Top 5 Restaurant Email Marketing Strategies

• Why Should Email Marketing Become Part of Your Restaurant Marketing Strategy?
• 5 Restaurant Email Marketing Strategies to Kickstart Your Campaign

The practice of subscribing to emails today has changed with the increased targeted content and the ability to segment audiences.

Users now have the option to subscribe to newsletters that focus on specific topics that are to their liking.

For example, people who love sushi want to be updated on the latest sushi restaurants and get information about potential promotions.

This is where restaurant email marketing comes in.

Email marketing for restaurants can be a powerful tool to reach out to potential and current customers.

It can be used to promote and advertise new menu items, special offers, and events. It is also a great way to keep customers updated on the latest news about the restaurant.

When used effectively, email marketing can help restaurants:

• Increase their customer base.
• Build loyalty.
• Boost sales.

Businesses everywhere are noticing how much email marketing is crucial to their ROI. In fact, the global email marketing market was valued at 7.5 billion US dollars in 2020 and is expected to increase by 17.9% by 2027.

So how can a restaurant owner like you take advantage of email marketing?

The competition to stand out in users’ inboxes is fierce, but your restaurant’s email can succeed with the right strategies, including attention-grabbing restaurant email subject lines and consistent restaurant’s branding.

Read on to discover the top 5 strategies for effective restaurant email marketing!

Why Should Email Marketing Become Part of Your Restaurant Marketing Strategy?

The first question you might have is: why should my restaurant start using email marketing?

Here are some statistics that show the importance of having an email list and how effective email marketing can be for businesses:

• The number of email users is expected to rise to 4.6 billion users in 2025. (Statista, 2021)
• The number of active email accounts surpassed 5.6 billion in 2019. (Statista, 2019)
• Segmented email marketing campaigns ie. campaigns that are targeted at a specific group of people, provide a 760% increase in revenue. (Campaign Monitor, 2019)
• Globally, Fridays have more open rates and Saturdays have the lowest. (Campaign Monitor, 2021)
• 60% of retailers, consumer goods, and services are personalizing emails based on past purchases. (Litmus, 2020)
• 45% of internet users avoid opening emails from unknown addresses. (Statista, 2019)

As the stats suggest, a restaurant email marketing strategy is an effective marketing channel and a good investment to increase customer engagement, boost sales, and gain loyal customers.

So keeping these email trends in mind, let’s look at the five best strategies to make your restaurant email marketing campaign successful.

5 Restaurant Email Marketing Strategies to Kickstart Your Campaign

When it comes to email marketing in the restaurant industry, personalization is highly sought-after in 2022.

But with vast amounts of data out there, how can you make your restaurant marketing emails stand out from the rest and still be relevant to your customers?

Be it a welcome email or a promotional offer these tips will make your restaurant email marketing campaign sizzle are highlighted below.

The answer is to create targeted content that speaks to your customers’ needs and interests.

Here are some examples of how you can do this:

1. Personalized Promotions

There are tons of restaurant email marketing examples that include personalization:

For instance, this is a sweet e-greeting card from Dunkin Donuts for Mother’s Day:

One way to make your email marketing campaign more personal is to offer promotions that are specifically tailored to your customer’s interests.

You can segment your email list into different groups based on location, age, gender, or past purchase history. Then, you can send out emails with relevant promotions to each group.

For example, if you own a sushi restaurant in New York City, you could segment your list into two groups: those who live in New York City and those who don’t.

For the group that lives in New York City, you could offer a promotion for a free drink with the purchase of a sushi roll.

You could offer a discount on their next purchase for the group that doesn’t live in New York City.

Remember that targeting the right audience is of utmost importance if you want to build a highly successful independent restaurant. By planning your emails correctly, you can end up with a loyal customer base that will visit your restaurant again and again.

2. Retarget Your Site Visitors

Another way to personalize your email campaign is to retarget your website visitors.

You can install a tracking pixel on your website and add visitors’ email addresses to your email list.

Then, you can send them targeted emails with promotions for products or services that they showed interest in on your website.

For example, if someone visited your website but didn’t purchase anything, you could send them an email with a discount for their first purchase.

Here’s an example of Chipotle sending a retargeted email to encourage repeat orders:

3. Develop a Loyalty Program

A loyalty program is a great way to increase customer retention and boost sales.

You can develop a loyalty program by offering rewards points for every purchase that customers make.

Then, you can send out emails with exclusive promotions and discounts that are only available to loyalty program members.

For example, you could offer a 10% discount for every $100 that customers spend.

4. Get Feedback from Online Ordering Customers

If you have an online ordering system, you can use it to collect feedback from customers.

Once a customer orders online, ensure you have a way to collect their email addresses. Then, you can send out post-purchase emails and ask customers to rate their experience.

You can use this feedback to improve your online ordering system and make changes that will enhance the customer experience.

For example, if you notice that a lot of customers are canceling their orders, you could send them an email with a discount for their next order.

Important Tip: For those restaurants that want to expand their premises to the EU, they have to be GDPR compliant. This policy refers to the new set of regulations surrounding data privacy. So ensure you’re compliant before emailing any customers in the EU!

And if you’re thinking about partnering with multiple ordering apps to increase your reach, don’t fret!

With Orders.co, you can consolidate orders from all of your favorite platforms into one neat and tidy list. This makes it easy to track what customers ordered, without jumping back and forth between apps.

5. Use Push Messaging Effectively

Push messages are a great way to reach out to new and existing customers and promote your restaurant. You can send these messages through push notification services like OneSignal or Amazon Pinpoint.

When used effectively, push messages can increase customer engagement and boost sales.

For example, you could use push messages to promote special offers or discounts. You could also use them to remind customers about upcoming events, such as a wine tasting or live music.

It’s crucial not to overuse push notifications, since they can be annoying if they’re constantly pinging customers’ devices. So only send push messages when you have something important or valuable to say.

Email Marketing to Increase Restaurant Sales and Maintain Customer Loyalty

Email marketing is one of the marketing channels that’s a great way to increase restaurant sales and maintain customer loyalty. 

• According to recent statistics, it can result in significant increases in revenue for restaurants. 
• Managers should carefully plan their email campaigns in order to be most effective. 
• Personalizing emails can be a great way to increase customer engagement and sales. 
• Including a compelling subject line is crucial for ensuring your emails stand out in a crowded inbox.
• Restaurateurs should test different email campaigns to see which ones work best for them. 

By planning and executing your campaigns well, you can see impressive results.

Have you tried email marketing services for your restaurant? If not, today is a good day to start!