SMS Broadcast in Restaurants

Restaurant businesses

The restaurant business is one of the most competitive industries, since there is a wide range of choices available
for every customer. Pleasing the customer is of the utmost priority, and building a strong digital base forms the
backbone of any restaurant today. With increased competition come various difficulties, and managing those in the
post-pandemic world has resulted in many businesses struggling to keep up. We believe SMS marketing has the power
to bring you back to your path towards growth in such scenarios.

SMS services can help your establishment function efficiently with its user-friendly and affordable technology that
helps you stay connected with your customers at all times, and effectively carries out the internal collection and
processing of large amounts of customer data.

Challenges faced by Restaurant Owners

• High Operation Costs

Managing the operation costs involved in building and maintaining a restaurant are extremely high. During the
pandemic and post-pandemic era, these costs have risen, with 59% of restaurant operators reportedly having more
labour costs in total compared to the pre-pandemic era (National Restaurant Association, 2021). One of the ways of
reducing these costs is by investing in SMS management in your business, which will exponentially bring down costs
in various internal processes.

• Low Profits due to the Pandemic

Another big faultline that has emerged for restaurant owners is the low profit margin due to the pandemic-ridden
world, which has resulted in severe lockdowns and outdoor restrictions. In this scenario, online deliveries play a
huge role. However, since restaurants can’t be fully understood through online glimpses, customers rely on feedback
from other customers. This highlights the increased value of customer reviews on various popular applications and
websites, that can lead your restaurant among the ones most sought after.

• Personalisation for Customers

Customer data has increasingly grown significant in the digital world. According to a study conducted in America,
90% of customers use customer service as a factor to decide whether to buy the services of a company. Customer data
is also essential in personalising the experience for each customer, which is highly expected nowadays, where in a
study 63% of customers expected businesses to be aware of their unique needs and adapt their experience
accordingly. SMS handles this need while also tackling other challenges.

Big data is recognized today to be useful to set up the algorithm, which can not only recommend products and
services based on customers’ specific interests, but also gives larger control to companies in determining general
consumer interest. The data also largely improves product-

building and an understanding of the interests of the clientele. Thus, the value of collecting data has

increased drastically. Our software can support you in obtaining such data and help in strategically using it to
improve your services and customer experience.

But why SMS?

In an era dominated by email marketing, why are many shifting to SMS? Recent years have seen a steady rise in SMS
marketing users due to the unique impact that it has on customers. The accessibility, comfort, and immediacy that
it provides reflects in better output via marketing compared to email strategies.

• Techjury reports that over 75% of customers expressed that they prefer receiving offers via
• 60% of the customers also read these messages within 1-5 minutes of receiving them, compared to the total
  number of emails read overall which is only 20%.
• 7 million people chose to receive business SMSes in 2020 (Text Local).
• Text sign-ups for Attentive mobile customers grew by 53% in 2020 (The Wall Street Journal).
• SMS has an average CPC (cost per click) rate of $0.05, which is much lower than other competing modes of
  contact such as Instagram ($0.81) and LinkedIn ($3.87).

These statistics indicate that SMS is a powerful tool that can be honed by restaurants to navigate their routes of
success.

How can you use SMS marketing in a Restaurant business? (Use cases)

Get Instant Reviews and Feedback

According to a survey undertaken by Pyments.com, improving one’s customer rating by even half a star increases
revenue by 5-9%, a significant boost. A survey by ReviewTrackers states that around 33% of diners don’t choose
restaurants that have an online rating below 4-stars. This shows the growing influence that online reviews and
ratings have on the growth and popularity of the business. Customers who are satisfied with your business, are
highly likely to recommend it to others.

Referrals from existing customers is what primarily drives up sales, more than commercials and other marketing
methods. So, focusing on maintaining a satisfactory relationship with the existing clientele is important.

Using our technology, obtaining direct feedback from customers is as easy as it can get.

Send out a survey

A survey can be a quick and instant mode to get feedback from most customers, even those who
don’t want to spend time on this. Provide a QR code or a short numerical code that can instantly allow a
customer to directly connect with you. By typing a particular word that can automatically send them a
survey from your side, or by scanning a QR code that takes them to the survey, you are enabling them to
comment on your services. After the survey is completed, our software can send out an automated response
thanking them for their contributing through the survey, letting them know that their time matters.

Send a Personal Opinion Form

Find out if your customers would fill a form with their opinions, suggestions and elaborate response to your food, service, menu, and more. Through this, they can give their honest reviews so you can improve, and also put up these reviews on food blogging sites so your ratings are positively influenced. You can start by putting up a simple message around your physical and digital premises, asking what they thought of their experience. To respond, they can send a SMS to a numerical code that leads to you, which will help you capture their data and record their feedback.
By gathering customer review, you also retain customers’
personal information, which can be used to retain a loyal crowd.

Personalising the Experience and Maintaining the Base

According to Pymnts.com, a high majority of the best-performing restaurants offered incentive to use mobile services, by employing loyalty reward programs and extra discounts on ordering through mobile phones. Using SMS, you can send special discounts to customers who fill in their personal information during their first visit. If they had a positive experience, it’s highly likely that the discounts and offers will matter to them. This is especially so if the offers are exclusive to ordering through the phone, or specifically placing the order through SMS. Making SMS the primary mode of contact for further transactions makes this an extremely accessible medium for all users of mobile phones.
Little Bonnys, one of Guni’s premier clients faced the issue of retaining their older customers during the pandemic. Guni offered them assistance to manage this using their SMS gateway, that created more personalised one-on-one engagement, which increased their customer retention by 22%. Thus, automating this process by consistently connecting with customers using SMS helped them build a more loyal clientele during trying times.

Automate and Track using a Guest Management System

Since operation costs have increased severely through and post the pandemic, it has become important to cut costs wherever possible. One of the ways you can do this is by employing a SMS software that automates repetitive, scheduled tasks that are otherwise handled by your staff. This way, even with a limited staff, your tasks are managed while they work on more integral aspects, increasing efficiency and reducing the need for more staff members.
Our system management can track the guests at your restaurant and coordinate with the different parts of your functioning, such as the kitchen and the delivery. For instance, tracking the time that a guest has been waiting can ensure that you deliver the food to them without any delays. Similarly,

when delivering food, by obtaining their number, the software can track the time taken, and send an automated message letting them know if the time taken was less than expected, or if it was an early delivery.
These attempts can help them see your personal investment in ensuring that their service is completed satisfactorily. Through such an interaction, not only are you improving the relationship with the customers, but also improve the internal functioning of the restaurant.