244,955 consumers recently received an SMS about the Dutch Restaurant Weeks. Diningcity previously did their marketing by e-mail and via social media but recently they started sending SMS messages to experience how effective using SMS is. Three successful campaigns down the line, they are now looking into the other possible uses of the SMS.
Diningcity
Diningcity and Spryng started a partnership last year. Diningcity is an online platform where consumers can receive large discounts on dining at Michelin star restaurants and high-end restaurants. The high quality of the platform helps find the best restaurants and in addition to on-going offers, several promotion weeks take place throughout the year, such as the well known “Restaurant Week” and “Dining with the Stars”. The National Restaurant Week is currently in full swing and will run until 27 March.
High open rate
Diningcity previously, like many other organisations, did its communication by e-mail and via social media. Although the popularity of this way of communicating is still rising, messages through these channels are often “one of the many” and regularly left unopened or unread. In comparison to SMS, with an open rate of 98% and with 90% of the SMS being read even within just 3 minutes.
The project manager at Diningcity said: “SMS is much more personal than other communication channels. It is out of the ordinary, which made it interesting and attractive for us to test what the effect would be ”.
Results
The results of the SMS show the facts! During the last Restaurant Week, 10% of all text messages led to a consumer call-to-action. 25,122 clicks were made on the link mentioned in the SMS. Ultimately, 19,000 reservations were made during the campaign and an average of 2.7 people were reserved per reservation. This means that the restaurants were able to welcome around 50,000 people during the most recent Restaurant Week, partly due to the use of SMS. This means an increase in revenue of around 10%, compared to the regular restaurant weeks where previously SMS was not used as a promotion channel. A fantastic result achieved by just a simple yet clever SMS. The provisional statistics of the current Restaurant Week are looking even better than the previous edition. With 2,860 reservations, restaurants will receive more than 7,000 people to dine in the following weeks. These figures are based on reservations made directly through the use of SMS!
The substantial increase in reservations due to the use of SMS is beneficial for both Diningcity and the restaurants involved. It is also great to see that sending the SMS not only attracted consumers, but also restaurants. Two restaurant owners received the SMS during the previous campaign and therefore decided to join the Diningcity platform. In the meantime, 85 new restaurants have joined for this Restaurant Week, which means that a total of 600 restaurants are participating, 75 of which are Michelin star restaurants.
“SMS is seen as a tool which is really received well by people, it gets them involved”, says the project manager.
Reducing no-shows
After four successful campaigns in the past year, Diningcity has decided to test with SMS for appointment reminders in order to prevent no-shows in restaurants. The no-show problem is an issue that concerns many sectors and the approach of this problem can save a lot of money. SMS can offer a solution! By sending a reminder of the reservation made in time, you prevent the appointment from simply being forgotten. In addition, is also reminds you to cancel the reservation in time, if you can’t make it. Sending the appointment reminder is seen by consumers as an extra service and is highly appreciated.
A more efficient service
Could SMS also be effective for your company? Spryng is happy to assist you, in how you can optimise your business processes in order to avoid unnecessary costs or inefficiency. If your company encounters similar problems, we encourage you to contact us today, no strings attached, via +31 20-770 3005 or info@spryng.nl. We look forward to finding a suitable solution with you.
