In our highly competitive industry, tour and activity operators are constantly seeking innovative methods to drive traffic and increase revenue.

High-value activities such as private tours, luxury experiences, and more expensive offerings are an excellent way to not only boost revenue, but also satisfy customers with unique experiences — which, in turn, leads to stronger customer reviews. 

By focusing review collection and marketing efforts on your most expensive experiences in particular, operators like you can enhance the customer experience, grow your profit margin, and even consider increasing prices (if it’s right for your business).

Positive customer reviews help achieve these goals by providing social proof and influencing potential customers’ decision-making process. Rather than casting a wide net when it comes to acquiring reviews and referrals, creating a strategy around your most expensive offerings will yield the best results in terms of revenue. 

This guide offers actionable reputation management and marketing strategies to help you amplify your high-value activities and attract more customers to these experiences.

Encourage Customers to Share Their Experiences

In order to drive traffic to your high-value activities, you have to get comfortable asking customers to leave reviews. The more positive reviews you have, the more social proof those activities will have which you can use to win over potential bookers.

If you’re new to asking for reviews or you don’t know where to start, it’s a good idea to begin with your high-value activities, but you can apply these tactics to all items you sell. Here are a few methods to try:

• Have your tour guides ask customers to leave a review as the tour is wrapping up.
• Personalize your request for reviews by addressing the customer by name in any follow-up communication.
• Be specific in your ask by requesting customers leave you a review on your platform of choice, rather than generally asking them to review your business anywhere.
• Make reviews easy for customers by providing a link (or a QR code at your location) to the review platform.
• Repeat your request in several follow-ups to secure the review.

We go in depth on each of the above points in our guide to getting more reviews and referrals. 

You can additionally consider offering incentives such as discounts or exclusive promotions for leaving a review, further incentivizing customers to share their experiences. 

Enhance Your Activities to Exceed Customer Expectations

You can think of reputation management as a cycle: when you provide a stellar guest experience, delighted customers are more likely to leave positive reviews, which increases the visibility and desirability of your expensive offerings. As more customers book with you and leave reviews of their own, the cycle repeats itself.

But there’s yet another benefit. Oftentimes those reviews give you key pieces of feedback you can use to improve the activity for future customers. 

If one of your business goals is to drive traffic to your high-value activities, you need to plan time and allocate resources to taking customer feedback into consideration — and then make changes to the activity that will enhance the guest experience.

One effective tactic to continuously improve your activities is to utilize surveys to get feedback from customers. Not only do surveys give you actionable data on how your tours are performing, but you will hopefully glean a few insights that will help you see the experience through your customers’ eyes. 

Display Your Google Ratings During the Booking Process

Your business’s Google reviews are a highly credible, powerful form of customer testimonials. When you enable FareHarbor’s Google ratings feature, your customers can see your Google ratings throughout their booking experience on your website.

Simply sharing your star rating demonstrates your company’s trustworthiness, sets your business apart from competitors, and helps drive conversions on your high-value activities. 

The ratings will be shown on the item description and book form, encouraging your customers to complete their booking.

To ensure that the displayed rating does not hurt your online conversions, we adhere to the following criteria for enabling Google ratings:

• You have at least 100 reviews
• You have a rating of 4.2 stars of higher

If you meet this criteria and want to give your high-value activities a boost, learn more about Google ratings and how to get set up. 

Expand Your Reach & Impact With Influencers

Collaborating with relevant social media influencers or travel bloggers in your area is a great way to amplify your high-value activities and get more content than reviews alone. 

Invite them to experience your offerings and share their experiences on their platforms (and leave a review on your platform of choice). 

The endorsement of these influential individuals can greatly impact the visibility and credibility of your tours, attracting a wider audience and generating more reviews from their followers.

Make the Most of User Generated Content

In addition to working with influencers, be on the lookout for other user-generated content from previous customers. Photos or videos of guests enjoying themselves on your tour or activity go a long way to persuade others to book since they can see the experience in action. 

If someone has posted content at your business, reach out to ask if they’d be willing to leave a review on your platform of choice. You should also share the user-generated content on your social media to create buzz around your high-value activities. 

Maximize Your Online Presence for Positive Reviews

Ensure your website and review management platforms are optimized to encourage reviews. On your website, display clear and prominent review links that make it easy for customers to access and leave reviews.

For potential customers, share five-star reviews on your individual activity pages so anyone reading the tour description and thinking about booking will be further incentivized to do so.

Be sure to claim your company’s listing on review sites so that you can monitor the reviews and respond within a timely manner, which demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction. Proactively managing your online reputation helps you foster a positive image and encourage more reviews.

Engage with Previous Customers

Nurture relationships with previous customers to turn them into brand advocates — and prompt them to leave reviews on your high-value activities. While you might not have the bandwidth to do this for every activity and every customer, this is an area where focusing on your high-value activities can serve you well, without taking up too much time.

This might look like implementing customer loyalty programs or sharing exclusive offers or referral incentives that encourage customers to return and refer others to your high-value tours. Satisfied customers who feel valued are more likely to leave positive reviews and actively promote your offerings.

By consistently delivering unforgettable experiences, optimizing your online presence, and engaging with customers, you can create a robust review generation strategy. 

To further embrace the potential of social proof to drive traffic to your high-value activities, it’s essential to put those good reviews to use! Take a look at this guide to understand what makes a good review share-worthy and how to use good reviews in your marketing strategy to give your expensive offerings even more visibility.