Retail Businesses
FROM IC
Every main-street business – like sandwich shops, coffee shops, stores, bars, restaurants, dry cleaners, even health care providers and service professionals – can use Instant Customer (MFU) to get new customers, generate more repeat business, upsell existing clients, stimulate referrals and strengthen your bond with customers that love your business.
It really is as simple as creating an enticing offer for your customers to give you at least two key pieces of contact information to join something you might call your Preferred VIP Club. Give them some kind of bonus like a discount coupon or a giveaway that has good perceived value in exchange for their email address and mobile phone number. Let them know they’ll be getting access to special offers only Preferred VIPs will be getting.
Put up a poster in your store directing your customers to text their email address to your MFU campaign phone number to get registered and claim their reward. If you have the ability to custom imprint messages on your cash register receipts, put it there too. Make sure you and your sales and service associates remind customers to join the club. Put a prominent enrollment form on the first page of your website.
Once they join your list, send them offers to entice them to come into your store time and time again. MFU makes it far less expensive to market to your existing customers to get them to come back and spend more than it is to be constantly advertising with traditional old school media to try to attract new customers. Simply keeping the name of your business on the top of their minds and giving them good reasons to come in will trigger them to come back and buy much more frequently.
Marketing Model 1 – Email
Each time a new prospect or client comes into your business, entice them with an ethical bribe to text their email address to you to become a Preferred VIP and receive occasional special offers that only VIPs get. Have MFU’s SMS autoresponder immediately send them a text directing them to check their email. The email they receive from you might contain a coupon they can print and bring in for a discount on their next visit. Post this same offer on your website and/or Facebook page, and Tweet it to your followers. When they join your list online, an email auto-response will be sent immediately so your text and email customers receive the same offer.
Instant Customer allows you to be as innovative and creative as your imagination can get. Let’s say you run a restaurant that features a Sunday brunch every week. You can set up a special campaign list and capture those customers who come in for a Sunday brunch, then send them a weekly email on Saturday reminding them about it, writing something like “Because we really appreciate how much you enjoy coming to Sunday Brunch with us, we’d like to offer you a preferred reservation for tomorrow. If you’d like to make sure your table is reserved for you tomorrow before we get booked up, simply reply to this email with the number in your party and your first and second preference for time.”
Even if you already have an email list of your customers, you can still take advantage of Instant Customer’s other integrated marketing methods, like innovative SMS texting and direct-to-voicemail marketing.
Marketing Model 2 – Cell Phone
Send SMS texts and/or direct-to-voicemail messages to the people on your list offering them an irresistible, time-sensitive special that encourages them to come in right now. Tell your customers to show the text message when they arrive or simply mention the voicemail to take advantage of the special you’ve offered them.
Here are just a few examples to give you ideas:
- If you’re a restaurant with a slow day during the week, send them a message offering a 20% discount on their check for that day only and watch your tables fill up
- Send them a buy-one-get-one-free offer (you can use this with a dry cleaning, coffee, printing, or any local business!)
- Offer them a special discount if they bring a friend