A guide for operators
Quiet nights,filled.Here’s how.
Ask the right guests, give them a reason, and count the covers it brings.
- 1Find the guests most likely to come on a quiet night.
- 2Give them a reason: an event or a modest offer.
- 3Put a booking button in the message.
- 4Count the covers it brought in, not the opens.
Powering 2,500+ UK venues
Empty on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 19:00. Fourteen covers booked. Sarah lives ten minutes away and heard nothing.
Before
14 of 60 covers- One newsletter to everyone, saying the same to all
- No booking button, so nobody booked from it
- Opens counted, covers never
After
Booked · Tue 19:30
- An email to the locals and regulars who opted in
- A wine night, with a button that books it
- The covers and spend it brought in, on the report
Four steps.
Works whatever email tool you use.
Find who would come
Look at covers by night to find the quiet ones, then at the guests most likely to fill them: locals, regulars and the people who open your emails. Send only to guests who opted in.
Audiences find guests by visits and recency, tags, postcode and email engagement, rebuilt from live data on every send and only ever including guests who opted in.
See audiencesGive a real reason
A standing discount teaches guests to wait for one. An event, a set menu or a tasting gives them something to come for. If you add an offer, keep it modest, time-limited and for that night.
Make an event ticketed, with ticket types and prices paid up front through your own booking page, and every guest gets a wallet pass for the door.
See enquiries and eventsBook from the message
Every step between “we should go” and a confirmed table loses people. Put a booking button in the email that opens your own booking page on the right night, not your homepage.
Build an email block by block or as a quick text-and-buttons email, merge in a first name or a voucher code, and send it now or schedule it.
See email campaignsCount the covers
Opens and clicks say who saw it, not who came. Judge it on the covers and spend from guests who got the message, against a normal week, and keep what worked for next month.
Alongside delivery, opens and clicks, a campaign shows the covers and spend it brought in once your bookings are connected, with voucher codes redeemed back on the report.
See email campaignsThe proof.
Operators running on Stampede, in their own numbers.
“Having everything under one roof is simply superior, full stop.”
“You innovate at a rate I have never seen in a software company.”
“Every payment lands on the guest who made it now. Everything a guest does with us, online and in our venues, finally joins up in one view.”
- 89%
- Wi-Fi marketing opt-in rate
- 55p
- average value of a guest contact
- 2,500+
- UK venues run on Stampede
Keep reading.
The terms this guide uses, defined in plain English, and the sources it relies on.
Guest segmentation
Guest segmentation is the practice of dividing a venue’s guest list into groups based on behaviour and attributes, such as how recently they visited, when their birthday falls, where they live or what they told you.
Covers
Covers are the number of guests a restaurant, pub or hotel serves, counted per person rather than per table or per booking, so a table of four is four covers.
Booking page
A booking page is a web page where guests reserve a table directly with a venue, carrying its branding, photos and booking options.
Marketing consent
Marketing consent is a person’s clear, freely given agreement to receive marketing, recorded so it can be shown later.
Compare us.
Honest, sourced comparisons against the tools venues switch from, checked against the record and dated.
Seven more fixes.
The other problems venues search for, each with the steps that fix it.
- Deposit · Sat 20:00 · 6£60.00Card ending 2291Mon 12:40Paid, and recorded on the booking
Megan O’NeillBooked on your pageGuide · 4 stepsHow to reduce restaurant no-shows
Four habits that stop booked tables sitting empty, whatever system you run.
- Google · 9 days agoNo reply“Waited forty minutes for our mains.”
Clive E.Guide · 4 stepsHow to get more Google reviews
Ask every guest, make it one tap, and answer what lands.
- Tue · 13:102× Set lunch£52.001× Rioja, bottle£34.00Customer: none£86.00Guide · 4 steps
How to collect guest emails and data
Wi-Fi, bookings and ordering, each asking once, with consent.
- BookingsLapsed12 JuneTable for 229 MayTable for 2Nothing since94 days
Graham WhitleyEvery fortnightGuide · 4 stepsHow to bring back guests who stopped coming
Spot who stopped coming, then give them a reason to return.
- Pre-order · Olivia’s party12 of 16 ordered
OliviaShort rib
CallumHake, brown butterGF
AishaWild mushroom risottoV+8 more ordered · 4 still to choose
GillianSquash tartVGGuide · 4 stepsHow to take group bookings and pre-orders without the admin
The enquiry, the deposit and every plate, sorted before the night.
- Seated · Table 12On every device
Priya Shah6th visit · party of 3Pre-order · from your Square items1× Lobster linguine1× Margherita1× Falafel bowl2× Pale ale, pintFor the team- £30.00 deposit, already on Square
- A friend at the table is vegan and gluten-free.
Guide · 4 stepsWhat to look for in a booking system for Square
What a venue on Square should ask of a booking system, in four checks.
- Points on spendYour rate · 1 per £1Flat white · £3.40+3Round for six · £52.50+53Earned off the till, nothing keyed inCallum Reid23 visitsOn a stamp cardThe same one stamp for eachGuide · 4 steps
How to run a restaurant loyalty programme that works
Reward what guests spend, skip the app, and give them a reason to return.
Frequently asked questions.
Fill the quiet nights.
See an audience, an email with a booking button and the covers it brought in, in a walkthrough with our team.