Food email templates

Why food emails are having their moment 

Ever noticed how your mouth starts watering when you see those perfectly captured pizza or cheeseburger photos in your inbox? That’s no accident! Food and restaurant email campaigns have evolved into a serious game-changer.

HubSpot’s industry benchmark study shows that restaurant and food emails have an impressive 36.96% open rate, while the average email open rate across all industries varies from 25% to 41%. For comparison, the average open rate in the business industry is 34.30%, slightly lower than that of restaurant and food emails.

But here’s where it develops into something gripping: Forbes research shows that personalized food emails can generate a 26% higher open rate than bulk sendings. Think about it — when was the last time you ignored an email design showing your favorite dish? 

Recent data from Selzy reveals something even more appetizing: restaurants using targeted food emails can see another 14.31% increase in opens compared to those relying on a single newsletter to the entire list. Now that’s food for thought!

How to really make your food emails look delicious 

Let’s talk about what really makes food email templates different from your regular promotional stuff. It’s all about making your subscribers hungry — literally! According to Vero’s benchmark report, food emails with high-quality images have 42% higher click-through rates than those without. 

Are there any secrets behind that? Well, probably yes. It’s not just about inserting a photo of your latest menu update into a template. The thing is, for building anticipation you have to create an experience that tells the story your customers want to hear, something they were expecting from you.

That is what gets people to pick up the phone and place an order. For example, you can use real photos (taken by you of your menu positions, not from stock — that’s important!), descriptive descriptions, and eye-catching high-contrast call-to-action buttons.

Why food email templates should be mobile responsive 

Here’s something worth your attention you might not know: a few years ago, CBS noted that the percentage of American families who report using email or the phone during dinner has doubled since 2009, indicating an increase in device use during meals.

On top of that, 41% of food emails are opened on mobile devices, many of which are likely to be opened during meal times. Makes sense, right? People check their emails while deciding on their meals for lunch or dinner!

That’s why our templates for food emails are designed to look mouth-watering on every screen size. From the latest smartphone to tablets, your delicious content will always look fresh and appetizing.

Seasonal flavors in your food email strategy 

Smart restaurateurs and food businesses know that timing is everything. Forbes reveals that food emails sent on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8 PM see an impressive 59.46% open rate, higher open rate than those sent at other times and days. Then, 2 PM takes the second place with a 45.39% open rate, which is also significantly above average. Talk about catching people when they’re hungry — at lunch time and dinner!

Weather plays a huge role too. A great example is Pure360, which saw a 500% increase in email open rates for campaigns related to domestic holidays during good weather. Click-through rates also increased from 12% to 27%. Hot soup on a rainy day? Ice cream when it’s sunny? Your customers are already craving it!

And make sure you have insurance in case your subscribers aren’t as active in checking their inboxes. Your food email should always be on time, so be sure you use other channels besides email to create a true omnichannel experience for your customers. Choose what works best for you – Selzy’s built-in customer journey builder for email and messenger sends, or our native integrations that let you reach customers on social media, like TikTok. 

Secret behind successful food email templates

Want to know what really makes food email templates work? It’s custom design and personalization. By the way, both are available to set up within our brand new visual editor — but let’s back to the topic.

Recent findings from Forbes show that restaurants using personalized email marketing see six times higher transaction rates. What’s more, 83% of customers are fine with sharing their data in order to receive personalized recommendations and offers.

Impressive, isn’t it? Whether it’s remembering their favorite dishes or suggesting new ones based on past orders, it’s all about making each subscriber feel special.

Recipe for perfect food emails 

Our collection of food email templates makes it super easy to start serving up delicious content to your subscribers. With Selzy’s drag and drop email editor, you can choose and customize any template in just minutes with no HTML skills at all. Weekly specials, holiday menus, loyalty rewards, and cooking tips — we’ve got templates that will make your offerings look as good as they taste.

Pick a template that matches your brand’s flavor, customize it with your signature style, send and watch your engagement rates soar. Because when it comes to food email marketing, presentation is just as important as the main course!