ClearStay.com offers vacation rentals nationwide and holds the largest inventory of online bookable vacation homes in the U.S. Relying on local experts to manage their properties, quality is a key aspect of their business.
In an effort to further ensure excellence in all aspects, ClearStay.com wanted to drive a high-quality audience to their site. In addition, they were looking for a solution that addressed their concerns about email marketing.
ClearStay.com teamed with Microsoft Advertising to create an email campaign to meet their objectives. Through Windows Live Hotmail, which is one of the largest audiences anywhere with users who choose to receive featured offers from reputable retailers, ClearStay.com was able to target individuals who subscribed to Travel offers. They took advantage of Hotmail’s geographic targeting abilities and were able to focus on California travelers interested in a late season ski trip, or planning a spring/summer vacation. The creative solution featured the company brand look and feel to create a consistent audience experience. Additionally, since the emails came from Microsoft labeled as an “MSN Featured Offer”, they bypassed the junk-email folder and appeared in front of the viewer with the images always appearing.
In the first 48 hours of the campaign, traffic to ClearStay.com increased 285 percent. These visitors also spent an average of 19 percent more time on the site than other typical visitors, and registered 31 percent more page views. There was also a 41 percent lower bounce rate, further indicating the quality of the audience viewing the site.1
Additionally, in the three weeks that followed the Windows Live Hotmail campaign, ClearStay.com saw an increase of 21 percent in direct visits to the site, showing that the audience had retained the ClearStay.com name, and was visiting independent of the specific email offer.
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In conclusion, ClearStay.com experienced increased traffic from their Windows Live Hotmail campaign, results that were far better than those from previous marketing efforts. This helped prove that a high quality audience willing to receive quality marketing messages can be a valuable asset for advertisers.
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