The restaurant industry is as competitive today as it’s always been. There are nearly 87,000 places to eat in the UK alone (Source). As a result of this eateries are constantly looking for ways to make their menus stand from the crowd.
Many establishments will turn to star chefs or quirky cuisine in an effort to get their audience salivating, but few are maximising their marketing potential. That’s where SMS Landing Pages come into play as an inexpensive (when compared to traditionally used channels like print, direct mail, radio and TV) and highly engaging channel which targets audiences’ mobile devices.
What is an SMS Landing Page?
An SMS Landing Page is a web page designed exclusively for use on a mobile device, delivered to diners by sending an SMS text message with an integrated link. They can include images of all your tasty food, have no limits on text, and feature call to action buttons which makes them of particular interest to restaurants looking to promote themselves in a new and inventive way.
What are the ways that restaurants can use SMS Landing Pages?
Event/Offer promotions
SMS Landing Pages are a great way to get your customers excited about the latest events and promotions at your restaurants in a visually engaging way. Unlike email, landing pages are delivered via SMS which means they won’t get blocked by spam filters or lost in inboxes. SMS’s high open rate also means that the chances of customers getting a digital taste of your food are much higher when compared to email.
Here are just some of the ways our customers in the restaurant sector have used SMS Landing Pages:
- Supply of discount codes which can be redeemed online when placing an order
- Delivering QR/Barcodes which can be scanned in-house for discounts
- Supplying discounts in conjunction with digital receipts to enhance the chances of a return visit
- Confirmation of registration onto SMS loyalty schemes with introductory offers and menu promotions
- Inclusion of buttons which link to reservation and order placing platforms
- Invitations to special events such as New Years Eve or Mother’s Day.
Links to reservation platforms
Websites and booking platforms have revolutionised the ways that restaurants manage bookings. SMS Landing Pages can capitalise on this via the use of buttons on your Landing Page.
If a customer likes the look of your menu and wants to make a reservation, all they’ll have to do is click on the “Make a Reservation” button. This will then route the customer to your existing booking platform, and they can make a reservation or make an amendment in the usual way.
Do SMS Landing Pages work for restaurants?
We’ve seen some fantastic results from our customers who have been using SMS Landing Pages to promote their restaurants and food.
Four Star Pizza ran a Black Friday promotion using the platform and noticed a big increase in sales compared to previous years. In fact, 4 Star Pizza reported a 30% increase in conversions. Read more about that here.
To quote owner Ahmad Chughtai, “Our only issue was the staff were worked off their feet as a result of trying to keep up with the increased demand! Still, not a bad problem to have!”
The Spread Eagle Hotel have also seen success in promoting their special Melbourne Cup event via the use of SMS Landing Pages. Read more about that here.
What are the next steps?
We’ve worked with lots of different restaurants, ranging from takeaways to fine dining, to promote our customers’ food and services and offer all our customers advice and best practice tips to get the best out of your campaigns.
Try SMS Landing Pages out for free to see how quickly you could add this powerful channel to your marketing plans – or email our team at [email protected] if you’d like to organise a demo.
