Email Marketing for the Food & Beverage Industry
Ready for some hot email marketing tips for the food and beverage industry? Here are a few ways you can use email marketing to get more people excited about ordering.
Build Your List & Nail Down Your Strategy
The best place to start is at the beginning. Start by defining your goals. What do you want to achieve by sending emails? Do you want them to click on a menu and order online? Stop in and dine in on a specific day? What about getting more excitement around a specific location?
Start by listing the things you want to achieve through email marketing and you can then begin to create campaigns for each of your specific goals.
Understand Your Audience
The food and beverage industry has it easier than most – you are solving one of the most basic needs we all have – hunger! The challenge is that you are facing a lot of competition. So what makes your restaurant different? Put yourself in the place of your audience. Who is your ideal customer? A business person stopping for lunch has a different core need than a large family. The benefits you highlight will vary depending on who your audience is. Consider what they want and create your messaging and offers around this.
Some examples of a differentiator:
- Offer an exclusive menu for foodies
- Sending coupons for “Kids Eat Free Monday” to offset a slow time.
- Catering and large group accommodations
- Gourmet or niche food specialties they can’t find anywhere else
Your business model and who you serve will serve as the roadmap for messaging and offers. Think of your audience first and great messaging will follow.
More Email Marketing Tips to Get More Customers
We would be remiss if we didn’t talk a little bit more about what to send with our free email templates for food and drinks. Get your pens ready for more good ideas.
Taking Pictures That Get Clicks
Whether or not your menu already has food images, taking candid and fresh photos - maybe even short videos or gifs with a little movement - can get you a lot of attention. Try taking photos in natural light straight over the dish for the best appeal. Send these through the week or on a special occasion to get your customers ready for more.
Have You Tried Personalizing?
Personalization can be as simple as adding their name to the email or recommending dishes based on their preferences and past orders. The sky is the limit!
Re-Engagement Campaigns
Along the lines of personalization, a re-engagement campaign is sent after a certain time has elapsed since they ordered with you. Offering a special discount to woo them back can be a great way to earn back repeat business and gain a loyal customer.
Test Different Elements
Anyone can do an A/B test, even without fancy email marketing software. Separate two groups of your email subscribers, and start by testing one specific element at a time. Test images, subject lines, messaging – anything you want. But make sure that you are only testing one element at a time in both groups.
Keep Emails Concise, Clear & Targeted
You know your customers are busy, so keep your emails concise with one (or just a few) tempting offers. Our templates are designed to help you stay on point and get results so what’s stopping you? Get started today by downloading one of our pro templates.
Our free templates make it easy to build a healthy email marketing plan and even experiment to find more of what works.
