Now more than ever, your business survival depends on not just letting customers know you are still open in some capacity (such as take-out, pick-up, delivery, etc.), but also getting them to use those no-touch options now and frequently.
How to Use Offers on Your Receipts and To-Go Bags to Engage with Customers and Drive Repeat Purchases
With fewer customers visiting your stores as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic and the loosening restrictions of its recovery phases, you might be tempted to turn off printing of receipts to save money and paper. But at a time where you are having limited customer contact — especially for orders placed through third-party delivery services — there’s never been a more critical time to leverage all of your owned media channels to engage with customers every chance you get, including the printed receipt.
Including a message on your to-go bag or pizza box can also result in the customer engaging directly with you via one of your owned media channels (e.g., signing up for text offers or downloading your app), even if the order is placed through and delivered by a third party.
As a Mobivity customer, our To-Go Bag Messaging empowers you to engage with customers and bring them back with every purchase, incentivizing future purchases through your most profitable channels. These five best-practice business strategies below have been field-tested and proven. You’ll find case studies from Mobivity customers at the end.
COVID-19 Business Survival: 5 Printed Receipt Strategies
#1 — Incentivize customer bounce-backs with a personalized offer
An engaging and eye-catching offer on your to-go bag encourages repeat business based on whichever type of transaction you want to promote when your other services (dine-in, for instance) are not available.
Example: Use an attractive offer to encourage customers who order from third-party platforms to order pick-up next time.
- Discount on pick-up orders (anything lower than what a third-party delivery app charges puts money in your pocket)
- Large-order discounts
- Family-pack specials
- Buy-one-get-one offers
#2 — Don’t stop with a single offer!
Train your customers to look for that to-go bag offer by regularly using it. Simply swap out your normal bounce-back offer (typically used to bring them back to the same location) for another order special.
There’s little effort or cost in including two or three distinct offers on a single receipt message, not just one. For example, include a price promotion for a future curbside order and also invite the customer to enroll in your Text Club for future discounts. Customers have a new way to get savings every week, and you now have a way to engage directly with that customer, even if the order was placed through and delivered by a third-party delivery service.
Bonus — This promo strategy is also an effective way to introduce a new product!
#3 — Use to-go bag messages or bag inserts to promote your other engagement channels
You can also use the valuable real estate on your to-go bags to encourage customers to sign up for your text messaging offers, download your app, or join your loyalty program, giving you another way to engage directly with them during this coronavirus-related time of limited services.
One client succeeded in getting more than 30,000 customers to download their app by offering a valuable incentive to download their mobile app and place an order in the first two weeks!
#4 — Notify customers of service changes and reassure them about your safety measures
Beyond providing a bounce-back offer, consider using that space to notify customers of changes in your business operations, especially at a time when select locations may close, service is limited, and hours are reduced.
Or since customers may naturally be wary to return because of coronavirus transmission risks, include a reassuring message about the protective measures you’re taking (handwashing, surface sanitizing actions, pre-pay via electronic payment only, etc.).
#5 — Leverage a positive spin on how things are changing
With the home suddenly being a place of constant togetherness (because parents are telecommuting, kids are schooling online from home, and extracurricular activities and events are cancelled), families are discovering how rewarding family time can be. Make your brand part of the upside with a family deal or kids meal offer, emphasizing how you are making it easy and affordable to host family dinners again.
Do these these messaging strategies work?
All of these five strategies for driving business with your to-go bags have been field-tested and proven. For example:
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The fast casual restaurant Round Table Pizza leveraged the Mobivity To-Go Bag Messaging to entice customers to make future purchases if they sign up for their text club. In 12 weeks, they acquired 20,000 new subscribers, with 75% of them redeeming that initial to-go bag offer and spending 40% more per purchase, generating $100,000 in revenue for Round Table.
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Smashburger, the "better burger" restaurant, used our solution to drive repeat business to their 190 nationwide stores. The strategy was a smash hit, generating a 7X visit frequency boost and $200,000 in attributable revenue. The coupon-based messages drove more than 15,000 redemptions and boosted the average total purchase amount by $3.51 – a 21% increase!
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The renowned quick service restaurant brand Blimpie used the Mobivity solution to entice guests to return with a coupon for the next purchase in exchange for signing up for text message offers. The campaign resulted in an 11% increase in the average Blimpie customer spend per transaction.
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Cost Cutters salons, operating in Connecticut, used our solution to offer patrons “$2 Off a Regular Price Haircut” and saw a 5% redemption rate.
In short, many of our happy clients capitalized on the one thing every takeout customers touches, and that's their to-go bag. By thinking about their to-go bags as a new owned marketing channel, they were able to grow their business and text club subscriber base in compelling ways.
Not Already Using Mobivity’s To-Go Bag Messaging?
Our customer success team will be happy to work with you and show you how to regain connection with your customers and quickly shift their behavior toward pick-up, take-out and delivery. This ingenious yet simple solution uses data gathered at the point-of-sale to print personalized offers and messages related directly to the customer’s transaction.