The food delivery business sector has increased significantly with the increased adaptation of e-commerce platforms. We all look forward to a Friday night takeaway and there is nothing more satisfying than eating your favourite restaurant's food in the comfort of your own home.
Use your mobile and place an order using a delivery business and let time work its magic. The online food delivery business's revenue is proliferating. In the U.S alone, the revenue has crossed $136 million.
SMS marketing for online food businesses has been making a massive impact on sales. Different types of text messages create psychological triggers that drive customers to place an order. Thus, SMS marketing has the potential to uplift food delivery businesses and drive sales.
Today, we will be discussing some significant aspects of how SMS marketing is growing exponentially.
How is SMS Marketing impacting the food delivery business?
Text message marketing is a great tool for restaurants and delivery businesses alike. It can be impactful in tons of different ways. Some of them are;
1. SMS is a popular way to connect
SMS marketing is undoubtedly a must-have strategy for any business because the perks that it offers are substantial. It is quite evident that every business wants better and wider connections – and for building strong relationships, leveraging SMS marketing is the best way.
The advantages of adopting SMS marketing are immediate delivery, a personalized touch, cost-effectiveness, and vast reach. Combining these and all the others would lead you to a better and more intimate connection to your target audience.
2. Instant delivery makes SMS a guaranteed read
SMS is a great way to communicate as around 90% of the SMS messages are read within the first 3 minutes of delivery. With this whopping rate of quick reading, you can see why SMS messages are great for building relationships with food lovers.
SMS marketing campaigns undoubtedly breed results. In 2019, the conversion rate was around 45%.
3. SMS marketing is affordable
It is of the highest importance for every marketer to create and design a cost-effective and result-oriented strategy. Designing a budget-friendly marketing campaign isn't easy, but it has become a piece of cake with SMS marketing.
Text message marketing is about making logical investments in reaching a target audience in order to eventually get more exposure. For small businesses and restaurants, the cost may seem too steep at first but you must remember the return on investment.
SMS Marketing for restaurants is without a doubt the best way they can advertise their food to a customer. Word spreads fast but text spreads faster and the impact SMS has had on small food delivery companies is significant.
Some food business owners never believed that it would be worth the hype but since lockdowns across the globe, SMS proved to be the best way for food businesses to contact their customers and keep the business running.
4. Generate more sales through connecting with feelings
Nowadays, the internet, smartphones, and gadgets have become more than a necessity. According to a study, it was found that Americans check their phones 47 times a day. And if a person is checking his/her phone almost 50 times a day, it means that SMS marketing would help you connect and grow emotionally.
Emotions are the actual triggers for customers to act and lead them to buy certain products or services. Customers always get attracted to things that they believe will make them feel something.
Now many of you might be wondering, do emotions lead to sales? The answer is that they could. Emotions create a sense of fulfilment.
Food cravings usually strike when we least expect it and there is nothing more emotionally investing than a serious food craving. SMS has allowed food delivery companies to take advantage of this.
Picture this, it's a summery day and the time is approaching noon. Food delivery services know the first thing on your mind is a bbq meal deal with cold beverages included and they can target these cravings with deals, sent straight to your phone.
This has impacted food delivery company profits and the best part: it allows small companies to get their foot in the food delivery door in areas that have a large number of restaurants.
5. The power of words
As previously mentioned, focus on the power of emotional attachment. The next driving factor is to use correct words that evoke emotions. They can do wonders.
For example, look at this McDonald's marketing poster. The phrase 'Get Yours Today!' is used to trigger the feelings of wanting to be a part of the hype; it says "we have created something unique, and you can be a part of it".
Similarly, the other tag, 'I'm Lovin It,' means that it is loved worldwide, and you could be a part of the ever-growing community. These phrases have been advertised in traditional media like newspapers and TV for decades and can be translated into a text. Let's say you get a text and the first line reads 'I’m Lovin It...', 99% of people would know which food company sent the text, even before reading the whole text. That shows the power of SMS marketing.
There are several ways to make your words in the text message look more exciting and captivating. For instance, adding emojis in the messages or making the taglines crisp and clear can help marketers make advertisements look appealing. This is the best way to communicate to a younger audience too.
6. Making special offers captivating
There are tons of different ways to launch various special offers for attracting a large chunk of the audience. Promoting these special offers with SMS would be great for bringing in a massive audience.
Some ideas for special offers are distributing coupons for different meals, Two for Tuesday (Buy 1 Get 1 Free), a discount offer for students with their student IDs, a limited-time discount on some high-quality products, special offers for week-days and weekends, etc.
Don't repeat the same strategy over and over again. Learn when to change the SMS strategy and introduce new concepts.
Try opening the text with a relevant question to make an impact on the customer: "Would a cold drink and summer BBQ meal day make your day today?". The gift that SMS gives us is it allows us to tailor our outreach efforts and make them super specific to each day or time.
7. Strive for customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is paramount for all kinds of business. Working on improving the communication channel between the brand and customers can be achieved with the adequate use of SMS marketing.
SMS marketing is far better than communicating via call on a cell phone. Customers also prefer receiving text messages from the brands. According to a study, more than 50% of customers prefer customer support over text messages instead of phone calls. Loyalty, once built, will always give you a chance to cash.
For instance, customers prefer food from their favourite spots on the go.
8. Low effort, high impact.
SMS marketing for restaurants can entice customers to order food when their restaurant is empty or quiet. Unlike traditional dining, where you would expect busier days and slower days, text message marketing allows restaurants to notify customers through delivery services and convince them to order food when they are not busy i.e in the late evening. This means that food delivery companies can operate around the clock and provide an avenue for restaurants to increase their income. SMS makes this possible with low effort.
A food delivery company can provide SMS marketing in local areas and advertise deals that would appeal to the local population. University students love food delivery and we all know young people spend a lot of time on their phones. SMS plays a large role in the sheer volume of orders delivery companies receive.
9. Updates boost sales
Updating customers with all the happenings and planning at your food service would indeed create a sense of attachment. Customers always regard brands that keep them informed with trending news.
For instance, if you are introducing a new latte, opening a new outlet, or even bringing some great offers or discounts, all this must be shared with your customers. SMS marketing is the best way.
SMS marketing can be a game-changer for the food delivery business, as several restaurants are using the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) strategy. This is a crucial strategy and has been resulting profoundly after initiating SMS marketing.
Conclusion
SMS marketing has had a significant impact on food delivery businesses and the way they can connect to their customers. No longer are they limited to traditional media marketing methods and costly advertisements to get their message heard.
SMS marketing creates room for small food businesses in a busy market to offer their services directly to a customer’s phone. If you are a small food delivery service or a well-established one, why not give SMS marketing a try? The numbers speak for themselves.
