Skip to main content
Category

Mail Designer 365 Newsletter Academy

Email Marketing Guide for Restaurants

By Gabrielle Mail Designer 365 Newsletter Academy

With a market value of over 465 Million Euros in Western Europe alone, it's safe to say that the food industry is one of the largest, most powerful industries in the world. For the average restaurant owner, this makes it extra important for you to stand out from your competitors and strengthen your connection with your customers.

Here are some of our top tips on how you can use email marketing to boost sales in your restaurant and build up long-lasting relationships with your diners...

Branding and Style

To kick things off, let's start by thinking about your brand and your target audience. This will massively help you to determine the style of your email and create the right aesthetic to really speak to your customers.

For a down to earth, family friendly eatery, feel free to use bright colors and focus on the happy, fun atmosphere of your restaurant. This vibrant email from Giraffe shows customers that the whole family is welcome:

Use bright colors and bold typeface to show off your restaurant's fun atmosphere.

A more sophisticated restaurant may want to opt for a refined approach, focussing solely on the atmosphere and quality of the food. Pizza Express use a minimalistic color scheme in this email and shine the spotlight on their delicious food:

A down to earth, minimalist theme is a great way to emphasise the quality of your food.

Building up your email list

The best way of getting contacts for your email list is by recruiting customers who already know and love your restaurant and want to stay informed. These are the customers who genuinely want to read your emails and will give you positive click through results.

One effective way of getting customers to sign up for your newsletter is by advertising it on your website and in the restaurant itself. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even offer an incentive such as a discount code when they register.

Here are some great examples of sign up boxes you could try on your website...

Bright and eye-catching from YoSushi.

Sleek and cool by Nando's.

Warm and inviting design by Wildwood.

Classic and inviting from Bill's.

Types of Emails

Now that you've got your email list built and ready to go, it's time to start deciding which types of emails you want to send your customers. For restaurant owners, there is a huge variety of options available to you when it comes to contacting your customers. Here are some of the most popular ideas...

The discount email

One of the most effective ways to kick off your email marketing journey is by offering all your new sign-ups a discount to say thank you. This will encourage them to come back to your restaurant and also make them feel appreciated.

The seasonal promotion

If you're lacking in ideas, take a look at your calendar for inspiration. See what events are coming up and plan an email campaign around them. This Father's Day promotion from Toby Carvery is a brilliant way to get customers to come and dine with their families and celebrate their dads:

Get inspired by seasonal events to create tempting promotional offers.

The family-friendly email

Do you have a lot of families visiting your restaurant or cafe? If so, this is another great theme you can utilise in your emails. Offer busy parents an incentive to choose you by emphasising the family-friendly nature of your business. This "kids eat free" promotion from Jimmy Spices is a clever way of attracting families to eat at their restaurant:

Show parents that they are more than welcome to bring their whole family along.

The newsletter

Many of your customers will have signed up to receive your emails because they are interested in what is going on with your business. Keep customers in the loop by sharing your most important news with them via your email newsletter. Alongside offers and promotions, this could also include information about...

  • Upcoming events (e.g. Open mic, quiz night, charity fundraisers.)
  • New menus or seasonal menus
  • Booking information for busy holidays
  • Important news such as closures or renovation work
  • Themed nights (e.g. Mexican night, Italian night...)

The Birthday email

Sending out a Happy Birthday email is a great way to build on your customer relationships and make them feel valued. This can be easily achieved by asking customers to fill in their birthday as part of the newsletter sign up process.

This example from YoSushi also provides an exclusive birthday offer to make the customer feel even more special on their big day:

Wish your customers a Happy Birthday and leave them feeling appreciated.

Booking confirmation emails

Sending a confirmation email to guests who have reserved a table at your restaurant is a great way to welcome them in advance and get them excited for their visit.

Show your restaurant's welcoming atmosphere by using personalization and a warm greeting. Don't forget to include all the essential details like date & time of the reservation, number of guests, location, your contact details, and a link to your menu so guests can start planning ahead!

The follow up email

Last but not least, a follow up email can also be a super effective way of showing your customer you care about their experience in your restaurant. This is easiest to achieve with a loyalty card system in place, so you can track when customers have visited your restaurant. Alternatively, you could also provide customers with a website where they can give their feedback.

A good follow up email will give customers the chance to rate their dining experience and help you improve in the future. This example from Nando's is a cheerful and colorful way to get customers to share their views:

Follow up with customers and use their feedback to improve your service.

We hope you have found these tips and ideas useful and will consider trying them out in your restaurant. For more information on how you can use Mail Designer 365 to create and send emails for your restaurant, head over to our dedicated restaurants page.

Get started with Mail Designer 365 today

Start your 7 day free trial and use your Mac to create stylish email newsletters for your business.
No credit card required
Compatible from macOS 10.13 onwards

Inspiration for your 2019 Email Marketing Calendar

By Mail Designer 365 Newsletter Academy

2018 is coming to an end, and for email marketers and businesses, going into a new year can be a daunting prospect. With so much to plan and consider, we wanted to make things a little more straightforward for you in 2019. Here are 12 inspiring dates for your 2019 email marketing diary...

January 21st: Blue Monday

Officially named the most depressing day of the year, Blue Monday is hardly a cause for celebration. As marketers, you can be clever and do your best to take advantage of this day by giving your customers something to smile about. This may be a special offer or discount, or simply a kind email to remind readers to hang in there!

Travel company EasyJet launched an 'Orange Monday' campaign offering discounts across flights and holidays as a way to cheer up customers from the Blue Monday gloom.

Take your customers' minds off the Blue Monday gloom by offering a sale or promotion like EasyJet's Orange Monday...

February 5th: Chinese New Year

Vibrant and colorful, the Chinese New Year is an exciting event observed by Chinese families worldwide. Get involved by integrating some aspects of Chinese culture into your email campaigns to celebrate the start of their year.

This clever email from Karen Millen is a humorous way to incorporate Lunar New Year celebrations into a marketing campaign:

March 8th: International Women's Day

International Women's Day is a great opportunity for you to celebrate your female customers and colleagues. A marketing campaign giving back to women's charities or simply an email recognising the day would be highly effective way to show women your appreciation.

April 1st: April Fool's Day

Widely known as a day to joke around and have fun, April Fool's Day gives you the perfect chance to show off your funny side to your customers. Try integrating an appropriate level of wit and humour into your emails to make your campaigns more interesting, but remember to stay on brand whilst doing so!

This funny email from Domino's Pizza is well on brand and incorporates just the right amount of humour for readers to appreciate it as an April Fool's campaign:

Keep the humour of your April Fool's campaigns on brand and relevant to your business

May 15th: International Day of Families

It is important for businesses to be family friendly and cater to different age groups. The International Day of Families is a great time to show that your business does just that. Try coming up with a promotion to benefit families, such as kids eat free, or discounts across children's toys or clothing.

June 1st: LGBT+ Pride Month

LGBT Pride is quickly becoming one of the biggest celebrations of the calendar, with large scale events and parades taking place worldwide. As a business, it's important for you to show your support for this movement and email marketing offers you a convenient way to make this happen. Whether you incorporate the rainbow theme into your design, or build a specialised campaign, any support will be widely appreciated.

This bright and colorful email by Harry's effectively communicates their support for the Pride movement. Donating the proceeds of their shave set to LGBT+ causes is a further way to give back.

Bright colors and genuine displays of solidarity like this one from Harry's are highly effective

July 20th: Moon Landing Anniversary

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Depending on the nature of your business, this could make a unique and interesting theme for an email campaign. Try incorporating celestial imagery such as stars and planets to create a space theme, or take the opportunity to promote any products with a connection to outer space.

August 11th: Eid Al Adha

Eid Al Ada is a great celebration for Muslims all over the world and for many, marks the start of the pilgrimage to Mecca. If you know you are likely to have many customers celebrating Eid, it would be a good idea to send out an email greeting, wishing recipients a happy Eid.

This effective email design from drumbeat is a lovely way to reach out to customers celebrating Eid and shows they care as an organisation:

Reach out to customers celebrating Eid by sending out an email greeting

September 13th: International Programmers' Day

This is one for all the software and tech firms out there... Show appreciation for your fellow programmers by giving a nod to them in your email campaign! Try offering a discount on new software which developers may find useful, or provide programmers with early access to your beta releases. They'll definitely appreciate you going the extra mile for them.

October 27th: Diwali

Diwali is a Hindu festival of light, which is particularly prominent in India, but also celebrated throughout the world with fireworks and colorful lights. Recognising Diwali in your email campaigns is a nice way to include all the recipients on your list who may also be celebrating this festival.

November 11th: Singles' Day

Originating in China, Singles' Day is a day dedicated to celebrating single people and is now massively growing in popularity. Many businesses use this as an opportunity to offer discounts and great deals to their customers. In particular, this holiday is popular with younger people in China, the UK and the USA.

NastyGal effectively celebrate singles with this cat themed email design offering 25% off their entire site:

Give your single customers something to celebrate by offering deals and discounts for Singles' Day

December 3rd: Giving Tuesday

Taking a break from the hype of Black Friday and Christmas marketing, Giving Tuesday is another charitable way to demonstrate your business's CSR and encourage customers to get involved in good causes. In the last few years, many big brands have gotten involved in the Giving Tuesday campaign.

This festive email design from ONA inspires customers to purchase a camera strap to support charity water:

Choose a charity to support and encourage your customers to give back for Giving Tuesday

We hope we have given you some ideas and inspiration for your 2019 email marketing calendar. Alongside the regular holidays and events in your planner, these events should give you some fresh and interesting new subject matter to create engaging emails with in 2019.

Until next time,
Your Mail Designer 365 Team

Give Mail Designer 365 a try today for free...

Mail Designer 365 helps you create stylish, professional HTML emails on your Mac. Download for free to see what you can achieve.

 

Try for free
Privacy Settings / Datenschutz-Einstellungen