You’ve made the decision to fully commit to email marketing. You’ve heard time and again that the ROI is incredible and customers respond well to email communication. The fact of the matter is that 86% of U.S. adults would like to receive promo emails at least monthly from businesses they love.

So What’s Next?

Today, we begin the first step of your email marketing life: you need to build your email list.

First of all, you’re not alone in this journey. 71% of restaurants have email lists of less than 50 people, which is nowhere close to enough to meet your goals. But growing a list isn’t easy. At the end of the day, manually entering the emails from the jar of business cards next to the mints is time consuming, error-filled, and ineffective. There are better ways to spend your time, especially in your busy restaurant.

Here’s the dirty secret: email lists need to be easy for customers to join, and the emails you send need to be highly relevant in order to be successful. That’s how you drive engagement. That first step–collecting emails and growing your list–can be done in several ways, but it’s a must-do to ensure your campaigns are effective. After all, simply reaching a measly 50 people with an email isn’t what you’re after.

Depending on your restaurant, you should consider a combination of different email collection methods. Here are some of our favorite ways to enhance email collection and build your list better and faster than you ever thought possible.

Collect Emails Faster

  • Place a “sign up” call to action or widget on every consumer-facing page, from your website to social media
  • Maintain and communicate a birthday club with special offers for those on your email list
  • Leverage the free WiFi in your restaurant in exchange for an email address
  • Create exciting, creative, visual posts that encourage people to sign up for your mailing list on all social media channels
  • Collect emails at exhibits, trade shows, or conferences via iPads and laptops while people chat and network Include an email sign up in your personal email signature
  • If you have a list of physical addresses, send your customers an offer exclusively redeemable by email sign up
  • Advertise online-only discounts on the website and social media pages
  • Run mini giveaway campaigns on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are especially great channels) in exchange for joining your email list Collect emails via a QR code on menus, fliers, coasters, etc. to make it easy for customers to add themselves during down time

Your email list is an incredibly important tool for advertising your business and reaching your customers. Like any other asset, your email list requires attention and maintenance, so picking a solution that populates your list for you and keeps it updated will likely save you tons of time. Consider using an email collection software that not only updates your list, but gives you demographic information on the people who’ve joined.

Emails Breed Loyal Customers

Remember: the people on your email list are the ones most likely to become your loyal customers. They are your brand ambassadors, so make sure to treat them as such.

Email is one of the most effective ways to remind your customers of your brand and invite them to return. The way you engage with your email list establishes essential connections with your guests and keeps them coming back time and again. When used correctly, email lists have incredible potential to grow your business.

But the first step? Make sure you’re talking to as many people as possible, and that you know the right thing to say. Reach them in the easiest way possible with Adentro.

Adentro makes it easy!{{cta(’93c83711-ba9e-4b0b-8a86-31919485ade6′,’justifycenter’)}}

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Marketing