How much details do you give to start?

[Margaret]

I was going to go away and think about this but not sure when that would happen so these are the first things which occur to me:

- you say this works for you but that your conversion rate is extremely low. I had the impression you were interested in getting your conversion rate up, as it is not working for you as well as you would like. So which is right?

- you say you do not have time to tailor replies to serious enquiries but then admit that you send pointless replies to Nigerians. I won't insult you by spelling out my conclusion to that!

- if you are getting a lower conversion rate than you want, part of the answer has to lie in the vast amount of information you are sending to people and especially as you send most of it as attachments. Less computer savvy people than us often delete emails with attachments on principle because they fear viruses. Remember that at this stage, they do not know you and that they can trust you. They are highly unlikely to recognise your email address because they will have sent off a lot of enquiries without even noticing the email address.

It has been mentioned recently by lots of people in here than most people decided in a matter of seconds whether to enquire about a property or follow it up. It is what you put in the email which matters. The rest of the information they can find on your website, I assume, so point them there. They can choose which bits of the information they look at. Nobody I think expects you to send reams of information they have not asked for. Perhaps it is the internet at fault - you can send out all that information for nothing. You would never send that much by post, I suspect.

Instruction for getting there by helicopter???!!!!

You may only have had one negative comment from a guest about the volume of information you send but isn't there just a chance that the rest are voting with their feet?

That's my personal view!!! I get vastly less enquiries than you so I have to work harder to convert the ones we do get. Perhaps that is why I have a different view. Last year we had 313 enquiries and converted 130 of them to bookings, so I do have more time to spend on each one!

[Musetta]

hnestly, I'm finding that getting back in a timely manner seems to mean as much as anything I could possibly SAY. I'm STILL shocked at how many people tell me that I was the only one who GOT BACK to them! shocking.

[Mountain Goat]

Margaret, many thanks. I need to let that lot sink in a bit before commenting. Helicopters? Yes, it's routine around us, and last guest who runs a TV/Filming company outfit found us through Google and our comments on heliskiing - it's amazing how they do find us with odd keywords. Our plumber uses one for all his roofing work (Swiss plumbers do roofs due to their experience with copper - maybe elsewhere as well? Big Sis come in please - you could give your OH a nudge?).

Musetta - you're right - that makes a massive difference.

MG

[Mouse]

I think the first email is all about building a relationship. I keep it fairly brief;

1. thank them for enquiring (& try and find something personal I can hook into...unusual email addy, christian name, maybe from an area I know etc)
2. answer their questions about availability, deposit etc and I try and link into their 'party' type i.e. they have children, I re-inforce how happy families have been in the past, if they're clubbers I tell them we're perfectly placed for Ibiza town/clubs etc
3. ask if they've been to Ibiza before and suggest I could provide them with further info (as we write travel guides on the island)
4. ask if there is any further info I can supply that will help them decide that our villa is the right one for their summer holiday

I then wish them a good weekend/week - and say I look forward to hearing back from them.

The 2nd email is when I would then send more information - as by then a relaitionship of sorts has been established and they're already on the hook.

When selling I was always told 'find out what the client needs are then you can match them'. Therefore before stuff is sent out I think it's useful to find out what they want by asking questions.

I have to say MG if I got all that bumf back from you I'd be a 'silent' one as I wouldn't read it (it'd scare the life out of me!) Most of the info is dependent on them choosing your destination and accommodation...so I would wait until the 2nd contact point (besides...it'd make you life so much easier sending quicker replies)
I'd suggest if you think it's needed by most enquirers I'd stick it on your website and give them a link to the specific items in the text - seems neater.

Mousie
x

[e-richard]

About 6 months ago, I tried a controlled experiment where alternate enquiries received either a long answer or a short answer from me.

In theory, the long answer set out to obviate follow up questions and clarify how easy it was to book and what they needed to do next. Obviously it started by responded to all their questions, confirmed availability and price and then went on to explain in minute detail what the next steps were and how to pay including my full address, bank details, phone number, inside leg measurement and the colour of my mother-in-law's eyes.

The short answer was very much along the lines discussed by many above in that it did respond to specific questions, confirmed availability and price, and then a bold phrase The next step is... and requested them to get back to me when I would be happy to take them through all the booking procedures. I've added small bits over the months, notably very polite exhortations to respond or lose out (q.v.).

Result:

The number of transactions was very small, so statistically insignificant, but I did get marginally more conversions from the short answer. I got quite a few more responses (even if they did not convert) from the short answer. I did get some bookings from the long one as well, so there is room for doubt.

Conclusion:

I have spent the last 6 months tweaking the SHORT response to be as effective as possible, with sufficient additional information to move forward - notably my website address. (Buried somewhere in the discussion above, Margaret has suggested a couple of further tweaks I will now make to the short answer - thanks Margaret !)

All in all, I strongly feel that short is better. Less is more.

How painful has it been to read this long post and the other long ones above ?
Have you noticed the phrases used by forum members above:

I need to let that lot sink in a bit before commenting

I was going to go away and think about this

I don't want punters to go away and think, I want them to feel confident and book now.

[Margaret]

Absolutely!

Wish I had enough enquiries to be able to experiment. Who is going to advise me on how to my enquiry rate up?

[Mountain Goat]

The reponse below has got 5 bookings so far this week (with variables for season) and with the 3 Word attachments discussed above, including the ski briefing - we're running a reduced rate on HR at the moment so this is an unusual booking rate.

XYZ, many thanks for your enquiry about the Garden apartment at our chalet in Leysin for (dates here)

It is available at a special late booking rate of £340 including final cleaning, and with no extras. As we are quite close to departure, full payment of the rental, plus £150 security deposit would be requested on booking.

Further details are below, and on the attached Word files.

Look forward to hearing from you. - Great snow by the way, we just got back at the weekend.....

Regards
Mountain Goat

Chalet Chimère, Leysin photo links

Exterior views of chalet
http://tinyurl.com/2ukt8x

Garden-level Apartment interior
http://tinyurl.com/2jyrhn

plus link to our website/blog.

Is that so bad?

MG

[Margaret]

Of course it isn't bad - but last minute ski bookings are a bit different anyway.

Back to my question: are you getting enough bookings? If yes, it ain't broke, so don't fix it.

Do you know that your word files were read? Is all the information in the Word files on your website?

[Mountain Goat]

Of course it isn't bad - but last minute ski bookings are a bit different anyway. - totally agree.

Back to my question: are you getting enough bookings? - no, as mentioned, our conversion rates are low and a lot of work to deal with the enquiries..

Do you know that your word files were read? - no, not a clue (although the sports professionals we recommend are employed heavily by our guests), and the email gadget that should tell us doesn't work.

Is all the information in the Word files on your website? - no, most of it isn't and I can't see the point. A lot of it could be used for the village website we are working on, though, but it's written in a very informal style. Maybe send you one if you have time?

MG

[Big Sis..]

Swiss plumbers do roofs due to their experience with copper - maybe elsewhere as well? Big Sis come in please - you could give your OH a nudge?).

Sorry MG havent been about much today..Just seen this
Hubby does do a lot of lead flashing on roofs etc and of course works a lot in copper....
So if you need anybody to give you a quick flash hes your man

[Mountain Goat]

if I got all that bumf back from you I'd be a 'silent' one as I wouldn't read it

True, Mousie, but the attachments are named and they don’t have to open them, I felt the actual body of the email was reasonably simple?

Richard, thanks, although I’m hanging in by my claws, I still feel I’m not flooding them. However, as someone mentioned above, those attachments might get our reply snagged in their spam filters, and that needs thinking about.

Big Sis -

MG

[Giddy Goat]

That’s about it. I know it’s probably way over-the-top, but it works for us.

Have read your posts carefully MG and can see your situation is more complex than most chalets/apartments in your area due to the flexibility of the accommodation, and also because of the wide range of places in which you advertise, allowing an equally differing range of opportunities to 'sell' your holiday. If it works for you, ie that you're filling your weeks well, that's the bottom line. If, however, you have a sneaky feeling that your conversion rate is lower than ideal and that it feels like seriously hard work to nab a punter, there may be some truth in the theory that too much information at the beginning is putting some people off. Someone mentioned appearing 'over-eager'.

In addition:

* You're going to panic a bit, but despite the extra time it takes, I think it is worthwhile trying to tailor this first response even more, to take account of the source of the enquiry. Only include the rates etc and availability if they don't already have this kind of stuff. People are looking for a more personal approach by booking directly with an owner, and although you do this to an extent, sending the rates again if they already have it suggests that you haven't being paying total attention, even though you know you have! It also makes the reply unnecessarily long in these cases, yielding a touch of the TMI syndrome.

*

We’re a bit short with those who can’t be bothered to write even a sentence (i.e. just dates, or, several times, just nothing)

However brief the enquiry, treat it the same as any other. It's surprising how a brief enquiry sometimes leads to an effusive and enthusiastic booking!

* I tend to agree that the word attachments should follow at the stage when the enquirer has returned for a further sniff. You have an exceptional website in every way: beautiful, and packed with info of every kind. You'll be pointing people to it in the initial response if they clearly haven't seen it yet, so could perhaps refer to the existence of further, in-depth docs briefly, but that's it, otherwise you are slipping into that 'I'm not very confident in my product' mode. Maybe only send these first time round if it's a last minute gap you're looking to fill?

Once booked: Ts and Cs and booking form/s - the ideal is to include these as clickable links on your website, IMHO. Our booking form fits exactly onto one A4 page - this is still possible with your properties unless of course you get one group booking two apartments and not the entire chalet - ie appreciate our circs are a bit different here. On the booking form, we include a clause which reads "I am authorised to make this booking on behalf of all my party. I am over 18 years of age. I confirm that I have read and accept (name of property) terms and conditions" with a space for their signature and date.

Our Ts and Cs can print onto 1 1/2 pages. Even that length of document only gets skim read, if at all. I think yours is double that MG?

Just some thoughts to add to the mix!

[Mountain Goat]

Many thanks, GG, there's a lot of good stuff there, and I guess there's a good case for changing our response. Give me a day to reply (off to Holiday Rentals today, so will report on that visit later).

Just one little thing which caught my eye:

Our Ts and Cs can print onto 1 1/2 pages. Even that length of document only gets skim read, if at all. I think yours is double that MG?

I thought you very kindly let us pinch yours! Are we just talking size of font here? I would be very reluctant to change these having had 5-6 cancellations last year, all involving lost deposits, one insanely complex. Those T&Cs performed well, without any sniping between us and cancelled punters - maybe they realised any potential dispute wasn't worth the candle?

Our booking form could be crammed onto one page, but would be unreadable when it was faxed back, as it often is; with payment options (a very variable document depending on currency, credit card request etc.) it just has to be 2. So, on booking, punter is faced with 2-page booking form, 3 pages of T&C. Yes, I have sinned again.

MG

[Big Sis..]

I would be very reluctant to change these having had 5-6 cancellations last year, all involving lost deposits, one complex. Those T&Cs performed well, without any sniping between us and cancelled punters

Sounds as if ,they did exactly what you wanted them to MG So thats good!!

[Margaret]

Wow! What you would call T&Cs I think cover about 1/2 a page for us. We have never had any problems. Our cancellation clause is very short. The rest is mainly about not smoking and being environmentally friendly!