Setting up an email marketing strategy for your business

Sending a newsletter is something more than half of catering managers do monthly. According to research. It is an e-mail marketing strategy that ensures your customers are aware of your new menu, general facts, promotions or holiday periods. Handy, right!

However, you can make mailings even better for your business by using customer data. All the customer-specific data you collect on a daily basis can be used to send a personalised mail.

What is personalised e-mail marketing strategy?

Personalised e-mail marketing strategy is sending gpersonalised mail to different specific target groups. To do this, you divide your customer base into different segments based on interests, preferences or customer data. So you don't send a personalised newsletter to your entire customer base, but rather a tailored message to the appropriate target audience.

Why create a personalised mail?

For your email marketing strategy, it is important to create a personalised mail. In these digital times, people expect to be known. Therefore, it is best to remember your guests' interests and preferences and collect all the customer data the GDPR legislation allows you to. After all, you can use that data to send personalised mail or offers. This way, you offer your customers a personalised service, which helps cement a long-term connection.

Personalised e-mail marketing strategy is simply also very effective. Readers are more interested in the messages they receive. They actually start reading your emails and consequently they are more likely to come back to your business. A study by MailChimp shows that a segmented and therefore personalised mail is opened as much as 14% more often than a non-segmented mail. Those personalised mailings are also clicked on almost 100% more often!

How to segment for your email marketing strategy?

Unfortunately, research shows that almost 9 in 10 restaurants have yet to discover the benefits of segmentation. Are you one of these restaurant operators? We give you some tips to get started.

1. Collect lots of customer data for your personalised mail

Dividing your customer base into different segments is only possible if you have enough data. It is therefore best to create a customer database that you supplement in time. Collect all your customers' personal data in it, as well as reservation data, food preferences and interests. Resengo will automatically keep your customer database up to date for you. Handy! 

Divide your customer base into different segments that seem interesting to you. Standard segments are defined by factors such as age, place of residence and gender. Want more specific segments? Then try keeping track of which customers are more likely to be fish eaters, and which are meat eaters. Or keep track of which types of wine are loved by which customers. You can mainly get this information from your POS system. Also useful are links between your customer database, your reservations and your cash register. From such a link, you get a lot of important information that you can use as a basis for segmentation. An example of such a link is the integration between Resengo and the Lightspeed cash register system.

2. Send a newsletter with an offer

Once you have determined the segments, you can send out a newsletter with an offer. Meat lovers, for example, can be informed about the BBQ evening you are organising next Saturday. Fish lovers will be informed when the mussel season starts. That way, you immediately grab their attention!

3. Personalise the content of your newsletter

Use personal touches. It may sound obvious, but people feel more involved when they read their own name. In many mailing applications you can provide such a personal touch. Be sure to test it out!

4. Send newsletters with birthday wishes

Ask for your guests' birthdays when you make reservations, so you can pamper them when the day arrives. Sending your guests a newsletter a week before their birthday will make them feel personally involved. Give him a birthday discount, give a surprise or just wish him a happy birthday. This way, you remind the customer that your establishment is a great place to celebrate a birthday!