With the highest return on investment among marketing channels, email is one of the most ubiquitous forms of modern communication for businesses. 

Email segmentation is at the heart of any successful email marketing strategy. However, having to manually segment audiences outside of your campground reservation system is cumbersome, time-consuming, and often problematic. 

With Campspot’s Mailchimp integration, you can not only manage communications seamlessly from within your reservation system, but also elevate your overall email marketing game plan to create highly targeted messages for your various audiences. Let’s explore how Campspot, Mailchimp, and a smart email marketing strategy can combine to help grow your camping business. 

Harness Campspot’s Mailchimp Integration

Mailchimp is the household name of email marketing. Its intuitive interface, built-in design elements, and straightforward audience management make it a well-rounded choice for many. Now, the power of Mailchimp and your customer data through Campspot are combined, thanks to our integration. 

Prior to the integration, Mailchimp users could not easily sync their Campspot data, which required manual exportation of guest reports to CSV files. These files would then need to be individually uploaded into Mailchimp to create new email marketing audiences and manually corrected any time contact information changed—sounds exhausting just reading it!

Instead, our integration automatically imports your customer data into Mailchimp by syncing with all of your Campspot reservations. The integration between Campspot and Mailchimp makes it that much easier to send targeted messages to certain groups of campers, which we discuss next.

Read Next: Top Email Marketing Strategies for Campgrounds

Audience Segmentation for Effective Emails

Audience segmentation simply means dividing your customer base according to themes and trends, which can be based on any number of core identifiers (e.g., age, family structure, mode of camping, and history with your business). 

You want to identify and group your customers in this way to ensure your email messaging resonates with them. The message “Relive your favorite memories by the lake” will not register for contacts that have recently entered your marketing funnel, but it could definitely pique the interest of your most loyal repeat campers.

To start, here are five key audience segments we recommend you create and use to market your campground. 

1. New Contacts

These people could be new to camping or just new to you. First, consider how they entered your marketing funnel—from website traffic, a paid social media ad, or as a phone caller. This can be telling of their demographics and preferences. Second, nurture each new contact with an automated series of welcome emails centered around your property’s uniqueness and the best information you have to convert them to a customer. 

2. Upcoming Reservation Holders

This is your best chance to make a first impression before their physical impression of your property, so don’t underestimate the effectiveness of email here. Upcoming travelers will appreciate insider tips, packing reminders, and the like in order to feel both welcomed and supported even ahead of their vacation with you.

3. Current Guests

Think about the most important point you’d want to convey to guests who are still physically at your property. Perhaps you could entice them to extend their stay at a discount by coming to the campground office. Or, maybe you’d like to give them a preview of the exciting amenity upgrades you will have installed by autumn. Your hook to this audience should be distinct and timed well so as to not overly burden them during their stay. 

4. Past Customers

Once nurtured, your cold contacts will ideally become real-life visitors, but the nurturing should not stop there. It’s just as important to communicate with your past customers as it is to anyone else if you want to earn their repeat business. Consider what this group would uniquely value and pitch why they should return to your park, playing into the familiar charm and surefire good time you guarantee. 

5. Community Members

In order to fully cultivate a camping ecosystem around your brand, broaden your segmentation strategy to include community partners. Express your genuine gratitude to them for being your first customers or supporters. Treat them as VIP members with early email reminders of opening day or with a “locals only” discount during the off-season. 

Once you have the right audience in mind and the best-fit message for them, you can feel confident you are maximizing your potential for authentic customer engagement through email. 

Read Next: How to Earn More 5-Star Campground Reviews

Email Templates for Campground Marketing

Eager to get started? Fortunately, Campspot has already compiled the exact email templates you’ll need to successfully communicate with these camper segments through Mailchimp and more. 

Our guide, Email Templates for Campgrounds, contains important email benchmarkers, use cases for campground operators, and tactics for customer growth. Say goodbye to manual list management and hello to easy audience segmentation. Let this article’s inspiration be your guide to download our full email guide today! 

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Haley Dalian is a lifelong Michigander who takes advantage of recreation throughout the state’s changing seasons—from snow skiing to scuba diving in the Great Lakes. A former Campspot marketing manager, Haley holds a B.A. degree in public policy from Michigan State University and an M.S. degree in sustainability from the University of Michigan. She is passionate about environmental stewardship, exploring the outdoors, and has never met a potato she didn’t like.

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