Email Marketing Statistics

This collection of statistical information was correlated from studies and surveys published recently by major food industry research sources. These statistics were cross-referenced with the replies received as a result of the direct interviewing of restaurant owners and managers throughout the United States and Canada. All of the statistical data shown in the following graphics is correlated from the restaurant venues throughout North America that provided replies with regards to their current email marketing campaign status. The proportion replying that they are engaging in email marketing campaigns is a fairly minor 18%. However, it seems that a notable portion (13%) of restaurant venue owners and managers realize that they have an immediate need to launch their own email campaigns and thus plan to do so in the near future. The traditional nature of the restaurant business may be the reason for the number of venues that are not involved in email marketing campaigns and have no announced plans to engage in email promotion. Many restaurant venues are fairly independent and small, and therefore the owners and managers often assume that they do not have the technological prerequisites or the volume of patrons necessary to engage in an email marketing campaign. There is also a possibility that these restaurant owners and managers are not sufficiently aware of the email marketing advantages that a properly executed campaign can provide their business. 57% of all restaurant email campaigns are issued at a monthly frequency. This majority makes up the largest section of email sends, with a frequency greater than monthly reported as over one third (35%), and longer frequencies composing a total of just 8%: 4% for every two months, 3% for quarterly frequencies, and 1% for seasonal or yearly sends. The specific form of email content that mixes informational factors with various forms of discount vouchers or coupons accounted for three out of every five (60%) restaurant venue emails. Emails that were exclusively informational in scope were responsible for 16% of all sends, and emails that were directly focused on sales and discount coupons without any notable informational content accounted for nearly one quarter of the total at 24%. Almost one third (32%) of subscribers are patrons who have actually visited the restaurant venue, with fully 38% being subscribers signed up through a variety of promotions. The web was responsible for 11% of the subscriptions, 3% were leads that were purchased or otherwise supplied, and various public events accounted for 16%. Although the Restaurant market is dominated by large chain operations, from a numeric standpoint the small, independent restaurants outnumber the chain headquarters by a huge margin (although not necessarily the number of actual outlets). The generally small aspect of North American restaurants is clearly evident in the analysis of subscriber list size. Just over seven out of every ten (71%) of all lists have less than 500 entries, with the balance of 29% being considerably larger lists: 500 to 1,000 is 10%; 1,000 to 3,000 is 4%; 3,000 to 5,000 is 2%; and 13% are over 5,000; which implies that this level is achieved by the larger chain operations that make up only a tiny percentage of the total. Nearly nine out of every ten restaurant venue owners and managers do not segment their email lists. Only 14% take the necessary steps to avail themselves of the marketing benefits of segmentation, while a very high proportion of 86% send emails with identical content to their entire subscription list.