Running a pizzeria comes with a lot of moving parts—taking orders, managing inventory, creating promotions, engaging customers, and much more. One of the best ways to streamline your marketing efforts and improve efficiency is by using marketing automation. Automating repetitive tasks frees up time, helps you maintain consistent customer communication, and ultimately drives more orders.
With HubSpot’s powerful marketing automation features, you can create workflows that automatically trigger certain actions based on customer behavior or time-based conditions. Below, we’ll walk you through five essential marketing automation workflows every pizza business should be using to increase customer engagement, drive repeat business, and grow your sales.
1. Welcome New Customers with a Personalized Offer
First impressions are everything, and one of the easiest ways to make a great one is by setting up a welcome workflow for new customers. Whether they’ve just placed their first online order or signed up for your email list, an automated welcome email can be the perfect introduction to your pizza business.
What to Include in the Workflow:
- Welcome Email: Send an immediate, friendly email welcoming new customers. Highlight what makes your pizza unique and encourage them to order again.
- Personalized Offer: Include a special discount for their next online order, such as “Get 20% off your next pizza order!” This incentive can quickly turn a first-time customer into a repeat buyer.
- Next Steps: Include links to your menu, social media pages, and a call-to-action to place another order.
Why It Works:
A welcome email sets the tone for your relationship with new customers, and the incentive encourages them to return sooner rather than later. Automating this process ensures that every new customer gets the same high-quality experience without any manual intervention.
2. Recover Lost Sales with an Abandoned Cart Workflow
Did you know that a significant percentage of online orders are abandoned before they’re completed? This is especially common in the food and beverage industry, where customers might start placing an order but get distracted or decide to come back later. An abandoned cart workflow allows you to automatically follow up with these customers, reminding them to complete their order.
What to Include in the Workflow:
- Reminder Email: Send an email within 30 minutes of cart abandonment, gently reminding the customer to complete their order.
- Incentive to Complete: If the customer still hasn’t placed the order after 24 hours, consider sending a follow-up email with a small discount to encourage completion, such as “Here’s 10% off to finish your order!”
- Urgency Messaging: Use messaging that creates urgency, like “Your pizza’s waiting!” or “Your cart is about to expire!”
Why It Works:
Recovering abandoned carts is a quick way to capture lost sales. Automated emails sent to customers at just the right moment can nudge them to finish what they started, resulting in more orders without additional marketing costs.
3. Re-engage Lapsed Customers with a Win-Back Workflow
Your regular customers are the lifeblood of your pizza business, but what happens when a once-loyal customer hasn’t placed an order in a while? A win-back workflow allows you to automatically reach out to lapsed customers with personalized offers and messaging that encourages them to come back.
What to Include in the Workflow:
- Reminder Email: Trigger an email if a customer hasn’t ordered in 30, 60, or 90 days (depending on your average order frequency). Remind them of their favorite pizza or menu items.
- Exclusive Offer: Offer a limited-time discount or special promotion, such as “We miss you! Get $5 off your next order.”
- Incentive to Stay Engaged: For particularly long-term customers, consider offering something more valuable, like a free side or dessert with their next order.
Why It Works:
It’s often more cost-effective to win back existing customers than to acquire new ones. Automating win-back campaigns allows you to consistently reach out to lapsed customers, turning them back into regulars.
4. Boost Sales with Seasonal and Special Event Campaigns
Seasonal promotions and special events (like National Pizza Day or Super Bowl Sunday) are perfect opportunities to drive online orders and increase customer engagement. With a seasonal campaign workflow, you can automate the entire process, from promoting the event to following up with post-event offers.
What to Include in the Workflow:
- Pre-Promotion Email: Set up an email a week or two before the event to build anticipation. Include details about the promotion, such as special discounts, themed pizzas, or bundle deals.
- Reminder Email: Send a reminder email the day before the event, reinforcing the offers and encouraging customers to place their orders early.
- Post-Event Follow-Up: After the event, send a thank-you email with a limited-time offer for those who ordered during the promotion to encourage another purchase.
Why It Works:
Automating seasonal campaigns allows you to consistently promote key events without scrambling to launch last-minute offers. By planning ahead and setting up workflows, you ensure that every major holiday or special event is fully capitalized on, increasing your overall sales.
5. Drive Loyalty Program Participation with Automated Reminders
Customer loyalty programs are a proven way to encourage repeat business, and automating them with HubSpot makes the process even more effective. You can set up workflows that automatically track customer purchases and send reminders when they’re close to earning a reward.
What to Include in the Workflow:
- Loyalty Reminder Email: After every order, remind customers how many points or rewards they’ve accumulated and what they need to do to unlock their next reward.
- Reward Unlock Email: As soon as a customer reaches a reward milestone, automatically send them a notification with details on how to redeem it, such as “Congrats! You’ve earned a free pizza—redeem it on your next order.”
- Follow-Up Incentives: After a customer redeems a reward, send a follow-up email with a new incentive to keep them engaged and returning for more.
Why It Works:
Loyalty programs encourage repeat business by rewarding customers for their purchases, and automating these reminders ensures that customers stay engaged and motivated to keep coming back for more.
Marketing automation can significantly streamline your pizza business’s operations, allowing you to engage customers, drive repeat business, and boost sales without the extra manual work. By implementing these five essential workflows—welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, win-back campaigns, seasonal promotions, and loyalty reminders—you can improve your customer relationships, recover lost revenue, and create consistent marketing success.
Interested to get started with these in your business? Contact Us and we’d be happy to help.