Best Restaurant Email Marketing Strategies to Increase Footprints in 2023

Quick Summary: Email marketing is one of the effective ways to increase digital footprints and build sustainable customer loyalty. But you can enjoy its benefits when you utilize email marketing best practices. So, this article helps you understand the nitty-gritty of email marketing for restaurants. Let’s explore.—

Are you running a restaurant? Are you new to this restaurant business? Are you planning to run a restaurant email campaign? You have come up with an excellent idea! But you need to understand how to run an email marketing campaign for your restaurant. That’s a tricky one, even if you are pro to your business.

Even though we have already discussed digital marketing strategies with all its elements, this article will help you explore the best email marketing ideas for restaurants in detail. Furthermore, it will support you in maintaining the effectiveness of your campaign, no matter who runs this on your behalf.

#1: Is Email Marketing Effective for Modern Business?

Yes. Email marketing can be an effective way for modern businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. It can be used to build brand awareness, promote menus or services, and drive website traffic and restaurant sales. However, the effectiveness of email marketing depends on a variety of factors, including the quality of the email list, the relevance of the content, and the frequency and timing of the emails. Additionally, it is important to comply with laws and regulations related to email marketing, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the US.

#2: The Key Elements of Email Marketing

There are several vital elements of effective email marketing:

Let’s understand them in detail:

#2.1: Building a mailing list of targeted customers: Building a mailing list of engaged and interested individuals is crucial for the success of an email marketing campaign.

#2.2: Integrating clear call to action (CTA): The email should have a clear call to action, such as a link to a website or a button to make a purchase.

#2.3: Mobile optimization: With more and more people accessing emails on their mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure that emails are optimized for mobile viewing.

#2.4: A/B testing:

• Use A/B testing to optimize email subject lines.
• Content.
• Calls to action to improve the performance of the campaign over time.

#2.5: Regulatory Compliance: It’s crucial to comply with laws and regulations related to email marketing, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the US.

#2.6: Customer segmentation: Segmenting the email list based on demographics, behavior, or past purchase can increase the relevance of the email to the recipient and thus boost the open and click rate.

#2.7: Automation: Email automation triggers specific emails based on subscriber behavior, such as abandoned cart emails or win-back campaigns for inactive subscribers.

#3: Benefits of Email Marketing For Restaurants

The benefits of email marketing for restaurants are all as follows;

The benefits of restaurant email marketing can be determined by the fact that there are around 4.3 billion email users worldwide. This data is continuously growing and is expected to reach 4.6 billion in 2025. That means more than half of the world’s population will use email. Given the statistics, it is clear that email marketing is an opportunity for more businesses, including restaurants. And it should be noticed.

So, keeping that in mind, you might have a question, what are the benefits of using email marketing or restaurants? We have created some of the top benefits you can gain using email marketing. So, let’s take a look at them.

#3.1: Build Stronger Relationships With Customers

Email marketing is one of the finest ways to build relationships with customers. Even though mobile messengers and chat apps, like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, have witnessed massive growth recently, e-mail continues to be an integral part of daily online life. Simply a restaurant newsletter can help you build a strong customer base and enhance customer relationships.

#3.2: Cost-Effective To Implement

Email marketing is relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising. You can start email marketing for your restaurant just by buying tools and getting effective email marketing written by a writer.

#3.3: Build Targeted Audience

Restaurants can build targeted email lists of engaged and interested customers, which increases the chances of the email being opened and acted upon.

#3.4: Increased Brand Awareness

Consistently sending out email campaigns can help increase brand awareness and keep the restaurant top of mind.

#3.5: Drive Sales

Restaurants can use email marketing to promote specials, discounts, or events to drive sales and increase foot traffic. This could be an effective sales strategy, like Instagram marketing boosting visibility and improving customer footprints.

#3.6: Provide Trackable Results

Email marketing campaigns can be tracked, allowing restaurants to measure the success of the campaign and make adjustments as needed. In marketing, data is king and with email marketing, you can easily achieve it.

#3.7: Increased Customer Loyalty

Consistently sending out valuable and relevant content can help to increase customer loyalty and repeat business. It’s an invaluable gem that you can get using effective means of email marketing.

#4: Restaurant Email Marketing Best Practices

Restaurant email marketing best practices include;

1. Email Personalization
2. Add Exclusive offers
3. Think Twice Before Creating a Subject Line
4. Utilize Images or Video
5. Mobile Optimization
6. Suitable and Clear CTA
7. Choose Right Time to Send Email
8. Keep your email list updated

Did you know?

Email marketing response rate is higher than Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram marketing, with a more than 15% clickthrough rate.

To achieve the maximum response from email marketing for restaurants, you must adopt best practices. There are several best practices for restaurant email marketing:

#4.1: Email Personalization

Use the recipient’s name in the email and segment the email list based on past purchases or behavior to make the email more relevant.

#4.2: Add Exclusive offers

Send exclusive offers or promotions to entice customers to visit the restaurant. In addition, you can include personalized recommendations to existing customers.

#4.3: Think Twice Before Creating a Subject Line

The email subject line is the first thing your users or recipient will see. Use a clear subject line to grab the recipient’s attention and entice them to open the email.

#4.4: Utilize Images or Video

Images or videos are the most authentic way to attract users to your restaurant. You Use images and videos of the restaurant and its food to make the email more visually appealing. This will help you find out what you serve and how you operate.

#4.5: Mobile Optimization

There are more than 4 billion people, mostly Millenials and Gen Z use the smartphone. Therefore, ensure the email is optimized for mobile viewing, as many people access it on their mobile devices.

#4.6: Suitable and Clear CTA

Include a clear call to action, such as a link to make a reservation or a promotion code for a discount, a menu, online ordering, downloading the app, and more.

#4.7: Choose Right Time to Send Email

Email marketing for restaurants becomes essential when sent at the right time. Consider the timing of the email, such as sending it out on a slow night or during a promotion, to increase its effectiveness.

#4.8: Keep your email list updated

Keep your email list updated by regularly removing inactive subscribers to improve the open rate and response rate.

Apart from these, you can also consider law and regulation compliance, customer segmentation, and more. We have discussed these points in this article above.

#5: Best Restaurant Email Marketing Examples

There are many examples of email marketing that we have given below. You can also use email marketing templates to win customers. The top 5 examples include the following;

Let’s understand these examples in details:

#5.1: Happy Hour Specials

Image source: canva

Send out an email daily highlighting your restaurant’s happy hour deals, including discounted drinks and appetizers. This will help your restaurant get the attention of users looking for special discounts on their favorite food and beverages.

#5.2: Limited Time Offer

Image source: postermywall

Limited time offer does a great many things. For example, it creates a sense of urgency, promotes your special dish or menu items, and drives sales. You can use this trick to entice users by promoting your restaurant’s special items available for a limited time.

#5.3: Weekly Newsletter

Image source: templates.office.com

Send a weekly newsletter to subscribers with updates on your restaurant’s menu, events, and promotions.

#5.4: Birthday Discounts

Image source: postermywall

Collect email addresses from diners at your restaurant and send out a special offer for their birthday, such as a complimentary dessert or a discount on their meal.

#5.5: Customer Appreciation

Image source: snacknation

Show your customers that you value their patronage by sending out an email with a special offer or discount as a thank you for their continued support.

Read Also Why and How to Use Google My Business for Restaurant

Where does Foodiv Stand Here?

Foodiv is an restaurant online ordering system that helps small, medium, and large restaurant owners automate their operations. We at Foodiv help you not just implement the restaurant’s off-the-shelves software; we also help you strategize your restaurant process.