[00:00:00] Speaker A: Email remains the preferred mode of communication between consumers and the brands they support. Guess what? You got a brand and you've got consumers who support you. Those are your diners. They want you in their inboxes. On today's episode, I'm going to share six tricks, things that if you want to level up your email marketing, if you want to have a more comprehensive, more successful strategy, just implement these and you will be set. I promise you. All good, all tactical, all highly actionable. On today's episode of Restaurant Strategy, there's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name is Chip Close and this is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast that exists to help you build a more profitable restaurant. We do two episodes every single week. You can find us on YouTube, to find us on Instagram, on TikTok, on Facebook, all over the place. You can also work directly with me and the other coaches on my team through the P3 mastermind. It's a group coaching format where we work with very capable, very accomplished restaurateurs who just aren't making what they know they deserve to make from their restaurants. If you're struggling with profitability, if you want to hit a consistent, predictable 20% every single month, I promise you, it, it is possible. Currently work with over 150 members spread across four different groups. The best way to start a conversation is to go to restaurantstrategypodcast.com schedule grab some time on the calendar. The call is absolutely free. We'll get to learn more about you and your restaurant. You'll get to ask more questions about the program. And let's see if you are a fit. Absolutely no pressure, but it's an incredible community. If you want to be a part of it, we'd love for you to be a part of it again. RestaurantStrategyPodcast.com Schedule as always, that link is in the show notes now. The National Restaurant association show happens every spring in Chicago. This year it's May 17th to the 20th. And guess what? I will be on stage delivering a talk. Actually, I'm going to be podcasting live from the floor on Sunday morning and Monday afternoon. Then I'm giving a talk on the last day on Tuesday, May 20. If you are going to be there, I want to know about it because I want to connect. And if you're on the fence, man. This is me pushing you off the fence. Please come. It's the biggest event of the year by far. Thousands of vendors, tens of thousands of attendees. It is the place to be. And again, if you need anything to convince you further, I'm going to be on stage giving a brand new, new talk, a talk I've never given before. I cannot wait. If you want to be there, I want you there. Again. The National Restaurant association show happens Chicago, May 17th to the 20th and I will see you there. Link is in the show notes to get your tickets if you don't have them already.
Okay, so we're talking about some tricks, how to make the most of your email. Again, most of you have heard me say if you, if you're not using email, you have to. It is the easiest, most cost effective way to keep in touch with your consumers, your diners. It is a perfect way to stay top of mind. And as I said at the top of the show, it is the profo.
It is the preferred mode of communication between consumers and the brands they support. So what I'm going to share with on today's episode are six hacks, six tricks to get the most from your email. Maybe you've heard some of these or all of these. Maybe you've never heard any of this. Great. Take notes. Here we go. Number one, I want to introduce you to the one to one to one principle. So P3 members out there listening will roll their eyes because they hear me talk about this all the time. But when you send emails, no more monthly newsletters, no more weekly newsletters. Right? So a newsletter means there's a lot of information packed into one thing. That's not what I want you to do anymore. Instead, I want you to think of something called the one to one to one principle. One email, one message, one call to action. So this is an email about our catering program. Click here to learn more. Right. This is an email about our Thanksgiving reservations. Here are some details about it. Click this link to book your reservations. Right. So one email about this and this is what to do once you've learned about this thing. So whether it's a wine dinner, it's catering, it's whatever it is, the one to one to one principle. One email, one message, one call to action. Do it. No more tons and tons of links. The one exception to that is the PS link. What happens? This is the second point. Data shows that PS links get clicked more than any other link in an email. That's across all markets, markets Many industries, not just for restaurants. So if you're writing an email right now, taking reservations for Mother's Day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, click here. And then if you've also got, let's say, a limited edition box of chocolates at the bottom, right, Then put a link and say, not able to join us for brunch. Consider sending mom a, you know, a box of our handcrafted chocolates. And then there's another link there, right? So it's mostly about brunch at your restaurant, but then it's basically saying, but maybe you've already made brunch plans or maybe you don't want to go out. Just click this link. Why don't you get mom something special, like a box of chocolates, right? PS links, right? Not every email needs a PS link, but I would use them from time to time. It's really, really important.
The third point I want to make is emojis in the subject line. If you open your email either on your desktop or in your phone, you're going to see it's words, words, words, words, words, words, wor. Then you're going to see one with an emoji and it's going to pop out. And before you say, well, that's not my brand, my brand is more elegant, et cetera, that is crap. When it comes to marketing your business, your goal is to get read. Your goal is to get that email opened. So I would do whatever I could to make sure that people open my email. Otherwise they'll never get the message, the offer, the thing you want to tell them. Use emojis in the subject line, preferably right in the very first spot before any of the copy. Those are the first three tricks I'm gonna share. Another three tricks after a word from another one of our sponsors.
Now, Sterling Douglas is the co founder and CEO of a company called Chowley. Chowley does so much for this industry. And I want you to hear a little bit from Sterling.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: In the last few years, restaurants have faced massive changes. Labor costs, food costs, rent, even payment processing costs are up so much that price increases alone can't cover it. And at the same time, their customers are demanding a whole new way to interact digitally. And that's now a requirement to survive, let alone thrive. To their credit, restaurant operators have been resilient. They've survived pandemics, inflation, regulatory environments, and more. They've added the tablets, put out the QR codes, took reviews seriously, and their reward? A disjointed collection of tech that doesn't talk to each other and is impossible to manage. I've listened to hundreds of operators tell me the same story with the same problems. And that's why we came out with the Chale platform. One place to manage everything outside of your four walls. Just like everything built at Chale for our 17,000 restaurants, integrations and connections are at the heart of everything we do. It starts with your digital storefront. Your website has two jobs, more traffic, more orders. By connecting to Google Business Profile and your point of sale, we get that done for you. Digital marketing. We'll manage your paid ads, emails and social posts. We'll help you win the hyperlocal knife fight to maximize your sales. We measure everything so you know exactly where your orders are coming from. Marketplace, email, website, ads, app, all in one place.
CH gives you more orders by ensuring your entire digital storefront is optimized with the data. You already have more time by using our knowledge in a done for you experience and more control by managing it all in one place. The Chale platform isn't just a tool, it's a partner in running a more successful and profitable restaurant.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: If you want to learn more about Chowley, go find the link in the show notes.
Now, today's episode, we're talking about email marketing and I'm just sharing six hacks. Little tricks you can do to level up your marketing. The first three I shared, number one was the one to one to one principle, right? One email, one message, one call to action. Number two was all about the ps, right? The data shows that actually the link that's in the PS at the bottom of the email gets often gets clicked more than any other link within the email. So I wouldn't abuse it, but from time to time I would definitely use a PS message and link. And then we talked about your subject lines. How do you get your emails opened? Well, you first have to make sure your subject lines are getting read. Use emojis in the very first spot in your subject line. Now I'm going to share four, five and six. Number four, I'm seeing a lot of this and I don't know if you guys are seeing this. I've actually heard a couple of really smart marketers talk about this, about how now emails, especially from companies or even from companies, they're getting personal, right? So they're sharing their own story. They're talking about individual people there. It's not just a brand selling stuff, but they're talking about who they are, their why, their mission, what's important to them, what they do beyond the business, what sort of community affiliation they have, their philanthropy, all of that. However you interpret that, my advice is challenge yourself this year to get personal. This is something that I haven't really done all that much. I do it on the podcast, but I haven't done that in my email. And I'm seeing this in real time and I'm internalizing this in real time. So if you're on my email list, you will see a shift over the time and there are, I don't know, 15,000 of you out there that are already on my email list. You should see a shift over the next three months, I'll say about me getting more personal, sharing my experiences, working with clients, my experiences, traveling my experiences and just going through the world. So my advice there is challenge yourself to get personal. 5. This is super tricky. This is very specific. If you sell retail items, I would strongly urge you to consider sending those emails late at night. There's all this data that comes out says Amazon makes a huge percentage of their revenue after 10pm and what they attribute that to is either they're watching TV or they're watching a game late at night. There's a lot of commercial breaks at the end of a basketball game or a lot of commercial breaks at the end of a football game or more often than not they're lying in bed and sort of scrolling through and shopping. It's an easy thing to do and you're sort of worn down by the day and you're more susceptible to purchasing things on Amazon or wherever. People check their email one last time before they go to bed. Most people and a well timed email, well written email with a great offer, especially for retail, it's very easy to make sales then. I've tinkered with this myself for brands. It absolutely holds true. I have gotten more sales at a when I've sent an email at 9:00 than I have when I send the email at let's say 10am so tinker around with that, the last one. And this doesn't have to do with your company email. This has to do with a second, just a second, let's step back. This has to do with your personal emails. So if you have, you know, I'm going to say Joe's Tavern. If your email address is joestavernmail.com I am going to scream at you. You need a branded email address. So if you are the owner, the chef, the manager, they need to use branded emails. So joeoestavern.com notice my email address. Chipclose.com, right? So I have restaurantstrategypodcast.com you can email
[email protected] but my personal brand, which is where I book workshops and speaking gigs and all of that, it's chipclose.com. so I've almost always used that for the last 10 years, chipclose.com then anybody who gets an email from me goes, what's chipclose.com, it's very easy. But if I go Joe's Tavern And I see joestavernmail.com, me as the consumer, if I get an email from you, I don't know if I don't know what the web address is. So if I think, oh man, I might like that place, then I got a hunt for it rather than just knowing, oh, it's joestavern.com it's joeostavern.com, so I know the website is joestavern.com. if you are still using an AOL or Gmail or a Yahoo branded email, meaning joestavernmail or restaurant xyzahoo.com I swear you have to stop right away. You are losing business, you are losing traffic, you are losing out here. Use a branded email and if you want it for extra credit, man, a little bonus. Put together a sharp looking signature. Create a signature for all of your managers, your chefs, anyone who's going to send an email from chipostavern.com,
[email protected], tarajostavern.com, whoever's going to do it, give them a signature that has information or a link to your website or a link to your Facebook page or a link to your YouTube channel. Wherever you want to send people, wherever they're going to go and learn more about you and make you more money. Become a customer, send them there. So joestaverngmail.com is an absolute waste. Those are the six tricks again to roll through them really quickly. First one, the one to one to one principle. One email, one message, one call to action number two, tinker around with around with PS links. Data shows they get clicked more than anything else within the email. When it comes to subject lines, put emojis front and center. It will get your emails opened more with the content of your emails. Get personal. When you're selling retail items, I would strongly urge you to send them in the evening because retail does really well from that ten to midnight time. And then the last thing is that you gotta be using a branded email. Joeostavern.com, taraostavern.com and make sure all of your emails have a unified branded signature with a link that takes people to your menu page, to your order page, to your website, wherever it is that you generate revenue. That's it, guys. One final reminder. I will be at the National Restaurant association show in Chicago May 17th to the 20th. I will be podcasting Sunday, Monday the 18th and 19th, and I will be giving a talk on the 20th. If anyone's there, I want to connect. And if you're on the fence, this is me urging you to come. It's the biggest show of the year. There is absolutely nothing like it. The energy is infectious. You're going to learn a ton. You're going to connect with a lot of really smart people. As always, I appreciate you guys being here. It's an incredible community and I feel really grateful to be at the center of these conversations. Be well, take care and I will see you next time.
