Visit Victoria’s Click for Vic campaign records exceptional results with Dotdigital automated programs

Challenge

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges causing severe disruptions to the travel and tourism industry globally. For many Victorian operators, it was the second significant hit to their businesses following the devastating 2019 summer bushfires in Australia.

The pandemic led to travel restrictions across the country and posed a threat to many businesses. Visit Victoria decided to devise a plan to support the tourism industry. The team created an innovative online campaign that would provide a platform for local traders and allow Victorians to enjoy local produce from the comfort of their homes by ordering online.

Solution

In August 2020, Visit Victoria introduced the campaign Click for Vic to help Victorians experience the best of the state’s regional produce at home. The campaign was promoted across print, digital, social, TV, radio, and email.

Visit Victoria’s Chief Digital Officer Chris Rundle said, “Click for Vic was an initiative campaign that had a huge positive impact on many operators during a particularly challenging time for the tourism industry.”

“While travel wasn’t possible, we were still able to encourage people to support local, and connect customers to Victorian businesses.”

Visit Victoria used Dotdigital to run personalization, automation, and retargeting marketing programs for Click for Vic. In the days after the campaign launch, a record number of new subscribers joined the database. The business also integrated the Zapier connector to automate Facebook and Google Ads custom audiences for retargeting and to share consented contacts with their partners. The campaign was also a means to keep the organization’s database engaged and maintain sender reputation, ensuring optimum deliverability amongst mailbox providers.

“Partnering with Dotdigital enabled us to leverage the collected data, segment it, and create highly engaging content for our customers,” Mr Rundle said.

“Taking full advantage of the features and functionalities of the Dotdigital platform, we have created an unforgettable and seamless experience for our Click for Vic customers.”

Integrating Dotdigital automated programs has further assisted in better understanding customer behavior and supported campaign personalization. Best practices were employed to ensure the marketing preference center is used for user profiling and understanding real-time customer insights.

Results

The Click for Vic campaign has progressed significantly, adding a record 6,000 new email subscribers since launch. While the email program saw a 17 percent growth in click-to-open rates, there was a 29 percent increase in the unique open rate (higher than the average 27 percent). As of February 2021, the campaign had successfully generated 619,115 sales leads for local businesses, with 653,452 total visits to the campaign pages.

Furthermore, Dotdigital’s deliverability team has provided ongoing support to Visit Victoria as it slowly returns to sending campaigns to a wider domestic audience, ensuring successful inbox placement.

“We were thrilled with the positive response to Click for Vic, with many Victorian operators and residents embracing the initiative wholeheartedly.”