Email marketing for your Restaurant!

Restaurant owners in today’s world are provided with a wide range of marketing methods to go ahead and promote their restaurants. Out of those marketing methods, email marketing has received a lot of attention.

Before you go ahead with email marketing, you need to understand that the successful results you can get depends on few factors. They include the ability that you have to build the list, fine tune the messages and get hold of right marketing or Software Company to handle the process.

Similar to other marketing methods, you will have to spend a considerable amount of money out of your pocket for email marketing as well. In addition to that, you will have to invest your time heavily on it. This is applicable for the restaurants as well.

Email marketing is one of the most effective methods that you can use in order to promote the restaurant business in an effective manner. You don’t have to bear the frustration of administrative expenses when you go ahead with this marketing method. On the other hand, you can speak directly to your customers and take control over the messages. On top of that, you will be able to target the people, who are more likely to become the customers of your business. If you combine email marketing with latest available technologies, such as email automation, you can tailor the messages and receive better results at the end of the day.

You don’t need to worry too much about the return on investment generated by email marketing campaigns. According to a recent study conducted by DMA, it was identified that over 67% of the email marketers were able to receive the best ROI out of their marketing and promotional efforts. Therefore, you can keep on reading and figure out how to take the most out of email marketing for the betterment of your restaurant business.

The basics of running an email marketing campaign

If you want to run a successful email marketing campaign, you need to pay special attention towards the basics. Then you can easily understand how to receive the best possible results out of the time and effort that you spend. Here are some of the basics that you must master while running the email marketing campaign, so that you can receive the best possible results at the end of the day.

  • Building up your list

The ideal recipients of the email marketing campaign that you can run out of your restaurant would be your existing customers. On the other hand, people who live or work closer to your restaurant and the people who visit your website can also be considered as potential customers. You should go ahead and develop an internal database carefully, at the time of building up your list. It is not worthy to spend money out of your pocket and purchase an email list. You should spend your time and develop it by paying attention towards the customer groups that we discussed above.

You will be able to develop the email list from people who respond to your traditional marketing methods, paid and unpaid advertising and the contacts that you can get out of the social media pages. It is also important to mention how to opt-out from your email list in every single mail that you send. This is required by the law. In addition to that, you should never use any deceptive subject lines. You should also provide the physical address of your restaurant in all the emails.

  • Composing the emails

Once you build the email list, you should understand how to compose the emails to promote your restaurant through the email marketing campaigns. When you are composing the email, you will be able to pay attention towards few important marketing tactics. For example, you can promote the upcoming events of the restaurant or publicize your menu through the email. You can also tempt the receivers to go ahead and take an action after reading the email. It can be visiting the restaurant or even downloading something from your restaurant website.

It is important to keep in mind that you should never spam the inboxes of people in your list with emails. You are encouraged to target the customers based on the previous performance and send emails accordingly. Then you will be able to receive the best possible returns in the long run.

You need to compose the email along with a compelling subject line. Then you can use personalized messages in the body of the email. You need to keep everything relevant, depending on the information that you get from the customer database. You can also engage along with your customers by asking them to think and remaining about the upcoming events and occasions. You can also provide valuable incentives to the people in the email list, so that they will be tempted to go ahead and take action.

You should never assume that the potential customers in your email list will do what you want them to do. That’s where you need to provide them with a specific call to action. It can be reserving a table, placing an order online or scheduling a delivery.

  • Time your emails

You should focus on timing your emails. It can heavily contribute towards the results that you can receive at the end of the day. For example, if your target is to attract more customers towards your restaurant on a weekend, you need to think about sending out the promotional emails on a Thursday. On the other hand, you should also take a look at the time of the day. You should either send it during the early morning, around noon or around 4 o’ clock in the evening. That’s because people have more time to take a look at their email inboxes. Therefore, you will be able to get more people to read your emails.

  • Sending our promotions

Email marketing is one of the best methods available for you to let your potential customers know about the promotions that you are running. You will be able to enhance the effects generated by classic promotions by pairing that with an email marketing campaign. That’s why you see a lot of restaurants send out emails about the happy hour on a regular basis. On the other hand, you can promote an event or inform the customers about menu changes through emails. If you are offering an incentive, you can use the email marketing campaigns to let your potential customers know about it as well.

  • Providing incentives

Providing incentives can be considered as a classical method on how the restaurants tend to use emails. They are in a position to deliver perfect results to the restaurants with attracting the customers, who didn’t visit for quite a while. For example, you can provide buy one get one free meals, free dessert or free appetizer with the email marketing campaigns. This can ensure high conversion rates to you at the end of the day.

  • Promoting the occasions and holidays

If you are planning to have something special at your restaurant for the upcoming Mother’s Day, you can promote it with the help of email marketing campaign. It can also be about celebrity bartenders, live entertainment, New Year’s Eve celebrations, and community causes. It is also possible for you to run birthday marketing via the emails that you send out. In here, you can think about providing a free meal to a customer on the birthday. If you can do this, you can expect that customer to bring in a lot of paying customers to the restaurant, who will contribute towards your revenues.

  • Tips from your chef

Your chef would have a lot of useful tips, which he is willing to share with the customers. However, he will not be able to share them with the customers who walk into the restaurant. That’s where you can think about sharing those tips via the emails. You will be able to get recipes from the chefs and provide them to the customers via emails. On the other hand, you can also share some useful shopping tips and cooking tips. People love to receive these types of tips, especially from the chefs. It is also possible for you to go ahead and create a CTA for the informational emails that you send. For example, you can ask the recipients to visit the Facebook page, website or the dining room of the restaurant, where the chef can demonstrate the techniques.

  • Share an appealing backstory

Through the promotional emails that you send out as a part of your email marketing campaign, you can share an appealing backstory as well. This is another classic technique that many restaurants follow in order to boost the effectiveness of the email marketing campaigns. It can simply be the story of your restaurant. Or else, you can even share the business philosophy and explain the facts, which make your restaurant different from the other entities.

Even if your chef has some unique experiences, you can share them through the email marketing campaign. For example, you can tell why your desserts are healthy. Then you can encourage the customers to walk into your restaurant and enjoy them.

How to get started with the email marketing campaign?

Now you have a basic understanding on how you should run the email marketing campaign to promote your business. With that in mind, you should also understand how to get started with it. That’s where you should get the assistance of an email marketing service provider.

Here are some of the most prominent service providers that you can take a look at:

With the help of Fishbowl, you will be able to run an integrated email marketing campaign, through both mobile and social media marketing platforms. Any restaurant will be able to use the software provided by the company to run an independent email marketing campaign. Fishbowl is partnered along with OpenTable to provide you with a better service.

  • Bridg

Bridg is a newcomer to the email field providers. You will be able to get their assistance for email marketing automation. In other words, you can receive assistance with sending our emails through multiple channels and platforms.

MailChimp is a popular service provider, which you can use in order to send out the emails. A large number of restaurants scattered around the world are using MailChimp as of now. MailChimp is in a position to handle up to 2,000 different emails at a given time. If this is the very first time that you are going to run an email marketing campaign, you are encouraged to use MailChimp. That’s because it comes along with many beginner-friendly features.

  • Constant Contact

Constant Contact is another service provider, which specializes in email marketing. Apart from email marketing, it can also provide social media and event marketing services for your restaurant. If you are looking for such a versatile service provider to promote your restaurant, you can go ahead with Constant Contact.

  • Vertical Response

Vertical Response helps the restaurants to go ahead and create emails within few minutes. For that, the service provider offers a large number of customized templates. In addition, it is possible to get hold of an effective drag and drop editor as well.

Conclusion

The email marketing campaigns can be considered as an excellent method available for you to manage direct dialogs along with the customers. It can help you to foster long-lasting relationships. This would encourage repeat businesses to take place as well. On the other hand, you will be able to strengthen the overall brand value in an effective manner. Therefore, you shouldn’t worry too much about the amount that you are spending on the email marketing campaigns.