Metrics for SMS Marketing: An Overview

Without metrics, you are trapped by that famous conundrum. "Half of the money is spend on advertising is completely wasted. I just have no idea which half," John Wanamaker said. Well, in the age of technology that doesn’t have to be the case. Metrics measurement and monitoring is easiest to enact with web-based advertising, but just as possible with text message SME marketing. We look at how!

Reply mechanisms for metrics

If you want to measure the success of your campaign, it is essential that you design it so that you have a trackable method of knowing which people take action after they read your ad. In text message SME marketing, this usually means that a reply mechanism is included.

You'll need to find a program that allows people to send texts, while the network charge for them goes to you, however. This is especially true in some instances. Will your audience be willing to spend 20 cents simply to learn more about something? Will they be willing to spend 20 cents to have a chance at winning an iPod? Will they be willing to spend 20 cents to give their opinion on something? Put yourself in their shoes (try to be as unbiased as possible).

Different reply numbers for different campaigns

You can also get a sense of how your promotions are working across different demographics by having different reply numbers for different advertisements. For example:

• Have people reply-text to 11100 in the ad you place in Cleo magazine, and reply-text to 11104 to the ad you place in the New York Times.
• When you send out your messages, group them by demographics. When you know a customer's sex, age, location and so on, send a grouped text message asking them to reply to a specific number.

This way you get a feel for how different groups respond to certain promotions.

How to Prevent No-Shows: Restaurants

No-shows are a killer in any business, but can be particularly insidious in the hospitality industry. When somebody makes a booking, you have that table reserved for at least an hour in advance … and every 15 minute block that nobody is sitting there, is money going down the drain! Reservation systems are an essential part of owning a restaurant, but if you find no-shows are stifling your business, we look at some tools and tactics to help, ranging from scheduling text messages, to taking deposits and other purely process-based methods.

Push for online bookings

Start advertising online bookings over phone-based bookings, and put a system in place for senior staff or the restaurant itself to be alerted when a new booking is made. There are plenty of these systems available - they take a bit of development, but are wonderful once in place. When you have your online booking system, you can take a deposit via Paypal or credit card, which would of course come of the cost of the meal.

Give people the opportunity to cancel easily if required

This is a two-part process that is extraordinarily effective at preventing no-shows. You can set up a text-message scheduling system, where your computer will automatically send a text message to confirmed bookings at a certain period before their arrival time - perhaps an hour. If someone has simply forgotten about their booking, this will remind them! If you incorporate a reply feature into your system, you can also catch people who no longer want to come, but relieve them of the perceived burden of telling you themselves. Have them text 'Yes' to keep their booking, and 'No' to cancel it, when you schedule the text message.

Keep a 'waiting list'

When you are booked out, ask people that ring for a booking if they would like to be notified of cancellations. This isn’t so much a preventive measure, as damage-control - but still a vital part of managing no-shows in your business.