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| Free Hospitality Publications |
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Restaurant Industry News
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Tuesday October 24th, 2006 |
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Fast casuals draw customers with e-mail marketing
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Cost effective, easy to use and measurable, e-mail marketing costs pennies per contact - far less than traditional direct mail. No wonder so many companies are utilizing it to carry their messages and offers directly to customers. |
According to a recent survey from Interland, 60 percent of small- and medium-sized companies use or are interested in using e-mail marketing, while Forrester Research reports that 65 percent of marketers think e-mail marketing will become more effective in the next three years.
The growth of ExactTarget, a custom e-mail purveyor based in Indianapolis, is proof positive that e-mail is now seen as an important component in marketing strategy, not only for restaurants, but particularly so in the fast-casual segment. The firm has nearly 5,000 clients - an increase from five years ago when there were just 400 - including restaurants such as Max & Erma's and those under the Lettuce Entertain You umbrella.
"The goal for every one of our clients is to develop a closer relationship with individuals, their customers," said Chris Baggott, chief marketing officer of ExactTarget. "E-mail offers a means to do just that. Businesses work so hard to acquire these folks, and it becomes a question of how best to retain them."
One of ExactTarget's largest clients is Rewards Network, a loyalty-program company that provides contact-management technology for restaurants. Rewards Network uses ExactTarget's e-mail platform on behalf of its clients, an outsourcing strategy that allows restaurateurs to track customer data, such as offer response rates and e-mail click-throughs.
Further proof of the popularity of e-mail marketing is seen in the explosive growth of Constant Contact's clientele. In December 2005 the company announced that it passed the 50,000 customer mark, a two-fold increase over the previous year's 25,000 customers.
"Businesses of all sizes, but particularly those that thrive on frequent, repeat business, such as restaurants in the fast-casual category,, rely on e-mail marketing to drive customers back into the restaurant, attract new customers, develop stronger relationships with existing clientele, and build brand awareness," said Janine Popick, chief executive of San Francisco-based VerticalResponse.
Such a strategy has worked for Shaun Ito, owner and manager of Lollicup Tea Zone in Irvine, Calif., who launched permission-based e-mail marketing using mUrgent Corporation's EMPACT (E-mail and Wireless Marketing Manager). "We started low-cost guerrilla marketing with the standard techniques: money mailers, clipper coupon packages, campus and door-to-door leafleting, health fairs and other event sponsorships with high foot traffic.
"We quickly saw that our target market was more than 90 percent Internet-savvy young adults. So we added permission-based e-mail because of its hyper-efficiency and its natural appeal to our target audience."
Ito's initial advertising reached more than 10,000 local residents, but more importantly, he captured more than 1,500 personal e-mail addresses from shop visitors. New e-mails are collected daily with a voluntary sign-up sheet at Lollicup's service counter. Customers also can register their e-mails directly on the Lollicup Web site.
External Source - For the complete article click here
Source - FastCasual.com
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