When it comes to marketing that converts, email far surpasses social media—like nearly 40x more. Yes, you may have built the whole foundation for your community on social, but mailing lists allow your most dedicated and loyal audience members to raise their hand and say "I want in!"

This direct 1:1 communication enables you to connect with potential Travelers, nurture relationships, and fill your trips easier than ever. Let's dig in.

One of the many ways Trova supports our Hosts is by providing you with a Host Profile Page, where you can easily grow your email list. Just share your profile link (you can find this in the portal) with your community, and encourage Travelers to join your mailing list to gain exclusive early access to spots and savings on your trip(s)—yep, we’re talking about you, early bird pricing.

Social media is great for promoting your trip but during the process email has plenty of chances to really shine, starting from the very beginning. A trip confirms once the minimum number of Travelers have booked. For most of our itineraries, that means 8-10.

In order to make that happen, Trova encourages Hosts to offer early bird discounts. This can be a great opportunity to add to your mailing list by giving folks who join the first crack at booking spots at a discounted rate. For example, the first 8 to book save $100!

Then, when it comes to actually sending out the messages, Trova makes things easy with our automated email marketing tool which is available for every Host. Here’s how it works:

You’ll see a pencil icon to the right of each email. Click the pencil to edit or disable the email. All emails will be enabled by default. The 1st in the sequence is the launch email, which will be enabled only when you schedule your trip launch date in the portal.

Then the following emails will be sent on days 3, 8, 13, and 30, unless your trip confirms before then. Once that happens, a brand new series of emails with the same cadence will be triggered to help sell out the rest of the spots.

If you’d prefer to contact your email list on your own with fully customized messages outside of the TrovaTrip platform, go for it! But many Hosts love our automated system as it includes optimized subject lines and messaging, and is formatted to abide by all of digital marketing’s legal requirements. And don’t worry, there’s still some room for personalization if you want it.

Collecting your community's emails isn’t just for promoting group travel, either. As much as we want you to be a successful Host and launch more trips – eventually becoming completely group travel-obsessed and falling in love with all things Trova – we know there’s probably other stuff you want to do with your brand too.

Well, good news, the effort you’ve put into collecting emails will continue to pay off because the addresses on your list are yours to keep. Just select the ‘Export Data’ option under the Audience tab and you can use those emails (and audience data) for anything else you have going on.

Whether you’re looking to stay in touch with your community or promote new projects that you’re working on, you’ll have direct access to your most dedicated followers.

TBH sending emails is usually not as fun as posting on social media, but hopefully we’ve been able to shed some light on the benefits of eating your digital veggies, a.k.a. growing that mailing list. Plus, with Trova’s built-in email marketing tool, promoting your trip is easier than ever.

Have a question or need some support? Reach out to your Trova Rep or email us at host@trovatrip.com.