the customers receive deals that interest them and save the time spent on browsing for such deals.
Overall, by working with ActiveTrails's platform and tools alongside the guidance of it's email experts, Issta has diversified and enhanced its range of email products and beaten the most ambitious benchmarks thus ensuring its natural market leadership.
