Best Practices Guide for Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful way to communicate with your customers and promote your restaurant. However, to be successful, it requires careful planning and execution.

Here are some best practices for email marketing:

1. Create an email outreach strategy: It’s important to first establish a goal and who your target audience is for your email marketing campaign.  Based on that strategy, you should come up with a plan of how to do the outreach to ensure the right customer engagement.
   
   
2. Build your email list: In addition to collecting emails from customers when they order online and opted into promotional communications, you can also collect emails when customers dine-in at your restaurant, or on your website or social media while offering incentives to sign-up such as a discount on their next meal or a free appetizer.
   
   
3. Personalize your emails: Address subscribers by their names and use dynamic content based on their past behavior, interests, or demographics. This will make your emails more engaging and relevant.
   
   
4. Design your emails: Use high-quality images of your food and restaurant to make your emails visually appealing. Use a clear subject line and include a call-to-action (CTA) that encourages customers to make a reservation or visit your restaurant.
   
   
5. Include valuable content: Your emails should include information on specials, upcoming events, new menu items, and other promotions. You can also include recipes, behind-the-scenes content, or restaurant news to keep your subscribers engaged.
   
   
6. Be consistent: Send emails on a consistent schedule, such as once a week or once a month, so your subscribers know what to expect. You should also consider sending an email the first time a customer makes a purchase and if they have not made a purchase in a while, to encourage repeat purchases.
   
   
7. Measure your success: Use email marketing analytics to track your open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. This will help you determine what's working and what needs improvement in your email campaigns. Learn more about our analytics suite to know how you can measure your success easily on our platform.
   
   
8. Offer exclusive promotions: Use email campaigns to offer exclusive promotions or discounts to your subscribers. This can help drive traffic to your restaurant and encourage repeat business. Find out here how you can create discount codes for your customers.
   
   
9. Stay compliant with applicable laws: Make sure you are following email regulations and other privacy laws such as CAN-SPAM, CCPA, and GDPR. One major requirement for CAN-SPAM is to provide an easy way for subscribers to unsubscribe from your emails and honor their requests promptly. Also, be transparent about your data collection and use policies, and consider obtaining explicit consent before sending promotional emails. Please note that if you require legal guidance, we recommend that you contact a qualified lawyer.

By following these best practices, you can create effective email marketing campaigns for your restaurant and build stronger relationships with your customers.