Cloud kitchens, aggregator apps, and home cooks have intensified the competition in the food industry post-pandemic. To stand out, you need to attract new customers, keep your loyal patrons, and engage with food influencers.
And the best way to do that? Email marketing.
An average person checks their emails 15-20 times a day. By 2025, over half of the world’s population will have email access. Email marketing is a powerful tool to build a strong connection with your audience.
This blog is packed with top-notch restaurant email marketing strategies to help you thrive in this booming economy.
Does email marketing work well for restaurants?
Email marketing is a highly effective tool for restaurants to reach and retain customers. While many restaurant owners focus on social media for their digital presence, the decline in organic reach and lack of visibility in search engine results makes it less effective. It’s important for restaurants to recognise the value of email marketing in attracting and retaining customers, with an impressive ROI of 4200%. Customers appreciate receiving emails about menu changes and updates from their favourite local restaurants, making email marketing as relevant as ever.
What makes your restaurant’s email marketing strategy so crucial?
Having a solid email marketing plan for your restaurant is crucial.
- It helps bring customers back to your website, where they can find all the important information about your business.
- Unlike Facebook pages, emails show up in local searches, making them a valuable tool.
- Encouraging customers to revisit your website through email is a smart move. Surprisingly, half of today’s restaurants don’t even have a website. And among those that do, many haven’t bothered to keep it updated.
- A lot of restaurants are solely relying on Facebook for their online presence. Only a small number of restaurants have a proper strategy for engaging with customers online outside of Facebook. As organic reach on Facebook continues to decline, these restaurants risk losing touch with their customers.
Powerful email marketing strategies that work for real
1. Offer promo codes
Utilise emails to distribute a special promotion to your newsletter subscribers or online customers. This not only boosts traffic to your app or website but also encourages referrals and repeat sales.
Source: Yespo
2. Talk about your new menu items
Introduce new dishes to the menu for different occasions like Halloween, Christmas, and other special days. Share the updated menu with your customers via email.
Source: Pinterest
3. Use mouth-watering photos to attract customers
A picture speaks volumes, especially when it comes to delicious food. By snapping appetising photos of your menu items, you can easily make potential customers crave what you have to offer. Don’t forget to make ordering a breeze with just a simple click, all while using those tempting images to stir up hunger in your audience. This strategy isn’t just limited to traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants; virtual kitchens can also take advantage of this approach, as online orders continue to rise.
Source: Pinterest
4. Keep customers informed about upcoming events
For restaurants that host multiple events throughout the year, it’s important to promote them early to ensure maximum attendance. Here’s an example that can be sent out via email.
Source: Pinterest
5. Encourage customer loyalty
Who doesn’t love feeling appreciated? By implementing a loyalty program, you can make your loyal customers feel special with perks like priority seating, faster service, exclusive menu previews, reduced delivery charges, and special discounts. This not only boosts repeat business significantly but also enhances your word-of-mouth marketing efforts.
Source: Pinterest
I bet all that talk about restaurants and those mouthwatering food photos has got you feeling a little peckish. But before you go off to satisfy your cravings, here’s a brief recap. We covered some easy-to-follow and effective restaurant email marketing strategies that will 10x your ROI.
Want to jumpstart your email marketing efforts with Marketing Platter?
Schedule a free 30-minute marketing strategy call with us to learn how we can support your restaurant’s growth.