Apulia Hotel Increases Conversion Rate by 4.5% on 30 million Turnover thanks to Spoki and ActiveCampaign

Context

Apulia Hotel is a luxury hotel chain located in central-southern Italy, with 16 properties including villages, residences and premium hotels, distributed between Rome and Palermo. With an annual turnover of approximately 30 million euros and over 950 seasonal employees, Apulia Hotel welcomes approximately 30,000 guests each year. The chain has set itself the goal of improving communication with customers and optimizing the conversion rate of quote requests, leveraging the power of digital channels such as WhatsApp.

Case Study

Apulia Hotel’s main challenge was to automate actions performed manually by the sales team, particularly following up with customers who had requested a quote but had not completed the booking. Subsequently, the sales operators manually contacted customers who had not booked, trying to understand the reasons and encourage a new booking. 

This manual process was time-consuming and resource-intensive. Before adopting Spoki, Apulia Hotel had tested various nurturing systems such as WhatsApp Business for some actions and other tools such as SMS, email, and Manychat, but these had high costs and suboptimal results.

Strategy

The strategy adopted by Apulia Hotel involved the use of Spoki integrated with ActiveCampaign. This approach made it possible to automate the follow-up process with customers who had requested a quote but had not booked within four days. The process involved sending a WhatsApp message via Spoki to prompt customers to contact the hotel again or complete the reservation.

Currently, Apulia Hotel’s audience is accustomed to finalizing deals over the phone, so sending WhatsApp messages has proven to be an essential touchpoint for re-engagement. 

Approximately 200,000 annual leads are managed with this system, with the sales team maintaining contact and responding to customer objections to finalize the booking.

Implementation and Integration

Apulia Hotel used several tools to implement this strategy:

1. ActiveCampaign CRM: To manage and segment contacts.
2. Zapier: To automate workflow and integration between Spoki and ActiveCampaign.
3. Spoki: To send automated WhatsApp messages to customers.

1. Initial Segmentation

The contacts were initially segmented based on certain conditions, such as the type of structure requested and the status of the quote. This segmentation made it possible to differentiate contacts based on their potential interest and current status in their customer journey.

2. Communication Personalization

Once segmented, contacts were assigned different tags that further qualified them. This allowed Apulia Hotel to personalize messages and offers based on the specific situation and preferences of each contact.

3. Personalized Automations

Based on the answers provided by customers, different automations were activated. For example, if a customer did not respond within four days, a WhatsApp message was automatically sent via Spoki to encourage them to complete the booking.

4. Monitoring and Adaptation

Each stage of the workflow was monitored to ensure there were no bottlenecks or obstacles in the automations. This allowed for continuous optimization of the process and improved communication efficiency.

Results Obtained

• Improved Conversion Rate: Thanks to the use of Spoki, the conversion rate on submitted quotes increased by 4.5 percent , contributing to the achievement of 30 million in sales.
• Number of Leads Managed: Approximately 200,000 leads per year.
• WhatsApp Messages Sent: 11,726 messages sent via Spoki.
• Message Read Rate: 99% of sent messages were read.
• Message Response Rate: 3,617 customers have responded to messages sent via Spoki.
• Reduction of Operational Costs: The automation of follow-up processes has reduced operational costs related to manual re-contact actions.

Customer Feedback

Customers perceived WhatsApp messages as a form of communication that is very natural and preferable to email. The simplicity and effectiveness of Spoki were rated very positively, with high scores in terms of ease of use and overall satisfaction. WhatsApp was perceived as a direct and personal channel, increasing customer engagement and satisfaction.

Conclusion

The innovative synergy between Apulia Hotel and Spoki, with the strategic use of WhatsApp and integration with ActiveCampaign, has led to remarkable results in terms of increased conversion rate, communication efficiency and reduction of operating costs. This success story demonstrates the effectiveness of adopting advanced technologies and a customer-centric approach to meet the needs of an ever-changing market, such as that of accommodation facilities.

CREDITS
Company: Apulia Hotel

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