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Summary: Email marketing is said and proven to be an effective method for any business, including restaurants to attract more customers, and increase sales, engagement, and retention rates. There are many reasons to believe email is a marketing asset.
Introduction: The pandemic in 2020 was the leading cause of the significant drop in restaurant sales. COVID-19 led people to prefer eating meals at their homes rather than in seat in or dining in restaurants. The senior research manager at Technomic, Kevin Schimpf, said that the Top 500 chain restaurants also saw a vast sales loss of $27 billion in 2020. These losses are now overturned into profits, making restaurants operate more flexibly. Looking at the restaurant industry’s prospects, they are putting more effort into advertising, email marketing, and other marketing channels to smoothen relationships and communication with customers.
HOW EFFECTIVE IS EMAIL MARKETING FOR RESTAURANTS
Email marketing is the most effective and fruitful marketing channel and a form of directly marketing as well as digital marketing for restaurants because of three main reasons. One, email marketing is known to proffer a higher Return On Investment (ROI). You can turn to services like Simplelists that make sending mail easy and hassle-free.
According to the DMA Marketer Email Tracker 2019 report, for every US$1 spent on email marketing, the average return one could expect is US$42.
Two, email marketing is underestimated and underutilized for what it could do. As stated by dma.org.uk, only 26% of businesses use email marketing regularly. Finally, the third reason is that the restaurant’s email open rate is 20% more than the retail industry!
So, the key benefits that can be drawn out of restaurant email marketing are:
- You can reconnect with your previous customers by emailing them, saying, ‘we are open for business.
- You can entice new customers to try your restaurant and experience your unique selling.
- Lastly, as said, not many businesses use email marketing, so you can easily poke out your competitors.
EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGIES THAT ACTUALLY WORK
1. Welcome emails
First thing first, email marketing as we discussed earlier, is the form digital marketing. Hence having an effective digital marketing strategy for restaurants can help you make email marketing even effective, when you take a comprehensive approach. Welcome email can help you connect with customers. As the name suggests, it’s the first email that you send to your new customers to welcome them to your restaurant’s loyal family. There are two primary purposes of a welcome email: the first, it confirms your customers that they are now officially subscribers of your email marketing, membership, or loyalty program. Second, the email tends to entice your customers to visit the restaurant as soon as they can.
This example of Bruegger’s Bagel explains precisely what your welcome email should look like:
- Make your customers feel exclusive.
- Offer them a freebie or deal that they cannot resist.
- Every word must be expressed in a friendly tone.
- Add delicious-looking photos or graphics.
2. Celebratory Emails
Simplicity is sometimes the best marketing tactic a restaurant could use. Try to stay minimal when you have a clear and precise CTA. Creating celebratory email can help you boost sales and increase conversion rates.
For example, LongHorn Steakhouse sent out party celebration emails calling its customers from near and far to enjoy delicious steaks, caramel apple goldrush, and other free desserts!
- Put your CTA in bold fonts.
- Make your customers feel part of your celebration
- Mention terms and conditions (if any.)
- Give gifts.
3. Special holiday deal emails
Delicious food photos and attractive fonts can easily catch your customer’s eyes. A great design does the job of grabbing the attention and swiftly directs them toward the CTA. Be direct with what you’re willing to convey with your design and message, just like Olive Garden!
- Olive Garden did a great job with its email marketing. How?
- They created their exclusive food holiday.
- They included a clear CTA.
- They are trying to connect with more and more customers, especially ‘meatball’ lovers.
In this example, the customers have got a clear message that it’s official meatball day and the restaurant is offering special meal offers on this day. That’s all this email wanted to say!
If, however, you look at this example and struggle to see how it could apply to your own business, it might be time to get in contact with a reputable bar and restaurant marketing agency that can guide your digital marketing strategy in the right direction. An expert agency can help you master email and other online marketing, delivering new and returning customers to your door and helping you to grow your brand.
4. Online ordering promotion email
Email for marketing is an excellent tool for promotions of new features, new operations, deals, and so on. For instance, if you’re a restaurant that has recently started its own online ordering system, sending an email to your existing customers is the best way to tell them about it. Take this opportunity to share your restaurant’s new offers or first online order promo. Tell your loyal comers how grateful you are for their support and love!
To do this right in the first attempt itself, consider the following:
- Give out a brief message.
- Highlight discounts that you’re offering.
- Include the link to your website or online ordering system QR code for downloading!
- Include all the essential things that customers must know before they place an order via your online food ordering system.
Suppose you have launched a new menu in your restaurant. It can be totally new or revamped for a particular season, such as Christmas or summer! Even if the menu is for a limited time, your customers should know about it. Well, you cannot call all of them manually and tell them your message. That is why you need to email the menu or its highlights to the customers! Remember to add realistic photos of your new dishes!
Here’s what the restaurant did to tell customers about their new menu:
- Kept a simple and elegant email design
- Added all or a few of their new dishes
- Showed a sense of authenticity
- Included a clear CTA for customers
- Included the price and condition applied in plain sight
6. Ask customers to rate and review
To attract customers to your restaurant:
- Show them some excellent ratings and reviews that leave them awe-struck.
- Show your customers that you are listening to them and want them to rate you and give feedback.
- Include a URL to a couple of review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor in the email.
Write a heartfelt message expressing how your customer’s rating and reviews could help your business. Tell your customers how grateful you’ll be if they leave honest feedback for you.
Here’s what Jack’s Backyard BBQ did:
- Give a personal touch to their message by posting a picture of the owner as if he himself is asking for your customer’s feedback!
- The format and the writing style of the message feel personal.
- They ensured the CTA button was easily visible or put in the ‘limelight.’
- The design includes relevant information such as restaurant address, opening hours, email address, website, and phone number.
7. Highlight any blogs or articles
If your restaurant posts blogs or articles on the website, email marketing is the best way to tell your customers. Share the blogs in newsletters. Don’t feel shy while sharing stories or experiences, as blogs can be personal and content with a lot of emotions and the human touch never fails to attract.
Babbo knew how to design an email that’ll bring more readers to their blogs and articles:
- Structured it as a newspaper
- Added multiple topics such as favorable reviews, social media links, boldly highlighted topics, and so on
- The email for marketing included numerous CTA buttons
- It contains ‘forward’ links so that people can share their mail with others
Conclusion
The bottom line of this blog is that restaurant email marketing is one of the best and the most reliable tools. This marketing tactic holds the caliber to promptly connect the restaurant with customers who can increase their sales and profits! Email marketing is a simple tactic and is most loved by small businesses because it doesn’t require them to spend a single dime.
With this marketing ability at hand, focus on promoting your latest features, menu, plus personal stories, and rewards that your customers will love!
I hope these top seven emails for marketing ideas helped you and inspired you. However, if you need any assistance with marketing for your restaurant business, industry experts are always here to be your helping hand!