Email Marketing
Admin → Marketing is your email list and campaigns. Because customers order directly from you rather than through a marketplace, these contacts are yours.
Contacts
The Contacts card shows your list and three numbers that matter:
- Contacts — everyone who's given you an email
- Opted in to email — who you may actually send marketing to
- Unsubscribed — who has opted out
Only opted-in contacts receive campaigns. Unsubscribes are permanent and honored automatically. Don't attempt to work around this: sending marketing to people who opted out damages your sending reputation and, in most jurisdictions, breaks the law.
The four campaign types
| Type | When it sends |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | Once, to everyone opted in, when you send it |
| Welcome | Automatically, after someone's first order |
| Win-back | Automatically, when a customer has been inactive for N days |
| Abandoned cart | Automatically, when someone starts checkout and doesn't finish |
Broadcasts are for announcements. The other three run on their own once configured, which is what makes them worth setting up — they keep working while you cook.
Creating a campaign
- Go to Admin → Marketing → Campaigns.
- Create a campaign and choose its type.
- Give it a name (internal — customers never see it).
- Write the subject line and the email body.
- Configure the trigger, if it has one:
- Win-back — set inactive days. 30–60 is a reasonable starting point for a regular lunch spot; longer for occasional destinations.
- Abandoned cart — set how long after the abandoned checkout to send, and the oldest cart still worth emailing about.
- Send a test to yourself. Always.
- Save as Draft, then set it Active when you're ready.
Campaign statuses
Draft (not sending) → Active (live) → Paused (stopped, resumable). A sent broadcast becomes Sent. Old campaigns can be Archived.
An automated campaign only runs while it's Active.
Writing emails people open
Subject lines are most of the battle. Be specific — "Half-price wings this Thursday" beats "This week at Rosa's."
One message per email. A campaign about three things gets no response to any of them.
Include an actual reason to order — a special, a new item, a limited-time offer. "We miss you" is not a reason.
Write like a person. Small restaurants have an advantage over chains here. Use it.
Keep it short. Most people read on a phone between other things.
Sending a test
Send a test to yourself before every campaign, and read it on a phone. Check the subject line isn't truncated, links work, and it makes sense to someone who isn't you.
Getting more contacts
- Rewards is the best source — people hand over an email for points.
- The card reader offers rewards enrollment after payment, where customers type their own address.
- Online orders already require contact details.
Never buy a list, and never add addresses people didn't knowingly give you.
How often to send
For most restaurants, once or twice a month for broadcasts. Weekly is too much unless you genuinely have news weekly. Automated campaigns don't count toward this — they're triggered by the individual, so nobody feels bombarded.
Where to go next
- Rewards & Loyalty — grow the list
- Customer Records — who you're emailing
- The Dashboard — whether campaigns move sales
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