News

Building an e-mail list

When it comes to a customer-based e-mail list, McAlister's Deli has learned bigger is better.

January 25, 2007

E-mail has become one of the most cost-effective ways restaurant operators can communicate with their customers. E-mail marketing campaigns are time sensitive and they engage a customer with a brand on multiple levels.

"You can think outside of the box in an e-mail. You can do children's programs and really segment to target demographics," said Jennifer Punches Botta, account supervisor forAlexandria, Va.-based Fishbowl Marketing. "You can really bucket to who you're reaching out to and since it's so cost effective, you can bucket to multiple people."

Building an e-mail list is crucial to restaurant operators wanting to get the most out of their e-mail marketing campaigns. For Ridgeland, Miss.-based McAlister's Deli, building an e-mail list also involves staying true to their corporate philosophy: not to discount products and services and not to bundle.

Philip Friedman, chief executive officer of McAlister's Deli, said the company wanted to communicate news and events, and reinforce McAlister's in the mind of the consumer.

"We felt the reach that Web-based marketing would give us would be tremendous," Friedman said. "We wanted this to be a very integrated marketing message consistent with our in-store materials."

McAlister's built their e-mail list in about 45 days and have an astounding 90,000 names already on it. Their goal is to average 750 names per restaurant, with 225 locations currently participating.

Fishbowl has established that with about 2,000 names per location, there is a proven return-on-investment on e-mail campaigns that involve three core messages: a welcome e-mail, birthday e-mail and a happy anniversary e-mail in subsequent years.

In addition, industry standards dictate an estimated e-mail open-rate of 25 to 30 percent.

"The more you target certain user groups the higher those numbers become. I've seen open rates skyrocket up to 60 percent for birthday messages sent to guests because of the perceived value of what they're receiving. It's immediate gratification for your guests," said Punches Botta.

Involving your staff

In order to build a complete e-mail database, employers must train their staff to know what the e-mail benefits are. In addition, point-of-purchase materials can drive people to the Internet and to your e-club.

"The system was easy to buy into because it's rarely something that takes responsibility away from the restaurant. It's something a franchise manager does not have to touch," said Ian MacDonald, McAlister's senior director of marketing. "Once we made the decision to move forward with the program we communicated it throughout (the restaurant) system."

MacDonald said the customer and employee incentives were what made building their list successful. McAlister's held employee contests designed around the location that built the best list. The top employee prize was a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. Cash prizes and others also were part of the program.

"We're learning as we go with this particular program but we feel the interaction with the community will be important as we grow. We really wanted to be in that game and we also want to be on the front-end of that technology," MacDonald said.

Punches Botta said McAlister's is one example of a restaurant that has done a great job of building their e-mail list. "What we're seeing now are all levels of restaurant staff, from servers to general mangers, beginning to understand the power of e-mail. They know if they can get two guests per day per shift to sign up, each name contributes back to sales. It's really identifying how it can boost sales for them," she said.