Are you wondering about text messaging marketing? This guide is going to tell you all you need to know about starting SMS marketing for independent to mid-market restaurant brands with 25+ locations in one region, plus we’ll give you ideas for what to send to guests over text. We’ll also be sharing pitfalls to avoid and best practices.

SMS marketing is a new communication channel for restaurant brands, and it’s only going to grow in the coming years. Texts are opened more often, and they reach more people – but like email marketing, there are dos and don'ts for brands to do an SMS program right.

What is text message marketing?

Text message marketing, also known as SMS marketing, is a powerful tool that allows restaurants to connect with their customers instantly and directly through mobile phones. It involves sending promotional messages, special offers, and loyalty program details to subscribers on their mobile devices. With high response rates and the ability to reach a large customer base, text message marketing has become an essential part of any restaurant marketing strategy. 

Benefits of text message marketing for restaurants

Text message marketing offers numerous benefits for restaurants. It is an effective and direct way to reach customers and promote their businesses. Here are some of the key benefits of using text message marketing for restaurants:

• Customers want to receive texts from you: 75% of consumers want to be sent offers over text. As long as you respect the privilege, guests want those text offers, and they’ll use them. Beyond this, statistics show that customers are opening texts and using the offers:
• The CTR (click through rate) for SMS offers is over 9% higher than other digital channels
• Compared with email marketing, SMS has a 98% open rate
• 45% of people say a text would lead them to use a business
• Excellent value: SMS messaging results in great value for the price when it is focused on a specific program like local marketing, a VIP program for high-value customers, members of your subscription program or catering. Using SMS as a communication channel that is focused on high-value, engaged and loyal customers is a steal when an SMS credit that costs $0.03 cents can convert to a minimum of $50/guest in sales.
• Real-time and quick results: Texts are sent immediately, and over half of consumers (60%) read text messages within the first 1-5 minutes. When you send timely offers, you can get business from people who wouldn’t have seen the same-day offer on email until they opened the email the next day.
• Automated and trackable: You can automate texts to be sent based on certain factors like time of day and the value of the group of customers you want to reach.
• Trackable shortened links: These are URLs that can link to an RSVP page, a payment page, an online ordering page, and loyalty program sign ups.
• Trackable opens, clicks and conversions.
• Measure the campaign performance of each SMS campaign.
• Interactive: Texting allows for two-way conversations with customers, which studies show they want. Plus, it lets you get feedback easier. Two way conversation is great for catering, subscription memberships, VIP and concierge programs, which makes them ideal for high ticket opportunities. Texting also allows for automations through which the restaurant can offer codes that expire within a specific time period or on a certain date. This automation makes it faster to convert opt-ins to loyal guests.
• More personal: People are on their phones for hours each day, and many people even sleep with their phones and check it first thing in the morning. Texting is the most personal way to communicate, especially when you use first and second person (“I”, “you”, “we”), and drip campaigns based on purchase patterns.
• Easy to use: SMS doesn’t require an app or browser, so it doesn’t require consumers to be tech-savvy. This means there’s no barrier to entry and all ages of people can use it (even if they just use an old flip phone).
• All ages use text: As of 2022, there are 6.65 billion smartphone users. While guests of all ages use text messaging, 75% of people ages 44 and below prefer to communicate with businesses via SMS – so, it’s worth sending texts!

Developing a Restaurant Text Messaging Strategy

In today's digital age, text message marketing has become an essential tool for restaurants to effectively reach and engage with their customers. With over 95% of Americans owning a mobile phone, SMS messages have a high response rate, making them an ideal channel for promotional messages, loyalty programs, and special offers. 

How to execute a winning text messaging strategy

Implementing a restaurant text messaging gives a restaurant business the opportunity for direct and instant communication with customers, ensuring that important messages are received and acted upon promptly. To create an effective SMS marketing strategy, it is important to seamlessly incorporate text messaging into your customer experience. Let's dive in:

Building an opt-in and subscriber list 

To leverage the power of text message marketing, restaurants need to build a subscriber list. This can be achieved by encouraging customers to opt-in to receive promotional messages and exclusive deals via SMS. Restaurants can promote their text messaging program through various channels, such as your website, social media campaigns, email campaigns, and in-store signage. Offering a compelling incentive, such as a discount code or a freebie, can help entice customers to subscribe to the restaurant's text messaging service.

SMS prompt automations and customer journeys

Unlike email marketing, SMS marketing can be more interactive. Immediate and higher engagement is possible when SMS marketing automations are driven by a specific keyword or a prescriptive reply that requires a "YES" or "NO" response. Here are a few examples for an interactive and engaging path to growing your restaurant's SMS opt-in list:

A campaign to grow SMS marketing subscribers

• A fast casual restaurant wants to grow their SMS opt-in subscriber list
• The customer acquisition strategy involves posting flyers at each store location to receive a complimentary hamburger slider. The restaurant's website also featured a chat widget that displayed the same promotional message. This means that anyone who visited the website could participate in the offer by completing their profile with a mobile phone number.
• The SMS message reply from the chat widget and a customer's device is personalized for that customer.

An SMS marketing workflow for catering

• Using the keyword "catering" a restaurant can set-up catering automation prompts 
• A catering menu can be shared with a potential customer over text
• Followed by a catering in-take form 
• With Generative AI, SMS marketing can also ask the potential catering customer to confirm the order 
• Finalize the catering order with a confirmed payment information and authorization on file

Inquiries about your menu items

• Simple prompts that are aligned with your menu categories and products could be used to help answer customer inquiries about your menu
• A bakery and bistro that sells gluten free options could easily include automated replies for "gluten free" baked products and "gluten" baked products

Acquisition and automations

• Sharing your SMS marketing phone number on email campaigns, your website, and social media informs potential customers and customers about the availability of text messaging to reach your business
• You will need a dedicated SMS marketing platform that can manage all your text marketing and ideally, your email marketing programs.
• A privacy policy should be clear, cover deliverability standards, and comply with consumer marketing regulations to inform people.
• Provide a simple and efficient way for subscribers to unsubscribe from your SMS marketing list.

By utilizing these mobile phone number collection strategies, you can easily grow your opt-in subscriber list and effectively reach your customer base. 

Common SMS marketing pitfalls to avoid

When you use SMS for your restaurant marketing, your list is gold – and treating them right is key to gaining more loyalty and engagement. Here are the most common SMS mistakes and how to avoid them:

• Texting for the wrong reasons. Only text when there’s value to share quickly, like a same-day offer, contest or exciting new menu item. Otherwise, you risk annoying customers and overwhelming them, which causes opt-outs and unread messages in the future. Keep the status quo, which is customers being able to trust that 95-99% of texts from you are personalized offers. Everything else can be sent via email.
• Not being clear and concise. Use 160 characters wisely. Keeping texts short and to-the-point is key. Be straightforward and blunt here – no need to add anything unnecessary. The customer wants the offer, so just send it! If you have to add more, you can add a link to a landing page or send an additional email, for instance.
• Not following SMS laws and regulations. According to the CTIA, an organization for the US wireless communications industry, all SMS marketing programs must include the disclaimer “message and data rates may apply” to avoid legal issues.

In addition, the TCPA, the primary law in the US, is for all phone solicitations and prevents companies from texting customers first, even with opt-in invitations. This means you’re not allowed to send a text unless someone has already opted-in.

When a customer opts into texts, you’ll need to tell them in the first message: how many messages they can expect from you, your privacy policy, how to opt-out easily, and how to get help.

• Not giving an easy opt-out option. If the customer hasn’t responded to your first message, that is considered an opt-out and they shouldn't receive more texts. Otherwise, they should be able to opt-out at any time with a simple reply like “STOP,” “QUIT,” “UNSUBSCRIBE,” “OPT-OUT,” or “CANCEL”. This is a good thing for you, because you’ll save money by only sending texts to the people who want them and will use your offers.
• Know what makes people opt in and out of texts. Your list for texts is going to include people who really feel like those texts are valuable, and if they give the feeling of belonging to an exclusive community, the chances of people staying in goes way up. 95% of consumers sign up to 7 or less brand SMS messages, which is way less than email. 52% of consumers will only get texts from 2-3 brands. Use your texting privileges wisely:

• Send texts between 9am-8pm in customers’ local time zone
• Only send offers that are worth it (this may require some A/B testing)
• Don’t send too many texts
• Don’t send multiple texts about the same thing

• Don’t forget to A/B test. If you don’t test, you won’t know what’s working the best. It’s easy to test how your SMS marketing is performing using your data platform. You can see what’s giving you the best revenue, as well as which offers are the most used by customers and which ones are flops. This will also save you money, because you’ll only be sending messages customers want. A great way to A/B test is to test audience segments.
• Don’t forget email, too. SMS and email marketing go hand-in-hand because they serve different purposes for your restaurant. While texts are for really short, to-the-point messages and timely offers, emails can do much more. You can send longer updates and information, plus you can send info to customers who aren’t getting texts. Make sure not to send the same information on both text and email, or people are more likely to opt out.

17 Restaurant SMS marketing examples

So you have a data platform and SMS marketing set up… now what? Think of text messaging as a relationship you’re building with each customer. Your guests enjoy messages tailored to their specific spending habits and interests, versus generalized offers or messages without a clear purpose for them. As you test these types of messages, A/B test. Use your data platform to see what’s working and what’s not, and make changes accordingly. What works for your customers might be a bit different than other restaurants.

Here are 16 ideas for SMS marketing offers and restaurant promotion messaging ideas to send to guests:

1. Welcome offer

When a customer opts into receiving texts, they should get a welcome offer. If their phone number is already connected to data that shows previous purchase patterns, they can get a personalized offer. You can also have a welcome offer to entice people to sign-up that is announced on your marketing, like giving a percentage off their next purchase, a free add-on item like a drink, or something else that’s a crowd-pleaser – e.g., that anyone can use with some flexibility.

2. Encourage a follow-up order after their first one

Once a customer makes their first post-SMS sign up purchase, send a text that gets them to come back in sooner rather than later, so they’ll build a habit. This can be a personalized message that fits their first order. For instance, if they got a smoothie, offer them 15% off a smoothie order made within the following week.

3. Reservation confirmation and table-ready alerts

SMS is perfect to use for reservations and table-ready alerts, plus it’s a great way to encourage new opt-ins. When someone makes a reservation, you can ask them to sign up for emails and/or texts for reminders and let them know they can text in cancellations or other updates. Then, ask if they want to also opt-into marketing texts/emails and offers, and you can also give the opportunity to sign up for your loyalty program.

Even just using SMS for reservations is helpful for you, because restaurants using SMS see less no-shows.

4. Loyalty programs and offers

Offers of all kinds should make up the vast majority of your texts to customers, but you can also connect special offers for incentives for loyalty program members and to encourage sign-ups. You can also send texts for gamification – for instance, people can click the link to play a game for chances to earn free points, offers and more prizes.

5. Weekly specials

If you have weekly specials, you can send this in a text to encourage customers to come in for the special rather than people only knowing what the special is when they arrive. This can even be combined with an offer – for instance, 10% off the special or a choice of what use the percentage off on for more personalization.

6. Exclusive restaurant coupons

Exclusivity is something to focus on for your customers who’ve signed up for texts to feel like they’re getting unique, text-only offers. This will give them incentive to keep receiving texts, as well as to use them and be more loyal to you. Let them know it’s a text-only offer, and you can do this only on certain offers.

You can also offer limited-time menu items, or even a free product with a menu item, but only for those who get texts. Another way to do this is to give those who’ve opted into SMS first dibs (a day to a week, then it’s open for all customers). You can up the exclusivity with a limited time offer, like “today only” or “today from 1-4pm only”.

7. VIP event invitations

A text is a great way to send invites and/or reminders to people who’ve RSVP-ed to events, and especially for VIP events targeted to high value and loyal customers.

It can be a fundraiser or holiday event, or something like “half-price gingerbread smoothies all week until supplies run out” for the holidays. Customers who get texts will see it right away and will appreciate not missing the opportunity because they let the email get lost in their inbox – just make sure it’s worth sending a text, and not just an email.

8. Contests

If there’s a time-sensitive or exclusive contest, sending a text with a sign-up link or code is a great reason for using SMS – of course, not too often.

9. NPS Feedback polls

Another text that is okay to send if not overdone is NPS feedback polls to find out how customers feel about your restaurant. Sending for the purpose of personalization is a good idea so customers know you want to know more about their preferences and what they want, so you can send them better offers.

10. Restaurant opening SMS text

If you’re opening a new store location, share the good news! You can even let SMS subscribers know before others, adding that exclusivity factor. It’s also a great excuse to send an exclusive deal for when they visit your new location when you open.

11. Birthday and holiday discounts

Sending offers is great on a regular basis, but birthday and holiday discounts are extra-special and can help make sure customers know they’re getting personalized offers and special discounts.

12. Anniversary discounts for loyalty program members

Anniversary offers are personalized to subscribers’ anniversary dates for whenever they first joined your loyalty program. It also communicates your appreciation to them as a customer, which builds the relationship.

13. Catering

Texting can be a great way to send catering offers as an encouragement for people to use your service, and to inform them it exists in the first place. You can also send catering notifications when they use your service, such as confirmations, reminders and more.

14. Referral offers

Another kind of offer that can be sent via text (when timely or exclusive to subscribers) is the referral offer, where loyalty members get a discount or free item when people they refer to the program also sign up.

15. New menu items

Exciting new menu items, and seasonal items, should definitely be shared over text. Let SMS subscribers know they’re the first to hear for exclusivity, and a relevant offer can also be included.

16. Order, shipment and delivery confirmation

The majority of consumers want this information via text more than anything else. Whether it’s menu items or products you sell, if they’ve ordered online or for delivery text updates are always appreciated.

17. Cart abandonment

This is one to use sparingly, but can remind people ordering or buying products online that they abandoned their cart, and to ask if they still want to buy.

Conclusion

Adding SMS marketing as a customer marketing channel could elevate your customer's experience when used for specific guided workflows and automations. This use case has the potential to be time-saving for both the restaurant's front-of-the-house team and the customer.

A reliable SMS automation experience helps to shorten repeat visit cycles, which contributes to the profitable growth of your restaurant business. When SMS marketing is used for campaigns and special offers, consideration to a subscriber's local market and personal preferences is highly encouraged.

Are you ready to dive into SMS marketing as a channel? Book a demo.