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“Text marketing is by far the number one way customers want to hear from you”, says Derek Morgan, VP of Customer Success at Ovation, who has years of experience in helping restaurants send texts. Did you know that 98% of text messages are opened? That is an amazing stat, especially when compared to other forms of marketing (email campaigns have a less than 20% open-rate.) While email and paper advertising are still effective and have their place in the marketing mix, on this episode of “Give an Ovation”, Derek and CEO of Ovation Zack Oates discuss why text marketing is such a powerful tool for restaurants, and 7 tips on sending a good text:
1. Make It Relevant
Derek explained that some restaurant owners are hesitant to text their customers because they don’t want to annoy them. But if you’re sending them things they genuinely want, like great deals, they’re not going to be!
2. Experiment
Like with any marketing strategy, it will take some tinkering around to find out what works best for you and your customers.
3. Keep it Short
Most texts are limited to 160 characters, and Derek recommends never going beyond that. People don’t typically want to read long winded texts, and will respond best to short and sweet messages.
4. Make it Personal
If you can, including the name of your customer in the text will help get their attention. To make the process go faster, companies like Ovation (*wink wink*) can automate the process.
5. Put the Deal First
Make your promotion the very first thing people see. One Mexican-style restaurant Derek worked with sent a text that simply said, “$5 Burritos today and tomorrow only.”, and saw huge redemption-rates!
6. Follow-Up
Sending a follow up message to those who haven’t responded yet can be very effective, but be careful to not send too many to avoid being irritating.
7. Send it at the Right Time
The best times are either 10 AM when people are up and going, or from 5-6 PM when people are off work and ready for dinner.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the whole podcast, as well as other interviews with restaurant/business gurus by checking out “Give an Ovation” on Youtube, podcast.ovationup.com, or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.
