SMS Marketing

5 Reasons Why Text Marketing for Restaurants Actually Works

text marketing for restaurants

How many times have you seen someone taking a photo of their food? If you own or manage a restaurant, you probably see that every day. That alone gives you an idea on how people interact with their phones while eating, and how text marketing for restaurants can be a great complement to your other promotional channels.

Text messages have a 98% open rate; which means it has a high level of acceptance and responsiveness. That’s why restaurant owners are turning to SMS marketing in order to reach mobile-first audiences. From on-the-go eateries to fine diners, there are many good opportunities for text marketing applied to restaurants. 

And we intend to explore them better in this article!

Opportunities in Text Marketing for Restaurants

  1. Brand Awareness and Promotion

Restaurants can use text messages to let new patrons know about them, and even engage existing clients. You can print text keywords and SMS short codes on menus, billboards, table wraps and many others to offer discounts or promotions. That encourages opt-ins, which allows you to create a more robust database. 

Once you send them promotional SMS messages, make sure you add your restaurant’s name and a useful link. It could be your website, an online menu, or anything relevant to the message. A compliant link shortener comes in handy for this because you can reduce the number of characters in your text message; making it easier to read while saving characters (which are limited to 160).

text marketing for restaurants
  1. Appointment Reminders = Less No-shows

One of the most common restaurant owners’ nightmares are empty salons and unoccupied staff. A double loss! But you can totally mitigate (or even avoid) that with text messaging. You can send an SMS appointment reminder to each reservation and send an automated text message to confirm attendance. 

This provides an invaluable benefit to restaurant and bar owners because it can greatly decrease no-shows. Knowing in advance how many people will show up (or at least having an approximate) can also help you determine how many people from your staff you’re going to need that day. Cover booking fulfillment and staff rostering, both at once!

  1. Better Communication with Clients 

43% of users prefer sending text messages to businesses rather than calling or sending an email.And of course, that applies to restaurants too. Enabling two-way-texting can be a good idea because clients get the chance to clarify any questions about their reservations; making a whole experience much better. 

Do you have parking? Do you offer vegan options? You can answer those and many other questions in real time; which your patrons will greatly appreciate.

  1. Cater Clients’ Experiences

Consumers are more active than ever, nowadays. Long gone are the days in which people only relied on good advertising to make a consumer decision. When it comes to restaurants, people don’t just want to eat: they want to have an experience. Sounds complicated? Not if you can cater your audience’s needs and wants. And text messaging is an invaluable tool for that.

SMS data capture allows you to to ask questions and capture the responses, which can be automatically stored in your database. That data is very useful to filter clients, create more and better segmented lists, and deliver more accurate and valuable text messages to each client in the future.

  1. Reward Loyalty (And Make Them Come Back for More!)

You can use text messaging to create a customer loyalty club, aiming to reward those clients that enjoyed your restaurant and are willing to go again. Once they opt-in, they can receive special messages with deals, events, and other incentives that encourage them to choose your place one more time. Having this kind of VIP treatment can also engage those that are still not loyal clients, and show them how you reward continuing visitors.

Choose The Right Platform for SMS Marketing

SMS marketing for restaurants can be made much easier if you choose the right platform. Trumpia makes a difference in texting software because we provide a variety of features like no other in the industry. That variety goes hand-in-hand with something equally important: usability and value. We provide you with all that you need to make your SMS marketing experience successful. 

Call or Text 1-888-707-3030 to talk to our experts, and start implementing texting to market your restaurant or bar right away.

Did you like this article? Learn more about SMS text marketing for restaurants reading our complete guide!