How Do You Package Email Marketing Services?

Thanks Henry.

If it's a restaurant, you'd be better off working with the restaurant owner to come up with an enticement/coupon as opposed to a free report or whitepaper.

Something like a free dessert on the next visit, buy one get one with a drink purchase, etc. The juicier the offer, the more effective the "loyalty program" will be.

You also want to incorporate a policy for training the waitstaff... Opt-in rates will be significantly boosted if the waitstaff lets every customer know that they can get free dessert on their next visit (or whatever you're offering) by providing their email address and joining the "preferred customer club".

I'd recommend iContact for this business since you're going to be collecting emails both online and offline.

You will also need to factor in printing table tents, comment cards, or you could also create a sign-up sheet that the cashier keeps if the waitstaff doesn't handle the payments for capturing the email addresses in the restaurant.

Believe it or not, where you can add the most value is in the training of the waitstaff.

To get them to tell every customer about the loyalty program is huge, and you can even help the owner setup a contest between the waiters to make this more effective (the waiter with the most entries each week gets a gift certificate, cash, first pick on a day off, etc.)

Also getting the waitstaff to ask and use the customer's names can increase the effectiveness of a loyalty campaign like this.

So, your package should be something like this:

1. Printing of collateral or creating a basic sign-up form for use in the restaurant
2. Integrating an opt-in box into their existing website, Facebook, etc. and getting iContact, Constant Contact, etc. setup
2. Training the waitstaff and possibly setting up a contest
3. Working with the business owner to come up with an offer to capture the email address
4. Managing the list
5. Sending follow-up messages/broadcasts (how often will be determined by what the restaurant is doing... do they have weekly specials, events, live music, bring a friend to lunch, etc. - There's not always a "one size fits all" for often they should be sending offers to their list... Find out when their slow times are and what they're doing in terms of specials and events)
6. Monthly reporting

I don't know what your area is like or what type of budget this restaurant is working with, but any marketing they're spending money on now is not nearly as effective as it could be without a funnel like this. Bringing people back in the door is much easier than finding new customers, so it's important you stress this when building the value to justify the price that you'll be charging.

--Joshua