Case Study: Le Mas Candille Hotel and Lead Gen & CRM

Le Mas Candille is a 5-star boutique hotel in Mougins, France, previously a member of Relais & Chateaux and then of Small Luxury Hotels until its sale in November 2021. In 2017, Le Mas Candille installed a fully integrated Sales and Marketing CRM system: Lead Gen & CRM.

Within 12 months of this decision, the Return on Investment (ROI) from digital sales increased by 40%.

This upturn equated to an extra €400,000 a year of income. 

How and why was this return possible?

Lead Gen & CRM’s unique features made this possible. These include:

  • Automatic tracking and segmentation of website visitors and contacts
  • Effective database list management
  • Improved and regular communication, including: newsletters, pre-arrival and post-departure communications, timely responses (via the Life Of The Lead feature),
  • Regular outreach to support sales funnels
  • Events and re-marketing efforts to existing to clients

Thanks to the streamlining of marketing based on genuine leads and reservation protocols, we saw massive improvements across the business in staff efficiency.

Can you have too many contacts in your systems? 

By the end of 2016, Le Mas Candille had 69,000 contacts. Sounds impressive, right?

Wrong! 

Until 2017, the hotel team was adding both past and prospective client details to three separate databases. Unfortunately, this silo-ed approach led to a lack of shared information and caused missed opportunities throughout the customer journey.

After analysing each database, the results were less than inspiring. 

The lists had not been managed, cleaned or nurtured for years. Sound familiar?

Among the errors: 

  • Duplicates, 
  • Hard bounces, 
  • Missing email addresses, 
  • Soft bounces, 
  • Unsubscribes not actioned, 
  • Conflicting or incorrect emails, 
  • Inaccurate or outdated business details, 
  • Erroneous language assignments, 
  • Spam complaints, and more. 

A lot of the contacts hadn’t been actively engaging in years. The impending arrival of GDPR was also a contributing factor to prioritising the clean-up. 

So how many valuable contacts did the hotel have? 

14,000 – only 20% of our contacts were likely to lead anywhere! 

These were the only contacts which had the correct basic details registered: first name, last name, email address and country details. 

The rest weren’t relevant, up-to-date, or contactable in any way, so we deleted them.

Changing sales and marketing departments’ mindsets was challenging 

For example, at the time deleting contact details seemed to be the worst thing you could do – even though those contacts were of zero use.

Department mentality was so focused on the vanity metrics (having a vast database), that they were blind to the fact that the actual number of useful contacts was much smaller. 

What was our next step after refining the contact list?

Combining all existing contacts into one database.

At the time, there were five separate lists: Hotel Guests, Restaurant Guests, Spa Clients, Gift Voucher Purchases, and Corporate Clients. 

Lead Gen & CRM’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool combined these into specific interest lists, which it utilised to for targeted outreach to relevant, interested parties.

For example, hotel guests would receive emails for hotel offers rather than spa ones, since that was their exhibited scope of interest. More than that, we were able to stop trying to sell a last-minute spa or dining offer to someone who couldn’t possibly benefit from it due to being on the other side of the world!

Targeting emails to the right audience led to a big increase in email opening and click-through rates to relevant Landing Pages, which in turn increased purchases.

Focusing on the client’s perspective

By making the client’s perspective and interest points the team’s primary focus, we improved the overall customer experience. We provided customers with accessible, trackable, relevant touchpoints that offered increased sales and cross-selling opportunities.  

An additional benefit of using Sharpspring was that the hotel benefitted from automated visitor tracking software via its website.

This insight enabled the hotel to see who was visiting which web pages, at what time, and their language preference. Then, subject to their decisions, the visitor was added to focused interest lists, leading to automated emails sent to them. 

How else did this capability help the hotel?

The sales team were alerted in real-time if a lead was active on the website, which allowed them to reach out with highly relevant information while the client was looking for it.

For example, someone checking out the Packages page, in conjunction with the Spa Treatment brochure, would receive a personalised email emphasising special offers for stays that included spa treatments. This increased the possibility of getting them to book with the hotel directly. 

Additionally, using the tracking features across the website, incorporating forms and internal links to Landing Pages started workflows and regularly led to increased bookings.

So, is it worth the hassle of switching to the Lead Gen & CRM platform?

The monthly cost of using Lead Gen & CRM is quickly paid for by the equivalent of one to three nights booked, depending on room types and rates. 

Increased team productivity, transparent reporting for stakeholders and ultimately, the increased income to your business are priceless.

How can I transition to Lead Gen & CRM?

TLS Digital Media‘s team ensures your company’s buy-in in all platform aspects. Their holistic approach to delivering the training provides a smooth onboarding across all departments. With the time taken to explain how Lead Gen & CRM improves your daily tasks and brings results, you’ll take ownership of the platform very quickly.

Want to see how using Lead Gen & CRM can help your company grow? Get in touch for a Free Strategy Call with TLS Digital Media!