Any business owners aware of marketting laws? (Texts/letters etc)
- Thread starter Vegeta
- Start date
I do work in marketing (but have chosen not to kill myself with fire).
As well as the 'how' you should also be asking yourself 'why'.
Are you looking to remind existing customers that you're still there, or tell them there's something new or changed? Or are you trying to prompt them into action, such as calling and buying food? Or something else?
Whatever you're trying to achieve will inform the approach you take. Texting for general awareness is unlikely to give great results, but if your preference truly is for texts (perhaps that's the only reliable data you have access to?) then it may be more effective with an immediate call to action message around the times that your customers are mostly likely to buy, i.e. perhaps before lunch or as they leave work.
If your data is good then there are countless options open to you - target them according to their last order (We've made your spicy chicken sandwich even hotter, or some nonsense like that).
There's so much poor marketing around that most people are instantly dismissive of it. Great marketing is largely invisible and, if recognised, welcomed. Sending out blanket information to simply a list of people is not marketing.
OK got the message
Do you know about online orders and email marketing Mynight? Do I require them to opt in? I don't use an account based system for my online ordering just a guest function where you fill out a form that auto-fills when they comeback. There is no 'Tick this box to opt in' function at the moment but I could add it (if required).
If they have bought from you before they don't have to opt in but they must have been given the opportunity to opt out at the time you collected their details. More here:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/marketing/
I wouldn't listen to anyone criticising SMS marketing. For every one person that doesn't like it there might be two that buy more because of it. You need to test it with a decent sized sample or do some research and see if there are any case studies to help you make a decision. It's all about the numbers, not individual opinions.
No.
Soldato
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You sir, are the root of all evil, blind to your own skullduggery and deaf to your victims protestation. Enjoy the fiery pit, it suits you.
Permabanned
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Your company ever called me I will personally come find you and ram the phone down your throat.
On a lighter note. - Give over with the calls and house marketing ! !
Get yourself a Facebook and Twitter account or put some leaflets in shops for people to pick up.
Word of mouth is far greater in terms of NOT MAKING CUSTOMERS GET ANGRY! and less intrusive to peoples lives!
This. I find this ******* annoying. Any number that does this gets blocked. Same with the adverts that come through on whatsapp.
Associate
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Hey Vegeta I wouldn't be able clarify the law onbeing able to market directly to your existing customers that you have.
But what i'd do is use the data you have and then send out Menu's with offers on to surrounding areas,
e.g if you have a customer that has used your service from number 12 London Road, then i'd send out menu's/promotional package to everyone on that road if it feasible.
From my days as a student there's nothing better than getting home to a takeaway menu with offers on that tempts you to order. Even if you don't order you would put it in the designated "Takeaway Menu draw"
But what i'd do is use the data you have and then send out Menu's with offers on to surrounding areas,
e.g if you have a customer that has used your service from number 12 London Road, then i'd send out menu's/promotional package to everyone on that road if it feasible.
From my days as a student there's nothing better than getting home to a takeaway menu with offers on that tempts you to order. Even if you don't order you would put it in the designated "Takeaway Menu draw"
When I ring my pizza place their system has a CLI that recognises my mobile number and address etc from previous orders, which I love. He probably knows what I'm going to order before I say it too as I always have the same order.
Soldato
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Domino's end out text's to people who called via mobile. Not sure if they have small print somewhere that said they will do it.
See that's the bit that's confusing me. How can you agree to small print over the phone
. Obviously if they read them out but they don't.
Associate
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same kind of thing but different business.....we were planning on setting up a txt reminder for customers that opt in for a reminder service with say 10% off for car M.O.Ts and servicing for repeat custom.....I actualy thought it was a good idea....
I can see why being bombarded with txts from food outlets may be a problem as I wouldn't want my local kebab house keep txting me deals. if I want a kebab I will go and get one.....
I would just send out menus to your customer base with possible discount codes
I can see why being bombarded with txts from food outlets may be a problem as I wouldn't want my local kebab house keep txting me deals. if I want a kebab I will go and get one.....
I would just send out menus to your customer base with possible discount codes
. Now have a reminder on my phone.
Associate
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For email it's worth looking at the mailing tools (mail chimp as an example, free to sign up) as you are legally required to give people the chance to opt out and unsubscribe, all that stuff is automatically added to the email. As someone said on the previous page, you need to look at what you want to achieve and why you're doing it. You can persuade people to come back by giving them a good service. You could do loyalty cards, make a facebook page, twitter account, post offers for people who like it etc. Look at the cost of it all, it may work out cheaper.
When I did shizzle for a local dodgy chinese takeaway a few years ago, if the customer phoning had ordered previously, their details (name/address/phone no etc) would flash up on the EPOS system. No idea if this was legal or not. They never told the customers they were storing the data.
I'd be straight onto the bank to change my card if that happened to me. But I'd never give my card details over the phone to a back street takeaway to start with. Don't know who could be writing them down.
This is my issue I've ordered from places like this before and definitely didn't give consent/have the ability to opt out but received the messages.
I appreciate all the ideas but if you think I haven't done everything you've already mentioned then quite frankly that's naive. I leaflet all areas I have sent out letters before and there's a lot of personal opinions which say 'it doesn't work' but every single thing we do add's to the total revenue we bring in.
Everytime we leaflet = More customers and same customers returning (people just forget about you sometimes)
I did one letter campaign - Brought a lot of customers back and kept a lot of them.
The way I run things are pretty simple I try to promote the business as much as I can which brings an influx of customers in and I make sure that influx have a good experience/service. This is turn for the short term brings our takings up a lot for the week/month. Once the initial rush is over we see our weekly turnover may have increased a bit. Reason I ask about sms marketing is because I have the numbers so I thought i'd try a different avenue.
We are growing just fine but there's nothing wrong with wanting more and quicker.