If you had to choose between taking a vacation or buying a new mattress this year, what would you do?
That’s a question marketing agency Destination Motivation is determined to solve with a creative solution involving vacation vouchers.
Mattress industry veteran Brett Thornton recently took up the role as president of the company, and he tells Bedding News Now that Destination Motivation has a unique offering that benefits all parties involved.
“Covid changed the human psyche, especially in the U.S.,” Thornton says. “Vacations have become the priority for families coming out of Covid because we were stuck inside for years. About 82% of families are prioritizing vacation travel with their family above any other purchase. The average family of four budgets $10,000 for a vacation.”
He says travel can become a hidden competitor to retailers in the bedding space and that Destination Motivation offers vacation vouchers to retailers as an incentive for consumers to buy from them and get the vacation they budgeted for.
“When a customer doesn’t have to choose between a nice mattress and base and a vacation because we become this delta where all of a sudden our vouchers offer big savings. Customers will save anywhere from 50%-80% on a trip, which comes out to thousands of dollars. When a retailer sells a big ticket, that’s where the magic happens for us. Within 24 to 48 hours, our concierge calls them and goes over details of the trip options — there are 106 countries you can go; there are 45 luxury condo resorts or the top four cruise lines.”
There’s a 90-day trial period and after those 90 days, Destination Motivation starts the redemption process and books the trip, which means the customer can’t return the mattress and also have the vacation voucher. Customers can also sign a form waiving the warranty and return and start booking immediately.
Thornton says this turkey solution reduces return rates by 33%, increases close rates by 11% and increases the ticket average by 8%.
“We also increased close rates by over 11% so far, so if you think about it from a program perspective, a retailer pays a small amount for a vacation voucher, reduces returns and then increases their sales by millions. At the end of the day, the savings from the program is significant, and then on top of all that, their guests get to save thousands of dollars on these trips. I’ve never been involved in something that’s such a win-win-win for everybody.”
Thornton directed us to a Destination Motivation retailer-facing website that has a retail saving tool that shows how much a retailer can save based on their average ticket price, close rate, return rate and monthly units sold. Just for fun, we filled out a form, and the results are in the image below.
It helps that the company has a proven track record in the home improvement industry. Thornton says that one of the biggest companies they work with, which do $1 billion in home improvement jobs across the country, rolled out Destination Motivation’s system in January. By March, the cancellation rate had dropped from 22% to 6%.
“Everyone in the mattress industry I’ve talked to has been excited about this, whether they need to reduce the return rate or they need a better way to close or they need a better way to market,” Thornton says. “It’s a way to compete with bigger companies that have more resources.”
He adds that he feels the reason Destination Motivation is growing so quickly is that it’s not a gimmick. There are no timeshares or blackout dates, and dates are fully transferable. The company recently surpassed 3,500 reviews on Google and maintains a five-star rating, according to Thornton.
“I’m excited for the growth opportunity we can offer the bedding industry,” he adds.
