Restaurant Marketing Automation: Why Is It Important?

Are you looking for a great way to supercharge your restaurant’s marketing efforts quickly? Then consider restaurant marketing automation as it helps to create a loyal customer base and a strong online presence. Automation has been the buzzword for a while now and has taken off with a bang in recent years. One of the main reasons that contributed to automation’s popularity is the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially in the foodservice industry, restaurateurs rapidly turn to the digital world for their marketing tasks. With people continuing to remain indoors yet stay online, it’s only logical that this is the space to make the most of.

What is Restaurant Marketing Automation?

Restaurant marketing automation uses technology to assist marketing tasks in restaurants, as it enables restaurants to plug their current marketing efforts into specially-designed platforms and new technologies. It gives your restaurant the tools to send individual communications and marketing messages to each customer, giving them exactly what they want at exactly the right time. Using specially designed platforms, restaurateurs can automate processes across various channels, analyze data, and make informed decisions based on a series of predetermined actions taken by the customer to convert leads and retain customers.

In an age where 70% of diners never make a return visit, automated restaurant marketing strategies using highly personalized, relevant content helps convert these prospects into loyal customers. As today customers look for tailored experiences and excellent service in the first place, it’s better to turn first-time customers into regulars – as it’s more valuable than ever- because increasing repeat business is essential to your niche’s bottom line. 

Restaurant marketing automation also automated sales funnels that support customer lifecycle marketing and consistently work for the company 24/7 to guide potential customers through the website, social channels, and email to generate new leads while reforming existing ones. It empowers operators to stay connected with every customer, maintaining the invaluable personal touch of your hospitality experience while driving repeat revenue.

However, to deliver these expectations, restaurateurs utilize marketing automation in the following ways:

• Create targeted marketing campaigns: Restaurant marketing automation enables you to create personalized and targeted marketing campaigns. It lets you share relevant content to your most valuable customers instead of generic messaging, which is both impersonal and forgettable. The best part? There’s no additional effort on your part because the automated system handles it with only a few inputs from your end.
• Communicate in real-time: One of the top advantages of restaurant marketing automation is communicating with customers in real-time. For instance, customers can track their position on a waitlist, see table availability in real-time, and be notified of offers and other updates instantly.
• Create loyalty programs: Customer loyalty begins by building trust, which boosts revenue as customers are likely to spend more. Restaurant marketing automation makes this process quick and easy by tracking and tagging high-value customers, letting you set reward points on purchases of a certain limit, and offering discounts and customized services for the same.
• Increase brand engagement: Restaurant branding makes a way to brand engagement which helps solidify reputation and increase customer retention. The more engaged your customers are, the more they are willing to spend and increase your profits. Restaurant marketing automation can make this happen by giving you the means to interact with customers through storytelling, shared experiences, user-generated content, and access to feedback.
• Maintain Guest Satisfaction: With automated restaurant marketing, restaurateurs can automatically solicit feedback from every guest. This feedback will keep track of all of their Google, Facebook, Yelp, and TripAdvisor reviews in one place. Linking this feedback directly to guest profiles allows restaurateurs to understand their guest experience better and do additional follow-up as needed. Moreover, it enables restaurant operators to connect with every guest, on- and off-premise, in a meaningful way.

Through targeted and personalized outreach, restaurant marketing automation offers numerous benefits that enable restaurateurs to get detailed insights about their customer behavior and preferences. Therefore while setting up a restaurant, ensure to implement restaurant marketing automation, because, among other things, it drives repeat revenue and improves guest retention at the same time. It can help you gain data automatically, analyze it to predict customer behavior, improve your productivity by taking care of small details, and schedule campaigns in advance. So, if you’re still on the fence about using restaurant marketing automation, these are some of the reasons to start.