There's no denying that staying connected with your customers pays off. How so? SpotOn's own data shows that 96% of guests who order online only order from one restaurant, their go-to place, and 43% of them order again within 7 days. Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to give your customers that friendly nudge they need to visit more often and make your restaurant that go-to place.

But when you run an independent restaurant, the challenge has traditionally been, how do you build your mailing list in the first place, especially during your busiest months when there's no time to chase down sign-up sheets?

How to build an email list for marketing

The easiest way to build your guest mailing list is to leverage the tools built into a cloud-based restaurant point-of-sale like SpotOn, which functions as an end-to-end restaurant management system. These tools collect guest emails and mobile numbers at every touch point, in-store and online, and automatically add them to your customer database. No sign-up sheets, no manual entry, no third-party commissions. From there, you can send email marketing campaigns and/or SMS text messages to your entire list or segments of guests to drive repeat business and build loyalty.

7 ways to build your restaurant customer database with POS technology

In the past, building a robust guest mailing list often meant a sign-up sheet at the host stand or a fishbowl for business cards, followed by manually typing addresses into a spreadsheet or your marketing software. Today's modern restaurant POS systems capture that data automatically. Here are seven ways to put it to work, especially as summer crowds start to thin out and you want a list ready to go before the slow season hits.

1. Importing your existing customer list

If you already have a mailing list, start by importing it into your email marketing database. Typically, you can import your list as an Excel or CSV spreadsheet. Click here for directions on importing customers into your SpotOn Dashboard. From there, the tools below take over and keep building your list automatically.

2. Online ordering, QR ordering, and Mobile Pay & Review

With a first-party restaurant online ordering system integrated into your POS, you cut out third-party commissions and collect guest data at the same time. Every online order captures the guest's email address and adds it to your customer database. The same is true when a guest scans a table-side QR code and pays with Mobile Pay & Review using Apple Pay or Google Pay: it grabs their email or mobile number for a digital receipt automatically, right along with the payment.

• Click here to learn more about how to create online ordering for restaurants
• Click here for QR ordering tips for success

3. Reservations & waitlist

A digital restaurant reservation platform automatically captures the email address of every party that books a table, whether they come through your website or Google (through a Google Business Profile integration). The same is true for guests who join your digital waitlist instead. Either way, guests confirm their spot, and you retain their information for future campaigns.

4. Tableside handhelds and digital receipts

For full-service restaurants, SpotOn's Handheld POS puts guest data capture right at the table. Servers take the order, run payment, and grab the guest's email or mobile number for a digital receipt, all from one device. For counter-service concepts, a guest-facing display accomplishes the same thing. The key to success in both scenarios is training your staff to encourage guests to enter their email or mobile phone number for a digital receipt.

5. Guest Wi-Fi

If you offer free Wi-Fi to your guests, you can configure it so that it’s “gated” and ask guests to submit their email address to log in. It’s a simple, low-effort way to build your customer mailing list that many larger chain restaurants use. Just make sure to consult with an IT expert to ensure your internal WI-Fi network is secure. This is particularly effective for cafes and coffee shops.

6. Digital loyalty rewards program

SpotOn Loyalty is one of the best ways to build your guest database while you're at it. The moment a guest enrolls in your rewards program, they're in your database and ready for your next campaign, whether that's a special event, a seasonal menu launch, or a birthday reward. It also unlocks insights like how often guests visit, how much they spend, and birthdays, which can be used to trigger automated marketing campaigns.

7. Invoices, virtual terminal, and online payments

If your restaurant does catering or offsite events, this is another chance to grow your list. With a virtual terminal or invoicing solution, you can run one-time payments online or from your phone and collect email addresses for a digital receipt. You can also send invoices or set up recurring payments from a computer, and every new customer is automatically added to your database.

Put the list to work before things slow down

Building the list is only half the job. Once summer crowds start to thin out, SpotOn Marketing lets you send a blast when a slow night needs a push, announce your fall menu the day it launches, or fill seats for a seasonal event, all from the same platform that's been quietly building your list all season.