CASE STUDY: KOSHER TRAVELERS
Q. How can an established travel company generate a new international customer base of discerning kosher travelers in countries where the company does not have a physical presence and boost the customer base in countries where it does as well as save the company manpower time in providing information on travel packages?
A. Create a website designed to attract the discerning kosher traveler, make sure that it remains updated with relevant content that helps the potential customer "taste an experience" of the travel package and synchronize the online and offline advertising campaigns to drive traffic to the website so that it becomes a strategically focal and crucial part of the companies sales strategy.
Background
For nearly half a century Eddie Freudmann Travel Ltd has been a successful leader and innovator in Kosher travel, including instantiating the first kosher cruise package on an international cruise line. The company had mainly been focused on the European market with large satisfied customer base and a high percentage of returning customers.
Recently the company decide to expand its customer base to the US market. At the same time they also wanted to streamline their sales operation and reduce the number of actual man hours needed to sell a travel package to a customer while at the same time providing the potential customer with more valuable and informative information that will persuade them to sign up.
Not having, initially, an office in the US and with established and savvy competition in this new market, Eddie Freudman Travel Ltd. realized that their traditional methods of advertising and promoting the company would not be effective for this new market. They decided to commission Syntab to plan and implement a strategy for effectively using the Internet to penetrate the US market and provide more updated accessible information for their clients.
Solution
After analyzing potential customer profiles and interviewing staff members, Syntab gained valuable insights into the wants, needs and motivation of the target audience as well as a clear vision of the companies goals. This allowed us to create a website that meet these goals.
To attract the discerning kosher traveler aged 35+
- Design a graphic interface that visually appeals to the target audience and conveys a sense of class and style reminiscent of the level of quality and service of the travel packages
- Pay attention to design details for potential customers that are not so Internet savvy and may need more help in navigating through the website
Provide customers with relevant updated content
- Implement a template design where new pages could be easily created and modified to reflect new travel packages and updated itineraries
- Show interactive 3D tours to give the potential customer a "taste of the experience of being there"
Create brand visibility and reach the target audience
- Run banner campaigns on popular travel and news sites that are visited by the target audience
- Optimize the website for the popular search engines
- Drive traffic to the website from all print ads with clear reference to the website for more info
Results
"Syntab succeeded in upgrading and unifying our online and offline marketing campaigns" said Eddie Freudmann, CEO of Eddie Fredmann Travel Ltd. "we have seen an unprecedented increase in customers from the US, most of whom came to us via the website, which was major factor in influencing their decision to travel with us. We are extremely pleased with the effectiveness of our Internet initiative and the flexibility it offers us."
Koshertravelers.com was launched in October 2003 with accompanying search engine positioning, banner campaigns and offline advertising. Since then Eddie Freudmann Travel Ltd. has experienced a significant increase in its customer base and brand visibility, 500% increase in traffic to the site and a 100% increase in sale efficiency.
The website today has become a integral and strategic part of the companies sales strategy.