I think that sometimes, building relationships with customers can be as easy as  a well-executed email thank you campaign.

Last week my wife and I ate at Gomen Kudasai, one of the most phenomenal Japanese restaurants I’ve ever set foot in. As I was walking out I saw a binder spread open with spaces for my name and email.

Partly because I was still on a Niku Soba high, and partly because I wanted to peer into their marketing plan (insert devious face), I signed up.

And just like that, Gomen Kudasai overcame the first hurdle to marketing to me: they got me to opt-in.

But I think there are two problems with their approach:

First, I had to put my name and email on a list that was public. Even though I have about 5 different addresses, I was still hesitant to put my contact information out there for everyone to see.

And second, I haven’t gotten anything in my inbox yet.

Without trying to be pretentious, and with a tiny marketing budget in mind, here are two simple things I’d do instead:

First, I’d give customers a small, intimate card to fill in their name and email address. A private card alleviates the concern that wandering eyes might grab a personal email address.

Second, in addition to an email newsletter schedule, I’d send out thank you emails either the day of a customer visit or the day after, depending on which maximizes open and click-through rates.

I’d take the time to send emails to new customers because I think responding immediately is an integral part of solidifying customer relationships. Sure McDonald’s doesn’t need to build relationships with customers to boost profits, but small restaurants stand to gain enormously from the 30 minutes it takes to enter names into a database and schedule an email every night.

Responding immediately allows businesses to remind customers of the (hopefully) positive experience they just had and to call them to a specific action: e.g. complete this survey and get a free entree.

It’s a simple and cheap solution. Maybe I should pitch it to them.

Feel free to share your thoughts.

-Andrew

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Tags: Customer Relationships, Email Marketing, Loyalty Program

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