As we kick off 2016, email marketing remains a go-to strategy for restaurants because of its low cost and effectiveness (when done well). However, most restaurants can stand to get a bit more aggressive with their email marketing tactics.
Here are a few strategies you can employ this year to continue to build your contact list, see better results from your campaign, and get to know your customers better:
In an increasingly paperless world, it’s important for your restaurant to adapt to the amount of customers who don’t want to use paper coupons. The best way to do this is by developing smartphone-friendly coupons and accepting them directly from the customer’s device. With the help of That’s Biz, you can accept smartphone coupons in your restaurant with confidence thanks to the email strategies we use.
Our email marketing and coupon services allow you to limit smartphone coupons to a single use by customer with no POS integration required. After a customer redeems a coupon, it will no longer be accessible, so you don’t have to worry about customers trying to use a coupon multiple times.
You’ll be able to redeem coupons right from your customer’s smartphone in seconds while preventing employee and customer coupon fraud. What else could you ask for?
- The use of multiple signup forms. You should have multiple places on your website that allow people to sign up for your email newsletters and alerts, and also have the option for customers at your restaurant to sign up in person by filling out a paper form and turning it in to restaurant staff. Having multiple digital signup locations is particularly important, because it ensures people who visit your website will not miss the signup form. Try having it as part of the sidebar on every page, or have special call to actions on all of your landing pages that encourage readers to sign up for the mailing list. Wherever you choose to place it, it should be in a somewhat prominent location that is easily seen when a person first hits the page.
- User-specific redemption codes. Whenever you send special coupon offers over email, you want to be able to track who is actually using them. You can accomplish this with user-specific redemption codes. Not only do these codes help prevent people trying to re-use their promotions, but they also give you more insight as to who is using them and what types of promotions are most likely to get them to come in to the restaurant.
- Understand who your customers are. Simply adding Facebook ad tracking code to the coupons you email your customers will allow you to analyze your customers using tools from Facebook. You can understand your customers by age, gender, location and other interest factors.
That’s Biz can help you get off on the right foot with your email marketing this New Year. For more information, contact us today and we’ll be happy to speak with you.