• by Jess Nelson , July 3, 2017

More than 44 million Americans are predicted to travel this week for Independence Day according to AAA, an increase of 2.9% year-over-year.

As Americans hit the roadways and board airplanes, travel companies are eager to use the summer holiday to acquire new customers and retain committed loyalists. Email marketing is critical if customer retention is the goal, according to a recent study from WBR and Performance Horizon.

Email marketing drives the highest customer retention for the travel industry, according to the report, with search and social media ranking as the top drivers for customer acquisition. Eighty-four percent of survey respondents rely on email marketing for customer retention, followed by 69% of digital marketers that rely on social media and 43% that utilize retargeting.

In addition to its top ranking for customer retention, email marketing also placed as the fourth-most valuable digital marketing channel for customer acquisition. Organic and paid search were the biggest drivers for customer acquisition, with 80% and 75% of respondents selecting them, respectively. Social media was third with 63% of respondents, followed by email marketing with 58% of respondents.

Half of the travel companies polled partner with a third-party organization to evaluate the performance of their marketing campaigns, and a third of those surveyed drive a quarter-to-half of their revenue through marketing partners.