Best Value Vacations - Driving Incremental Revenue Through Data Led Merchandising

A tiered digital-first promotion that simplified choice, boosted average order value, and became one of Sunwing’s top performing marketing campaign.

The Challenge

  • Customers felt overwhelmed by pricing options and struggled to see value beyond the cheapest package.

  • Sunwing needed to increase average order value (AOV) while supporting underperforming destinations.

  • Traditional “discount first” promos drove volume but not profitability and didn’t build long term trust.

Business Objectives

  • 19.3K transaction target in January (vs 19.5K in December)

  • Achieve 9.1M web session in January (Highest target of the year)

  • +22% target transaction growth compared to January 2023 (19.3K ecomm booking)

61%

bookings were made by couples or couples with younger children (vs 56% ROY).

81%

of January bookings are travelling within 2 months (vs 69% ROY).

84%

bookings are from
travellers aged 40-55 (vs 41% aged 56+)

My Goal

Create a transparent, value based framework that:

  • Helped customers self select higher value packages

  • Made upgrades feel like a reward, not a sales tactic

  • Gave visibility to key partner properties needing support

The Strategy

  • I designed a 3 tier pricing architecture rooted in behavioural economics and real time booking data.

  • Have a dedicated email templates (consideration, conversion and remarket) with a clean, scannable layout to deliver key messages.

  • Leverage brand spots, set up a paid social campaign to not only drive general awareness and traffic to the relevant pages but specifically target different customer types that fit within the pricing tiers.

Tier

Price Range

Positioning

Audience Hook

Smart Getaways

<$999

Great value, quick escape

Budget conscious travelers

Best Value Vacations

$1199 - $1799

More value for your money

Core Sunwing audience

All in on Luxury

$1999 - $2499

Premium experience, worth the splurge

Aspirational and luxury travelers

Key behavioural nudges:

  • “What could an extra $200 get you?” – curiosity driven upsell banners

  • Weekly “Featured Property” – spotlighted resorts needing booking lift

  • Dedicated landing pages per tier with tailored visuals and RTBs

Tactical Execution

  • Full funnel activation: Email, paid social, direct channel (website), social media, blogs, B2B

  • Audience first messaging: Clear comparisons, no jargon

  • Real time optimization: Used Microsoft Clarity heatmaps and Google Analytics to refine landing page experience and CTAs

  • Cross channel alignment: Collaborated with product, email, social, paid, creative and content teams

Results

Revenue & Transactions (Jan 8–31, 2024 vs. 2023)

Metric

2024

2023

Change

Total Revenue

CA$63.4M

CA$46.7M

+35.92%

Total Transactions

17,046

12,044

+41.53%

Avg. Order Value

CA$3,722

CA$3,876

-3.97%

Note: The slight AOV dip was intentional prioritizing volume and engagement over premium spend.

Traffic & Engagement

Key Metrics based on the above data:

  • 116,406 sessions on Best Value Vacations landing page

  • +27.53% page views on key campaign pages

  • +10.82% new users strong acquisition lift

  • Two campaign pages ranked in Sunwing’s Top 10 for overall session volume

Featured Property Impact

Property

Unique Purchases

Quantity Sold

Riu Santa Fe

+55.02%

+65.09%

Platinum Yucatan Princess

+88.84%

+86.84%

Grand Memories Holguin

+28.35%

+29.75%

The featured property section and upsell banners provided opportunity to keep customer engaged and became a high performing funnel tool proving strategic merchandising drives real business outcomes.

Key Takeaways

  • People don’t resist spending more they resist feeling confused or pressured.

  • When you give customers clarity, context, and control, they’ll choose higher value on their own terms.

  • This framework is now part of Sunwing’s repeatable promo playbook, used to support business priorities year round.