Vacation.com takes it to the next level

Vacation.com is taking its e-Engagement program to the next level by adding a consumer re-targeting feature. This enhancement to the Engagement program was announced during Vacation.com’s 14th International Conference and Trade Show onboard Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas. The re-targeting initiative is scheduled to launch this summer with banner ads that will appear on web sites like Amazon.com, AOL.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com, Google.com, NYTimes.com and Weather.com. Re-targeting will allow Vacation.com’s suppliers to maximize exposure to their exclusive travel offers over the duration of the campaigns. Since the member agency is the ultimate call-to-action on these campaigns, the consumer will be taken back to their travel agent to make the booking. While today’s consumers receive highly-targeted emails from Vacation.com members, this advanced re-targeting technology keeps the supplier’s offer in front of the traveller during their daily Web surfing activities in the form of banner ads. Those ads will link directly back to the agency-branded supplier promotion landing page. Christine James, Vacation.com’s vice-president, Canada, said: “Currently, if an e-Engagement e-mail is viewed, but the consumer doesn’t act at that moment, the life-cycle of that promotion ends rather quickly. By introducing re-targeting, the supplier’s offer remains in front of our database of highly targeted past travellers.” James continued: “In general, 2% of e-mail recipients will book the travel offer right away. This new strategy provides additional opportunities to entice the other 98% of consumers multiple times throughout the promotion. Re-targeting not only benefits our member agents, but also it provides substantial added value for each of our supplier partners who participate in the program.”