Spotlight on Tauck Tours: Nearly a Century Old and Still Leading the Way
How does one of the first international travel tour companies weather the pandemic and still stay on top?
When Tauck approached us in 2022 with the challenge to improve their prospecting efforts and response rates, we immediately knew the variety of response options needed to be expanded in order to take advantage of more sophisticated tools. Modern tools like QR codes and Informed Delivery were perfected during the touchless pandemic years. But our proposal to Tauck went even further, as we proposed personalized options that would engage prospective travelers by shifting them seamlessly from the print to the digital realm.
Not only did our multi-channel approach outperform other mailings by 2:1, but also the Personalized QR codes (PQRs) provided us with additional retargeting capabilities and data points to better guide Tauck on next steps. In addition, expanded exposure and additional impressions were generated through Informed Delivery’s Daily Digest emails. The USPS also had Informed Delivery postage discount promotions that helped to offset the costs of programming and development of PQRs and landing pages.
“Not only does the personalized QR code enable a better guest experience, but it also saves on our response times and delivers potential savings opportunities on the fulfillment side for every scan that generates a response, versus a business reply card or phone call response,” says Julia O’Brien, VP Marketing. “This is just another example of a testing opportunity for us, using the technology as a new vehicle through which a prospect could interact with our brand even before our mailing arrived in our mailbox. We’ve been excited about the very promising use and results of these personalized QR codes as a response channel.”
Other response channels include an inbound 800# call center and postage paid reply cards, but PQRs and Informed Delivery now make up nearly 50% of total campaign responses to the millions of households mailed since September 2022. Regardless of response channel, each inquiry is sent a custom trip planning kit with a personalized letter and the specific destination brochures requested.
This is just one example of how DCG ONE has partnered with a client to build creative experiences that deepen engagement and combine print and digital capabilities to deliver results.
Working with Tauck over the past 15 years has been a terrific experience. Not only are they a great partner to work with, but it is also an honor to help them expand their business through improved targeting of their audience. I am happy to share a great interview with Julia O’Brien on their marketing approach, published in Engage magazine. Just shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’ll send it along.
