The Travel Team
As a partner of Responsible Travel you will receive customer inquiries from us in one of two ways. Approximately 70% of customer leads come directly through the site as ‘site inquiries’, where a customer has seen your trip page, clicked on the inquiry button and filled in their details and any comments for you to contact them – these come directly to you. The other 30% of leads come via emails and calls sent to the Travel Team. There is a section at the bottom of each lead email that tells you which type of lead it is.
Who are the Travel Team?
The Travel Team is the customer service arm of Responsible Travel. Read more about the travel enthusiasts who make up the Travel Team.
How we work
The Travel Team’s job is to assist customers with their vacation inquiries and facilitate a smooth, seamless and friendly service for all customers using our site. We believe in good, honest service and going the extra mile to help our travelers in any way we can. The Travel Team are not destination specialists and do not know the trips we have on our site in detail – with over 6000 trips this would be ineffective. Instead, we strive to be experts on the 400+ partners we work with, knowing their strengths and core customer, to ensure we can connect travelers with the right company to help with their vacation.
Customers can contact the Travel Team in four different ways:
The Travel Team will do our best to collect as much important information from the customer as possible, and will use this to make recommendations and offer to connect them with a variety of partners who specialise in the vacation they are looking for and best match their needs. The Travel Team use their knowledge of the partners to assess who best fits this customer’s travel style, budget (if provided) and what kind of vacation they wish to have - we then will contact you to describe what the customer is looking for, pass on their details and ask you to get in touch. As mentioned above, the level of information customer’s provide can vary, but we will always try where we can to get as much key information as possible for you. We know how helpful it can be to have a customer’s phone number, so when speaking to a customer we do always request this from them, although sometimes they do not want this given out initially.
It is common in the travel market for customers to shop around and obtain various quotes, so the Travel Team will aim to offer a variety of options for the customer to hear from. This maximises the chance of the customer booking with Responsible Travel.
Leads and follow ups
After the Travel Team has put a customer’s lead through the system to you, an email is sent to the customer to explain the referral and introduce you to them, through a short 2 or 3 sentence description or USP (unique selling point). The customer is advised to keep an eye on their emails for your response, and to check their spam folder in the case of not hearing within 48 hours. You must contact the customer within 24-48 hours of receiving their lead from us. If a phone number was included, they are prompted that you may wish to schedule a call.
One week after the customer’s inquiry, an auto-generated follow up email from The Travel Team is sent to the customer to check how things have progressed. This provides an opportunity to check the customer has received the information and that they are happy. Any trip specific questions will be directed back to you. If the customer has not heard from you or your email has gone into their spam folder, we will notify you of this also.
Two weeks after the customer’s inquiry, a second, personalised follow up email from the individual Travel Team member is sent to check how the customer is getting on. This is the last touch point the Travel Team has and unless the customer responds, they will not be contacted again other than through our standard marketing newsletters.
If the customer books a trip, a pre-departure email is auto-generated and sent to the customer 48 hours prior to the start of their trip, wishing them ‘Bon Voyage’ and a great vacation.
Redirects
With over 6000 trips run by 400 different partners it can sometimes be difficult for customers to find the absolute perfect trip for them while browsing the site. Customers looking to join a small group tour will sometimes inquire with a tailor made operator, not realising that the trip they like is a private departure only. Other times customers may send an inquiry to a luxury tour operator, when their budget is better suited to a more affordable specialist. With 70% of customer inquiries going directly through the site it’s the majority of our business, so when time allows the Travel Team will spot check site inquiries to ensure leads have gone to the best company to help that customer, and they will ‘redirect’ the inquiry to an additional, better suited partner if needed. Again, this maximises the chance of the customer booking with Responsible Travel.
Conversion rates
At Responsible Travel we use conversion as a way to measure success rates - put simply, how many inquiries were converted into bookings. Your total site conversion will be measured alongside conversion rates for each individual trip page, and ensuring you declare your bookings regularly will help you improve this.
If a customer inquires via the Travel Team, we hand-select the best matching partner that we believe will convert the customer lead into a booking.
If a customer has contacted us via a phone call it is also our chance to shout about how brilliant you are! We love telling our customers about the amazing things our partners do and why they should book with you. We always strive to get you a phone number and find out where the customer is calling from. We do need to ask permission from the customer if they would like to receive a call from you. If they approve, we will ensure you are communicated this in the information we send to you.
One of the most important things to remember is that when the Travel Team are searching for recommendations for our customer inquiries, the trips with the highest conversion rates are pushed to the top of the list, so the best performing trips are chosen regularly. This algorithm also impacts how the trips are weighted on our site, with the highest converting trips appearing on the first page when a customer searches for tags such as ‘Borneo’ or ‘cycling’. In summary, the better conversion rates you have the more leads you will receive. Ensuring your declarations are up to date will guarantee the best conversion rates for every trip.
Customer service guidelines
‘Hello, Shannon from RT here. I have just spoken to David on the phone who is interested in a Greek sailing vacation...’
‘Hello David, My name is Brian and I am the owner and founder of Greece Sailing Vacations. Shannon at Responsible Travel has let me know you’re looking for a sailing trip for your vacation this year....’
'An independent, family run company specialising solely in South East Asia. Siblings Joan and John have over 20 years’ experience in offering escorted tours to off the beaten track destinations in the region they love. They offer a highly personal service to their customers delivering unique small group, family, or bespoke tours.'
'An outdoor activity specialist with trips and expeditions to beautiful parts of the world, working alongside local people to support and develop their communities. Using fully qualified and experienced guides and coaches, travelers are welcomed to connect with each other, nature and make a positive contribution through their volunteering programme.'
Who are the Travel Team?
The Travel Team is the customer service arm of Responsible Travel. Read more about the travel enthusiasts who make up the Travel Team.
How we work
The Travel Team’s job is to assist customers with their vacation inquiries and facilitate a smooth, seamless and friendly service for all customers using our site. We believe in good, honest service and going the extra mile to help our travelers in any way we can. The Travel Team are not destination specialists and do not know the trips we have on our site in detail – with over 6000 trips this would be ineffective. Instead, we strive to be experts on the 400+ partners we work with, knowing their strengths and core customer, to ensure we can connect travelers with the right company to help with their vacation.
Customers can contact the Travel Team in four different ways:
- Email – customers write an email to ‘rosy@responsibletravel.com’ which reaches a shared inbox accessed by all members of the team. Messages are free form and contain whatever information the customer provides. There is no staff member named Rosy, this is the name of our email inbox.
- Contact us form – customers fill in a pre set form which prompts them for key information to help us with their request; destination, date of travel, number of pax, ages of children, budget per person and any additional comments. The only required fields are their name and email, so information provided will vary in its detail.
- Calls – customers call in and speak with a Travel Team member over the phone. We also have toll free numbers for our international customers.
The Travel Team will do our best to collect as much important information from the customer as possible, and will use this to make recommendations and offer to connect them with a variety of partners who specialise in the vacation they are looking for and best match their needs. The Travel Team use their knowledge of the partners to assess who best fits this customer’s travel style, budget (if provided) and what kind of vacation they wish to have - we then will contact you to describe what the customer is looking for, pass on their details and ask you to get in touch. As mentioned above, the level of information customer’s provide can vary, but we will always try where we can to get as much key information as possible for you. We know how helpful it can be to have a customer’s phone number, so when speaking to a customer we do always request this from them, although sometimes they do not want this given out initially.
It is common in the travel market for customers to shop around and obtain various quotes, so the Travel Team will aim to offer a variety of options for the customer to hear from. This maximises the chance of the customer booking with Responsible Travel.
Leads and follow ups
After the Travel Team has put a customer’s lead through the system to you, an email is sent to the customer to explain the referral and introduce you to them, through a short 2 or 3 sentence description or USP (unique selling point). The customer is advised to keep an eye on their emails for your response, and to check their spam folder in the case of not hearing within 48 hours. You must contact the customer within 24-48 hours of receiving their lead from us. If a phone number was included, they are prompted that you may wish to schedule a call.
One week after the customer’s inquiry, an auto-generated follow up email from The Travel Team is sent to the customer to check how things have progressed. This provides an opportunity to check the customer has received the information and that they are happy. Any trip specific questions will be directed back to you. If the customer has not heard from you or your email has gone into their spam folder, we will notify you of this also.
Two weeks after the customer’s inquiry, a second, personalised follow up email from the individual Travel Team member is sent to check how the customer is getting on. This is the last touch point the Travel Team has and unless the customer responds, they will not be contacted again other than through our standard marketing newsletters.
If the customer books a trip, a pre-departure email is auto-generated and sent to the customer 48 hours prior to the start of their trip, wishing them ‘Bon Voyage’ and a great vacation.
Redirects
With over 6000 trips run by 400 different partners it can sometimes be difficult for customers to find the absolute perfect trip for them while browsing the site. Customers looking to join a small group tour will sometimes inquire with a tailor made operator, not realising that the trip they like is a private departure only. Other times customers may send an inquiry to a luxury tour operator, when their budget is better suited to a more affordable specialist. With 70% of customer inquiries going directly through the site it’s the majority of our business, so when time allows the Travel Team will spot check site inquiries to ensure leads have gone to the best company to help that customer, and they will ‘redirect’ the inquiry to an additional, better suited partner if needed. Again, this maximises the chance of the customer booking with Responsible Travel.
Conversion rates
At Responsible Travel we use conversion as a way to measure success rates - put simply, how many inquiries were converted into bookings. Your total site conversion will be measured alongside conversion rates for each individual trip page, and ensuring you declare your bookings regularly will help you improve this.
If a customer inquires via the Travel Team, we hand-select the best matching partner that we believe will convert the customer lead into a booking.
If a customer has contacted us via a phone call it is also our chance to shout about how brilliant you are! We love telling our customers about the amazing things our partners do and why they should book with you. We always strive to get you a phone number and find out where the customer is calling from. We do need to ask permission from the customer if they would like to receive a call from you. If they approve, we will ensure you are communicated this in the information we send to you.
One of the most important things to remember is that when the Travel Team are searching for recommendations for our customer inquiries, the trips with the highest conversion rates are pushed to the top of the list, so the best performing trips are chosen regularly. This algorithm also impacts how the trips are weighted on our site, with the highest converting trips appearing on the first page when a customer searches for tags such as ‘Borneo’ or ‘cycling’. In summary, the better conversion rates you have the more leads you will receive. Ensuring your declarations are up to date will guarantee the best conversion rates for every trip.
Customer service guidelines
- Be quick! - we recommend you send replies within 24hrs and 48hrs at the latest, and always the sooner the better. The longer you leave the reply the less likely you are to get a booking, and some of our operators have a 3 hour response target! You may wish to consider an automatic acknowledgement once you receive an inquiry, to let the customer know you’re working on it.
- Create a seamless experience – we want our customers to feel like they are being taken care of by the same people from start to finish, almost as if we were all sitting in the same office. The Travel Team will always start an inquiry with ‘Hello, NAME at Responsible Travel here’ to let you know which member of the team the customer has spoken to. By beginning your reply to the customer with a mention of the Travel Team person who sent the lead, it creates a warm handover and encourages trust in the customer.
‘Hello David, My name is Brian and I am the owner and founder of Greece Sailing Vacations. Shannon at Responsible Travel has let me know you’re looking for a sailing trip for your vacation this year....’
- Personalise your customer replies - there is nothing worse than receiving an automated email with no personality! You will be meeting a lot of new customers who are brand new to your business, so your introductory email should be your time to shine! To help save you time, write a great template that introduces who you are and what you do, and use this as the base of your introductory emails. Make sure to provide information on the trip the customer has inquired on, or a couple of options if they are looking for inspiration. Most importantly, acknowledge and answer any questions in the lead to ensure customer satisfaction is high.
- Go the extra mile, especially for site leads - site leads are customer inquiries that have gone directly to you from a customer browsing our website with no input or conversation from the Travel Team. Site leads are great, because it means the customer is interested in your trip specifically and wants to know more information – a great start that will hopefully mean a booking! They will always receive an automated email from us following a site lead, but sometimes the customer doesn’t understand why they have been referred to a different company or may not understand exactly what you specialise in. It’s a good idea to bear this in mind when answering site lead inquiries, and support the customer accordingly.
- Don’t be afraid to cross sell – if the trip the customer wants isn’t available, offer them something similar. Also, if you think you know a better suggestion don’t be afraid to offer this up to see what they think. Customers respond and like it when you share your knowledge and expertise with them - a lot of the time they will be more flexible than you think.
- Follow up – don’t rely on sending one email to the customer and hoping for the best. It’s important to follow up to maximise the chances of them booking with you, and remind them who you are especially if they are obtaining a few different quotes. Keep follow up emails short and friendly, and never pester or chase them aggressively.
- Training with our team - when customers inquire with the Travel Team we rely on our partner knowledge to make the best recommendations for their trip, and with over 400 different partners all across the world this can be a task! We encourage all partners to join us for a training session where we can learn all about you and your business. For further details and to set up a meeting, please contact your partnership manager.
- Create a compelling USP - Your USP (unique selling point) is a brief, one or two sentence description of who you are and what you do. This is the first the customer will learn of your company following a lead, so it’s crucial that your USP is accurate, inspiring and inviting. Responsible Travel will generate a USP for you, however we find that as a partner you are the best people to write this. To discuss your USP, please contact us.
'An outdoor activity specialist with trips and expeditions to beautiful parts of the world, working alongside local people to support and develop their communities. Using fully qualified and experienced guides and coaches, travelers are welcomed to connect with each other, nature and make a positive contribution through their volunteering programme.'
- A few formatting tips
- Keep things professional – simple fonts in size 10 or 12 are easy to read.
- Don’t overload on information – a well edited email with relevant information is better than a 3 page essay.
- Be careful of images and attachments – these increase the risk of your email falling into the customer’s spam folder.
- Don’t forget to spell check!
