Abby Weaver is the marketing director for Fajita Grill, a small restaurant with locations in Oswego and Fulton, New York, that successfully uses email marketing and its website to boost sales.
“Even before we opened the first restaurant, we had a website. It was just the basics with contact info, and was primarily used for online job applications. We were overwhelmed with responses and didn’t need to run any newspaper advertising.” Weaver said.
“Compared to direct mail where I had less than half a percent response rate, this is a no-brainer.”
Weaver says she limits her email to once per month, and has the coupons valid all month. She know nothing about website creation or HTML, but can fill in the email form, upload her photos and play with the look. Then she hits “send,” and her customers receive her specials in their inboxes.
In addition to phone, fax and hours of operation. Weaver chose to add menus, printable fax order forms, photos of their food and contact and employment forms.
Weaver said they have had a few customers unhappy when they left the store who, for some reason, didn’t ask to speak to a manager. They vented on the website, and the restaurant’s owners get the emails so they see what a customer said. We can then call the customer and offer a gift certificate or complimentary meal and patch up what might have been a lost customer relationship.
Photo by Fajita Grill.
Steve on January 29th, 2007 at 11:19 am
It’s amazing that more restaurants don’t utilize email marketing more. I get emails from a local brewpub advertising their beer of the month and monhtly food specials, and most of the time I go check them out. They have a release night for each of the beers, with food specials, and giveaways if you bring in the email.