Many tour company owners we speak with are skeptical about using email to boost revenue, because building lists and sending blasts just doesn’t work very often in this industry.

And another group of owners like the idea, but they equate good marketing means sending more emails.
More offers, more reminders, more chances to be seen.

But more isn’t better — better is better.

Smart email marketing doesn’t mean blasting your list and it doesn’t mean sending an excessive number of emails.

It happens when the recipient, the timing and the message are all in alignment.

Let’s talk about what that means.

The Three Circles

Well-Matched

This is knowing who you’re talking to.
The booker. The waiver signer/guest. The return visitor. A local.
When your systems connect bookings, waivers, and browsing behavior, your emails stop being guesses and start being relevant.

Well-Timed

This is knowing when to talk.
The right message at the right moment does the work for you — an upsell right before someone shows up for the tour, a review request after, a quiet nudge when someone browses your site.

Well-Said

This is knowing how to talk.
Because “We hope to see you soon” feels different from “Can’t wait to see you Saturday — dolphins have been showing off this week.”
Tone turns automation into connection.

The Intersections

Missing the Right Message

A well-matched person ensures your emails reach people likely to be interested, increasing relevance and potential engagement. Proper timing maximizes open rates and interaction chances.

Without a tailored, compelling, right message, even the best-targeted and timed emails can fall flat. Personalization is key to conversion – but that doesn’t mean “Hello, [First Name].

Personalization means knowing who is local, or welcoming back a returning customer, etc. It includes withholding a Browse Abandonment email if they just booked. It means upselling the kids’ day pass when their purchase includes a child ticket and upselling the rum tour when it doesn’t.

Data shows personalized emails with relevant content can boost transaction rates by 6x (Experian), while poor messaging can result in high bounce rates or spam complaints.

Bottom line: Without the details necessary to deliver the right message, you undermine the effectiveness of your targeting and timing.

Missing the Right Timing

Let’s say you’ve got the right person and the right message: Your content is tailored, personalized, and compelling, with relevant offers that resonate with the audience’s needs or preferences.

Without the right timing, you’ll see lower open rates, reduced click-throughs, and missed opportunities for conversions, even with a well-crafted message sent to the right audience.

Send the “don’t forget” email 3 weeks in advance? They will forget.
Follow up on a lead the next day? They may be already gone, especially if you’re a destination.
Leveraging the sweet spot between purchase and tour-day for upsell? Not happening.

Bottom line: Without the right timing, even a perfectly targeted and crafted email might be ignored or lost in a crowded inbox. And even if it is read, it is probably too late.

Missing the Right Guest

Let’s say you dial in your message, and you pinpoint timing… but you still do it in blast format without regard for the guest or their situation.

There are many ways we see this in real life, and a newsletter blast is the most common.

Without targeting the specific guest, your emails are reaching people who may not be interested or relevant to your offer. This can lead to low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, or even spam complaints, as the message doesn’t resonate with their needs or context.

But this isn’t just about excluding the wrong people, it’s also about including the right people – like the other adults on the tour and not just the booker.

Bottom line: Targeting the wrong audience undermines even the best-timed and well-crafted emails. Avoiding the blanket blast can increase revenue by up to 760% (Campaign Monitor).

The Center

At the center of all three circles is TourAdvantage, where data, timing, and message work together.

Automated, behavior-based journeys built once and reused
Real-time syncing with booking and waiver systems
Guest, booker, local, tourist, returning guest – all treated like an individual, but en masse
Browse abandonment emails that understand who the person is
Upsells and cross sells that leverage the sweet spot
Reports that show actual revenue impact — not just opens or clicks

Most operators who think email “doesn’t work” have never seen it work like this.

When every email goes to the right person, at the right time, with the right message, it stops feeling like marketing and starts feeling like good service.

That’s what TourAdvantage can do for your business.

Schedule a quick chat with us to learn more