Restaurant.com dishes out e-mail fulfillment service to clients

Restaurant.com launched an automated e-mail fulfillment service September 15 to give marketers on its roster a boost in delivering incentive-based campaigns.

The restaurant-to-consumer matchmaker worked with ExactTarget on the initiative.

Restaurant.com designed the service to assist marketers with preparing, scheduling and delivering its incentives, which includes gift certificates, cards and codes. Organizations can prompt consumers to purchase, donate and sign up for services with the offers.

Cary Chessick, president and CEO of Restaurant.com, said he sees more clients moving towards e-mail fulfillment.

“While direct mail is still a popular option with some of our clients, today's need to be budget conscious [and to have] quick and efficient delivery has led many incentive marketers down the digital path,” he said.

Chessick noted that effective e-mail campaigns can be a daunting task for many groups.

“By automating the e-mail fulfillment process, we will be freeing marketers of time-consuming tasks and giving them opportunity to continue focusing on strategy,” he said.

Restaurant.com's main target for the service is large organizations that send e-mail campaigns in high volumes, as well as “any organization looking to motivate an audience and drive a certain behavior,” said Chessick.

Marketers have the option to select incentives in varying denominations – $25, $50, $75 and $100 gift certificates – that can be used at more than 15,000 restaurants throughout the US. Incentives can be customized with a company logo or marketing message. Co-branded e-mails and redemption web pages are also part of the offering. The company has assigned unique electronic codes to each incentive and scheduled fulfillments in advance.

Restaurant.com is currently not offering the service to its smaller clients, said Chessick. The company has plans to create a similar program for smaller businesses in the future, he added.