Restaurant Email Campaign: Use Cases!

Email marketing can be a powerful tool for restaurants to build lasting relationships with customers, drive repeat business, and increase sales. With more consumers checking their inboxes daily, email provides a direct line of communication to share announcements, promotions, and exclusive content. Later in this write-up, we talk about the use cases of a restaurant email campaign.

For restaurants, the benefits of utilizing email marketing include:

• Keeping customers informed about specials, events, menu updates, and more to encourage return visits
• Building brand loyalty by sending emails that reflect the restaurant's voice and style
• Generating buzz and hype for new menu launches or seasonal offerings
• Thanking guests and incentivizing them to come back with sign-up discounts or birthday/loyalty offers
• Recapturing lost revenue by re-engaging with customers who haven't visited in a while

The key is to make emails relevant, valuable, and non-intrusive. With a savvy email campaign strategy, restaurants can forge lasting connections with diners and turn them into their biggest fans and regulars.

How restaurants can use email campaigns – Restaurant email campaign use cases

1. Special Offers

Email is a great way for restaurants to promote special offers like discounts, coupons, and special menu items. Sending targeted email offers is an effective tactic for driving traffic during slow periods or for promoting new menu items. Some best practices for special offer emails:

• Offer a strong incentive. A deep discount or free item will generate more interest than a small discount. Make the offer juicy enough that subscribers feel they'd miss out by not redeeming it.
• Personalize the offer based on past purchases. If you collect order history, use it to send offers for a free dessert, appetizer, or drink based on items the customer has ordered before.
• Promote special menu items. Introduce new food, beverages, or limited-time options by featuring them in an email. This builds awareness and drives orders.
• Share happy hour or weekly specials. Send a recurring email highlighting your current happy hour or weekly specials. This prompts subscribers to visit during specific windows.
• Offer a coupon for the customer's next visit. A coupon gives an incentive for customers to come in again within a certain timeframe. Make sure the coupon has an expiration date.

Partner with other local businesses for joint offers. Team up with nearby businesses to offer a packaged discount and promote each other to your email lists. This expands reach.

Making targeted special offers is something unique to email that's not possible with broader platforms like social media. Sending the right offer to the right subscriber at the right time takes email marketing to the next level.

2. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are a powerful way for restaurants to increase repeat business and encourage customer loyalty. With a loyalty program, customers earn points, rewards, or other incentives each time they make a purchase. Restaurants can structure their loyalty programs in different ways, but the key is offering enticing rewards that motivate customers to keep coming back.

Some ideas for loyalty program rewards include:

• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent, 10 points earn a $5 gift card
• After 5 visits, get a free appetizer
• Buy 9 meals, get the 10th free
• Earn a free dessert on your birthday
• Double points during your birthday month

The great thing about loyalty programs is they encourage customers to spend more to earn rewards. People love getting a deal, so the reward structure provides a psychological incentive. The program also allows restaurants to collect key customer data and order history, which helps with special offers and targeted marketing.

When promoting the loyalty program, restaurants should highlight the benefits and value of joining. Send out emails showcasing the rewards, point levels, and how easy it is to sign up. Friendly reminders about points earned and redemptions available help spur customers to keep engaging. For maximum impact, integrate the loyalty program directly into the restaurant's email campaigns and ordering system. This ensures customers are aware and can fully utilize the program.

3. Holidays & Events

Holidays and seasonal events provide the perfect opportunity for restaurants to connect with customers through email. Promoting holiday meals, catering options, and special events can increase revenue during peak seasons.

• Send promotional emails leading up to major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day. Highlight special menus or packages for dining in or takeout. Offer holiday catering for office parties and family gatherings.
• For Independence Day and Memorial Day weekends, promote backyard BBQ packages for pickup or delivery. Tie in patriotic decor and treats as add-ons.
• Partner with local event venues to cross-promote dinner packages with show tickets or room nights. Offer discounts on prix fixe menus before concerts, theater performances, and sporting events.
• Send emails reminding customers to make reservations for holiday meals and special events. Follow up after the event with a thank you and invitation to provide feedback on their experience.
• Develop holiday-themed loyalty rewards to incentivize return visits during slower seasons after the holidays. For example, a “January Recovery” promotion in the new year.
• Create engaging email content around seasonal ingredients, dishes, and desserts. Share holiday recipes and decorate emails with seasonal graphics.
• Time promotional emails to avoid getting lost in the shuffle of holiday spam. Test different messaging and timing strategies and watch analytics to see what resonates best with your audience.

Getting the timing and presentation right on holiday-themed campaigns can deliver a big boost in business during peak seasons throughout the year. Email is the perfect channel to remind customers you can handle their catering needs and help make special occasions memorable.

4. Birthday Offers

One great way to engage customers is by sending exclusive birthday offers and discounts. Many customers appreciate getting special treatment on their birthday. This helps create a more personalized and memorable experience with your restaurant.

Consider sending a customized email with an exclusive birthday coupon for a free dessert, appetizer, or discount off their meal. Make it easy for them to take advantage of the offer by including the coupon code right in the email.

You could also offer a free birthday gift like a t-shirt, hat, or special experience if they come in to dine at your restaurant on their birthday. This gives an incentive to visit your restaurant and can lead to them spending more during their celebratory meal.

Timing is important when sending birthday offers. Try targeting the email to arrive in the week leading up to their birthday. This allows them enough notice to make plans to visit your restaurant to redeem the offer.

Personalizing the subject line with the customer's name and mentioning their birthday makes it feel more special. The body copy should also include custom touches like "Happy Birthday Amanda!" to increase relevancy.

Birthday offers are a great opportunity to surprise and delight customers. With some creativity, you can design exciting exclusive offers that will make their day extra special.

The above-mentioned are the 4 key use cases of a restaurant email campaign.