South Australian Tourism Commission boosts local tourism with a personalised customer journey

Image source: South Australian Tourism Commission.

Imagine a holiday where you can taste world-class wine, relax on beaches of pure white sand, and even hand-feed a wallaby. All of that — and more — can be found in South Australia.

For nearly three decades, the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) has worked to promote South Australia as a top tourism destination to travelers across Australia and around the world. The organisation is currently committed to growing the tourism economy to $12.8 billion by 2030. In addition to arranging and supporting major events across the state, the SATC focuses on developing attractive marketing campaigns, nurturing leads, and eventually directing visitors to the thousands of tourism businesses operating in South Australia.

Edward Brooks, senior manager of digital marketing at the SATC, describes the three major stages of a traveler’s lifecycle as Feel, Think, and Do. Using Adobe Experience Cloud, the SATC is creating cross-channel campaigns that guide people through those three stages and encourage more tourism revenue in South Australia.

“To generate the qualified leads and referrals that we were looking for, we needed enterprise-level marketing technology,” explains Brooks. “We found everything we needed in Adobe Experience Cloud. Today, we’re tracking more than three million leads annually as we move them through the three stages of the customer journey.”

Feel

A travel customer’s journey starts in the “Feel” stage, where people are looking for inspiration or are just starting to think about where they may want to go on their next holiday and what they might want to do. The key to this stage is painting a picture of everything that South Australia has to offer, either through stunning video or exciting travel blogs that pull people in and elicit an emotional response. Through Adobe Advertising Cloud, the SATC can target people with short video clips or other ads that take them directly to top travel blogs.

When people sign up for the SATC newsletter, the SATC starts with a series of welcome emails sent through Adobe Campaign that invite customers to share their top areas of interest: nature, food and wine, wildlife, events, or big-city adventures in Adelaide. Based on a customer’s choice, the SATC can start showing the customer inspirational content directly related to their area of interest.

Think

The next step for SATC marketers is to get customers thinking more deeply about specific plans for their trip. Where do they want to go? What do they want to see or do? Paid media ads, website banners, and emails start encouraging customers to read more focused content. On the website, top carousel banners focus on recommended travel itineraries or specific locations that someone might want to visit. Ads may use messaging that encourages people to get serious about planning their next big trip.

The cycle of targeting and retargeting are particularly important in the “Feel” and “Think” stages. When people respond positively to one piece of content, the SATC aims to keep up the momentum by reinforcing the messaging across all channels. If someone reads a blog, the next time they visit the website, they may see a banner suggesting that they download a travel guide. If too much time passes between website visits, an email will nudge them to continue reading and planning.

Do

The final stage is the “Do” stage. This is where the SATC connects leads with accommodations, event planners, tour operators, and other travel partners on its website. The SATC typically works with up to 9,000 tourism businesses that operate across South Australia. A recent campaign focused on Wildlife resulted in a 26 percent increase in leads to tourism operators offering wildlife experiences.

Data is an important part of understanding how customers proceed along the journey and become valuable leads for businesses associated with the organisation. The SATC uses Adobe Analytics and Adobe Audience Manager to gain visibility into behaviors and segment leads appropriately. Using this data, the SATC can continue to optimise the journey and find more ways to get travelers excited about visiting South Australia.

Customers who register to receive email from the SATC can specify exactly what interests them, resulting in even more relevant, personalised communications. Letting customers specify the topics they want to hear about as part of the welcome email journey is paying off, with a 962 percent increase in records that include customer preferences.

“Working with Adobe Experience Cloud, we’re really turning the dials to maximise our output and generate more leads,” says Brooks. “Through personalised advertising, personalised website content, and personalised emails, we reach people across channels to find the holiday of their dreams in South Australia.”

Learn how the South Australian Tourism Commission and its partners are using Adobe Experience Cloud to effectively reach travelers with personalised messaging across channels.