Email marketing in the wild with Spoonwood Brewing

Looking at iPad

Over the weekend I visited Spoonwood Brewing in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.

As soon as I sat down, I noticed a call to action to sign up for their email list. I LOVE seeing email marketing in the wild.

Let’s walk through each piece of the puzzle and I’ll show you how I think Spoonwood is doing everything right.

The call to act

Spoonwood Brewing table card
Table sign at Spoonwood Brewing

If you’ve ever seen a table card at a restaurant, you’ll know that they often include daily specials, upcoming events or a call to follow on social media.

What I loved about this table card, though, was the action Spoonwood wanted you to take — join their email community.

  • Daily specials are nice, but you can put those with the menu
  • Upcoming events are good, too, but how do people remember them after they leave?
  • Not everyone is on every social media platform. Plus, as a business, you’re susceptible to how well each platform performs and you can’t control how or when the content appears in each user’s feed

You could ask people to visit your website, sure, but Spoonwood is asking for something extra special — a direct link to your inbox.

The card itself is so great — pulling at your fears of being at left out, asking if you want to be the first to know about upcoming events and news.

I love their catchy terminology, calling it a brewsletter instead of a newsletter.

And, signing up is both easy and quick. You can visit the site or scan the code right at the table while you wait.

The signup page

I typed the URL in and also scanned the code, just to see what happened. Both directed me to a dedicated sign up page.

Spoonwood Brewing sign up
Spoonwood Brewing Brewsletter sign up

The signup page has more information beyond the form:

  • The same information as the table card, asking if I want to be the first to know about upcoming events and to learn a thing or two about brewing
  • What I’ll get — secret goodies, beer knowledge and deals
  • That same friendly language asking me to join the community

The only thing I think is missing is how often they’re going to email me, but the welcome email will tell me that later. (Bi-weekly.)

The thank you page

After I signed up for the brewsletter, I was redirected to a thank you page. (Bonus points!)

Spoonwood Brewing thank you
Spoonwood Brewing thank you

The thank you page is robust and has its priorities in order.

  • They thank me for signing up. It’s a big deal to be invited into someone’s inbox
  • They direct me to check my email (and tell me to check the Promotions tab)
  • They ask me to leave a review. Bonus points here, too — there was one question which was if I had a good or bad experience. Because I clicked the button saying I had a good experience, they prompted me to consider leaving a review on Yelp or Facebook
  • Then they show me their social feeds so I could get a sneak peek and follow using my preferred platform (all platforms had been updated recently, too)

The welcome email

After checking out the thank you page, I hopped over to my email to read the welcome email.

I won’t give away the contents of the welcome email (sign up if you’re interested) but again, kudos to Spoonwood for following a TON of great conventions:

  • The subject was casual and appropriate for their type of business, including my name and welcoming me to the community
  • The intro thanked me for joining and welcomed me again
  • The body asked several questions on what kind of content I’d find most valuable in their brewsletters
  • And then, they asked me to reply to the email letting them know (with the promise that they read every email)
  • The text also told me how to unsubscribe and how to add their email address to my address book
  • The email was branded to the website, providing a consistent experience

How you can implement these strategies on your site

Spoonwood has a great process for asking for and getting people to sign up to their list. Here’s a quick rundown of their system if you’d like to implement it in your business.

  • Create an account with an email marketing service like MailChimp or MailerLite
  • Add at least one signup form to a new page on your site (you can also add signup forms as popups or to your sidebar or footer)
  • Entice the user to sign up and tell them what they’ll get for doing so
  • Redirect the form to a newly-created thank you page
  • Thank the user on the thank you page, then call them to act in another way (view something specific on your website, follow you on social media, etc.)
  • Customize the automated welcome email
  • Lastly, don’t forget to email people again! I’ll be on the lookout for emails from Spoonwood with everything they promised (secret goodies, deals, beer knowledge and upcoming events)

July 27 update: I got my first brewsletter on July 24! It included new beers, events and a recipe — very personal and engaging. Spoonwood is killing it.

Have a newsletter or signup form on your site? I’d love to take a look and see what you’re doing well. Contact me with the link!

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