Building an E-mail List

E-mail has become one of the most cost-effective ways restaurant operators can communicate with their customers. E-mail marketing campaigns are time sensitive and they engage a customer with a brand on multiple levels.

Building an e-mail list is crucial to restaurant operators wanting to get the most out of their e-mail marketing campaigns. For Ridgeland, Miss.-based McAlister’s Deli, building an e-mail list also involves staying true to their corporate philosophy: not to discount products and services and not to bundle.

MacDonald said the customer and employee incentives were what made building their list successful. McAlister’s held employee contests designed around the location that built the best list. The top employee prize was a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Cash prizes and others also were part of the program.

“We’re learning as we go with this particular program but we feel the interaction with the community will be important as we grow. We really wanted to be in that game and we also want to be on the front-end of that technology,” MacDonald said.

Punches Botta said McAlister’s is one example of a restaurant that has done a great job of building their e-mail list. “What we’re seeing now is people really, from general managers to servers, are starting to see the power of e-mail. They know if they can get two guests per day to sign up, each name contributes back to sales. It’s really identifying how it can boost sales for them,” she said.

http://www.fastcasual.com/article.php?id=6681&prc=10&page=17 By Valerie Killifer editor

Restaurants & Email Marketing

See Full Story  By: Mitch Bettis

Abby Weaver is the marketing director for Fajita Grill (Fajitagrill.com), a small restaurant with locations in Oswego and Fulton, New York, that successfully uses email marketing and its website to boost sales.

When did Fajita Grill launch its website?

Even before we opened the first restaurant, we had a website. It was just the basics with contact info, and was primarily used for online job applications. We were overwhelmed with responses and didn’t need to run any newspaper advertising.

How do you promote the restaurant’s website?

The website address is included in our email marketing. It is on our menus, fax order forms, table tents — everything.

Does your email marketing work?

I know it’s successful based on the response rate. We have about 300 coupons redeemed each month, a very high response rate for our list size. Compared to direct mail where I had less than half a percent response rate, this is a no-brainer.

Build customer loyalty with e-mail marketing

Your Internet-using customers are just a click away from entering your restaurant.

According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), one in four Americans is likely to receive e-mails from a restaurant. And Forrester Research reports that 65 percent of marketers think e-mail marketing will become more effective in the next three years.

Capitalizing on this trend, Qdoba Mexican Grill sends its customers e-mails for coupons, limited-time offers, birthdays and anniversaries. With each e-mail, Qdoba has a little more mouse time with customers.

“Our e-mail marketing program has been really great,” said Rachel Harper, marketing manager for Qdoba Restaurant Corp. “We’re able to get in touch with our customers on a more intimate level. We can send out a coupon in the morning and see significant redemptions by lunch time.”
See Article http://www.fastcasual.com/article.php?id=6463&prc=4&page=20

Building brand loyalty

According to the National Restaurant Association, about one in four full-service restaurants offer loyalty or rewards programs. The NRA predicts that 15 percent more will offer loyalty programs in 2007.

Given the trend, it is little wonder that San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. recently joined the ranks of restaurants that offer a frequent-diner program.

“Our main focus is listening to our guests and responding to them, and a loyalty program can help us achieve that,” said Ken Keane, executive vice president of marketing for Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. “We’re huge loyalty advocates. That’s how we drive our brand.”

According to NRA’s 2007 Restaurant Industry Forecast, 51 percent of adults surveyed in 2006 said they are more likely to patronize a restaurant that has a frequent-diner program, up from 46 percent in 2005.

Read the whole article http://www.fastcasual.com/article.php?id=6642&na=1

Restaurants reach out to customers through e-mail

At Garcia’s, 2,250 people are enrolled in the restaurant’s e-mail club, Lamparelli said. He uses the messages to publicize upcoming specials and discounts. A recent newsletter offered a free coffee, latte or espresso to any subscriber who brought in a copy of the e-mail (Lamparelli had just purchased a new espresso maker and wanted to get his staff “fluent” in how it worked).

After the elections in November, he used e-mail to get the word out about all those leftover campaign signs littering the roads. Bring in an old sign, Lamparelli offered, and receive a free appetizer. About 300 signs were turned in.

Read Full Article http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2007/01/08/story11.html?page=2&b=1168232400^1397914

Marketing to Diners

Question:
I own a restaurant. How valuable would it be for me to collect the names, addresses, and phone numbers of my customers?

Answer:
Most restaurants you eat at don’t get your name, address, and telephone. Let me share what I suggested to the owner of one my favorite restaurants in Washington, DC, after he challenged me to show him how to rapidly grow his business

http://www.restaurantreport.com/qa/mailinglist.html

You’ve got meal! Chains turn to e-mail to connect with customers

Clients of Fishbowl pay a $7,500 setup fee and from $100 to $300 per restaurant per month, depending on the size of the database, Shaw explains.

“When we first started, restaurant chain executives asked, ‘How do I know my customers have e-mail?’ Later it was, ‘How do I know this works?’ Now it’s, “How do I apply this to my business, and how long does it take to get going?'” Shaw recalls. “There has been a change in mind-set, either because [e-mail marketing] is logical to them now, or they have seen their competitors doing it.”

http://www.nrn.com/story.cfm?ID=7681703135&RNAStoryView=1

Keep your customers happy and coming back for more

Why should you care?

The 80/20 rule means that if you can define your critical few customers and target marketing directly to their needs, it’s likely to pay off big time. The cost of acquiring new customers, according to many surveys, runs 8 to 10 times more than the cost of keeping existing ones. So you get a stronger return on your marketing dollars and better sales by focusing on 20% or so of your top-tier prospects. Usually, that requires three steps:

•	Identify and characterize your key customers.
•	Target messages in suitable media to hit nerves among the important customer segments.
•	Build in a payoff that rewards customers for giving you time and attention.

Here’s how to stay connected to customers who count.

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Sub shops vie for customers on busy corner

What happens when the coupons, the sponsorships, the guerrilla tactics or pure serendipity brings customers in? “Once you get someone in the door, the quality of the product brings back 80 percent to 85 percent of the customers,” Post says.

Read Full Article by Christin Whittington http://www.gwinnettbizjournal.com/content.cfm?Action=story_detail&StoryID=1428