Using restaurant email marketing can help promote your business and brand to a large customer base at a minimal cost.
Some restaurants and businesses choose not to dedicate much time to email marketing since the arrival of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, according to a 2017 Email Marketing Industry Census, email marketing earned the top spot as the best digital marketing channel for ROI.
Let’s take a look at 5 reasons why you should begin sending emails to your customers today:
1. Increases Brand Awareness
Email marketing allows you reach out to your customers by their name, create content that is relevant to them, and give your restaurant the chance to learn more about your restaurant.
Over 53% of marketers say ongoing, personalized communication with existing customers results in moderate to significant revenue impact. Using an email marketing tool that allows you to get creative opens the door to your restaurant’s personality and brand. If you have a marketing individual on your staff who spearheads your marketing, brainstorm ways to utilize this specialized skill. Your restaurant might want to start sending out a monthly newsletter or begin offering frequent customers birthday coupons or discounts. Email marketing is a simple way to reintroduce customers to you.
2. Target Your Customers
Most email marketing platforms give you the chance to target your customers in ways traditional marketing (postcards, flyers, and direct mail) wouldn’t be able to.
From a restaurant perspective, you may want to reach out to customers who have ordered a particular item a certain amount of times, or a customer who has/hasn’t ordered within 30 days. Being able to hone in on a specific group of customers gives your restaurant the chance to convert that customer into a repeat customer.
As a business owner, you need to do more than simply invest in an email marketing tool. Take the time to segment your lists, test your various demographics, define multiple target groups to send custom content. Email marketing gives you the flexibility to be creative with your tone to understand what is or isn’t working. Additionally, more than two-thirds of all email is opened on a mobile device. This means that customers can see, read, and engage with your emails throughout the day, no matter where they are or what time it is, making email marketing one of the best ways to capture your customers’ attention.
3. Share Across Marketing Channels
When marketing your restaurant, you can no longer rely on just a single channel to get your message out.
Customers expect businesses to communicate to them via multiple channels (social, email, print, etc.). In a world where customers are incredibly connected to their phones and computers, it’s up to you to determine the best methods of taking advantage of these channels.
Each customer is different and they respond to each channel in various ways. For example, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. Additionally, when it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail, and other channels.
4. Measure Campaigns
Email marketing is the most trusted form of communication, with 77% of consumers choosing email over other online channels.
With that statistic in mind, one of the more tangible reasons a restaurant should continue using email marketing is to measure the effective it has. Emails allow you to monitor your delivery rates, click through rates, and open rates. Knowing these rates allows you to see how engaged your email list is. If your customers continue to open your emails time and time again, you have customers who are engaged with your product(s) and brand. If customers are not opening your emails, you will want to take a step back to re-evaluate how you are marketing to them and begin efforts to start rebuilding the list by attracting new and fresh customers through relevant content.
5. Inexpensive and Cost Effective
While there are plenty of other marketing methods out there that have an expansive reach, email marketing still comes out on top.
You don’t have to pay for print, postage, or ad space, or any of the normally associated costs with marketing. With Facebook, only about 2% of your followers will ever see your posts due to it’s ever-changing algorithms. With Twitter, this number is even lower. However, email has a 90% delivery rate. Even though the customer might not open or click within the email, they are 88% MORE LIKELY to do so.
For ten years in a row, email has been the channel generating the highest ROI for marketers. For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. Email marketing tools let you click, design, schedule, and send within a matter of minutes, which saves you both time and money.
Activate Your NetWaiter Site
If you want to attract more local customers and keep them informed about your restaurant, check out NetWaiter’s platform and network. You can search for, and activate, your NetWaiter site and app here:
