Email marketing is a powerful tactic restaurant owners can use to promote their restaurant. You can use this marketing channel to market to current customers and send them specials, promotions, or upcoming event schedules. It’s a great engagement tactic that ensures your restaurant is always top of mind with your target audience. You can also use email marketing to reach a new prospective audience and nurture them into customers.
Whether you own a small local restaurant, cafe, or bar, we’re here to help you get more creative with your next email marketing campaign. Here are 10 email marketing ideas for restaurants:
1. Monthly Newsletters
Monthly newsletters can be used to highlight changes at your establishment. You can include details about holiday hours, upcoming events, or new menu items. You can also use a monthly newsletter to discuss changes in the kitchen or highlight new specials on the seasonal menu. You can encourage customers to sign up for your monthly newsletter by adding QR codes to your tables. You can also incentivize sign-ups with a free appetizer or discount.
2. Special Offers and Discounts
Sending your customers special offers and discounts is a great way to encourage them to visit your establishment. A small offer is a great way to drive sales or generate excitement for a new menu item. Some popular discounts to try for your next email marketing campaign include BOGO deals, seasonal discounts, free drinks with purchase, or a free appetizer for orders over $25.
3. Seasonal Menu
If you plan to launch an all-new seasonal menu, consider doing a mini-release to your email subscribers first. This is a great way to generate excitement about the menu changes and let your customers know that the menu might look different the next time they visit. Releasing it to an exclusive list of people first is also a great way to improve customer loyalty. Your customers will feel special and make the experience more “exclusive.”
4. Upcoming Events
Are you planning an event for the upcoming holidays? Are you hosting a Super Bowl special, a bingo brunch, or a bottomless mimosa weekend? Get the word out about your upcoming event with an email marketing campaign. This is a great way to generate excitement about the events and connect with your loyal customers. If it’s an exclusive event with a maximum number of people, you can also encourage early sign-ups through your campaign.
5. Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are great marketing tools for turning a one-time customer into repeat business. A great way to do this is to create a point system. Every time a customer visits your restaurant, they receive points for their purchase. The more points they receive, the more offers they unlock.
You can use email marketing automation to remind your customers to come in and use their points. You can also remind them when they reach a new milestone or unlock a new deal.
6. Email Marketing Templates
Are you struggling about what your next marketing campaign should be? Every campaign you create doesn’t need to be made from scratch. If you’re in a creative rut, you can use restaurant email marketing templates to create your next campaign. Townsquare Interactive’s business management platform includes various restaurant email marketing templates you can use to develop campaigns and promote your brand.
7. Survey Requests
Surveys provide key insight into what is and isn’t working at your establishment. You can learn more about your customer’s perception of your service, menu, or drinks. You can use this feedback to make changes at your establishment in the future.
You can follow up with a survey after a customer visits your cafe or restaurant. To ensure the survey results are timely, you’ll want to send the follow-up one to two days after the visit. Consider using email marketing automation to schedule these follow-ups to send out in the background of your workweek. This will take some of the manual work off of your team and ensure you always have timely follow-ups scheduled.
8. SMS Marketing
Are you on the hunt for an alternative marketing channel to use? Consider running SMS marketing campaigns alongside your email campaigns. SMS marketing is a highly effective alternative to email marketing. A great way to utilize this channel is to convert your successful email campaigns into SMS marketing campaigns. This will help you maximize brand visibility and help you connect with customers who prefer SMS.
9. Come-back Deals
A come-back email reminds customers to come back to your establishment. To maximize the results, consider adding a small incentive. A small incentive will encourage them to come back and dine with you again. You should also include links to the food or drink menu to generate some engagement. You can create a custom promo code just for come-back deals, so it’s easier to measure the success of these initiatives.
10. Automated Follow-ups
Automation is an invaluable tool your team can use to enhance your restaurant email marketing. With automation, you can schedule follow-ups based on enrollment triggers, buyer behaviors, or geographic location. To maximize the results of your automated campaigns, don’t forget to add personalization tokens to your emails. Personalization is key to building customer loyalty and improving conversions.
Improve Your Restaurant Email Marketing With Townsquare Interactive
Whether you’re running a special or planning an event for the Super Bowl, email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing channels you can use. Email marketing can help with brand exposure, help you increase profits, and help you provide excellent customer service.
Townsquare Interactive is here to help you get creative with your next campaign. Our business management platform features a wide range of tools you can use to enhance your marketing strategy, like automated email marketing, and engage with your current customers with CRM software.