widgit Redeem coupons on an iPhone/iPad, android device, or on your cash register. All integrate seamlessly with the Cellit Studio platform.
Task Scheduler Enable a poll at precisely 8:45 a.m. or change the autoreply on a keyword at exactly noon. You can receive a text message or email when the task is completed successfully, and don’t have to worry about being available at specific times to perform something that our system can do for you.
Categories Classify your Messages, Campaigns, Datafields and Polls to allow for easy organization and navigation of your work within Studio.
Datafield patterns Validate email addresses, phone numbers, states, dates, and other customer information to boost your customer database accuracy.
Keyword activity See who is texting in what keywords at what time, and export it to XLS or CSV.
Feedback Now, you can get feedback directly from your clients on what they think of your mobile club. All they need to do is text FEEDBACK to your shortcode, and their response will be stored for you to see.
Custom designs and URLs Don’t like the colors of Studio? Want to see your own company logo at the top? Want a URL other than cellitstudio.com? We can accommodate whatever customizations that you want!
Opt-in datafields Now, you can require further information in the opt-in process. Instead of replying YES to opt in, people can reply with their email address, or zip code, or pretty much any other information that you want.
Call us at 800-790-6597 or contact us to find out how Studio can work for you.
At Cellit, we help our clients develop mobile-enabled marketing. In this high-tech world, we talk a lot about the digital marketing that supports mobile, but we sometimes forget one of the most important assets we have that can make mobile marketing effective: the physical store.
Mobile marketing is much less effective without the support of traditional media and marketing. Any business with a brick-and-mortar location can easily draw attention to its mobile program in-store. Here’s how to start:
1. Educate your staff.
Even with the newest, most innovative ways to communicate, there is nothing that compares to a face-to-face referral. Make sure your staff knows about your mobile program:
How do customers join?
How do they redeem their coupons?
What’s the benefit of this mobile community versus other loyalty programs you may have in place?
Ask someone at Cellit how we can help you encourage your staff and incentivize them to ensure your mobile program is as successful as possible.
2. Remind your customers.
In-store signage works. Table tents, window clings, signs at the point-of-sale, badge-talkers, even overhead announcements can work wonders. Many of Cellit’s clients get 2-3x the results after putting up in-store signage.
3. Deliver value beyond discounts.
Mobile coupons are great, but once your customer has decided to come to your store and is ready to purchase, you can give them other valuable content besides expensive discounts:
mobile-enable your entire product/service line with Cellit’s Text-for-Info solution.
use Cellit Surveys to measure customer satisfaction.
use a mobile loyalty program that encourages repeat business and rewards users based on purchase behavior and coupon redemption.
Owning a restaurant is tough. I’ve done it – always worrying whether your employees will show up on time, making sure the bills are paid, and keeping the dining room looking perfect. There is hardly any time to worry about how you are going to promote your business and stay in touch with your customers once they are done with their meal. After years of running the same newspaper ads, direct mail pieces and even dabbling with email and Facebook, I was on the hunt for a new way to connect with my customers and drive business. I decided to try this new invention called mobile marketing. This was way back in 2007 when iPhones were brand new and mobile had only a handful of success stories.
Finding the right company was the next challenge. I needed to find a company that was affordable, capable, and had the resources to assist me in the process. Thankfully, I found such a company, and together we were able to get started in under an hour. After the initial training and strategy session, I put up a few posters and table tents that said, “Text PICKLE to 30364 for a great coupon instantly!” Once the customer sent the text message, they received a message back in just a few seconds that gave them a free soft drink with any sandwich purchase. The customer was happy because it gave them something they probably would have purchased. I was happy because I now had their phone number for future communication and it only cost me about a buck for the soda.
Once the customer opted-in to my database, I was able to send them messages to drive business during my slow Mondays and Tuesdays. I would send messages out every week with a nearly 30% redemption rate and a predictable bump in business. Each message I sent out had a unique redemption code that was validated through my Point-of-Sale. I didn’t have overuse, fraud or employee theft, all obvious concerns when dealing with an electronic coupon.
Not every message was a coupon, though. Sometimes I would send out a trivia question and only reward the first 10 winners. Other times I would send out a short survey to get my customers’ opinions. The surveys allowed me to reward the customers that passed out high praise, as well as address small problems before they became larger issues. Changing things up and keeping everyone interested was important for me and it kept my numbers high.
After a few months, I had nearly 1,000 subscribers and I started to use a few more keywords to track how my other forms of advertising were doing. I used one keyword for the local newspaper, one for the radio spots and yet another for the direct mail pieces I had in place already. The cost to add this tracking mechanism was minimal and it gave me real insight into what ads were working and where I was getting the most bang for my buck! I continued to add subscribers and compared my return to the other forms of advertising I was using. As you can guess, my mobile community was by far the most effective.
My advice is to start using mobile marketing now! Most of your competition is still oblivious, so it’s a great chance to grab market share and build a one-to-one relationship with your customers–and some of theirs.
Here are a few tricks to the mobile marketing trade that I learned along the way:
1) Have a plan! Developing a 6-month plan with a knowledgeable consultant is the best way to ensure success. When things get busy in the kitchen, the marketing plan will be the first to suffer, so having your messages pre-planned is the way to go.
2) Kickstart your subscriber database. Advertise a mobile sweepstakes or have an instant win to get people to join your mobile community quickly.
3) Keep your employees in the know. Your employees will be your best mobile community advocates, so make sure they are showing customers how easy it is to join and talking about the great deals they will receive. Share which coupons are being sent, their redemption codes and any expiration dates.
4) Spice it up. Nobody wants to receive the same 20% off coupon every week. Try out different offers to see what has the greatest impact. Keep things interesting by sending out trivia questions, scavenger hunts and ringtones.
5) Make them feel special. Send offers that are exclusive to your mobile community and not just the same specials available to everyone else. People talk! If one table receives a free appetizer by showing the server their phone, the table next to them will be very curious why they didn’t get such treatment.
6) Call me at 312.492.4799 or emailmmartin@cellit.com – I can help you find a coupon or marketing solution that is right for restaurants or chains of any size. Hope to talk to you soon!
We all know that texting while driving is dangerous and should not be done. However, there is now another very serious and dangerous peril to be avoided: texting and walking into fountains!
Heed my word: be careful. Don’t text and walk into fountains.
