9 Proven Email Marketing Hacks

The world’s most underrated short term rental marketing channel is email marketing.

• Ads

• Social media

• and SEO

work great at capturing attention from travelers and introducing your brand.

You need those channels to get people interested.

Unfortunately, not many of them spend money.

Email marketing works better. About 400% better.

Today, I'm going to give you my 9 email marketing hacks. Skip the months I spent on trial and error and make your first email profitable.

Let's dive in.

1 ) Best Headlines

An email headline is a preview of what the email is about.

I like headlines with a number or "how to" statement in it.

Which would you rather click on?

Save on your next stay!

vs.

Get $50 off on your next stay!

The bottom one right?

People like tangible headlines where the title matches the content.

Click here if you want 150 more ideas.

2 ) Send Early

Send your email between 5am and 9am.

People are in a better mood at this time and tend to check non-work related emails.

3 ) Explain Your Images

The short term rental space is very visual heavy. If we talk about our stay, people need photos.

Use your photos as an opportunity to share a unique story. For example:

Imagine you're a guest and you just got a summer promotion from me. I list out:

• All the things to do

• Upcoming events

• New property features

Pretty exciting right? Then you scroll to this photo.

Now you're confused, right? What if I did this.

Don't end the excitement at a random photo. Instead, turn the photo into a story and continue the flow of excitement.

4 ) Use P.S. Statements

These are the most read lines in an email. I don't know why, but they are. Use this as a promotion opportunity.

Example:

P.s. Book now and save $100 on any March weekend.

5 ) Text Wins

Don't write newsletters like this:

These unique styles used to work but now the overwhelming amount of graphics and text make people think too much and they just don't read them.

Recent studies show that text based emails (like this one) make more money. So try to make your email look like an email.

6 ) Use Lead Magnets

Give away something great in exchange for an email address. Here are some lead magnets that work well for me right now:

• Enter to win a free stay

• Enter for 10% off

• Enter for $100 off

My lead magnets are made through pop ups or it's painted all over my website.

Either way, have it be very front and center when someone comes to your website for the first time.

7 ) Use Welcome Emails

Automatically send a one-time exclusive offer related to your lead magnet.

For example:

Lead magnet: Enter for 10% off → Welcome email: Book now and get an additional 10% off.

Lead magnet: Enter for $100 off → Welcome email: Book now and get one night free.

You want to make it known this offer is only available through the welcome email. Anyone who is ready to travel now will book here.

8 ) Use a Email Tool

You can't send mass emails from your personal gmail account. You'll need a email tool to do this. Here are my favorites:

• MailChimp

• Hubspot

• Beehiiv

These three tools take a day to learn.

9 ) Track List Growth

Many rental operators spend time and money on:

• Ads

• SEO

• Social media marketing

And only pay attention to bookings as their primary success metric. Leaving them discouraged and sad 😭 

Most people are going to become a lead from these channels. Pay attention to your list growth as well.

I see bookings with almost every short term rental email I send.

• Ads

• SEO

• Social media marketing

Are great ways to get people onto your email list.

Sending emails is a great way to get bookings.

That's all for today. I'll see you in the next article.

Before you go

I just launched my brand new direct booking marketing agency, Lodge Social.

We help rental operators get more guests to like, share, and book.

Apply to work with me and my team here.

Links you might like:

1. Keep learning about email marketing here.

2. What makes a direct booking website great? I stayed up all night to find out.

3. Marketing is like dating and marriage. Here me out…

4. If you have a unique rental. This article is for you.