Cellit Announces Best Practices in Mobile Marketing for Restaurants

CHICAGO, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellit, a leading provider of mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems for restaurants, retailers and other companies today announced the findings of a comprehensive review of successful restaurant mobile marketing campaigns.  Cellit has analyzed the more than 25 million text messages sent by various restaurants and other companies to customers with the Cellit Studio technology platform to determine the keys to success of mobile marketing.  Cellit's findings are supplemented by the real-life experience of the Cellit team which includes a sales manager/former restaurant owner who knows first-hand the challenges of building customer loyalty.  

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"Cellit knows how hard restaurant owners work at building their customer base and marketing their business, so our goal is to provide easy to manage mobile marketing services that generate high ROI while improving the customer/restaurant relationship," said David Wachs, president of Cellit.  "Mobile marketing provides a unique channel for a restaurant to develop compelling, creative communications that build customer loyalty, drive restaurant visits, and increase the tender amount," he added.

The following are Cellit's tips for how restaurants can cook up an effective mobile marketing campaign:

• Cadence/Timing – Do you think your customers are in the mood for pizza at 10:00 a.m.? No, of course not! Send your offers when the time is ripe, especially right before the drive home around 3:00 p.m.
• Collaborate/Tie the Physical to the Virtual – Your store and your employees are some of your best assets. So are any "real world" marketing campaigns such as billboards, in-store posters or flyers. Make sure to leverage all of these to support your mobile marketing.  Educate your employees; you may even want to incentivize them to sign up customers for your mobile club.   Include your mobile offers on all marketing materials.  Cellit has found that something as simple as a poster telling customers to send a text works well.  Mobile marketing is great because it can help you engage your customers, but also help you measure the effectiveness of your other forms of marketing, by creating unique text codes for each.  You will be able to know if your posters or your flyers drove more customers to take action.
• Content/Variety – Just like with your menu, it can pay to spice things up.  No one wants to receive the same offer or message every week.  Your messages do not always have to be offers, either. Sometimes a survey or a contest can generate just as much interest.  The key is to alternate.
• Create Excitement/Exclusivity – Make sure that your mobile offers are unique from other forms of marketing.  That can help create a sense of exclusivity that makes people want to join.  Seeing someone redeem a mobile coupon can make other guests curious and motivate them to sign up.
• Commitment/Planning – Sending a one-time message does not constitute a mobile marketing campaign.  Planning ahead, including tying promotions to major holidays or local events will help you ensure that you have a steady stream of communication and that your mobile marketing will continue, even when other parts of your business require your attention.
• Redemption/Integration – Many mobile campaigns for restaurants involve mobile coupons.  To ensure these coupons are validated appropriately and tracked for future behavioral-based targeting, integration with the POS register is required.  Ensuring this integration is streamlined and simple for the clerk or wait staff to manage is critical.

To request a free copy of the entire best practices guide, please call Cellit at 800-790-6597 or email sales@cellit.com.  Cellit will also be exhibiting at the International Pizza Expo at Booth 663 in the Las Vegas Convention Center from March 1st – March 3rd.

About Cellit

Cellit develops mobile customer relationship management (CRM) programs for retailers, restaurants and other companies who want to leverage mobile technology to create a deeper level of customer engagement.  The Cellit Studio campaign management platform empowers clients to create interactive mobile CRM programs including coupons, contests, games, surveys and alerts that inform, delight and motivate customers, increasing knowledge, loyalty and ultimately spending.  Cellit Studio seamlessly integrates with client enterprise and POS technology and provides an easy to implement and measurable way to maximize the potential of the mobile channel.  Cellit also provides custom mobile sites and phone apps to some of the largest brands in the world.  Headquartered in Chicago, Cellit was recently named to the Inc. 500 2010 list of fastest-growing private companies in the country.

For more information please visit www.cellit.com.

SOURCE Cellit