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Restaurant SMS marketing - Incentive to opt-in

by Andrew H
16 replies
I am planning my first SMS marketing plan for an Italian restaurant with a mid range priced menu ($15 - $30 plates).

How do you get people to opt-in? the table cards are a good idea but do you offer x% off for first time subscribers? or just simply say "Txt ____ to _____ for our monthly special".

Thanks for any help.
#incentive #marketing #optin #restaurant #sms
  • Profile picture of the author MoBuzz
    Originally Posted by mcflause View Post

    I am planning my first SMS marketing plan for an Italian restaurant with a mid range priced menu ($15 - $30 plates).

    How do you get people to opt-in? the table cards are a good idea but do you offer x% off for first time subscribers? or just simply say "Txt ____ to _____ for our monthly special".

    Thanks for any help.

    In my experience a contest or immediate incentive is best.

    1. Join our VIP club to instantly win a free dinner for 2

    2. Join our VIP Club and get an instant 10% off ( cashier or waitress should be pushing this just before they pay, or when they get the bill)

    3. Join our VIP Club and get a free dessert. ( waitress/waiter should offer this after serving main coarse, plus should be on a table tent)
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    Drawings work well too. Give away a free dinner every week valued at $25 dollars, or a free pizza, etc. You could do this along with a 10% discount for first time subscribers. Get an SMS opt in form on the client website too. The more customers that are exposed to the promotion the better.
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    • Profile picture of the author ozarksentinel
      The Contest drawing idea is a great one. We recently tried it with a client and had them use the tired old drop your business card here for a free drawing for a dinner. The little sign also noted those with cell numbers would be opting in to the SMS campaign.
      She collected 53 cards the first night - 47 had cell phone numbers on them.
      So, that's another way to help increase a list. just be sure to:
      1. put the drawing container close to the register.
      2. Make certain the sign notes cell numbers will be opting in to SMS.
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      • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
        Originally Posted by ozarksentinel View Post

        The Contest drawing idea is a great one. We recently tried it with a client and had them use the tired old drop your business card here for a free drawing for a dinner. The little sign also noted those with cell numbers would be opting in to the SMS campaign.
        She collected 53 cards the first night - 47 had cell phone numbers on them.
        So, that's another way to help increase a list. just be sure to:
        1. put the drawing container close to the register.
        2. Make certain the sign notes cell numbers will be opting in to SMS.
        I would be hesitant having people opt in on a paper form. Could be an excuse for someone to yell text spam.

        Just as easy to have a tablet with an SMS opt in form at the counter. Customer enters their phone number in the opt in on the tablet and gets a confirmation text back informing them of how things work. Number is stored in database for future marketing. Be sure to always include the STOP reply for opting out.
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        • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
          Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

          Just as easy to have a tablet with an SMS opt in form at the counter.
          I like this idea. Will be a little bit of work to get the programming/ui done but it would be worth it. I can incorporate the price of a small tablet into the setup costs as well.
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          • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
            Originally Posted by mcflause View Post

            I like this idea. Will be a little bit of work to get the programming/ui done but it would be worth it. I can incorporate the price of a small tablet into the setup costs as well.
            PM me if you need help with this. I have worked it all out using Openvbx (free) and a php script.
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        • Profile picture of the author ozarksentinel
          Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

          I would be hesitant having people opt in on a paper form. Could be an excuse for someone to yell text spam.

          Just as easy to have a tablet with an SMS opt in form at the counter. Customer enters their phone number in the opt in on the tablet and gets a confirmation text back informing them of how things work. Number is stored in database for future marketing. Be sure to always include the STOP reply for opting out.
          That's a good point xlkutur.
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    • Profile picture of the author scamsel
      Originally Posted by xlfutur1 View Post

      ...get an SMS opt in form on the client website too. The more customers that are exposed to the promotion the better.
      just wondering what form or type of sign up page do you currently use?
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      • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
        Originally Posted by scamsel View Post

        just wondering what form or type of sign up page do you currently use?
        I generally use a popup and also an iframe to embed on pages that is about 500X500 pixels. the form just contains one field for the phone number. It is passed to a php script I had developed that triggers an OpenVBX flow.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    So many different options here for mobile marketing specials, you can do:

    1) Free Dinner
    2) Buy one get one free
    3) 25% OFF purchase
    4) Free Drink
    5) Free Appetizer
    ETC

    Really something you should discuss with the business owner in terms of what they're willing to offer. For Trumpia's mobile marketing campaigns we've really seen all of the above be fairly successful.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    OP, have you had any success in this?
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  • Profile picture of the author MobileMarketingMogul
    Hi McFlause,

    I have been doing work for restaurants in the mobile area for a year or so now and I found offering a glass of wine/bottle of beer for next time there in usually works.

    Put a QR Code on the receipts aswell that reminds people to scan them, this will lead them to a landing page optimised for mobile that will have a form attached and say they have an oppotunity to win free meals for a month or something, whatever the restaurant owner is happy with but free meals for a month did very well for me personally and got some press for the restaurant also.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    OP, have you had any success in this?
    Yes it was very successful. I opted to use the table tent with a free drink. The client built his list amazingly fast and was very happy. Thing's also went very smoothly considering it was my first adventure into SMS marketing.

    To allow the client to manage his list I built him a hosted app with a very nice UI. I am now in the process of turning this into a multi-tenant app (ie: MySQL multiple users) and am going to be marketing this hosted app to local marketing companies.

    Has been an exciting start to the new year!
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    • Profile picture of the author cashtech29
      I bought trumpia white label account some time ago,
      but After finding out that I am not a salesman I am wanting to unload my account, for cheap,
      that still has over 98,000 (Ninety Eight Thousand ) unused text credits.
      Not sure what I should do.
      I did talk to Trumpia support and they said that I could offload my white label account to another, if I so choose.

      Any advice?

      Thanks in advance.
      EJ
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  • Profile picture of the author NewParadigm
    Offer free Wifi or the free use of a cheap tablet to surf the web while dining. They only need to opt-in w/ phone# for access. Tablets w/ videos of all the menu items will be big, especially for pairing wines, offering video wine reviews/suggestions as well as upselling desserts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    Offer free Wifi or the free use of a cheap tablet to surf the web while dining
    I really like this idea. To be honest I feel like tablet are a great way to 'Wow' customers (especially in restaurants). I see a barrier here being convincing the client of the cost of the tablets and then dealing with theft if you have 10-15 tablets floating around.

    I am looking into getting an ipad mounted in the waiting area of this clients, might even cover the cost or offer a Hefty discount in order to break into this market (the restaurant is right in the middle of the restaurant district). Just have it loaded to a web page or phonegap APP that has a their menu with videos of some of the dishes. Really excited for all the possibilities that tablets can provide.
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