Do you ever read an email and think, wow that was so generic or this was not designed with me in mind at all? As a digital marketer, I find that so often emails land in my inbox, with 0 thought, 0 intent and 0 personalisation - making me immediately swipe delete, click out or read a couple of lines before I get bored.
On the other hand, there’s a couple of food brands I just love receiving emails from, GRAZA, I’m looking at you. If you find yourself getting wrapped into the story or feel like you’re having a conversation with the owner of the restaurant - that’s often a great sign.
Some brands and restaurants just seem to get it. They know how to captivate attention, hook you in, and share insights that are actually engaging - with a personal touch.
Personalisation is so key here, and keep it short and bite sized - no one wants to scan through paragraphs of info to find the key points - make it clear and easy to digest.
If you need to say more on the topic, have a blog or article linked on your website where people can go for further reading.
I digress…
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, email automation is such a powerful tool for restaurants to speak directly to their customers, find out what their pain points are and address them immediately.
This article will guide you through the benefits of email automations, how to set them up, why they are important for you and your restaurant marketing and some best practices… strap in!
How Does Email Automation Help Restaurants Stay Connected with Customers?
Building Strong Customer Relationships with Consistent Communication
We all know the key to a good relationship, hint: it’s great communication. The same goes for you and your customers. They’re ready to hear your honest thoughts and opinions, whether it’s a birthday celebration note or an interview with the head chef. That’s where email automation comes in - allowing you to answer the questions, concerns and needs of your customers, at exactly the right time and hence, building a strong relationship with them.
We’re not saying this should be daily, but touching base with your customers every couple of months and keeping them in the loop - never hurt anyone.
And the best part? You can have these set up from the very start and have them rolling out and communicating with your customers (as if you had crafted it just for them), without you having to lift a finger.
What Are the Benefits of Using Email Automation to Drive Repeat Business in Restaurant Marketing?
So you might be asking, what’s in it for you? Aren’t we all. Well - just by touching base with your customers, could remind them you exist (life gets busy and humans are forgetful), you could inspire them to message the friend they’ve been desperately wanting to take here and get them to take action and book, or you could just be updating them on some new happenings in your venue.
The goal here is to increase repeat visitation.
And whilst there aren't exact statistics on the direct correlation between emails and bookings - 59% of consumers reported that marketing emails influenced their decisions, and 8 in 10 marketers consider email marketing a crucial tool for customer retention.
Personalised email automation is also a great way for you to reward loyal customers and thank them for choosing your venue, and who doesn’t love a little reward. We’ve seen this work countless times for some of the accounts we work on. By offering them something small like a $20 voucher to use on their next booking date, offering them a free dessert or cocktail you can make them feel valued, strengthening your relationship and also getting them to dine again (and tell their friends).
When to use a reward email automation series?
A great way to tell if you’re doing a good job and your customers like you is if they keep coming back again and again. And what better way to share the love back with a reward system to say thanks! We love incorporating a reward email flow that gets triggered every time someone has visited your restaurant 5, 10 or 15 times.
This gives us data from people who are truly a fan of your brand and what you have to offer - they’re your VIPs, the word of mouth that keeps your brand awareness growing organically and naturally.
Imagine your best customers getting a voucher and then telling all their friends about it. As humans we build deep connections with the things and places we love and your restaurant could be no different. Try testing this reward system out and see how you go!
A key here is only making the voucher valid for 30 days - so they have to come and see you again to put their voucher to use soon. We like to have 2 short reminder emails set up, one 2 weeks before it's about to expire and one when they only have 7 days left - we’ve seen some impressive numbers and uplift in bookings from this email automation strategy alone.
Why Is Email Automation Crucial for Enhancing the Customer Experience in a Restaurant Setting?
I’m sure you’ve visited a restaurant and have received a generic thank you for booking, hope to see you again soon email the day after. Does this influence you to book again, when you were literally just there? Often it’s way too soon for you to decide you’d like to go back… unless the service or food was truly exceptional - then kudos to you, you’ve definitely done something very right!
A great way to gauge how you’ve done - on the very first interaction with a new potential loyal customer - is to share a NPS score - which allows your guests to on a scale of 1 to 10 let you know how likely they are to refer you to a friend. We’d suggest this also comes with a very personalised email intro - in your brand's unique tone of voice that speaks directly to them.
This is often the first touch point you will have with a guest after they’ve dined - so you want to keep the spark alive (and not bore them with the same repetitive email automation they usually get) and get a feel for how good of a first impression you made. The NPS score review is great - as it goes directly to your inbox, before say they go and leave a (potentially) bad Google review.
How does this impact the customer experience in your venue? Well - having this NPS score review is like seeing directly into the minds of your customers and finding out what they liked and didn’t like. Consider it a secret weapon that allows you to address and take action on improving across any areas - whether it be quality, speed, customer service or maybe they’re just requesting more gluten-free options.
Your customers are the ones who engage with your brand often, listen to them.
We suggest business operators and owners read every single review (and you’d be surprised how often these get used) and implement them as quickly as you can.
How Can Your Restaurant Marketing Use Email Automation to Engage New Customers After Their First Visit?
So you’ve intro’d your brand to your customers, and you’re looking to re-engage and continue speaking to them without coming on too strong?
That’s where the revisit series comes in!
Download our free Hospitality Retention Email System here.
The Revisit Email Automation Series
Revisit Email #1
Depending on the scale and type of business your restaurant falls under, your customers could be missing your signature dumplings (or key menu item) after just 4 weeks. This is when we like to send out the first revisit campaign addressing their usual behaviour in the subject line - whether it’s a date night, dinner date, celebration or a quick lunch.
For e.g. if you’re a modern European restaurant the subject could be: “Time for a dinner date” or if you’re a Vietnamese city location it could be: “Need a quick lunch fix.”
The key to these is to keep them short & snappy, remind customers you exist and influence them to revisit - using great images or videos are highly recommended to address what you’re referring to in the email. Remember, visual content is the key to maintaining engagement.
Here is where we’d include a booking link and even introduce a secondary avenue within your business, whether it be functions, catering, gift vouchers or online ordering. If they’re not ready to take action straight away - maybe you can help them out with something else.
At the end of the day, solving your customers' problems is the key.
Revisit Email #2
Depending on how much they liked you the first time (don’t feel bad if this didn’t get them in straight away) - we like to touch base in 6-8weeks after their first booking. Typically we will also analyse how many times per year a customer would visit you, based on your average spend head and if you’re a special occasion venue or more of a quick casual spot - with the goal to increase the number of times they visit.
This email is a great time to offer something free - an incentive to book again to come and dine with you. Sometimes you have to give a little, to get a lot. Similar to rewarding loyalty, it could be something small like a $15 voucher, free glass of wine or dessert. It’s a great way to spark a reminder and get people talking to their friends.
We find that offering an actual monetary value is more effective that day, a 15% discount, as psychologically guests feel like they’re getting free money - which usually leads you to spend more anywhere, caus’ you have a voucher.
Revisit Email #3
The next email we send out is based on your guests last visit date, so if this was equal to 30, 60 or 90 days ago - we send an email out 7 days after this date. This one is more casual and generally just a reminder of the aspects of your business and what is on! If you’re a venue that changes up offers, this might be an email automation you have to jump in and update regularly.
A great way to frame this is by inviting them back to your venue to join you for x, y and z. They might even learn something new about your venue that they didn’t know you did, bottomless brunch, I’m looking at you.
What Types of Restaurant Marketing Emails Can Be Automated?
Thinking about the natural repeat visitation of your customers, can assist in when your customers might want to hear from you again.
Birthday Recurring Email Automations
I can guarantee that birthdays are a great way to touch base with your customers again, as often they’ll be looking for a place to celebrate with friends and family whether it be a milestone birthday or a smaller celebration.
When sending a birthday reminder, timing is everything.
You wouldn’t want to send it a few months beforehand and be too early and guests forget or even a week before and be too late. We suggest 2-3 weeks before their birthday date is a great time to send out an email incentive to book a birthday at your venue - you could even offer a free gift such as a cocktail on arrival or a free birthday dessert - to make them feel even more special.
For milestone birthdays, such as 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th and beyond - we suggest leaning toward the 4-6 mark so you give guests enough time to organise their guest list, send out invites, get their dietary requirements and finalise the finer details.
This could look like a happy birthday email and give insight into your function areas and spaces available and possibly a look into your set menu options for larger groups - giving them enough information they need to consider you as an option. Consider headlines such as “Claim your free birthday gift’ to encourage open rates and spark interest.
Function Reminders
The other time that guests are often doing research for venues is when they are in need of a function or event venue for a number of occasions! To stay top of mind and an option for anyone looking to host an event - we suggest setting this email automation up as a recurring email that goes out every 3 months - timing them so they launch prior to EOFY and EOY to also capture guests looking to celebrate those occasions.
Similar to the birthday email, you’d want to highlight key function areas and link these back to more information on the website where you can have individual pages ready for the intent behind each celebration or event, whether it be birthday, corporate event, engagement, etc!
Personalised automated emails can hugely impact your restaurant marketing success - with small touch points throughout the year to stay front of mind and continue building a strong relationship with your customers.
Remember, communication is key!
We hope you enjoyed reading this blog & you found it useful - we hope to see it in action soon.
Feel free to download our Hospitality Retention Email System here.
Comentarios