Top Tips For Golf Course Email Marketing Campaigns

Are you a luxury resort owner that is looking to increase bookings through your golf course email marketing campaign? Do you wish more of your golf club members and past guests would return more often to your greens? Did you know that email campaigns need to be properly thought out and email content be personalized so that your potential customers don’t ignore your marketing efforts as spam? 

If you wish to attract more golfers and keep them coming back for more, you need to send emails that instantly grab their attention, and create enough interest to convince them to make a booking. Find out the best tips on drafting email templates that improve your click rates, and generate more revenue for your golf resort business.   

Why Golf Courses And Resorts Need Email Marketing

Golf courses, resorts, and basically any other business in the hospitality industry have access to a very valuable marketing tool that can be used to target regular customers as well as guests that have visited in the past. This tried and true marketing tool that has the potential to improve sales is none other than email marketing. It can allow golf courses to stay in touch with their loyal members and golfers to convince them to return to the greens for more play. 

Email marketing can be used for customer retention, maintaining a sense of loyalty to your brand, and providing more value to your customers. This can be done by keeping them updated on the latest promotions, events, and other benefits they can receive through customer loyalty programs. 

Even the emails that don’t get opened or don’t bring in website visitors will allow you to learn more about the golfers you wish to attract. This is applicable to both golf courses and golf resorts alike. In terms of the benefits of golf resort marketing, there are endless advantages that the business can experience if the process is done right. 

Top Tips For Golf Course Email Marketing Campaigns

Before you send emails to golfers for the promotion of your golf resort, there are a few relevant things you should keep in mind to make your campaign an instant success.  

Identify Targeted Groups

When looking at golfers that you wish to target with your email campaign, you first need to understand which type of person you are reaching out to. The target audience for most golf clubs and resorts has traditionally been the middle-aged demographic who can afford a club membership or travel to an exclusive golf destination. 

An interesting thing to note is that in recent years, more and more millennials as well as golfers that travel with kids are showing interest in the sport. You’ll need to create separate email templates that work for whichever target audience you are planning to attract. For more on these target markets and what type of marketing they best respond to, read Identifying Your Golf Resort Target Market. 

Collect Customer Data

Some people will find your golf course on social media or Google Maps and will visit your official website directly to make a booking. You can easily collect their contact details including their email address when they register. Others may get added to your tee sheet from third-party websites and mobile device apps that provide booking services. 

While you may not have their email addresses at the time of booking, you do have an opportunity to request this information when they arrive at your establishment. When they’re making their green fee payments, you can simply offer to place them on your customer loyalty program or encourage them to get a membership. If golfers can reduce their cost of green fees by going through your preferred booking channels, they won’t think twice about registering and leaving their contact details. 

Remember that this database has to be maintained and updated regularly. A loyalty program will work better if you keep tracking what golfers like to do at your resort. It would also help to personalize the emails by keeping track of a player’s performance and personal milestones like the number of rounds played every year and so on.  

Use An Email Marketing Platform

When drafting and sending emails to your audience, you can make the process so much easier by using a dedicated email marketing platform like Mailchimp. These services provide plenty of free templates which you can use and customize for your needs. They also provide built-in tools to track the effectiveness of your emails and even generate reports using this data. Finally, an email platform when integrated with your customer relationship management (CRM) system will automatically keep your customer contact details up to date.  

An Attention-Grabbing Subject Line 

The most effective way to get customers to open your email is to have an attention-grabbing subject line. To make this work, your subject line should stay relevant to their interest which in this case is playing golf, offer value, and create a sense of urgency to make them open the email immediately. 

Offer Additional Value

The actual copy of the email content should be kept to a minimum when conveying your value proposition. You can include a discount code or mention how many loyalty points your customer has accumulated at your golf course and how they can redeem this. 

Personalize Your Email Writing

Make sure to personalize the email by addressing your potential guest by their preferred name. If you know their date of birth, you can schedule a light-hearted message to be sent with your birthday wishes and a special offer that makes them feel special. You can also use their previous performance on the greens and personal milestones like the number of rounds they have played to show you are aware of their achievements. It’s also an opportunity to offer special rewards when they cross certain milestones.  

A Clear Call To Action (CTA)

Finally, your call to action needs to be descriptive and easy to understand. This will direct the audience to your website to find more information or to your booking page to make a reservation at your resort. This can be a colorful button that invites people to click on it. Make sure that your landing page contains the relevant information, and is designed to be consistent with your branding. 

Need Help With Your Email Marketing?

Golf businesses new to email marketing will often find that their first few campaigns may not deliver a high number of conversions. Continue to refine your templates to be more effective with each of your target segments, and remember to personalize your content based on past customer history. If you need some inspiration on how to provide more value to golfers, and what sort of incentives you can offer to increase your chances of success.

If you’re unfamiliar with how to properly use email marketing software, how to draft an impactful email, and if you lack the graphic design and web development skills to have a professional-looking landing page, then you need expert help from a digital marketer. Inquivix is the partner you need with years of experience in digital marketing services like search engine optimization, web design, and of course email marketing to name a few. To learn a bit more about our services, visit Inquivix today! 

FAQs

Does Golf Course Email Marketing Work?

Yes. Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with regular members and guests that have visited your golf course in the past. You can keep them loyal to your brand, retain them, and convince them to return by offering promotions and loyalty program benefits.

What Are Effective Golf Course Email Marketing Tips?

Identify your target market segments, collect and maintain a customer database on their past history, and use an email marketing tool. Be sure to use an attention-grabbing subject line, offer additional value, personalize your emails, and have a clear call to action (CTA).