I’m not in the best position to follow stories up at the moment, on holiday, and updating the site when everyone else is on a siesta or otherwise occupied. So I’m not sure how long it has taken restaurant group Bistro Live to amass its database of over 10,000 opted-in mobile subscribers. But whether it’s weeks, months or years, the return on investment the database is generating is impressive to say the least (see story below).
A mailing to 10,500 customers generates 280 bookings for an event.That’s a conversion rate of 2.7%. Not 2.7% of those who responded expressing their interest, but 2.7% of everyone who received the text. And according to Bistro Live, those 280 bookings resulted in a spend of over £8,000. On an outlay of £472 for the SMS campaign.
I’m not sure what else needs to be said, except perhaps that this is not an isolated case. And while blue-chip brands continue to tread lightly where mobile is concerned, worried about trying to fix something that doesn’t appear to be broken, the Bistro Live story lays bare the opportunity that mobile marketing, especially low-cost, vanilla-flavoured SMS, offers to smaller firms. Ignore it at your cost.

David Murphy
Editor