SMS Marketing for Restaurants

Much of restaurant marketing focuses on attracting new customers, overlooking the potential to foster loyalty among existing and previous patrons. By employing text message marketing for eateries, it’s possible to establish meaningful, lasting connections with your audience.

Restaurants face a dilemma where customers typically visit, dine, pay, and then depart, leaving minimal room for establishing rapport and encouraging return visits.

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Text Message Marketing for Restaurant Use Cases

This is where text messaging becomes a valuable tool. Collecting customers’ phone numbers provides a direct line of communication, enabling restaurants to boost sales and enhance the lifetime value of a customer.

A prevalent strategy for encouraging repeat business through this channel involves dispatching timely promotional offers that frequently result in prompt purchases.

This approach is notably cost-effective and boasts significant potential for return on investment. It represents merely one application, as there are various other ways restaurants have utilized this method:

  • Drive online orders
  • Send texts when a customer’s food or table is ready
  • Manage curbside pickup
  • Manage reservations by SMS
  • Create an SMS loyalty program
  • And more!

Text Message Marketing for Restaurant Use Cases

Marketing for restaurants has grown increasingly complex recently. As competition intensifies, individuals seeking dining options are faced with a wide variety of choices.

The increase isn’t solely in the quantity of dining establishments but also in the myriad of marketing platforms competing for potential customers’ attention.

Restaurants commonly leverage social media, email, search engines, and review sites for promotion. Each of these platforms offers its advantages, yet they all lack the unique benefits provided by text marketing:

  • 98% open rates
  • 36% click-through rates (CTRs)
  • 45% conversion rates

How Restaurant Text Messaging Works

There are two ways restaurants use texting:

  1. Promotional messages like advertising a weekly special  
  2. Transactional messages like notifications when a table is ready

We’ll outline how both work and provide links to other useful resources where you can learn more about them.

To begin offering your patrons text message coupons for your restaurant, acquiring a list of their phone numbers is essential. There are numerous strategies to grow your SMS subscriber base. (Additionally, if you already have a list, you can add it by following specific steps.) One of the most efficient methods is to promote an SMS keyword across all possible platforms. A keyword is a specific word or phrase that, when sent as a text to your number, enrolls customers in your messaging service. For instance, if your restaurant is named “Mexicano’s,” you might use “Mexicano” as your keyword. Once a customer sends this keyword to your phone number, they will automatically receive a message expressing gratitude for their subscription. Here’s how it might look.

 

In general, we recommend the following when texting:

  • Keep it short: Keeping a message as brief as possible allows the recipient to scan it and know exactly what you’re offering.
  • Aim for clarity: While text messages should be short, they shouldn’t be cryptic. Ensure that the text will make sense to the recipient.
  • Make it personal: Use the recipient’s name, location, or area of interest to know that the message is for them.

Sample SMS text marketing for Restaurants 🍱

One of the best parts of using texts to communicate with members is that they’re easy to write. Make sure to offer value with each message and to keep them straightforward.