Out of the different types of marketing campaigns, email marketing remains the primary strategy for more than 80% of small businesses. Nevertheless, creating flawless email campaigns can be a daunting job.
Efficient tools can make the job easier. You can spend less time creating and sending emails while increasing your email marketing ROI. Research shows that using automation platforms can save up to 30% of your time!
Additionally, AI in restaurants can streamline operations, personalize customer experiences, and optimize efficiency to significantly grow your business.
In this guide on the best email marketing software for restaurants, we discuss 5 of the best automation platforms to help you create a killer email marketing strategy.
Email Marketing Software Comparison: What To Look For?
Before we dive into the best email marketing software for restaurants, here are some things to look out for when choosing such software. Keep these in mind when comparing email marketing tools. Many restaurants have significantly increased their customer engagement by leveraging fishbowl email marketing to send targeted promotions and personalized offers.
Price
The price is one of the first things that pop into your mind when you compare email marketing solutions. It’s a point I would take into consideration.
Most e-mail marketing software and email marketing automation software comes with a free account or free trial. It’s a great way to try out several automation tools before deciding which works best.
Keep into account, though, that free accounts and cheap email marketing software mostly comes with limits or restrictions. Setting up a new email marketing tool also takes time and effort. So, try to make considered choices before taking on a trial or free plan.
On top of that, you want to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. Let’s say you pay a low fee for a cheap service. But if it doesn’t offer tools like restaurant CRM insights, and WiFi CRM capabilities, you’re not reaching your full potential.
Eventually, you just have to deal with the fact that the best email marketing solutions come with a price. The best way to think about it is to pay a small fee to make more sales while saving time.
Mobile Optimization
The price was one of the more obvious points to remember for comparing the best email marketing services. Mobile optimization however, is more often a forgotten one. Be that as it may, it’s one to heed.
Almost 20% of the email marketing campaigns are not optimized for mobile devices. That is kind of a shocking fact if you consider that more than 60% of emails are opened on a mobile phone. If you are not optimizing your email for mobile yet, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. However, it might be a good idea to start looking into it.
It is a good idea to look out for email marketing software that provides easy-to-use mobile optimization. They often offer previews, allowing you to make changes for different devices.
Mobile marketing for restaurants involves using strategies like SMS campaigns and mobile apps to engage customers and drive foot traffic through targeted promotions and convenient ordering options.
Scalability
When you have just opened your restaurant or started with email marketing, scalability seems far down the road. It still is possible that your needs change over time. Switching software for your email marketing can be a pain, so it’s better to think ahead.
Choose an email marketing tool that allows you to start small and grow big. Scaling often comes with a price tag, but if you work on growing your restaurant email list, you increase your revenue. With the extra money you make, you should be able to afford to spend a few dollars a month on email marketing software.
More Things To Consider
We’ve discussed the three most important points to consider when comparing the best email CRM software for restaurants. Here are some more to keep in mind:
- Reliability. You want your email to be delivered. Check customer reviews to find out if the software is reliable.
- Ease of use. Seems pretty obvious to me. I wouldn’t like to spend a month on figuring out how things work. The interface should be user-friendly and easy to understand.
- List segmentation. List segmentation is very important for email marketing for restaurants. Segmentation is a way to differentiate the subscribers on your list. It allows you to send different email sequences to subscribers in different stages of the buying process or in different parts of the country etc.
- Automation. Thank customers for their booking, send them a reminder for their reservation, and ask for feedback after the dine in the restaurant. Finding the best email automation platform is key to saving time and effort.
- Customer service. Are you stuck? Is something not working? Don’t understand your bill? Contact the customer service! They just have to be available. Check out how and when you can contact the service team and read reviews to find out if they are any helpful.
6 Best Email Marketing Software for Restaurants in 2023
Worldwide, there are 4 billion daily email users, and we don’t expect this number to stop growing soon. Don’t hesitate any longer and reach out to them by email. Below, we’ll list the best email marketing campaign software for restaurants that make it incredibly easy to get in touch with your prospects and customers via email.
The same way that Bloom Intelligence and Beambox are the top WiFi marketing services, these are the top Email marketing software providers. Take a minute and read through to find your perfect fit.
1. MailChimp - Best for New Restaurant Owners on a Budget
- Price: From $11 a month once you grow out of the free plan.
- Usability: Easy to use with basic features.
- Best features: Generous free plan, beginner-friendly, basic features.
- Cons: The free plan of MailChimp only offers 30 days of email support. After the first month, you must figure out the software with their knowledge base.
- More info: Visit MailChimp
The free plan of MailChimp provides a great way to start with email marketing. There is no time limit for using the software for free. You simply grow out of it if you send more than 10,000 e-mails a month or have more than 2,000 email subscribers.
MailChimp offers premade templates that are easy to adjust in their user-friendly drag-and-drop editor. It is possible to preview your emails in desktop and mobile view and set up sequences.
The dashboard offers insights into your campaigns, like open rates and click-throughs. Although it is not as extended as other platforms, it is a great email marketing service for restaurant owners on a budget. Plus, they have have a mobile version that’s a powerful app for the modern restaurant owner on the go.
2. BenchMark - Best for Small and Medium-sized Restaurants
- Price: From $15 a month if you send more than 250 email a month.
- Usability: Easy to use interface with lots of features.
- Best features: Great segmentation options, full video integration, carry out polls and surveys.
- Cons: Free plan is mediocre.
- More info: Visit BenchMark
Benchmark is not as generous as MailChimp in their free plan, as it’s limited to 250 emails a month. Don’t let that hold you back straight away because Benchmark is one of the best email marketing software for restaurants.
Why? Because of all the features, they provide for restaurant owners. Their entire video integration allows you to give people an impression of your meals and the restaurant’s vibe.
Restaurant marketing software helps streamline promotional efforts, customer engagement, and operational tasks, making it easier for restaurant owners to manage their marketing campaigns effectively.
The sky is the limit when it comes to segmentation options. It is a great way to divide your email subscribers into categories, like vegetarians or meat lovers, or whether they are takeaway or eat-in customers.
Last but not least, Benchmark makes it possible to create polls and surveys. Features that allow you to receive feedback from your customers with ease.
3. ConvertKit - Best for Improving Location-based Conversions
- Price: Free for up to 1,000 subscribers, then from $29 a month.
- Usability: Easy to set up their primary processes.
- Best features: Responsive design, drag-and-drop editor, precise-targeting, and subscriber tagging.
- Cons: Only three pre-made templates.
- More info: Visit ConvertKit
ConverKit offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers. That sounds quite generous, but this free plan has a little downside. With the free plan, it is only possible to send out broadcasts to your subscribers using newsletters. . Unfortunately, it is not possible to set up automated sequences. The plan is excellent if you just want to send out updates to your customers. Not so great if you’re going to take your email marketing to the next level.
Once you commit to paying for your subscription, ConvertKit has a lot more to offer. Their precise targeting and subscriber tagging make this the best email marketing software for restaurants that want to improve location-based conversions.
The software comes with only three pre-made templates. It is not a lot, but their intuitive editor makes it easy to change them according to your preferences or create your designs from scratch. All elements are responsive, so you don’t have to worry about mobile design.
4. AWeber - Best Email Marketing Software for Beginners
- Price: From $26 a month after reaching 500 subscribers.
- Usability: Easiest email editor of all.
- Best features: Split testing, detailed insights and analytics, advanced email marketing automation, using Canva in the email editor, segmentation.
- Cons: More advanced features only available in the pro plan.
- More info: Visit AWeber
The free plan provides everything you need to get started, like email templates, sign-up forms, landing pages, and a drag-and-drop editor. You only start paying if your email list grows over the free limit of 500 subscribers.
AWeber offers over 700 free pre-made templates that are super easy to modify with their stunning drag-and-drop email builder. The editor is effortless, and that is ideal for beginners. Another great advantage is that you can use Canva directly in the editor to create the most unique designs.
Although the free plan comes with everything you need to start, upgrading to the pro plan is essential for more advanced features. With the pro plan, it is possible to split-test different email designs and use advanced email automation.
- Price: From $10 a month after the free trial.
- Usability: Best user interface; beginners can start without explanation.
- Best features: Canva integration, video, SMS message sign-up, split testing, segmentation.
- Cons: No free plan, not a lot of advanced features.
- More info: Visit Constant Contact
If you want to keep your email marketing strategy simple and easy, Constant Contact is the way to go. They offer a free trial for 60 days in the US and 30 days elsewhere. After the free trial, prices start from $10 a month for up to 500 email subscribers.
Why is Constant Contact best to keep email marketing simple? For several reasons. Foremost, their user interface is the easiest in the industry. Even if you are a total newbie to email marketing software, it is very intuitive. They offer 400+ pre-made templates, some specially designed for restaurants. Moreover, the Canva integration makes it simple to personalize any templates.
Furthermore, the software offers over 300 integrations, which makes it effortless to fit with your existing workflow. For example, you can integrate your restaurant’s social media posts to stay in touch with customers through different channels.
Automation is limited to three options only, but for small restaurants that like to keep things simple, this might be enough.
6. Sendinblue - Best for Restaurants With Online Orders
- Price: Free plan and from $25 a month if you want to send more than 300 emails per day.
- Usability: Clean and straightforward user experience.
- Best features: Segmentation, no contact limit, personalization, transactional emails, chat function on your website, SMS marketing.
- Cons: Landing page builder only available in the premium plan
- More info: Visit Sendinblue
Sendinblue offers a clean and straightforward user interface with a great free plan. The only limit it has is that you can send a maximum of 300 emails a day. Still, you can add unlimited customers to your email list. So, if you use the extended segmentation options well, you can stay in the free plan for a long time.
You may also want to know that digital marketing for restaurants involves utilizing online platforms and strategies to attract and engage customers, increase brand awareness, and drive sales, leveraging tools such as social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and online advertising.
Another remarkable fact about the free plan is that features have no downgrade. You receive everything the paid plans offer except a landing page builder. So, Sendinblue offers a free plan that allows you to try out the software.
Besides email marketing, you can also get ahead with SMS marketing for your small business via Sendinblue. On top of that, you can add a chat function to your website to create a great user experience for your customers to get in touch with you.
Implementing analytics software for restaurants can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, operational efficiency, and financial performance, helping owners make informed decisions to enhance their business operations.
Wrapping It Up
There are many companies that provide email automation software. This guide collected the top 6 best email marketing software for restaurants. Though, don’t let this hold you back from doing more research on other important marketing software tools for restaurants and a hospitality guide to email marketing.
Choosing the best email marketing software provider for your restaurant is an important job. Think ahead, keep scalability in mind, and don’t let a monthly fee withhold you from getting the extra features and options that can improve things even more. Remember, the cheapest restaurant advertising service shouldn’t be your only option.
Tap into popular restaurant marketing ideas and trends by bringing a social media strategy into play to promote your business. Compare the cost and performance of SMS marketing and email marketing campaigns. In the end, all that matters is that you save time, grow your list and keep your subscribers engaged, because that is how you generate sales.
You can take your marketing strategy to the next level through WiFi marketing software and benefits with Beambox. Start your thirty-day free trial and turn your free WiFi into a machine for growth.
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