When it comes to surveying, we always recommend spending your time and energy wherever your following is strongest. For many Creators that means one of the main social media platforms. However, some folks—bloggers for instance—prefer to reach out in a more personal way to get information and get around algorithm. If you’ve built up a mailing list, congrats! You have a direct line to folks who want to hear all about your latest adventures…and hopefully take part in the next one.
For those who haven’t checked out our articles on the importance of surveying and how to do it yet, the survey reveals where your community wants to go and how much they’re willing to spend, along with a ton of other data to help you offer the exact group trips your followers want. Let’s take a look at how to make that happen!
Key takeaways
Contacting your community directly allows for personalization and a chance to let everyone know about the survey without having to rely on social media algorithms.
Survey promotion is a weeklong process and TrovaTrip has developed effective schedules for communities that prefer either more or less contact.
Make your community feel like they’re truly part of the process with messages that keep them up to date and offer direct responses to questions.
Creating video travel content with a cohesive look and feel—this can be as simple as repeating a background or font—gives your brand a professional edge and helps your audience follow along even if they miss something.
Blogging about the opportunity to travel together is a great, creative way to get your supporters hyped for future adventures together!
Welcome to Survey Week (mailing list edition)
Even for folks with a primary social channel, if you have an email list we strongly recommend using it to support your survey promotions as the people on it tend to be more engaged and loyal. You'll want to show up in their inbox 1-2x a week, introducing the idea of traveling together, and reminding them to help you plan the trip via the survey that can be found on your linked Host Profile Page:
Day 1, video method: Record a video telling your community about why you want to host a trip, what Trova is (a group travel platform that helps us travel together!), and what excites you about bringing them along. Hit on the fact that this is a group experience and their feedback about destinations, budget, activities, etc. will actually determine what the trip looks like. Speak directly to your audience and issue a clear call to action to participate. Then compose a message letting your community know the basics: this is a chance to travel together but you’ll need their input and interest to do it. Finally, upload the video externally (to YouTube, for example) and include a link in the email; a screenshot of it with a play button icon superimposed makes for a very enticing link.
💡 Trova Tip: In the video, demonstrate to your audience how easy it is to take the survey by clicking through it yourself. Show a screen recording with your narration for context.
Day 1, text method: Video isn't your thing? No problem. Draft up a message covering the same points and get your audience excited and involved in the planning process!
Day 5-7: Follow up with a second message, including another linked video if you’re up for making one. Reveal the top 2 or 3 destinations, talk about what excites you about each, then give one final call to action for those who haven’t responded yet. And remember to include the link to your Host Profile where the survey itself lives!
Additional promotion: If you need more responses, extend your survey promotion by a week with 1-2 more emails during week 2.
Composing the perfect email
If you have a mailing list, chances are you’ve dialed in the perfect emails for your audience. However, survey messaging can be a bit of a different animal so here are some tips for crafting an email that gets them to click:
Use a clear, inspiring subject line.
Ex: “Come travel the world with me!” or “Help me plan a group trip!”
Keep the message concise and to the point. 500 words or less is ideal for the body of the email. Let the video do the talking.
Use inspiring imagery to get their imaginations humming.
Try and make the most of white space to help maintain focus and keep the message from looking cluttered.
Include 1-2 CTAs (calls to action a.k.a. asking people to take the survey). More than that can come off as overwhelming and salesy and actually decrease someone’s engagement with the email.
Interactivity
In a perfect world everyone would respond to your survey immediately, no questions asked. Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, we don’t live in a perfect world. People are bound to have questions, ranging from simple logistics to more sensitive issues about traveling and may not feel comfortable filling out the survey (much less eventually signing up for a trip) until they have answers. To this end, we suggest including a call for questions in your original message (you may need to set up another mailbox for this if you typically use a “no reply” address for communications).
Additionally, you can encourage questions in the comments on your external video and reply to people publicly there. And, for maximum interactivity, we suggest announcing a mid-week Q+A in your first email. This is a chance to collaborate, share top destination picks, geek out about travel, and shape the vision of the trip in terms of pacing and activities. It’s also an opportunity to alleviate any FUD (fears, uncertainty, or doubts) your community may have by creating a safe space for anything and everything they want to ask.
The magic of branding
Survey week is all about communication and, to help it flow smoothly, we recommend a little marketing magic. Nothing too complicated, just giving your videos and messaging a unified look and feel. Keeping a consistent visual style across your content makes for cohesive storytelling, as opposed to a bunch of random pieces that don’t fit together in a clear and obvious way (Ex: using the same font and colors when comparing destinations or talking about activities). As a bonus, it gives your brand a professional edge by showing folks you’re organized and intentional–qualities Travelers look for in a Trova Host!
Bonus point! Blog about it
Want to get extra creative and really get your community hyped about taking a trip together? Write a blog that encourages them to fill out the survey and share it in an email blast. Going into greater detail about the pros of group travel (safety, convenience, financial savings, bonding, etc.), fun workshops you’d like to hold, and general travel epic-ness can paint a very enticing picture. It can also help get uncertain folks over the hurdle as, in all likelihood, you’ll be proactively answering questions they may not even have thought to ask. And it’s yet another place to encourage interactivity.
Something for everyone
And there it is: how to survey your community via mailing list. Grab your Host Profile Page link from the portal and get ready to find out where your community really wants to go!
💡 Trova Tip: Having mailing list subscribers is a testament to the strength of your community. Even if you do have a secondary channel, you can show love to your most loyal fans—and possibly even drive new sign-ups—by letting them know that when the trip does happen, folks on the mailing list will get first crack at joining. Hello, early bird deals!