Most restaurant organizations have developed some form of a customer email program. Many have even built sophisticated marketing and branding campaigns around their email databases. Such programs constitute a significant business asset. It is for this reason that an effective rewards program should compliment and enhance that system rather than diminish it.
In a 2014 study conducted by consulting firm, Deloitte, they found that restaurant customers preferred to be contacted by email more than by any other means, including social media. Thus, restaurants utilizing email as a primary conduit to interact with and market to customers are already on the right path. The main problem most restaurants have is onboarding new customers into their email programs- something that can be fixed.
Signing Up Customers
Getting customers to sign-up for an email club can be difficult, even if the enrollment process is prominently advertised on your website. Customers visiting your website are most often there to get a quick piece of information, like your location, hours, or maybe to scan your menu. They are typically not there to enroll in an email club, and few will take the time to do so no matter how well you market it. There are simply better venues and methods for increasing new customer enrollment.
If your website isn’t the best place to solicit customers, then what is? Believe it or not, it’s actually your restaurant. Because smartphone usage has become almost ubiquitous in our society, the vast majority of customers are capable of connecting with you easier than ever before. However, all this means is that the timing and presentation of your pitch is even more important, as you need reach people when they are free of external distractions and open to considering your offer.
Right Place, Right Time
After months of testing, we have determined that the optimal time and place to engage customers is when they are sitting right in front of you, face-to-face, in your restaurant. Reaching guests at this juncture has proven to be tremendously effective for acquiring new customer enrollment, as guests are already absorbed into your environment and usually have a few moments to consider why they would like to engage with you.
Once you have a customer’s attention, you need to present them with a reason that is compelling and provide them with a mechanism for joining that is easy. Simply asking someone to join an email club on a beverage napkin is often less than compelling, even if you do offer special benefits. Unfortunately, many people perceive standalone email clubs to be of little value given that too many of them actually are. This is where having a full-fledged rewards program can create an aura of credibility and value in the customer’s mind.
Give Them A Reason To Join
When customers are presented with the opportunity to join a rewards program, there is a greater sense of a relationship being formed between the customer and the business than there is with an email club. Where an email club is a one-way interaction, a rewards program implies reciprocation. The business is now special in the eyes of the customer and the basis of a true loyalty relationship is beginning to form. The customer sees the rewards program as way for their continued patronage to be appreciated and rewarded.
Using this value proposition, the process of onboarding customers becomes much easier and much more successful. When customers are offered the opportunity to join your rewards program, they are automatically becoming members of your email club. Our strategy involves not only presenting customers with the program in a very classy way- one which conveys true value- but also gives them multiple mechanisms to enroll via smartphone without ever needing to download an app.
Our program’s format is designed to be both fast and frictionless because the last thing you want is to lose a customer who has expressed interest in engaging your brand because the process is too cumbersome or complicated. We have made every effort ensure that does not happen. Our program is capable of signing up thousands of new customers for your rewards program and, thus, your email club. We think both tools are necessary, but must work in tandem. You can achieve exceptional results when both strategies are designed to compliment one another in parallel, allowing you to leverage and multiple each tool’s overall effectiveness.
If you are interested in learning more about how our program can help your restaurant organization, please email us at sales@jettisystems.com.