Windstar Cruises partnered with Americas Great Resorts (AGR) to introduce its small-ship cruise experience to new affluent travelers. AGR selected prospective passengers from its own high-net-worth traveler database and delivered a targeted email campaign. Booking matchback identified 143 confirmed bookings among campaign recipients.
The Challenge
Windstar Cruises wanted to reach prospective passengers beyond its existing customer base while maintaining its premium positioning. The campaign needed to communicate the appeal of its small ships, personalized service, and destination-focused itineraries without relying on heavy discounting.
What AGR Did
AGR managed the cruise email marketing campaign, including audience selection, creative production, deployment, and reporting.
- Selected a relevant audience. AGR selected travelers using indicators related to luxury vacations, cruise travel, premium brands, and destination-focused experiences. Records in Windstar’s supplied MD5-hashed existing-customer file were excluded before deployment.
- Created the email. AGR produced responsive HTML email creative highlighting Windstar’s itineraries, smaller ports, onboard service, and small-ship experience.
- Delivered two deployments. AGR sent two email deployments, spaced two weeks apart.
AGR’s role was the introduction. Windstar handled signups, bookings, and the customer relationship from there. AGR maintained its separate traveler database.
Campaign Results
- 200,000 emails deployed across two sends of 100,000 each.
- 143 confirmed bookings matched to campaign recipients.
- 36:1 reported return on investment.
How the Results Were Confirmed
After the campaign, AGR matched booking records supplied by Windstar against campaign recipients using MD5-hashed email addresses. This method compares hash values derived from email addresses to identify matching records.
Each matched booking came from a recipient who was not in Windstar’s supplied MD5-hashed existing-customer file before deployment.
Read more about how AGR verifies campaign bookings.
Explore AGR’s Cruise Services
To reach new prospective passengers through AGR’s traveler audience, explore our luxury cruise line marketing services.
AGR also offers a separate service focused on how luxury cruise lines appear and are described in AI answers. Learn about AI visibility for cruise lines through Knowledge Formation Optimization (KFO).
