SMS Marketing for Restaurants
How Text Marketing Works for Restaurants
Turn one-time diners into returning, loyal customers with Mozeo’s SMS platform. Texting’s extremely high open rate and instant delivery make it the perfect marketing tool for restaurants looking to increase order volume and fill tables. Use SMS to share last-minute openings, promote daily specials, advertise upcoming events, and more. Here are a few ways texting can work for restaurants.
Send Promotional Messages
SMS marketing is all about capturing the attention of your subscribers. Entice your customers by sharing exclusive promotions and discounts, such as sending happy hour reminders or vouchers for a free appetizer, dessert, or cocktail. SMS is also great for sharing special event promotions. Whether it’s a live music night, a chef’s tasting menu, or a quick text to remind subscribers to book a table for Valentine’s Day, SMS offers a clear, concise way to boost engagement and drive sales.
Manage Booking Requests
Restaurants can leverage SMS to streamline booking management by sending reservation confirmations, reminders, and waitlist updates. Offer guests an elevated customer experience by allowing them to text your restaurant to make or manage their reservations. Plus, sending reservation reminders to customers reduces no-shows and gives you time to fill would-be empty tables.
Set Up Auto-Replies and Schedule Messages
Automating your texting workflow is a great way to streamline your staff’s manual workload and ensure operational efficiency. Trigger automated replies to answer guests’ frequently asked questions or schedule messages to remind customers of upcoming events or daily specials. Setting up auto-replies helps keep guests updated and allows your staff to focus on providing excellent customer service to diners already in the restaurant.
Why Restaurants Should Be Texting
High Open Rates
Text messaging delivers a staggering 98% open rate to users, much higher than other communication channels, such as email, which is only 21%. Texting’s high open rate can be attributed to the fact that over 91% of Americans own a smartphone, with some users checking their phone almost once every five minutes.
So what exactly does this mean for your restaurant? Well, for starters, it means that your SMS subscribers will likely read everything you send them. If you’re sharing engaging, drool-worthy content and irresistible offers, it’s very likely that your customers will be enticed to take a bite.
Immediate Delivery
SMS messages are delivered almost instantly, while the average text message is read within 3 minutes of being delivered. This makes text messages the ideal channel for sharing time-sensitive updates, alerts, and reminders. For example, when a restaurant sends a message about a table that became available last minute, the message is delivered in real-time, prompting quick action and allowing customers to take advantage of promotions or opportunities before they miss out. This immediate interaction helps restaurants stay top-of-mind and creates a sense of urgency, which is perfect for filling seats or boosting sales on the spot.
Personalization
Sending targeted, personalized messages is key to capturing your customers’ attention while making them feel special and valued. Your restaurant can gather basic data on customers, such as birthdays, dining preferences, and past visits, allowing you to tailor your messages to fit their interests or special occasions. With audience segmentation and personalization at scale, you can share special offers with certain audience groups, ensuring the promotions they receive are relevant to them.
How Restaurants Can Build an SMS Subscriber List
Offer Incentives
Offering customers enticing incentives when they sign up for your SMS texting service is a great way to grow your subscriber base. For example, offering customers a discount on their next meal, a free appetizer or dessert, exclusive event invitations, or access to exclusive deals only available to SMS subscribers are all effective ways to incentivize signups. Make it fun, offer value, and deliver engaging content that makes subscribers excited to be part of your texting service.
Make It Easy To Opt-In
Customers usually won’t go out of their way to sign up for an SMS service. It’s up to you to make it convenient and easy for them to join. Think of it this way: If you only place an opt-in screen at check-out for online orders, in-person diners may never know of or find your SMS service. Map out all of the touchpoints you can use to offer customer opt-ins, such as on your website homepage, point-of-sale (POS) systems, emails, and add QR codes to table tents that link customers to your opt-in page. It’s also a good idea to share opt-ins on your social media posts, stories, and reels.
Online Orders & Reservations
Asking for opt-ins during the ordering or reservation process is a highly effective way to grow your subscriber list because customers are already engaged with your restaurant. When customers place an order online, include an opt-in checkbox for SMS promotions during the checkout process. To add value and increase the likelihood of subscriptions, incentivize your opt-ins by offering customers a discount on their current order.
Additionally, When customers make a reservation online, prompt them with an option to opt-in for SMS updates about their booking, promotions, or upcoming events. This can be done either through a simple checkbox during the booking process or via a follow-up text once the reservation is confirmed.
Take Your Restaurant to the Next Level
Mozeo’s Powerful Restaurant SMS Marketing Features
Let’s take a look at some of Mozeo’s top-used features for restaurants, diners, and more.
Mozeo’s multimedia messaging service (MMS) feature can significantly enhance your restaurant’s texting service by allowing you to send rich, engaging content beyond simple text messages. Imagine sharing your chef’s special of the week with subscribers and including a mouth-watering photo or promoting an upcoming live music event and sharing a link directly to the band’s streaming page. Sharing interactive and engaging content can attract customers’ attention and entice them to make a reservation.
With two-way SMS, Mozeo users can connect with their subscribers through natural, personal conversations. Two-way texting allows for real-time customer engagement, ideal for handling customer inquiries, making reservations, or handling menu or dietary questions. Mozeo’s two-way SMS feature helps restaurants build personal connections with customers while providing quick, efficient service.
Mozeo’s mass texting feature allows businesses to connect and engage with a large number of customers quickly and effectively. Restaurants can utilize mass texting to increase event attendance, share offers, and save time by sharing mass updates rather than reaching out to customers one by one. Plus, using audience segmentation features, restaurants can send targeted messages to groups of customers based on their demographics and order history.
Asking for reviews via SMS offers customers a quick and easy way to leave feedback without requiring them to fill out lengthy forms or navigate through websites. With texting’s high open and response rates, your business can expect higher rates of feedback, ensuring a better customer experience and increasing the chances of repeat business. Mozeo makes the review collection process easy by enabling restaurants to quickly share links to review sites via text.
SMS Compliance For Restaurants
As regulations and compliance requirements become more complex, having a trusted and knowledgeable SMS provider is more important than ever. Mozeo is a leading provider of compliant SMS texting. Mozeo streamlines the compliance process by automatically processing opt-out requests and giving users the ability to effortlessly segment audiences into time zones, ensuring no promotional messages are sent outside of legal texting hours. As communication technology evolves, Mozeo continues to be a trusted source for restaurants that want to engage customers with SMS marketing.
<h3 class="heading-style-h2">SMS Marketing Templates for Restaurants</h3>
Wondering how other restaurants are using SMS marketing? Here are a few ready-to-use templates to start serving up irresistible text messages.
Promote Happy Hour Deals
<div class="copy-templates" style="margin-bottom: 16px;">Happy Hour Alert! Enjoy 15% off appetizers and $3 drinks from 4-6 PM today. See you at [Restaurant Name]! 🍻</div>
<div class="copy-templates">Hey [Name], ring in the weekend with a reverse Happy Hour at [Restaurant Name]! 🌟 Half-off all cocktails and small plates from 9-10 PM, Friday through Sunday.</div>
Birthday Texts for Customers
<div class="copy-templates" style="margin-bottom: 16px;">[Restaurant Name]: Happy Birthday, [Name]! Celebrate with us and enjoy a free dessert or appetizer on your special day. Show this message when you dine in!</div>
<div class="copy-templates">Hi [Name]! We’re throwing a little birthday cheer your way! 🎉 Drop by [Restaurant Name] for a free birthday drink (our treat!). Here’s to another year of you!</div>
Promotions and Discounts
<div class="copy-templates" style="margin-bottom: 16px;">[Name], craving something sweet? Show this message for a complimentary dessert with your next meal. Valid through the weekend at [Restaurant Name].</div>
<div class="copy-templates">Flash Alert! Get 20% off all main entrees today only. Show this text when you dine in. Can’t wait to see you!</div>
Last-Minute Openings
<div class="copy-templates" style="margin-bottom: 16px;">[Restaurant Name]: Last-minute opening! A table just became available for [time] tonight. Want to dine with us? Reply YES to reserve!</div>
<div class="copy-templates">Pssst...a seat just opened up at [Restaurant Name] for [time]! 🕒 It’s your lucky day – don’t let this chance slip away. Text back ‘DINNER’ to grab it!</div>
Promote Specials
<div class="copy-templates" style="margin-bottom: 16px;">Hey [Name], we know you’ve loved our chef’s specials in the past. Here’s this week’s masterpiece at [Restaurant Name]: Grilled salmon with a zesty lemon-dill glaze. Only available for a limited time, so don’t miss out! Reply ‘BOOK’ to reserve your spot.</div>
<div class="copy-templates">[Name], craving something fresh and unique? Our chef’s special tonight is a slow-braised short rib with mashed potatoes that’ll melt in your mouth. Come taste the magic!</div>
