Every business has two choices to grow revenue – get more customers or get more purchases from existing customers. Acquiring new customers is expensive. For restaurants and bars, getting more visits from existing customers is relatively cheap.
Email marketing is an incredibly effective mechanism for restaurants to nudge customers for a repeat visit. The majority of customers prefer to stay in contact via email, and the industry enjoys above average open rates.
While click thru rates for restaurants are below those of other industries (2.4% vs 5%), that makes sense. The prime uses of a restaurant/bar email is to use a discount or confirm a reservation – neither of which requires a click thru. So a low a click-thru rate is not an indicator of success for a restaurant or bar.
Tips for Building the Subscriber List
When customers visit a restaurant, for dine-in or take-out, their should be exactly two priorities. Deliver a great dining experience and grow the newsletter list.
A great dining experience leads to word of mouth, positive reviews, and some repeat visits. Purposefully growing the newsletter list leads to nudging customers for more repeat visits.
First, create a dedicated sign up page on the restaurant’s website. The webpage should detail a benefit to the customer for joining the newsletter. The most powerful motivator is discounts. An alternative motivator is exclusivity – think along the lines of access to a secret menu or early access to an upcoming seasonal dish. Remember, people are fundamentally motivated by self-interest. The general attitude is, “What’s in it for me?”. Show them a benefit to subscribing.
The webpage should include as few input fields as possible. Ideally, just an email address. If it is a must, also offer optional inputs for first name and birthday.
Make sure to also add a method for subscribing to the newsletter to the footer of every page on the website.
Second, advertise the newsletter on social media. Again, include a clear description of a benefit the user will receive for subscribing in the post.
Third, make it as easy as possible to join from the restaurant. Use a QR code on the menu, receipts, signage, table tents, and flyers included in every doggy / to-go bag that goes to the webpage created above. That reduces the need for customers to type a URL into their browser. To make statistics useful, generate a different QR code for each medium – menu, signage, flyers, etc. That way it is easy to determine which medium is delivering the most newsletter subscribers, and which may need redesign.
At each place that prompts for newsletter subscription, include a benefit for the customer. It should match the benefit listed on the webpage. That can be discounted/free appetizers, dollars off their next beer/drink, or discounts after they spend a certain minimum. Make the discount valuable – your comparing the cost of acquiring a new customer vs multiple chances to nudge a return visit at an incremental cost.
Last, don’t forget to synch customers who have opted into email marketing via the reservation system. Many people will check that little box when making an online reservation, take advantage of that intent and connection to build the subscriber list.
Creating a Great Subject Line
People intuitively judge emails by the subject line, so put extra effort into crafting great intros.
As people increasingly use mobile apps to read their email, keep subject lines to at most 30 characters (including spaces). That prevents the subject from being cut off on a mobile.
The subject line should be 6 – 10 words. Never use more than 12 words. Occasional use of single word phrases like “Yumtastic!” work well.
Subject lines should use sentence capitalization (don’t capitalize every word, don’t put it all in lower case).
Subjects mentioning a discount, including a number, or including the word ‘video’ get the most opens. Another option is to ask a question, where the answer is either an obvious ‘yes’ or as if talking to a friend. A third option is a play on words with a song or movie title currently popular in media.
Subjects should add a sense of FOMO. Phrases like ‘limited time’, ‘good until [date X]’, ‘ends [date X]’.
Other than red-letter days (New Year’s, Valentines, Mother’s Day, etc), avoid using events in the subject line. Industry stats show that generic events get the most unsubscribes and are a turn off for customers. Set a reminder 100 days before each of the red-letter days to send an email advertising any planned specials.
Unless your customer base is primarily Gen Z, use emojis sparingly. Use them to create an emotional connection, not to state or re-iterate a fact. Use emojis that capture a customer’s anticipated reaction, e.g. 👀, 🤩, or 🤯. Avoid using emojis that just repeat the dish just mentioned (e.g. ‘10% off your next slice of pizza 🍕’)
Examples of Subject Lines Offering a Discount
- Tonight only, 15% off
- 10% off your order, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
- Free appetizer on us
- Luxury at a great price. 15% off this Wednesday.
- Have a cold one on us tonight
- Get your fave drink for $6
- [Sacramento, Folsom, Rocklin] foodies, your offer awaits!
- Happy Birthday, your [discount] is waiting
Examples for a seasonal / limited time dish
- Meet [seasonal dish], here for a limited time
- Don’t miss [seasonal dish]
- [seasonal dish] has arrived, check it out!
- Try [seasonal dish] now!
- Unleash a flavor explosion, [seasonal dish] here now!
- It’s baaaack! [seasonal dish] is here.
- Savor the Summer: Special cocktails here now.
Examples of generic conversation
- Got plans for lunch?
- Rise and shine, [food] is waiting
- Ready to taste culinary perfection?
- Craving a memorable date night?
- Taco Tuesday is calling
- Hungry? Let us do the cooking.
- Hungry for [food]?
- Got a hankering for [food]?
- Have your cake and eat it too!
- Need a table for your next meeting?
Example subjects for red-letter days
- Have you booked your table for [event]?
- Mark your calendar for [event]!
- Limited time [event] offer just for you!
- Just a few tables left for [event], reserve now!
Examples for gift cards
- Need an easy holiday gift?
- Buy $100, save $10 on your order
What to Include in the Email Body
Include a single clear call to action. For discount offers, this generally will be along the lines of “Use coupon code 12345 to get 10% of your next order over $30.00”. For emails announcing a seasonal dish, that would look like “Come try our new Pumpkin Risotto, available for a limited time”.
Definitely include a high-quality photo of the food or a good cocktail. Make it easy for customers to picture themselves enjoying a meal or drink.
Include a link to the online menu. Even customers familiar with the establishment may want to look through for what sounds good or share with friends.
Include a unique QR code or coupon code for each segmented group of emails offering a discount. That makes it easy to track which emails are the most successful, and which are underperforming. Over time, that data can be used to refine future emails to get the most value.
Include a link to the restaurant’s profile on Google Reviews, Yelp, or TripAdvisor – whichever one has the most reviews. If the email is shared with friends and co-workers, they will likely want to research the establishment. This make it easy to see how great the restaurant is doing on review platforms and reduces the chance they find another place while looking for your establishment.
If possible, include a “behind the scenes” section or something personal about the staff. People are naturally curious, and that includes the restaurants we visit. Satisfy that curiosity with something interesting, and the email is far more likely to be shared – leading to new customers at low cost.
Include a link to unsubscribe – the CAN-SPAM Act requires it.
Include the restaurant’s contact information, including an address and a phone number.
When to Send
Send an email asking for confirmation of their address immediately after the customer subscribes. Keep it short and minimal with no other call to action other than ‘Confirm’.
Then, send a “Thank you for subscribing” email immediately after the email address is confirmed. Include a QR or coupon code to redeem the benefit advertised on the website and in-store. That email should include links to Google Reviews, Yelp, and TripAdvisor asking for a positive review.
From then on, send emails one to three times a month. Make sure that first marketing email is at least 5 days after the “Thank you for subscribing” email, otherwise it may seem like the restaurant is sending emails far too often for most users.
Making the Most of Your Emails – Segment Users, A/B Testing
Segmenting is grouping customers into buckets. Typically, you will want to group customers by dishes ordered, total paid, and demographics (e.g. age). Then, each newsletter should be written with multiple variations, with subject lines, message content, and photos specific to each bucket of users.
As a very basic example, imagine grouping customers who always order burritos into one bucket, and customers who typically order tacos into another segment. Each newsletter could then be written so that one group receives an email featuring a burrito, while the second group would get an email about tacos. It’s a level of personalization that connects with customers.
A/B takes that a step further, where each message variation is created with two versions (A and B) that have subtle differences. Then, measure the conversion rates between segments and A/B versions.
Continuing with the burrito example, we would create an A test with a subject line like “Yummy burrito ahead!”, and a B test with “Fantastic burrito for lunch?”. You would be surprised on how those subtle differences can lead to big results.
If the POS or reservation system supports it, segment users based on food preferences, total paid, and demographics as soon as possible. Once a segment has at least 1,200 email addresses, run A/B tests with no more than 2 variations. MailChimp, Constant Contact and other mass email providers make this easy to do.
Action Items
Build Your Subscriber List
- Create a subscribe page on the restaurant’s website and in the footer of every page.
- Post newsletter subscription offer on social media
- Create signage, table tents, flyers, menus, and receipts that have a QR code to the webpage
Emails
- Advertise discounts, seasonal/monthly dishes, and red-letter day specials
- Set a calendar reminder 100 days before each of the red-letter days to advertise specials planned for the day
- Unless live music or something similar is a key feature of the establishment, avoid advertising general events
- Segment users if supported by POS / reservation system
- A/B test once a segments has at least 1,200 email addresses
- Subjects
- At most 30 characters (mobile friendly!)
- 6 – 10 words
- Sentence case
- Include a discount, a number, the word ‘video’, and/or a question
- Emotional reaction emojis. Avoid fact stating emojis
- Body
- Clear benefit to the customer
- Clear Call to Action
- High quality photos of the food
- Unique QR / coupon code per segment
- “behind the scenes” content
- Include
- a link to the restaurant
- a link to at least one of the review platforms
- links to any social media profiles
- Unsubscribe link
- Contact information