Imagine you wake up on a Tuesday morning, grab your phone, and see 14 unread notifications from your email app.
You open it up, hoping for an update on a package you’re expecting or a message from a friend. Instead, your inbox looks like a digital shouting match:
- “LAST CHANCE: 20% off all activewear!” – You haven’t been in a gym since 2024.
- “We miss you! Here is a deal on a flight to Bali!” – You just got back from a trip last week.
- “Hurry! Your cart is expiring!” You looked at a pair of socks once a week ago.
This is the daily reality of email fatigue. When brands rely on high-frequency, ‘one-size-fits-all’ broadcasting, it quickly turns a helpful communication tool into a source of genuine user frustration.
Recognising that this approach was reaching its limits, TravelOnline initiated a comprehensive overhaul of its customer journey. The transition shifted the brand away from generic, high-volume broadcasting toward intentional, data-driven communication tailored to the unique planning cycles of modern travelers.
Sheri Adamson, Marketing Manager at TravelOnline, comments, “With such a large list and limited resources, our emails had naturally evolved into a one-size-fits-all approach. It worked well for a time, but as we mapped the customer journey in more detail, we could see large portions of our contact list weren’t opening emails at all, while engaged subscribers were starting to tune out due to email overload’.
“This was what prompted our decision. We realised we couldn’t keep sending the same deals to everyone and expect the same results. We needed to step back, map the customer journey, really understand when and why people engage, and how to bring them back in after their first booking”, adds Adamson.
TravelOnline is an online travel agency founded in 1994. Headquartered in Springwood, Queensland, the company is privately owned and operates primarily within Australia and New Zealand. It services approximately 50,000 customers per year,
Overcoming email fatigue
The decision to restructure TravelOnline’s email ecosystem was driven by clear internal signals regarding list health and shifting subscriber behaviour. In an increasingly crowded digital landscape, sending a uniform mix of deals to an entire database was no longer yielding sustainable results.
“TravelOnline has been selling holiday packages for 30 years, and for much of that time our email strategy was less about data and more about offer frequency. We wanted to cast the widest net possible, so every deal went to everyone, up to six times per week, and that repetition drove bookings for quite some time”, says Adamson.
TravelOnine found a significant volume of contacts ceased opening emails entirely. Heavily engaged users showed signs of fatigue due to the volume of communication.”As we grew and began to look at the customer journey more closely, we saw an opportunity to be more targeted. With deeper segmentation, we could adjust our communication based on where someone was in their holiday planning and engage customers more intentionally. That shift has helped us convert more efficiently and build stronger engagement over time”.
Transitioning to intent-based and behavioural data
To modernise its approach, TravelOnline replaced demographic and broad list-based targeting with ‘smarter segmentation” rooted in behavioural data and real-time intent signals.
This framework evaluates three core data points:
Engagement quality and recency
Rather than tracking isolated actions, TravelOnline differentiates between subscriber behaviors over time. The system separates consistent, high-intent users who actively click through to explore destinations from passive users who only occasionally open emails without interacting. Both communication frequency and content are adjusted based on these distinct levels of engagement. Adamson comments, ““Our segmentation has evolved to focus much more heavily on behaviour and intent, rather than relying purely on broad demographic or list-based targeting. We now place significant emphasis on engagement signals such as opens and clicks, as well as the recency of that engagement. For example, we differentiate between subscribers who consistently open and interact with our emails and those who only occasionally open without clicking, allowing us to tailor both frequency and content more effectively.”Extended travel planning windows
Unlike traditional retail e-commerce, where purchasing decisions are often transactional and immediate, travel purchases involve longer consideration periods spanning weeks or months. Adamson says, “Travel purchasing behaviour is very different to traditional ecommerce; customers may research and consider options over weeks or months before booking. Because of this, our segmentation windows are designed to reflect longer planning cycles, ensuring we stay relevant without overwhelming subscribers during their decision-making journey”.
Digital footprint and on-site activity
Website browsing behaviour serves as a primary indicator of active intent. By tracking specific holiday package views and destination searches, TravelOnline can dynamically align email messaging with the exact locations a traveler is currently evaluating. Adamson comments,
Defining true personalisation
At TravelOnline, personalisation has evolved past basic placeholders like tokenised names in a subject line. True personalisation is defined as the intentional alignment of content and frequency with a user’s behavioural signals.
“For us, personalisation is about more intentional targeting. It is about understanding each customer’s engagement levels and tailoring our sends accordingly, rather than sending the same deal to the entire database”.
“We look at how subscribers interact with our emails and website to determine what they are likely to find relevant, and adjust both the content and frequency of communication based on those signals. Someone who regularly clicks through to explore destinations, for example, will receive more targeted offers related to those interests, while less engaged subscribers may receive fewer, more carefully selected messages”.
This strategy is currently expanding beyond the inbox. “For us, personalisation is about more intentional targeting. It is about understanding each customer’s engagement levels and tailoring our sends accordingly, rather than sending the same deal to the entire database”.
“We look at how subscribers interact with our emails and website to determine what they are likely to find relevant, and adjust both the content and frequency of communication based on those signals. Someone who regularly clicks through to explore destinations, for example, will receive more targeted offers related to those interests, while less engaged subscribers may receive fewer, more carefully selected messages”.
Once fully integrated, this data will create a unified experience: the website will dynamically display relevant packages and accurate pricing tailored to the individual, and those same parameters will flow back into the email marketing engine to deliver highly actionable, localised offers.
Aligning content with the travel lifecycle
To better serve users, the brand utilised analytics tools to map the entire lifecycle from the initial click to wheels up, restructuring email content into distinct lifecycle phases:
- The dreaming phase
Subscribers identified in the early stages of travel exploration receive editorial, destination-led storytelling and lifestyle imagery designed to inspire. - The consideration phase
As users begin actively researching specific packages on-site, the content dynamically shifts toward price-driven messaging, specific package details, and targeted offers to facilitate decision-making. - The re-engagement phase
Remarketing flows utilise tailored urgency reminders based on browsed content, adapting flexibly if a user explores multiple destinations simultaneously.
Adamson comments, “Customers who are earlier in the dreaming phase may see more destination-led storytelling and imagery, while those who have been actively researching packages are more likely to receive specific offers and price-driven messaging that helps move them closer to booking”.
Rethinking the welcome journey
“One change that had a surprisingly significant impact was rethinking our welcome journey. This is often an overlooked step, as many businesses are eager to jump straight into promoting products and driving immediate purchases. Instead of sending the same welcome message to every new subscriber, we now tailor the experience based on how someone discovered us, what they appear interested in, and where they may need more reassurance or information”, says Adamson.
Moving away from immediate product promotion, TravelOnline introduced a multi-step welcome journey customised by acquisition source (e.g., standard sign-ups versus competition giveaways). This sequenced approach gradually introduces the brand story, educates the consumer, and showcases relevant destinations, significantly improving long-term subscriber retention.
Holistic metrics and view of the customer journey
As the email strategy matured, reporting methodologies shifted from isolated campaign metrics to a holistic view of long-term database health and customer value.
While traditional metrics like opens and clicks are still monitored, success is now measured by how effectively email guides subscribers through the long planning cycle. TravelOnline recognises that an email can successfully reignite the dreaming phase and influence a final booking long before the ultimate conversion takes place, securing email’s role as both a driver of direct bookings and a vital tool for long-term customer relationship management.
