Live music restaurant group Bistro Live reports that an SMS marketing strategy deployed to increase bookings at its three venues has been remarkably successful.
The group was looking for a cost effective way of getting its party offers out to existing customers and prospects at a reasonable cost. The campaign, devised by SMS marketing firm Text Marketer, has more than delivered on its objectives.
SMS seemed like an obvious route for us as we can set up bulk SMS campaigns quickly and easily, and the response is almost instant says Bistro Live Business Development Manager, Theresa Abbott. When people make a booking with us, we always collect their mobile number so we can send them news of all our latest offers and events by text. We now have over 10,000 people on our list that we can contact at a moments notice.
The company recently booked Michael Jackson tribute act Navi. It sent out 10,500 text messages to customers, resulting in 280 bookings at two of its venues. The total spend resulting from these bookings was over 8,000, while the SMS campaign cost a total of  472, a quite remarkable return, as Abbott describes it.
Text Marketer says it has recently seen a big increase in the use of text messaging as a communication tool in the restaurant sector.
Its a tough time for many restaurants at the moment, so any tools that can get more customers through the door at low cost are very attractive, says Marketing Director Richard Hawley. Restaurants of all sizes can use bulk SMS as a way of driving up bookings. Response rates typically outperform more traditional channels such as mailings or even e-mail.
Text Marketer provides bulk SMS software to a wide range of customers in the catering industry. Current clients include Renaissance Hotels, Wickwar Brewery and Pizza Hut.