A Bluetooth marketing system trialled by Advantage has been hailed an initial success and could be rolled out across the membership.
Bill McCarthy Travel in Bathgate, West Lothian, worked with technology company Accelerated Internet Marketing Systemsover a three–month period to target potential customers browsing offers in the shop window.
Customers who have Bluetooth on their mobile phones received a message asking if they would like to be sent offers from the agency. If they accepted, they were sent text, pictures and video.
Bill McCarthy Travel managing director Douglas McCarthy will now use the system to promote his new website in2sun.com.
He said: “Sending out messages is a good way of making customers who are just browsing window offers actually come in and speak to us. The trial went well but we need to work on building awareness of the service.”
This month the campaign has had a 57% success rate, with 2,384 customers out of 4,211 accepting the message, which offered 50% off cruise bookings.
AIMS director Ian Barclay said: “Travel agents need to find innovative ways to communicate to their customers.
About 35% of Bluetooth users have it turned on all the time, but agents can access a bigger audience by putting a big graphic in the window and making sure customers know it’s of benefit to them.”
He advised agents to use generic offers, such as 10% off package holiday bookings, rather than specific deals.
Advantage is to make a decision next month on whether to roll out the service.