Chicago-based Cellit, a provider of mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems for restaurants, analyzed more than 25 million text messages sent to customers by operators to determine which practices received the best results.
Pulled from the study are the following tips on how restaurants can cook up an effective mobile marketing campaign:
- Cadence/Timing – Send offers when the time is ripe, especially right before the drive home around 3 p.m.
- Collaborate/Tie the Physical to the Virtual – All marketing efforts, including word-of-mouth, in-store, billboards, etc., should be leveraged to support your mobile marketing campaign. Educate and incentivize your employees to sign up customers to your mobile club. Include your mobile offers on all marketing materials.
- Content/Variety – Spice things up. No one wants to receive the same offer or message every week. Your messages do not always have to be offers, either. Sometimes a survey or a contest can generate just as much interest.
- Create Excitement/Exclusivity – Make sure that your mobile offers are unique from other forms of marketing. That can help create a sense of exclusivity that makes people want to join. Seeing someone redeem a mobile coupon can make other guests curious and motivate them to sign up.
- Commitment/Planning – Sending a one-time message does not constitute a mobile marketing campaign. Planning ahead or tying promotions to holidays or local events will ensure a steady stream of communication and allow your mobile marketing to continue, even when other parts of your business require your attention.
- Redemption/Integration – Many mobile campaigns for restaurants involve mobile coupons. To ensure these coupons are validated appropriately and tracked for future behavioral-based targeting, integration with the POS register is required. Ensuring this integration is streamlined and simple for the clerk or wait staff to manage is critical.
By following these tips, operators can achieve a 20 percent mobile coupon redemption rate, as well as build customer loyalty and sales.
"(Cellit’s) goal is to provide easy to manage mobile marketing services that generate high ROI while improving the customer/restaurant relationship," said David Wachs, president of Cellit. "Mobile marketing provides a unique channel for a restaurant to develop compelling, creative communications that build customer loyalty, drive restaurant visits, and increase the tender amount."
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