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Five examples of great travel email newsletter designs

11 April 2011 | Kate Waite

Email newsletters are still one of the most popular marketing and communication tools for travel companies. It’s a great opportunity to engage with users, promote special offers and drive visitors to your website.

However, email marketing isn’t new and users are saturated by broadcasts, becoming jaded to all but the best campaigns. It’s vital to get it right if you want your newsletter to be read and actioned upon, otherwise you will find it is very quickly deleted, or even worse see your database dwindling as users unsubscribe.

We will be making this a regular feature to analyse email newsletters in the travel and tourism sector, looking at what makes them great (or how they could be improved). If you would like us to include your email newsletter on the blog sign up for our newsletter to find out how you can be featured.

This month I’ve picked out a few of my favourites (and just to be unbiased I’ve not included any of ours, although you can check out our most recent one for airline Sun Country here which got an excellent conversion rate).

1. STA Travel

The STA travel newsletters are an excellent example of emails done well.  At the very top of the email is a line of text which highlights the content. Even if users don’t scroll down at all they will see exactly what this email is about. This sits on top of an attractive and modern design making good use of vibrant colour. Limited text and clear call to action points encourage users to click through.


 

2. Air New Zealand

The use of a limited colour palette works really well with the distinctive New Zealand icons of the fern and kiwi to ensure the email is distinctive and recognisable. The design is fresh and modern and call to action points are clear.

3. Discover the World

In an inbox flooded with travel related newsletters this one stood out with the quirky “At a glance” panel. Good use of images and interesting lead in text encourages users to click through to the website. Although the email is quite long and I doubt most people would read the full copy, it is at least well segmented.


 

4. Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet do a couple of different newsletters but I’ve chosen their Seize the Days email for its eye catching design and easy to absorb information. The well presented content is interesting and leads nicely into the guides they happen to be promoting.


 

5. Easy Jet

The distinct orange keeps the newsletter well branded and the key message is very clear. They resist the temptation to cram in lots of offers (a crime many airlines seem to be guilty of) and keep the content simple – in just a glance you can see exactly what the offer is and be on the site making your booking. In fact I made one myself following this very email!