• by Jess Nelson , January 9, 2017

Bridg unveiled a new digital marketing platform on Monday to help dining establishments more effectively communicate with their customers in the digital realm. 

Bridg's communications platform helps dining establishments identify individual customers and reach them through multiple channels -- leveraging email marketing in addition to mobile, social, SMS and display advertising to communicate with new and returning customers.

Founded in 2012 and based in Los Angeles, Bridg is a subscription-based marketing service for brick-and-mortar stores, which integrates directly with a store’s point-of-sale (POS) system, collecting customer data that can be repurposed toward personalized digital communication.

“We can decipher new from loyal customers and speak to each of them in unique ways,” states Amit Jain, founder and chief executive officer of Bridg.

Bridg aggregates all customer communication into a single CRM database and uses predictive algorithms to develop customized customer communications -- a strategy that is especially valuable for restaurateurs facing low email engagement.

The average open rate for email marketing messages sent by restaurants is 21.20%, according to MailChimp’s January 2017 email marketing benchmark report. Restaurants also have the lowest average click-through among the 46 industries analyzed by MailChimp at 1.26%.

Dining brands including Papa Gino’s, Veggie Grill and Hungry Howie’s have already used Bridg’s digital marketing platform to drive customer interactions.

“Bridg allowed us to capture new guest emails and immediately convert them to our mobile app,” states Leah Smith, senior vice president of marketing at Veggie Grill.