How Closed-Loop Attribution Is Shaping Marketing in the Tourism Industry

Regarding marketing attribution in the tourism industry, learn from Lisa Salvatore how closed-loop attribution ensures as gaps don’t exist in data.

November 2, 2022

Marketing attribution is critical for marketers in the tourism industry. However, many marketers are frustrated with gaps in their data. Lisa Salvatore, senior manager of paid media, CallTrackingMetrics, explains how closed-loop attribution ensures those gaps no longer exist.

According to a study by DemandLab, over 60% of marketers struggle to attribute marketing activities to revenue, presenting a significant hurdle for most marketers today. While they can easily track vanity metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions, they need more insightful data to bolster their marketing efforts and make strategic decisions. 

Without proper attribution, marketing reporting comes up short when examining the customer journey or identifying meaningful future campaign actions. Marketers using multiple advertising channels can face particular difficulty obtaining valuable data and would benefit greatly from implementing a closed-loop attribution strategy.

Marketing attribution is a vital piece of any marketer’s strategic plan because figuring out where leads and sales are originating from is critical for any company’s success, especially in the tourism industry. However, many marketers are frustrated with gaps in their data. But with closed-loop attribution, marketers can ensure those gaps no longer exist.

See More: Improving Customer Experience through Automated Solutions in Tourism

Defining Closed-loop Attribution

Marketers need a reliable method to measure the success of their campaigns. Time spent on research, planning, and implementing marketing strategies is wasted without concrete data to show for and validate these efforts. 

One way to accurately measure campaign effectiveness is with closed-loop attribution, which credits each channel, campaign, and ad for the role it plays in the customer conversion process. It allows marketing teams to better understand the true impact of a campaign on a buyer’s complete journey. In a time when customer behavior is constantly changing, understanding these changes is crucial, and closed-loop attribution can help.

Benefits of Closed-loop Attribution

In addition to deep marketing insights, closed-loop attribution can also help align sales and marketing teams, which is vital to modern-day business success. When sales and marketing teams have visibility into the same data, both teams’ messaging can be aligned, streamlined, and allow them to provide seamless customer experiences. When this happens, the overall customer experience improves, leading to more conversions and, ultimately, more revenue. 

In addition to helping teams improve customer experience, closed-loop attribution allows teams to become more familiar with customers’ ever-changing buying behaviors. If marketers are able to know how their campaigns are performing in real time, they can pivot and make adjustments, if needed, to accommodate their customers’ likes and dislikes. This can divert time and resources to successful campaigns away from underperforming campaigns and drive more sales and revenue.

Marketing Attribution in the Tourism Industry

Over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has been one of the hardest hit and most affected industries by global travel restrictions. Due to these challenging times, the tourism industry was forced to make cuts in many areas, with marketing budgets being no exception. As a result, tourism marketers have had to make the most of their reduced budgets, relying on useful tools such as marketing attribution. 

In the tourism industry, like many industries, potential customers can begin their sales process in any number of stages — there is the top, the middle, and the bottom of the sales funnel. Marketing attribution allows marketers to directly target all of their customers, regardless of where they are in the funnel.

Success in the tourism industry relies heavily on strategic marketing efforts with the end goal, in most cases, for a traveler to book a reservation, which translates to revenue. To accomplish this, marketers must effectively measure both online and offline campaign initiatives. When done correctly, they can measure and optimize campaign spend depending on the individual performances of each.

One of the many effective ways to complete a customer reservation in this industry is with a phone call. With a call tracking and marketing attribution software solution in place, marketers can monitor which campaign channels are driving reservation calls while simultaneously proving ROI. And to take it one step further, tourism companies can create standard operating procedures in their reservation centers so agents can tag and score the calls and enter the revenue amount, all within the software. For example, if a customer books a tour with a company that costs $350, then the agent will score the call with five stars and assign the revenue to the call.

See More: How Marketers Are Using Travel Technology To Engage Post-Covid Wanderlusts

By implementing this process and leveraging the right technology solution, companies can track revenue on a call-by-call basis, attributing it to the total return on marketing spend by the campaign. They can also assign specific tracking numbers to determine if, for example, a potential customer clicked on an ad, called from their website, and ultimately booked a reservation. This process allows tourism marketers to easily adjust acquisition costs across their ad channels, both online and offline. Having all this data in one place is powerful and allows marketers to look at the big picture to make informed business decisions. 

Not only is closed-loop marketing attribution a key factor in driving customer success and revenue, but it is also an asset for call center managers. With data tied to each phone call and its outcome, managers can evaluate call agents’ individual growth and areas for improvement. 

Marketers need to quantify the success of their initiatives. In the tourism industry, marketing attribution, specifically closed-loop attribution, is a vital business tool with an impact that goes far beyond the marketing department. 

Are you using closed-loop attribution in your business? What benefits have you seen? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .

Inage Source: Shutterstock

MORE ON MARKETING ATTRIBUTION

Lisa Salvatore
Lisa Salvatore

Sr. Manager Paid Media, CallTracking Metrics

Lisa Salvatore brings more than 15 years of paid media and digital advertising experience to the CallTrackingMetrics team. As the senior manager of paid media, Lisa promotes CallTrackingMetrics’ call tracking and contact center solution to businesses interested in personalized customer experiences and actionable, attributable insights.
Take me to Community
Do you still have questions? Head over to the Spiceworks Community to find answers.