Given the popularity of TikTok and AI search engines, email marketing might seem downright old-fashioned. However, even in 2025, it’s often the most effective marketing channel for restaurant brands.
Email marketing generates an impressive $36 return for every $1 spent, over 10x what social media brands might get you (X ads generate $2.70 for every $1 spent and Instagram is around $8.40).
While this might seem surprising, social media is often filled with passive scrollers looking to kill time. The best-case scenario is they add your restaurant to an ever-growing list of places to check out. With email marketing, however, you have a direct line to potential guests who have expressed interest—you know who they are, you just have to catch their attention in the right way.
This blog will cover some statistics of why guests pay attention to email and tips on how restaurants can build and leverage their email database to drive revenue, guest frequency, and retention.
4 Reasons Why Restaurant Email Marketing Drives Revenue
1. Guests prefer email marketing
69% of guests worldwide chose email as their preferred communication method from consumer brands, and consumers are willing to spend 32% more on brands that use their preferred method of communication.
2. Email marketing converts first-time guests to regulars
Research shows that email is 40x more effective at bringing new guests back than Facebook or Twitter.
3. Email motivates guests to spend more
The rate at which emails prompt purchases is estimated to be at least three times that of social media and the average order value is 17 percent higher.
4. Email gets attention
MailMunch aggregated some statistics to show that if you have 2,000 email subscribers and 2,000 followers on Facebook, 435 people will open your email but only 120 Facebook fans will see your message.
How to Build a Restaurant Email List
Your email list is your brand’s direct connection to guests. After your secret recipes, it should be one of your most treasured creations.
For one, your brand owns it. With email, you’re not at the mercy of the algorithms—you have a direct line of communication to the inbox of guests who have expressed interest in your restaurant and want you to market to them.
- Online orderers (on- and off-premise)
- Reservations and waitlist
- Loyalty members
- App users
To continue growing your email list, add the following:
- In-restaurant Wi-Fi prompt
- Scan-to-join QR code at the register or table
- Website subscription form
- Sign-up button on social media pages
Email Marketing Strategies for Restaurants
Before launching a restaurant email marketing campaign, it’s important to set up guest segments, including guest lifetime value (GLV), churn risks, etc. Olo’s data shows that personalized marketing can result in a 20% lift in spend by email recipients over 30 days, with a surge in sales the day after it’s sent.
Within your email campaign strategy, consider every stage of the guest lifecycle and every interaction as an opportunity to deepen your relationship with guests. Leverage these six retention strategies to ensure every guest becomes more valuable to your brand over time.
Marketing automation tools can help you do more with less by instantly sending relevant and personalized communications to guests when they meet predetermined criteria, such as placing their first delivery order or not visiting for 30 days.
Here's some campaign inspiration:
Examples of Strategic Email Campaigns
Convert First-Timers into Regulars
Send an automated welcome/thank you email within 24 hours of an online order being placed, featuring an incentive for a return visit or another online order within a given timeframe.
Encourage Return Visits
When an online order does not contain a particular menu item (seasonal special, high-margin item, new offering, etc.), promote that offering in an automated email that triggers a week after the initial order is completed.
Get Important Feedback
Show guests you care about their opinion by soliciting feedback on specific menu items or their overall ordering experience via an automated email sent within 24 hours of an order being completed.
Re-engage lapsed customers
If a regular visitor hasn’t come in for 60 days, trigger an email send with an offer for free dessert to entice them back in (after all, free is better than a discount).
Email Benchmarks for the Restaurant Industry
When evaluating the effectiveness of your email campaigns, there are a few crucial metrics to keep an eye on. According to MailerLite’s 2025 report, here’s what good email engagement rates look like for the restaurant industry:
Open Rate: 43.6%
Click-Through-Rate: 1.13%
Click-To-Open Rate: 2.93%
Unsubscribe Rate: 0.17%
If your emails are underperforming, test and learn. This might be a time to use AI tools like ChatGPT to come up with catchy subject lines to A/B test or help create a relevant email series. (Be sure to provide a couple of examples so the tool can adapt to your style.)
If your emails are underperforming, test and learn. Ask yourself:
- Are people mistaking your email for spam?
- Is your design mobile-friendly?
- Are you emailing guests too often?
- Is the messaging personalized and relevant?
Just because one email performs well with a particular guest segment, doesn’t mean it’s going to be just as successful with another. Regularly monitor your analytics and pivot accordingly.
Key Takeaways
When building a lasting relationship with guests, email is a key tool in the restaurant marketing tool belt. Why?
- Email converts: Targeted email outreach puts restaurant brand messaging directly in front of the guest—prime positioning for them to take action. Opted-in guests trust brands with their data, a key indicator of future sales—57% of consumers say trust in a brand drives their purchase decisions.
- Email is personalized: With a customer data platform for restaurants that segments guests by behavior, email marketing can be tailored to individual preferences, driving up engagement and boosting conversion.
- Email is always on time: With restaurant marketing automation, email campaigns can be triggered right after the first visit or online order to drive repeat sales. Plus, if guests haven’t visited or ordered in a while, an email can automatically remind them of their favorite menu items.
- Email is the foundation of effective omnichannel restaurant marketing: Restaurant brands can boost guest acquisition and retention by providing parallel experiences across email and social media. You can use your restaurant email list to retarget regulars and acquire new, high-value guests by targeting lookalikes on social media platforms.
Guests engage with brands everywhere they have a digital presence, and the next new social platform always generates marketing buzz. In comparison, email marketing might seem old school.
To get ahead, though—especially when marketers are tasked with doing more with less—brands need to focus on the kinds of communication guests are asking for and responding to.
In every step of the journey, guests continue to show that restaurant email marketing is an important part of their experience.
For more in-depth marketing strategies for restaurants, check out the restaurant marketing guide.
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