Creating a text club to reach customers? Here’s how to motivate them to join your text offers club

Maybe you've just launched a text message program to reach customers, or are thinking about doing it. Good idea, especially as you reopen your retail location(s) after being shut down due to COVID restrictions. However, in order to get value from a text program, your customers must opt-in to the text club to begin receiving your messages (even if they’ve already opted in to get your emails).  That may seem like a big hurdle, but it’s actually easier than you might think.

With stores reopening as the coronavirus-related business closures/restrictions are lifted, our highest priority is to get your Belly loyalty program “ready to roll” so your customers can check in once again when they visit your stores. This includes remotely performing an important update to your Belly iPad.

Here’s a brief Belly tutorial on connecting with your customers via social media, plus a list of social media posting ideas.

Using social media to stay connected with your customers is more important now, during COVID-19 business restrictions and recovery phases, than it ever has been for your business. Not sure what to post about? Not sure how to do the posts? Let’s dive right in and get you up to speed!

Get a jumpstart on your competitors with these steps to reopening

The rules of the game for running a retail business are changing once again as restaurants, salons, auto shops and other businesses are, region by region, finally being permitted or advised to open, at least in a rules-adjusted way (maintaining COVID-19 heightened hygienics, service areas modified for social-distancing, etc.).

Can the M*A*S*H approach work for B2C emailing during the coronavirus recovery phases? 

We'll first state the obvious: The world is struggling to work itself out of one of the greatest trials of its last 100 years. For good reason, most businesses at this time are using a sober approach in their email with customers, focusing on:

Use these business-to-customer emails as examples to help you structure your own emails during COVID restrictions and recovery phases. 

Here are three B2C email messages from other businesses that are worth adding to your “Swipe File” — that collection we all keep of awesome real-world examples that we might want to emulate, or as inspiration for our own customer communications. (Read more about swipe files and how to use them with your Belly campaigns.)

Follow these guidelines for modifying other business’s emails you’ve saved as models for your own B2C emailing

I'll let you in on a marketing secret: most ideas aren't truly new ideas.  Most of us in sales or marketing make a habit of collecting those exceptional emails we see from other businesses in hopes of someday using them as models for our own customer email campaigns. These collections are typically called a Swipe File.

Use business-to-customer text messages to get you through Coronavirus Restrictions/Recovery

At a time when your customers may not be visiting your retail location, mobile messaging is fast becoming the go-to channel to reach customers fast and often with vital updates, limited-time promotions and reminders that you offer ways to support your business during this challenging time. Use these text message ideas and strategies as your own personal swipe file.

These 4 tips for texting will help you reach customers fast and often!

To help Belly businesses benefit from customer text messaging, we’ve assembled these business messaging best practices. Note: we are defining “greatest success” in employing customer text messaging as using strategies that meet the three most important communications needs for businesses right now during the coronavirus crisis:

• Alerting customers of important changes to how they can transact with you (store closings, hours of operation changes, adding delivery, curbside pickup, drive-through options, etc.)
• Generating business with offers and product or menu enticements remotely, especially when remotely is the only way you can do business, as is often the case
• Retaining or building loyalty with messages that assure them you aren’t going away, that you miss them, that you genuinely care about their well-being, that you are helping the community, etc. Businesses that use text messaging this way can come back stronger when they are able to resume business as usual.

Employ these texting best practices when using Belly Mobile Messaging to keep customers informed during the coronavirus recovery phases

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 business restrictions, companies have been scrambling to keep their customers informed when business ops are constantly in flux, including changes in business days or hours, available services, products, or menu items procedures, permissible methods for providing your service or products, etc. If you have the Belly Mobile Messaging add-on service, adapting fast and getting the word out to customers nearly instantaneously becomes a slam-dunk.