When you run a business with physical locations such as a shop, café, restaurant or theater, you’ll know that while you have plenty of loyal, regular customers, there can still be slow days. You can entice some new walk-ins using chalkboards, window stickers and other ads on your premises. You can also encourage return visits with discount vouchers and loyalty cards. Sending SMS text messages online using Message Hero is another great way to boost the chances of your customers returning.
How can sending text messages get me more bookings or walk-ins?
1. Exclusive Special Offers. You can text your latest special offers, value discounts, seasonal sale information and lots more directly to your customer’s phone’s to prompt them to come to your premises. You can even text exclusive offers to people who sign up to your text marketing database. You can make them time sensitive i.e. This offer applies today only, if you want to entice your customers as soon as possible. You can text a special voucher code your customers can show to redeem their gift. If you have an online store, you can text a link to your special offer or discount code. True, you could do the same by email, but with email open rates coming in at around 20% vs 99% of text messages being read, it’s a no-brainer.
2. New Products. If you have a new range of products or a seasonal special, let your customers know by SMS.
3. Event Promotion by Text Message. If you are planning an event on your premises and you want to increase attendance, texting the details to your customers with plenty of notice is a great idea. Maybe you can encourage bookings with an early bird rate? You can even send them a reminder closer to the event date. If you own a restaurant or a café and you are launching a new menu, let your customers know! There are various public holidays and events throughout the year that make great times to send out text messages to promote special events e.g. New Years, Valentines Day, Mid-Term breaks, Christmas Holidays etc. There’s a good chance your customers will have time off on some of these occasions, so it’s a good idea to let them know what you are offering – just remember to give plenty of notice if they are going to need a babysitter!
4. Reminders. If your business runs on an appointment basis, sending text message reminders is a great way of avoiding no-shows. If you offer pre-ordering of highly anticipated products, you can use text messages to let your customers know their order is in stock and ready for collection.
6 benefits of text message marketing for dining and retail
1. It’s really cheap. You can try Message Hero for free, and once you are happy it’ll only cost 3.3p per text message you send. Compared to other advertising budgets, that is a huge saving.
2. It’s direct. With the rapid, near 100% reach of mobile phone technology, you can be sure your customers will be carrying their phones with them most of the time – meaning they’ll see your message, wherever they are.
3. It’s quick. If you are really busy, texting is one of the fastest ways for you to advertise. Texts are short, so they take very little time to type. You can also schedule messages to send at future dates with Message Hero. This means you can line texts up to send out over the next few weeks all at once, so you can focus on other things.
4. It’s instant. Within seconds of sending your text, your customers will see it on their phone. This means you can include time-sensitive offers, or you can make urgent or last-minute announcements. Studies have also shown that the majority of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being received.
5. It’s flexible. You don’t have to book in your advertising or run it at a pre-defined time. You can send text messages when it suits you. Maybe you are having an event at the weekend or a public holiday is coming up and you want to get people’s attention when they aren’t in work. Texts can be sent any time – although it’s not recommended to send texts late at night or early in the morning – you want your customers to be well rested!
6. It’s requested. Text messages, like emails, are based on customer opt-ins i.e. your customers agree to sign up to receive offers from you. This means that the people receiving your messages are likely to respond to the offers in them. If customers aren’t interested, they can simply opt-out of future communications as long as you have included opt-out information in your messages (which is obligatory for marketing messages). Message Hero automatically removes opted-out contacts from your account so you can guarantee you are being compliant with data protection regulations.
For more tips on sending the perfect marketing text message, please read our free guide here
Try Message Hero To Send Online SMS Today
With the bank holiday approaching, why not get together your customer contact information and give Message Hero a test? Each account is free and quick to set up and you’ll have 20 free messages so you can try before you buy.
SIGNUP & TRY FREE[/do]