The funnel mistake I see advisors make most is sending the Instagram bio link straight to their website. It feels right, because you want to show them everything, and it quietly loses almost everyone. A first-time visitor doesn't buy a $5,000-plus trip from one browsing session. They look, they dream, they leave, and you have no way to ever speak to them again.
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”
Capture first, website second
- Route Instagram to a capture form that asks for name, email and phone before anything else. The first visit won't sell a high-ticket trip. The follow-up sequence will.
- Give them a reason to sign up. A welcome credit toward a first trip works well. It costs you a margin sliver on a booking you otherwise wouldn't have.
- Then let the sequence do its slow work with stories, proof and an invitation, until they book a call. The booked call is what you're really after, and from there my close rate is roughly one in two.
How it works
Where the click goes
They look and leave
Bio to website
Browse the site
Dream a little
Leave with no way back
You can follow up
Bio to capture form
Name, email, phone
Sequence does the work
story, proof, invitation
A booked call
How I do it
The funnel that sells five-figure trips
- 1
Instagram
Where they find you
- 2
Capture form
Name, email, phone, before the website
- 3
Email sequence
Story, proof, invitation, patiently
- 4
Booked call
Roughly one in two close on private trips
First-time visitors do not buy high-ticket travel. Sequences do. The booked call is the real conversion event.
Source: Claire B. Soares, from her own travel business and live trainings.
Your list is the business
Social platforms rent you the audience. Your email list is the part you own. I've built mine to tens of thousands of subscribers, and it's the most valuable asset in my travel business. Algorithms change and platforms wobble, and the list stays. Build the funnel so that if your Instagram vanished tomorrow, you'd still have "everyone who ever clicked."
Once the capture flow exists, AI works really well inside it. It drafts the sequences, segments people by the trip they clicked, and keeps the follow-up sounding human even when you're writing to thousands. That's the marketing side of what we build inside Travel AI University.
A note before you try this
Before you change your bio link, make sure the follow-up sequence is written and sends. Sign up yourself and read every email the way a new subscriber would. If you offer a welcome credit, be clear in writing on what it applies to before anyone claims it.
Build your funnel with me
Inside Travel AI University we build the capture form and the email sequence together, with AI that keeps it sounding like you. Come build the part of your business you own.
Common Questions
Should my Instagram bio link go to my website?
No. Send it to a capture form that collects name, email and phone first. A first-time visitor rarely books a five-figure trip from a browsing session, and without their contact details you can never speak to them again.
What converts high-ticket travel clients?
A booked call. Everything before it exists to earn that call, and the follow-up sequence is what carries someone from curious to scheduled.
Why is an email list more valuable than social followers?
Social platforms rent you the audience and change the terms whenever they like. The list is the part you own, and it survives every algorithm change.
Written By
Claire B. Soares
Claire B. Soares is the founder of Travel AI University, a 6x Condé Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist, and a Certified AI Consultant with a B.S. in Computer Science. A top 10% enterprise sales executive, she sold $3.4B+ in enterprise software to Google, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, the federal government, and the DoD, then built $16M+ in leisure travel sales.
About Claire
