Begin Grocery Store Text Marketing
Grocery stores are spread all over the country. They generally do not have much competition because all of them seem to provide more or less the same essentials. This is why it does not matter to customers where they go for their groceries. However, it does affect grocery store owners that customers do not remain loyal to a store. To fight this off and have a better customer rapport, grocery store text marketing works.
Since grocery stores are pretty standard, they do not have much to offer to their customers. However, one thing that they can do is to create customer loyalty by providing excellent customer service.
In this guide, we will tell you how you can use grocery store text marketing to create loyalty and retain customers. Moreover, we will tell you how you can easily use text marketing to increase engagement among your customers. Added engagement means more chances of revenue.
How can text marketing help?
Text marketing is more than promotional text messages sent to your audience. They add a layer of communication in direct marketing. Since texts have a very high open rate, they are most effective to hold contests, create engagement, and do much more. Here are a few ways you can use grocery store text marketing.
Better redemption opportunity
Almost all grocery stores around the States offer coupons of some sort. However, the disadvantage to them is that they are in abundance and usually are forgotten or not redeemed. This affects the entire marketing campaign. Sending coupons via text messages reduces the human error of forgetting. Moreover, it reduces the bulk process. Interested parties will have the coupon on their phone at all times.
Moreover, text marketing is based on permission. This means that every person on your list is interested in coupons and promotions. Hence, you can save money on sending out this campaign to the highest of leads only.
Increase brand awareness
Brand awareness is one of the top reasons to getting more revenue. This is because any brand that has a better identity, becomes more reliable. One way to increase your business awareness is through communicating via text messages with your customers. Let them ask questions and respond to them in a timely fashion.
When you use a service like ExpertTexting for your text marketing needs, you can enhance communication. ExpertTexting offers you two-way communication with free inbound messages so customers can easily respond to you. Moreover, there is a conversational style inbox to manage all one-on-one communications more effectively. Watch the video below to know how one-on-one conversations with ExpertTexting works.
Engaging customers
Imagine putting out a TVC or even a newspaper advertisement. You know for a fact that hundreds and thousands of people will watch the ad. However, very few will be interested. Regardless, you will have to pay the full price for that advertisement. This is different in text marketing. The reason we did not say direct marketing here is because even this channel is not foolproof. Take for instance email marketing, it is a form of direct marketing. However, an average person receives up to 120 emails a day. Moreover, the open rate of emails is only about 18%. This clearly shows that this channel may not suffice.
The great thing about text marketing is that you cannot legally send messages without acquiring prior express consent from the recipient. While this may look a little cumbersome, it is pretty beneficial to you as a business owner. Even if you only have 50 people on your list, they are going to be the highest intent leads that give you the most engagement and are at the end of the sales funnel. Hence, they are most likely to give you some revenue.
Moreover, text marketing also helps save money on marketing. You can send messages to the most active audience and get a better idea of what is working and what is not for your audience.
Send coupons
People do not have time to scan newspapers for coupons, cut them, and collect them to carry everywhere. Textable coupons are the new thing and they work best. They are easy to send via text messages and even MMS. Moreover, they are easy to carry. Unless the recipient does not delete them, they seem to be going nowhere.
There are several different kinds of textable coupons. We have a comprehensive guide on how you can use them and how they work. Click on the image below to know read the guide.
Offer delivery
Another way to increase customer engagement and loyalty is to offer delivery service on products. A lot of grocery stores have made it to eCommerce. You can take it a step ahead and allow your audience to message you the products they would like.
To help them select products, add a handout with a weblink. When customers send you their list for the grocery, simply track it and send it out.
Texting is much more convenient than any other means. In just a few seconds, your customers can get their groceries ordered. Moreover, you can also set them up for pickup.
Seasonal products
Grocery stores that have fresh produce will find this the most effective. When seasonal fruits and vegetables are in stock, send a text blast to your customers to inform them. This allows them to get their hands on fresh products instantly. Moreover, they may be waiting to get them.
Moreover, if you hold seasonal offers and promotions, do not forget to send promotional messages about these as well. This helps increase foot traffic.
Recipes
If you are looking for a nonpromotional way to promote your products then you will love this idea. Answer the aged questions ‘what should I cook today?’ for your customers. Simply share recipes that they can make with the products that you have in your store.
This allows you to give value to your customers as well as indirectly promote your products. To send recipes over text messages, you can add web links. ExpertTexting has a link shortening tool that allows you to reduce the characters to the fewest possible. This allows you to save on precious characters when sending out messages.
To know more about link shortening, watch the video below.
Discounts and promotions
Of course, while using other methods, do not forget to go traditional. Send out notifications of any promotional offers or discounts that you have. Moreover, you can also create flash sales which are generally very rare for grocery stores. However, they work quite well. Since text messages are direct and instant, they work best for time-sensitive offers.
Click on the image below to know more about flash sales and how they work with text marketing.
Create a loyalty program
A lot of grocery stores have a loyalty program. However, shifting it to text messages makes it much easier to manage for you and the customer. Make all necessary notifications and exclusive discount updates over text messages. This saves the hassle of working in systems and otherwise. Click on the image below to know how you can manage loyalty programs with texting.
Restock announcements
A lot of times regulars wait for certain products to be restocked. You can achieve communicate it through text messages in different ways.
The first way is to simply allow customers to text you and ask you if you have restocked products. Texting allows you to send quick and apt replies.
The other way is to send a general announcement when your products are restocked so that customers know when to come. You can make announcements via text messages for the products that sell out fast because of higher demands.
Event announcements
If your store is more than just a typical grocery store but a hub of community activities, then this is for you. Make sure to send a text blast to your list to invite them to the upcoming activities. Moreover, you can hold contests and sweepstakes over text messages and give them the prizes in the event. This helps generate foot traffic.
General announcements
Is your store closed for the day? Are there a few SOPs that need to be followed? Is your card machine not working? For any other general announcements, make sure to inform your customers beforehand through text messages.
Most people are quite busy and they have to take out time to do their groceries. Imagine going to the store to find out that the timings have changed. This can be saved if they have a prior update.
Inhouse communication
If you are looking for a foolproof in-house communication way, then texts work for that too. Simply make a group of your staff and send them staff shifts, timings, and other important information. Click on the image below to find out how you can use mass texting for managing employees.
Begin with ExpertTexting
These are barely scratching the surface of what you can do with text messages. however, if you want to make your service more effective and reliable, then choose ExpertTexting. ExpertTexting is a mass texting service that allows you to manage your grocery store in a brand-new fashion. Moreover, we charge you less than a cent for each message. That too at a pay-as-you-go pricing so you do not waste money on plans.
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