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• Industry traffic isn’t growing as it once was

Rev Up Sales with Online Ordering Plus Email Marketing

Whether your restaurant already offers online ordering to customers or you are considering introducing this feature in the future, make the most of it by using your email program to get the word out. In 2008, sixty-six percent of consumers surveyed said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message they received via email (ExactTarget, 2008). Serving as the cornerstone of your marketing strategy, email already compliments your direct mailings, online advertising and other marketing tactics, so sync your email marketing campaigns to promote online ordering as well. It can make the difference between simply giving your customers more convenience and creating an entirely new revenue channel. Here are some tips on how to use email to effectively maximize your online ordering’s revenue potential.

Spread the word

Get you customers excited about this new feature prior to the launch of your online ordering tool. Send out an email a few weeks before your online ordering system goes live to let your customers know that the new feature is coming soon. Your email subscribers are already big fans of your restaurant. With this added convenience, they will have yet another reason to remain satisfied and loyal.

Incentivize your very first customers

Send an email to your email subscribers announcing you are ready to accept orders online. Include a link to your site and a coupon for your very first online ordering customers. With an offer for 10% or $5 off their first order, more customers will be encouraged to try out the new feature right away, clicking through to your site right from the email.

Use Gift Cards to Boost Business in Tough Economic Times

With so many Americans feeling the pressure of tough economic times, it’s important to offer your customers an incentive to visit your restaurant. Use your electronic gift card program to expand your business in non-traditional ways. 

• Send your best customers a card pre-loaded with $5 to offset rising prices elsewhere. Pre-loaded gift cards can also bring in new customers who have never tried your restaurant. 

• Give them out at community or school events to encourage new visitors. 

• Reward your most loyal customers with a gift card (example - after 5 visits, give them a $15 gift card). 

• Or, give them pre-loaded cards to give to friends.

Of course gift cards can be used in traditional ways as well.  Good customers can give them as gifts to friends and family, further expanding your customer base.  Or encourage repeat customers to pre-load gift cards to use on future visits.  They can continue to reload as needed, guaranteeing repeat business.

Marketing a Restaurant in a Slow Economy: 5 Surprising Restaurant Marketing Lessons

A quick story today with a critical take-away for your restaurant business. Last week I decided to pop in on the Darden Restaurants shareholder conference call. When a company like this is sharing what they do and why, and what they see going on in the market place, I sit up and listen. Nobody gets to be a 180,000-employee company by sheer luck. There is always a reason and a method. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one listening to that call. The next morning foodservice and restaurant publications were super-prompt to announce that Darden was “finally” experiencing a slowdown because of the state of the economy.

And they entirely missed the point that I found the most important. Yes, pretty much all of Darden’s concepts were down by about 3.7%, which is on par with the overall foodservice industry index. However, Olive Garden (one of Darden’s concepts) was doing extremely well. Olive Garden grew 2.4% in same restaurant sales for this quarter over the previous quarter this year. Not a single analyst noted this very remarkable fact — Olive Garden is doing well. In fact, so well compared to the rest of the industry, it deserves a look to understand what specifically they do and how they get to be so successful.