Supercharge Your Restaurant Email Marketing Strategy in 2024
Craving a happy customer boost for your restaurant? Email marketing can be your secret ingredient!
Emails may not be a restaurant’s first choice of marketing, but this guide explains why they can be a powerful ally in your quest to generate more revenue.
After that, we dish out advice on crafting the best restaurant email campaigns and suggest ways to get those reservations and online orders flowing.
Why Restaurants Should Start Email Marketing
According to US Foods, an average person dines out 3x a week and orders delivery 4.5x in a month. Now multiply that by millions, and you have an idea of the demographic size you’re targeting.
To market to this group of people, you could use social media, Google Maps advertising, or video marketing.
But email marketing should be at the top of your list, too; here’s why:
| Email marketing benefits | Description |
|---|---|
| High ROI | Email marketing is cost-effective, with an average return of $36 for every $1 spent. |
| Direct connection | Email lets you directly reach a targeted audience. |
| Customer retention | Regular emails help you stay connected with past customers. |
| Track performance | Easily track open rates, click-through rates, and even reservations made through your emails. |
| Personalization | Personalized emails can target specific customer segments with relevant promotions. |
The biggest benefit of email marketing is that it helps build customer loyalty; promotional emails with enticing content encourage repeat business.
Adopting email marketing has various other advantages; let’s discuss them next.
Email Marketing Can Help Restaurants Achieve Multiple Goals
With email marketing, it’s not just about clocking sales; you can set other targets and achieve them.
Email marketing can significantly boost your restaurant business as it:
- Generates interest in your brand,
- Helps you reach new customers,
- Builds loyalty among current customers,
- Grows your email list,
- Helps collect feedback,
- Can improve sales from online ordering and delivery,
- Creates a sense of community locally.
As all of these are desirable, the next section will guide you on how to set up email marketing for your restaurant business.
How to Kickstart Restaurant Email Marketing
Before you can start, here’s a checklist of tasks you’ll need to finish first:
- Do market research: Analyze current email marketing trends and what works for restaurants in your area.
- Study competitors: See what your competitors are doing in their email marketing campaigns. What kind of emails do they send? What incentives do they offer?
- Examine similar restaurants in your city: Get inspiration from successful restaurants in your city and see what kind of email marketing strategies they use.
- Understand your audience: Identify your ideal customer and tailor your email content to their interests and preferences.
- Set a budget: Determine how much you can invest in tools and software. Check out our article on email marketing costs to get an idea of the expenses involved.
If you’re ready, this 6-step guide shows you how to set up email marketing for your restaurant:
- Build your email list,
- Segment your list,
- Design your emails,
- Brainstorm email marketing ideas for campaigns,
- Study your campaign reports,
- Send email surveys for feedback.
We will now take you through each of these steps in detail, explaining how to execute them effectively.
Building Your Restaurant’s Email List
Businesses typically collect email addresses with website sign-up forms, lead magnets, social media campaigns, or pop-up forms on landing pages. While these methods work well, restaurants can also use offline methods to collect email addresses.
Online Lead Collection Strategies
- From online booking partners: Restaurants can partner with online booking platforms like OpenTable, Eat App, or Resy. They require customers to provide their email addresses when making reservations.
- Using free Wi-Fi: Offering free Wi-Fi in exchange for an email address is a popular method.
- QR scanners for menus: When customers scan QR codes to view menus, they can be prompted to provide their email addresses for special offers, updates, or exclusive content.
- Through surveys/online reviews: Encouraging customers to fill out surveys or leave reviews on platforms like Yelp, Google, or directly on your restaurant’s website can provide leads.
- Through your website: Your website can feature sign-up forms for newsletters, special offers, or event notifications.
- From online orders: Customers placing orders through the restaurant’s online system are typically required to enter their email addresses.
- Via social media: Social media platforms can be used to run contests, promotions, or exclusive offers that require participants to submit their email addresses.
- Use a lead magnet: If you want to see your signups multiply by 8X, learn the art of lead magnet psychology for free from our Lead Magnet Multiplier course. In 4 short videos, this program teaches you strategies to maximize lead signups like never before.
Offline Methods to Collect Leads
- In-person capture: Your host/hostess can ask customers to join the email list while dining. This can be done by presenting a sign-up sheet, a tablet, or verbally inviting them to join for exclusive offers.
- Point-of-sale: During the payment process, ask customers if they would like to receive electronic receipts or sign up for special promotions, and collect their email addresses at the point of sale.
- Feedback forms: Provide feedback forms on tables. This allows customers to share their contact information along with their comments.
- Loyalty programs: Establish a loyalty program that requires an email address for membership.
You can offer incentives such as a discount or free appetizer to encourage signups. And when you collect emails, remember to comply with regulations; getting permission before adding someone to your email list ensures you follow anti-spam regulations such as CAN-SPAM.
Segment Your Email List
So now you have a massive pool of leads; it’s time to group them. This is called email list segmentation — the process of dividing an email list into smaller, targeted groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, behavior, or purchase history.
List segmentation helps you send targeted messages. Imagine sending an email about bingo night to a 20-year-old customer; they simply won’t click. But if you email them about Friday night discounts on group orders, you can expect a better conversion rate.
Email List Segmentation for Restaurants: Strategy
This table explains what additional details to collect when leads sign up with their email addresses.
| Segmentation data | What specific data to collect? | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Demographics | Age, gender, or location | Different age groups, genders, and locations may have varying preferences and dining habits. |
| Dining preferences | Vegan, vegetarian, or meat lovers | Customers with specific dietary preferences appreciate personalized recommendations and menu updates. |
| Visit frequency | Regulars, occasional visitors, first-time guests | Based on their frequency, you can create a targeting strategy. |
| Spend history | High-spenders or budget-conscious diners | Understanding spending habits allows for more effective upselling and cross-selling. |
| Special occasions | Birthdays or anniversaries | Customers may be more inclined to dine out or celebrate on special occasions. |
| Engagement levels | Active or inactive | Engaged customers are more likely to convert, while inactive subscribers may need re-engagement strategies. |
| Feedback | Constructive criticism and complaints. | Customers who provide feedback or reviews are valuable for refining your services and marketing efforts. |
Remember: You must collect as much data as possible at the time of email collection; getting customers to update preferences can be challenging.
Designing Restaurant Email Campaigns
When creating marketing emails, pay attention to aspects such as:
- Email design,
- Email copywriting,
- The calls-to-action (CTAs) used.
Before you start designing email campaigns to promote your restaurant, you must ensure you have excellent images of your dishes. We have all seen stock images on food apps; they look terrible. Plus, they’re re-used. Customers can always tell when you use a stock photo to promote your dishes.
That’s why the first thing you must do is hire a professional photographer to shoot high-quality images of your culinary creations.
Professional Images Can be a Game-Changer for a Restaurant
Getting your menu dishes shot professionally has a positive impact on your email marketing efforts:
- It creates cravings: High-quality images can evoke a sensory response, making recipients crave the food and more likely to visit.
- Showcases special dishes: Highlighting featured dishes or new menu items can entice customers to visit the restaurant to try them.
- Looks professional: Well-photographed dishes convey a sense of professionalism and quality, enhancing the restaurant’s brand image.
- Encourages sharing: Attractive photos encourage recipients to share the content on social media, extending the restaurant’s reach.
- Emphasizes quality: High-quality images emphasize the quality and freshness of the food, appealing to customers seeking a premium dining experience.
Once your images are ready, you can start designing your emails. Start by scrolling through the email marketing templates available in your email platform’s template library.
Email Design Ideas for Restaurants
These 9 design ideas can make your restaurant marketing emails a visual delight:
- Highlight your chef: Feature a prominent photo of the chef and their special dish. Use a sophisticated, clean layout with a focus on the dish.
- Make the colors pop: Use vibrant images from past events and bold, exciting fonts. Highlight event details with eye-catching icons.
- Use customer feedback as social proof: Use a layout with customer photos and quotes; it’s a potent form of testimonial advertising.
- Celebrate holidays: Incorporate festive elements like holiday-themed borders and icons. Use a color scheme that matches the holiday (like red and blue for July 4th emails).
- Go minimalist: Use a bare-bones design with a large image of, say, a new dish, front and center. Highlight the dish name using the best fonts for email.
- Staff spotlight: Use candid photos of the kitchen staff or vendors. Try using a collage or storyboard layout.
- Send interactive content: Use email gamification to encourage customers to click and interact with your emails, leading to better engagement numbers.
- Pair food and wine: This is a great opportunity to show off your wine collection. Use elegant, sophisticated images of wine bottles with your best dishes. Recommend pairing suggestions.
- Highlight dietary variety: If you also serve vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free dishes, ensure you send emails that highlight this fact. Feature images of relevant dishes.
If you need more specific examples of well-designed messages, we’ll share a few of the best restaurant emails below.
Top Email Marketing Ideas for Restaurants
Keep your emails engaging with these 12 exciting campaign ideas:
- Holiday-specific offers: Create special promotions and themed menus for holiday email campaigns such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s Eve.
- Pop-up events: Host pop-up events featuring cuisines from around the world. Showcase unique dishes and cultural experiences.
- Special menus: Introduce special menus for occasions such as restaurant anniversaries, local festivals, or culinary weeks.
- Collaborations with local chefs: Partner with renowned local chefs to create unique dining experiences.
- Live music nights: Host live music nights featuring local bands or solo artists.
- Wine tastings: Organize wine-tasting events featuring a selection of wines paired with complementary dishes. Highlight the wine selections, pairing recommendations, and any special offers for attendees.
- Tie-ups with delivery apps: Collaborate with delivery apps to offer exclusive discounts or free delivery. Promote these special offers through emails to encourage online orders.
- Loyalty programs: Introduce or promote a loyalty program that rewards repeat customers.
- All-you-can-eat monthly buffet: Advertise an all-you-can-eat buffet via email, showcasing the diverse offerings and special pricing.
- Email coupons: Send exclusive email coupons to subscribers, offering discounts on meals, free appetizers, or desserts. Encourage customers to visit the restaurant and redeem their coupons.
- Gift cards: Promote the sale of gift cards during the holiday season or special occasions. Highlight the convenience and flexibility of gift cards as perfect presents for friends and family.
- Re-engage customers: Send targeted re-engagement emails to past customers. Offer discounts or complimentary items.
You’ll have to try out different email campaigns to figure out what works for your subscriber base.
Study Your Campaign Reports
Simply firing off your emails isn’t enough; you must study your analytics dashboard to correctly assess email performance.
This is the insight you get from studying campaign metrics:
- See what works: Tracking metrics lets you see how well your email campaigns are doing. Check things like open rates and click-through rates to know if your emails about new menu items or special events are hitting the mark.
- Know your diners better: Analyzing campaign metrics gives you a peek into what your customers like.
- Better understanding of segments: Metrics help you figure out which segments of your email list respond best to different content. This means you can send the right messages, such as happy hour deals or special brunch menus, to the right people at the right time.
- Improve engagement: Keeping an eye on engagement metrics helps you create more interesting and relevant content.
- Maximize ROI: By tracking how much revenue your email campaigns bring in, you can measure your return on investment (ROI). This helps you spend your marketing budget wisely.
- Spot areas to improve: Metrics show you where your emails might need a little work.
- Reduce unsubscribes: Watching your unsubscribe rates helps you identify what might be turning people off. This info is key for making adjustments, like refining your email frequency or ensuring your content is relevant, to keep your email list healthy.
- Ensure deliverability: Focus on email deliverability by monitoring bounce rates and spam complaints; ensure your emails are reaching inboxes instead of spam folders. This keeps your sender reputation strong and ensures your delicious offers aren’t getting lost.
Finally, examine industry-specific email statistics before you begin — it will help you set expectations correctly.
Collect Feedback with Email Surveys
It’s vital for a restaurant to collect feedback from its patrons continuously.
Email surveys are a great way to do this, as people may not be as comfortable sharing criticism in person. The feedback you collect can help you correct mistakes, but it can also show you interesting ways to grow your business.
For example, feedback from email subscribers can provide valuable insights into which dishes are hits and which might need tweaking. And you need not restrict feedback to dishes, you can inquire about all aspects of their dining experience. This can guide improvements in service, ambiance, and overall hospitality.
Subscriber feedback also helps refine your email marketing strategies. Do your diners want more discounts? Are you making more money from delivery offers than in-house discounts? Are certain campaigns more popular than others? Are there new food trends they’re into that you don’t know about yet?
Continuous feedback collection helps track changes in customer sentiment. It can also spark new ideas for menu items, events, or services that set your restaurant apart from competitors.
Great Examples of Restaurant Email Marketing
These restaurant emails are a good way to understand aspects such as colors, fonts, spacing, and the importance of food photography.
Pizza Express Seasonal Campaign
Here we can see a marketing email from Pizza Express that entices readers with a 25% discount for dinner at its Charlotte Street outlet in London. There is an additional offer at the bottom offering a free dish with a bottle of white wine.
Open Table Promotes A Chef and His Restaurants
This email is different from the others, but a great example of restaurant email marketing, regardless. This message from Open Table, an online reservation service, promotes a Nashville-based chef and his two restaurants.
McDonald’s Free Fries Campaign
This email promotion for McDonald’s attracts readers with a free fries campaign. The offer is applicable for the “National Drive-Thru Day” which means anyone who planned to pick up a drive-through meal for lunch or dinner would seriously consider McDonald’s thanks to the offer.
Cracker Barrel Holiday Campaign
Cracker Barrel uses email marketing to update its subscribers about a Christmas offer they may be interested in. The email recommends they avoid cooking on Christmas and opt for Cracker Barrel’s Heat n’ Serve meal instead.
Pizza Express Weekend Offers
We have yet another email from Pizza Express that promotes summer offers at their restaurant. This limited-time offer has big discounts on courses and also includes a 30% off deal on the food bill for a specific Sunday. It’s a solid example of local email marketing.
Campaign Refinery Helps You Unlock the Power of Email
Email marketing can be an excellent way to drive sales for your restaurant — but it only works when your emails actually land in the inbox.
This is why Campaign Refinery is the best choice for your business. We offer the best deliverability rates in the email industry, and as a boutique email platform, care deeply about the success of our clients.
Here’s what we offer them to succeed with their email marketing efforts:
- Automated list-cleaner: An email list cleaning tool that automatically removes invalid, malformed, role-based, and burner emails along with many other types.
- Powerful tagging tools: Email tags can help you strategically move prospects through customer journeys.
- Robust automation: Our automation designer allows a range of conditions and branches to be added.
- Campaign library: Running low on ideas? Check out our campaign library for inspiration.
- Gamification: We added this feature to our platform so users could see sky-high engagement stats.
- Real-time analytics: Our dashboard shows you the campaign metrics that matter and lets you make data-driven decisions.
If you want to see your email marketing results peak, apply to become a Campaign Refinery customer today!
