Carnival UK and HH Global
An increase in email campaign open rate of 25% and click-to-open-rate of 7%
Background
Carnival UK is the operating company for P&O Cruises and Cunard. They provide unforgettable holiday experiences and operate a winning culture to achieve standout success. Cunard ships have been defining sophisticated ocean travel for over 175 years.
The worldwide pause in the cruise industry resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented numbers of cancelled cruises for Carnival UK (CUK), including flagship brands P&O Cruises and Cunard Cruises. Guests were under stress and highly likely to request a refund for their cancelled cruises, creating an impact on the business. CUK’s goal was to keep guests engaged, feeling valued and provide reassurances where possible. CUK needed to maintain future interest in cruise bookings at a time when confidence in the travel industry was low and traveling was restricted by law.
The Apteco solution
To provide a value exchange unique to each booking and guest, with a reduced marketing team, required collaboration of people, process and technology. The value exchange was to provide Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) over and above guests’ money currently paid (deposits and in full) to all customers. This also had to be managed through digital channels to reduce the workload on internal customer services teams, plus also automated to reduce the workload on brand marketing teams.
The capability and flexibility of both the HH Global Interactive Single Customer View (HHGi SCV) and Apteco FastStats and PeopleStage was critical to delivering success. We were able to move quickly from insight to action, utilising Apteco export extras functionality to push HTML tables via PeopleStage to the ESP, allowing complex and calculated information on guests’ FCCs to be sent via a single email to the lead guest. This automated journey provided valuable information and reassurance for the guest and we gathered more data than ever before, enabling this data to drive many improved customer journeys.
The capability and flexibility of both the HH Global Interactive Single Customer View and Apteco FastStats and PeopleStage was critical to delivering success. We were able to move quickly from insight to action.
Hannah Maun, CRM optimisation manager, Carnival UK
Hannah Maun, CRM optimisation manager, Carnival UK
The impact on the business
The FCC campaign was a very successful campaign, retaining critical brand engagement. As a result, Carnival UK was able to execute a highly complex and personalised customer experience that not only engaged customers but resulted in a 58% redemption rate of the FCC against future bookings for guests sent the communication, dissuading tens of millions of pounds off refunds, and forward booking Carnival UK ships into 2022.
Customers experienced improved communication of highly personalised offers, providing value to guests.
58% redemption rate of the Future Cruise Credits (FCC) against future bookings for guests receiving the communication.
Increase in email campaign open rate of 25% and click-to-open-rate of 7% when compared against internal benchmarks.
A substantial decrease in human hours being used by the business to respond to calls and queries.
By utilising Apteco marketing software, we were able to track and measure the impact on guests of the Future Cruise Credits journey. Allowing us to understand behaviour and identify trends, adopting an agile approach to testing, offers and onward strategy.