Shoptalk: How to write newsletters that clients actually read

A travel advisor’s client emails can be one of the most valuable marketing tools they have. 

Ryan McElroy, co-founder of Travel Agency Tribes, a company that helps travel businesses with online marketing, says email newsletters work because they keep advisors visible between bookings, when clients may not be ready to plan but are still thinking about future travel.

“They're constantly being conditioned that when they think about travel, they think about that advisor or that agency," he says.

That visibility is especially important in a business where many clients only book once or twice a year. 

A regular newsletter keeps the advisor in the client’s orbit long before an inquiry happens.

But access to an inbox does not automatically translate into clicks, replies or bookings. 

The harder part is figuring out what clients actually want to read and what will make the email feel useful enough to act on. 

Lead with value, not just deals

McElroy says deals and offers can have a place, but they work best when they are filtered through the advisor’s expertise.

He says the best newsletters balance practical information with carefully chosen offers. 

The goal, he says, is to help clients become more informed travellers, while using the advisor’s expertise to explain why a particular offer is worth their attention. 

“You’re the expert showing your clients if the offer is truly a good deal," he says.

McElroy adds newsletters can also convert when advisors bring in their own first-hand travel experience. 

“One of the things that we see help conversion is some of your own professional perspective or your story around a destination that you just explored,” he says. 

“Where you can say something like: I just went to the Galapagos Islands this is what I learned, and this is my perspective that I'm bringing back to my clients.”

Judith Coates, founder and travel advisor at Toronto-based Wired for Travel, takes a similar approach in her quarterly newsletter, which includes travel advice and stories about trips she has done herself. 

“I’ll describe a trip I just took, and try to tell a story about it to get them really interested and make them think: Oh, I’d like to experience that,” she says.

That human voice is especially important as more advisors experiment with AI tools, says Devyn Perry, founder of Toronto-based Devyn Perry Travel. 

Before becoming a travel advisor, Perry worked in advertising and ran media strategy for Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal in Canada. 

“Leveraging AI to write in your voice also is helpful, but being careful that it doesn't sound robotic,” she says. “There's so much content going out right now where it's very clear that AI wrote it. Trust is so important in travel and as soon as you start sounding robotic, you take away the human element.”

McElroy adds that timing can also help advisors make newsletters feel more relevant. 

That could mean leaning into wave season, a holiday, a destination in the news or another timely hook already on clients’ minds.

“Knowing what month you're in and what's selling during that month: that’s a huge piece of the puzzle that often people forget,” he says.

Make it feel specific

Perry says the strongest newsletters are often the ones that feel tailored to the person receiving them. 

She says advisors should think beyond sending the same newsletter to their entire list. 

In some cases, the more effective move is to segment clients into smaller groups and send content that reflects what those travellers are most likely to care about.

“Don’t try to be everything for everyone. The more customized you can be, the better it is,” Perry says. “People get a lot of email, so they're going to read the thing that feels like it's meant for them.”

That might mean grouping clients by why they travel, rather than treating a client list as one broad audience. 

“Understanding why people booked with you the first time is a good indicator of why they would travel again,” Perry says. “Are they people that go away because they celebrate occasions? Bucket those people into one group and talk about occasions. Are they people that really enjoy the sun? Send a note to those people to capitalize on all-inclusive deals.”

Coates uses that kind of targeted approach in her own business. 

Rather than sending every trip idea to her full list, she builds smaller lists based on which clients are most likely to respond.

“Whenever I'm putting together a group trip, I create a contact list of the people that I know are interested or I think might be interested,” Coates says.

For a women’s group trip to Morocco in spring 2027, for example, she is sending emails about different parts of the experience to a targeted group of clients who may be a good fit, rather than promoting the trip to everyone in the same way.

Test what works

Coates also pays attention to analytics, using open rates and clickthrough rates to get a clearer picture of which emails land and which ones miss. 

“That really helps me to see: okay, that one didn't go over that well, hardly anybody even opened it or hardly anybody clicked the link,” she says. “Or I can see that it went really well and then I know I have to try and do something like that again. It really does help for moving forward and learning and knowing what to do next time.”

Subject lines are part of that testing process, too. Coates says she tries to write headlines that catch attention without overpromising.

“Definitely engaging headlines do help, so I'll try to write something that I think is going to grab attention to get them to read, but that stays close to the truth.”

For newer advisors, McElroy says the list does not need to be large before they start learning what clients respond to. 

The key is to begin with the clients and prospects they already have, then stay consistent.

“If you're a new advisor, and you only have five people on your list, just start with five," he says.

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