A new report on The Manifest declares that email marketing is alive and well. After completing a survey of more than 500 marketers, researchers found that 69% of businesses spend money and time on email marketing. The reason? People see emails. Only 2% of people see a post on their social media feed, but 90 percent of emails reach their intended inbox. Furthermore, a customer has to sign up to receive most emails that arrive in their inbox, a voluntary measure that goes beyond targeted social media campaigns. There’s no denying that email marketing can be used to increase restaurant profits.
If you aren’t currently using email marketing for your restaurant, are you ready to start?
Getting Started
Email marketing helps you share news, promotions and other vital information with customers. Of the many tools that exist, Mailchimp is a great platform to start with. It’s simple interface and sleek email templates allow you quickly create campaigns. Once, you’re set up on Mailchimp, consider your goals. Are you looking to make customers more aware of your brand? Are you trying to retain customers that you already have?
A/B Testing
Once you start testing email marketing campaigns, you and your team will become more familiar as to what types of strategies work and don’t work with your customers. However, to get to that point you need the right tool to start connecting with your customers through their inboxes.
List Building
Once you invest in the right system, make sure you are familiar with how to properly manage your lists. Are you exporting information you already have from an Excel file to then import into the system? Are all of these addresses current customers? Building and growing your email list is something that you should do at every opportune moment. You can collect email addresses through sign-up forms on your restaurant’s website, feedback cards, or online orders (particularly, if you already have an online ordering system or one that combines online ordering and an email tool).
To send an email to a customer, you have to comply with anti-spam laws. This means your customers will have to prodive their email address voluntarily. Once you have your customers imported into your system, take the time to segment the lists. Segmented lists allow you to send targeted and behavioral based messages.
Final thoughts on email marketing
We all receive a ton of emails on a daily basis. We might take the time to read some of them, but most of them get lost in the mix. Making your email stand out from the crowd is key to getting customers to order from your restaurant. Again, if a customer signed up to receive emails from you, they are actively looking for a deal or special offer from you. Emails are a quick way to spread knowledge about your restaurant instead of incessantly pushing a discount or sale.
To keep your emails cool, calm, and collected, put together a content strategy plan. By laying out what types of emails you plan on sending each day/week, you will be able to better connect with your customers. In order to keep customers informed, businesses send marketing emails weekly or more often. Over 32% of businesses send emails daily, while 42% send them weekly. “If you’re a fashion, restaurant, or hospitality company, your customers do want to hear about daily trends or weekly specials,” said David Mihm, founder of newsletter generator Tidings. “You have to think about the business that you’re in.” Put some thought into your emails, commit to the ideas and design, and get going today!
