The challenge

Founded in 1983, Vantage Deluxe World Travel was conceived to provide a better choice for adult travelers looking for luxury accommodations and a great value. Vantage has built a loyal repeat customer base through its quality offerings and high level of personalized service. In 2013, the company set out to elevate its marketing efforts to a comparable level of quality and personalization.

Vantage knew that the key to accomplishing this goal was by learning more about each individual’s interests, captured through website browsing activity. Without highly-effective website visitor identification capabilities, browsing activity could not be captured to the extent that was needed.

The approach

Merkle was selected as the partner to lead efforts to identify website visitors and capture browsing activity using its Merkury identity resolution platform.  A feed of all website visitors was created and is sent to Vantage four times each day. It contains data on the various offerings browsed, as well as areas of interest to the visitor including solo travel, family and friends journeys, travel adventure packages, cruise line excursions, savings on tours and trips, and referral options. In total, there are over 40 data points included. This data drives many of Vantage’s marketing initiatives and is utilized by their call center to initiate more informed conversations with customers.

Powered by this data, these initiatives are highly personalized to each individuals’ interests, keeping the brand in the forefront of the traveler’s considerations. To keep email subscribers with low open rates engaged, Vantage uses Merkle’s unique Shopping Elsewhere email trigger. This trigger “fires” to customers who have not opened a Vantage email in the past 60+ days at the moment they are in their inbox opening emails, increasing Vantage’s open and engagement rates. The content is dynamic, meaning it is individualized to the recipient based on their interests.

The team appended mailing addresses to email-only records where possible, and with another vendor, assessed the effectiveness of Vantage’s social media campaigns by tracking subsequent website visits and providing various reports to optimize campaigns.