Launch Your Toast Email Marketing Campaign

Now that you have subscribed to Toast Email Marketing, let’s begin creating a campaign! If you haven’t subscribed to email marketing yet, see Get Started With Toast Email Marketing for your first steps! 

Before launching your first email marketing campaign, check out this quick video below to ensure you're ready!
 

Get started with launching your first Toast Email Marketing campaign. 
 

1. Activate Email Marketing by accessing the Marketing Hub and selecting Complete Profile to input basic information such as your reply-to email and restaurant website.
2. Enable Automated Emails. Navigate to the Campaigns tab and enable relevant automations, such as welcome and miss you campaigns, to drive sales in the background.
   1. Note: The Miss You and Welcome emails are only triggered when a guest places an order. Miss You and Welcome emails will not be sent to uploaded subscribers.
3. Use the Subscriber tab to upload contact lists. Select Add Subscribers to upload contacts generically or use the New Custom List button for specific lists. If you don't have contacts, activate online ordering, loyalty programs, or digital receipts to collect emails.
4. Plan your campaigns and explore upcoming holidays and available email templates in the Marketing Hub to plan future campaigns effectively.
5. Implement Best Practices:
   • Define your campaign objective, audience, and call to action.
   • Craft compelling subject lines and clear, concise email bodies.
   • Include a clear call to action and, optionally, provide incentives to encourage action.

 

In this Article:

• Launch Your Toast Email Marketing Campaign
  • Set Up One-Time Campaign
  • Set Up an Automated Campaign
  • Configure Automations
• Design Your Email Layout
  • Customize Individual Sections
  • Add New Sections & Call-To-Actions
  • Saved Call to Action Buttons
  • Finalize Your Email Design
  • Send Your Campaign
• Measure Success

 

Launch Your Toast Email Marketing Campaign

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Marketing > Email marketing > Campaigns, or select Create new > Email campaign from your Marketing Hub.
   
   
   
   
2. Now, let’s determine what campaign type works best for your restaurant:
    

 

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Set Up a One-Time Campaign

1. Select One-time from the top of the page and select one of the many templates available. For this example, we’ll choose Special offer.
2. Next, select your audience from the Sending to drop-down menu then select Continue.
   
   
   
   
3. Enter the following information:
   1. Reference campaign name - this is not visible to guests. This is so you can easily identify your campaign on your Marketing Dashboard.
   2. Email subject - guests will see this in their inbox
   3. Promotion (optional) - promotions must be created prior to adding them to any campaign. See Get Started With the Offers Dashboard for more information.
4. Then, select Edit Content to customize the email template for your restaurant.
5. Now. let's follow the steps in this article for Design Your Email Layout.
   1. Note: Restaurants set up in the same management group will appear in Toast Marketing together. You may want to remove a restaurant from appearing alongside other restaurants in the Marketing module. To remove a restaurant from Toast Marketing, the restaurant needs to be separated from the Restaurant Management Group. To do this, start a live chat here with our Customer Support team. Chat is available in Toast Web and Payroll Web (blue support button in bottom right of every page) and the Support tab in the Toast Now app.
      
      
      
      
6. For more information on how to contact support view "How to Contact Customer Support" or go to support.toasttab.com.

Set Up an Automated Campaign

Bringing guests back to the restaurant lies within your ability to use the customer data available to you within Toast POS to create an automated email marketing strategy. These "set it and forget it" campaigns can help you increase revenue by increasing the frequency of visits from existing guests and driving additional sales from lapsed guests. 

 

1. Choose a template under Automated. Then, one of the following:
   1. Remind guests to visit again: Email guests who have not visited in a while and encourage them to come back. These campaigns help keep guests engaged and returning.
   2. Welcome new guests: Email guests who provide their email for the first time to welcome them to your community. This is a great place to include links to your website, online ordering page, or social media.
   3. Recognize high-spending guests: Engage with your high-spending guests and let them know that you appreciate them.
   4. Thank repeat guests: Thank and reward guests who visit regularly. These campaigns are a great way to share promos as a thank you.
      
      
      
      
2. Next, review your audience. Toast will collect guest email addresses when placing orders using the listed tools and add them to your marketing audience automatically. Should you wish to include additional guest email addresses from a previous system, select Upload Subscribers. To move on to the next step, select Continue. 
   
   
   
   
3. Select Edit Content to customize the email template for your restaurant.
4. Now, let's follow the steps in this article for Design Your Email Layout.

Design Your Email Layout

This is the moment we've all been waiting for! Creating an eye-catching email design is crucial to adopting your email campaign. Not a graphic designer? No problem. Our email builder provides many template blocks where you can enter text, upload content, or change the background image. Follow the steps below to learn how to customize each section and drag and drop additional content into your email layout. 

 

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Customize Individual Sections

1. To remove sections from the current email template, you can drag and drop to save them for later use or delete them. The trash can icon can also be used to delete a section, and the folder icon can be used to save a section for later use.
2. To duplicate a section, select the dual-document icon. 
   To move the section to appear in another part of the email, use the up and down arrow icons on the right side of the block or select and hold a section to drag it up or down with your mouse.
3. To replace an image, select the image and then select the document icon in the top-left of the block.
   
   
   
   
4. Choose your desired image and Save to finalize your changes.
5. To edit your Preview text, select the Edit icon, then the Preview text field, and enter a new message. Remember, this is the subsequent text that appears after your subject line in the diner's inbox. Use this opportunity to summarize the content and purpose of the email, especially on mobile devices. It should complement your subject line and draw attention to your campaign.
6. Select the edit icon (pencil) on the left side of the content block. 

 

Note: To edit the Sender name, preview text, or the Reply-To email address of your ongoing email, select the pencil icon in the top left corner of the screen. After making your changes, select Save. 

 

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Add New Sections & Call-To-Actions

1. Drag and drop a column selection into the body of your email.
2. Drag and drop any desired content blocks into your new section.
3. Follow the prompts to upload them or insert content accordingly.
4. To add a call-to-action button to your email, drag and drop a button from the content panel into the desired email section. Then, enter the text you would like to appear on the button. This is where you can direct your guests to: "Check out our menu!" "Order Now!" or "Reserve a Table!" for example. 
   
   
   
   
5. After you've entered an action button for guests to take, paste the URL (web address) for the page you want your diners to be directed to. For example, consider pasting your restaurant's online ordering web address (URL) if you offer online ordering. Or, if you allow guests to redeem loyalty points on online orders, consider pasting your reward card look-up link to let guests view their balance.
6. To change the color, border, and padding of your call-to-action button, select the pencil icon and make a selection from the dropdown menu. 

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Saved Call to Action Buttons

Within the email editor, you can also utilize the saved call to action buttons by selecting Layout > Saved.  You will have the option of the following:

• Gift Card Section
• Loyalty Section
• Online Order Section
• Takeout Section

 

Note: These links are pre-populated and specific to your restaurant.

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Finalize Your Email Design

Select Preview & Test to view a proof of the email, or send yourself a test mail. When finished, select Save, then Continue to save your changes to the template! It's that easy!

 

Note: If you select Preview email, you can view your email in both mobile and desktop form. 

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Send Your Campaign

Congratulations! You've designed a beautiful email for your guests. Now what? It's time to review your campaign details and send them out to your guests. Follow the steps below to complete a final review and either send or schedule a date for your email to be sent.

1. From within the email builder, select Continue to finalize your changes. Note: Selecting Continue brings you back to the screen with the campaign information. Only after saving the email template is the Continue button enabled.
2. Then, select one of the following send options at the bottom of the page:
   1. Send Test: Enter your email address to send an example email before sharing this campaign with guests. When finished, select Send.
   2. Schedule: Select a date and time for your email campaign to be sent. When finished, select Schedule. 
   3. Send Now: This will send your email campaign to eligible guests immediately. 

Note: Email marketing campaigns may experience potential delays when handling a high volume of subscribers.

 

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Measure Success

Now that you've sent out your first email campaign, let's discuss the results. The email marketing dashboard lets you filter all campaigns by Automated or One-time campaigns and their current sending status.  You will get a full overview of campaigns for the last 30 days and a breakdown of any active, scheduled, scheduled, or completed campaigns. 
 

 

Select the three-dot icon on the right of any campaign on the dashboard, then Details, for more information on that campaign. The information overview on the selected campaign is below:
 

  Additional Resources for Email Marketing Campaigns 

• Get Started With Toast Email Marketing
• Toast Email Marketing Microlearning (Note: You must have a Toast account to view)
• Best Practices for Toast Email Marketing
• Toast Email Marketing FAQ