Customer Loyalty Management at Café and Restaurants with SMS Marketing

published on: 14.03.2020 last updated on: 09.06.2022

Do you know how a sound SMS Marketing strategy can help improve your brand’s customer loyalty management?
Are you looking for smart ways to interact, engage and inform your customers for offers, bookings, discounts, etc.?
Have you tried experimenting with different service providers and digital agencies with regard to SMS Marketing?
Do you know how much does SMS Marketing costs when does as a campaign?

SMS Marketing: Meaning and Definition

SMS Marketing refers to the process of reaching your customers through Short Messaging Services or Text Messages. Almost all brands, both big and small rely on this to continue conversations, with their consumers.

You might be wondering that SMS Marketing entails collecting data, i.e. having access to the phone numbers of existing and potential customers. However, the process is far easy than you would have ever imagined. Every business maintains records of its consumers. Restaurant businesses frequently fill out Feedback Forms from their consumers.

You can depend on this to collect hundreds if not thousands of phone numbers of your customers. You can also contact third-party vendors who maintain databases of people living in a geographical territory.

Businesses can look to generate revenues, profits, and repeat consumers if they follow the right SMS Marketing strategies. Even though SMS Marketing has been around for a long time, it continues to be one of the most sought-after ways to market your brand.

How does SMS Marketing work in the Restaurant Industry?

Excellent cafes, pubs, bars, and restaurants should have not only an extensive list of dishes but also a pleasant atmosphere, which attracts many regular guests. Still, in a highly competitive industry, none can work without a strong marketing strategy and a well-set customer relations system.

SMS marketing can help to maintain a healthy relationship with the guests, helping them return to the cafe in the future.

To support SMS marketing, a restaurant business, for example, might benefit from integrating an SMPP Gateway API to send mass SMS globally over a phone number database. Sending mass SMS is the purpose of this integration.

Let’s consider an example where you are the administrator of the cafe, which exists for a long time. Soft sofas, dim lights, and soft music make your cafe very cozy and comfortable for visitors.

Why this form of marketing is essential to growing your Restaurant Business?

Different types of guests visit your cafe – starting with the romantic-minded students to prosperous couples and families. Your menu offers a broad range of food and beverages: European, Oriental and Russian cuisine, alcoholic drinks from different locations, including delicious cocktails.

However, it is not enough, and you want to increase your visitor’s number and grow sales. Here is an excellent option for you to apply bulk SMS marketing. Remember, you have the phone numbers of your customers who called to book a table – collect these numbers for bulk SMS.

Prepare an SMS campaign on some occasions – for example, on the New Year’s holidays or Spring coming. Send out an invitation in text messages to the list of our guests through the SMS Service. The result will please you; you will not have a single empty table on New Year’s Eve.

Other Important Tasks Text Message Marketing Solves for the Restaurant Industry

For the uninitiated, SMS Marketing has many advantages. In the short term, it can help you shore up new customers and bring back old customers to your restaurant. This is helpful in driving up sales, revenues, and profits for your business.

Over a longer period, SMS Marketing can help you develop customer loyalty. In this day and age of ever-increasing competition, you want to build a loyal customer base. Consumers are spoiled for choice when it comes to the food industry. They do not have plenty of options to dine out, but can also order food at their homes.

Physical restaurant brands can learn a thing or two from aggregators and home delivery websites in terms of using technology. These websites use SMS and Email Marketing to communicate discounts, freebies, 1+1 offers, new launches, and a host of other communications.

We have taken the liberty to create some of the best advantages of using such a service for your restaurant business-

Filling the halls of the cafes
Increase the level of customer service
Attracting new visitors
Formation of loyalty among the guests
Establishment of a favorable image of the cafe, develop brand
Notification about updates

Ways to Implement Text Messaging at the Restaurant

In the previous sections, we have discussed the benefits and importance of SMS Marketing. In this section, we are going to look at how any business, especially the restaurant industry can execute and implement this strategy.

We have tried to come up with different forms of communication, in which every restaurant can communicate with their consumers.

Invite guests to unique events that are held at the cafe. Example: “Pancake Café The Point! A wide range of pancakes with tastiest fillings. Table Reservation by the phone 111-22-33 “.
Notification of the guests about the table reservation. Example: “Dear Max! We confirm the booking of table #9 for today at 7 pm. Cafe The Point. Tel. 111-22-33 “.
Invite guests to a tasting. Example: “Try new dishes on our menu! Cafe The Point. Phone 111-22-33. “
Congratulations on the holidays and birthdays. Example: “Dear Angela! A team of Café The Point congratulates you on your birthday! For you a free slice of cake on your choice this day! “.
Inform about the offers. Example: “Good day! Café The Point, 12 to 18 of March, A Great Tea Week! Make an order for more than 50 $ and get any tea for free!”.

Mass texting service is a proven tool for maintaining communication with regular guests.
See yourself – SMS marketing fits perfectly to optimize the advertising costs!

Conclusion

Having a great ambiance, good food and excellent employees is not enough anymore. Marketing your brand to existing and potential customers can make all the difference. If you are looking to increase footfalls, takeaway orders, and revenues, a smartly executed SMS Marketing campaign can help you achieve all the objectives.

Mashum Mollah

Mashum Mollah is an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at Viacon, a digital marketing agency that drive visibility, engagement, and proven results. He blogs at BloggerOutreach.io.