How Your Business Can Generate Last Minute Valentine's Day Sales
February 10, 2014 3:21 pm
Picture this.
It’s Feburary 13th and Jack’s forgotten it’s Valentine’s day tomorrow (Oops!), and his girlfriend is expecting a very big treat! He doesn’t know what to do. Suddenly, Jack gets an SMS from a business he knows and trusts containing a Valentine’s Day special offers.
Let’s look at how a few simple text messages can turn Jack’s Valentine’s weekend from a potential disaster into a roaring success.
The Hotel
Did you know that in February 2013 lastminute.com reported that when it comes to Valentines Irish couples are amongst the highest spending in Europe? The average spend has been estimated at a whopping €886 per couple!
Valentine’s is drawing closer and Jack needs to find a hotel that still has a room available for weekend. It just so happens that you’re a hotel with rooms still available. Well that’s handy! Jack has stayed with you before and you have his details in your database.
What do you do?
1) Email Jack: The average open rate for an email is only 20% within 3 days! By the time Jack sees your email it may be too late!
2) Hope Jack sees your AdWords Campaign: Sure you can run a Google AdWords campaign but so will every other hotel!
3) Text Jack: 97% of text messages are opened by the receiver within 2 minutes! Jack’s sure to see your offer.
The answer is an obvious one. With one quick and cheap SMS you could help solve a big headache for Jack (and many more alike)!
The Florist
Visa Europe, in February 2013, estimated that Visa Card users in Ireland would use their cards to spend €10 million on flowers on Valentine Day. While in 2012 their customers spent €22.5 million in florists between February 12th and 14th.
So, Jack’s booked a weekend away after receiving an SMS special offer from one of his favourite hotels; but he’s organised nothing else. Disaster.
You’re a florist Jack previously purchased a bouquet of roses from and you want to drum up extra Saint Valentine’s business. Send out an SMS to your customers with an offer that can’t be ignored. Jack sees your text and gets in contact ASAP!
Flowers sorted, hotel sorted. Wow, this Valentine’s Day is shaping up better than expected for forgetful Jack!
The Restaurant
34.6% of couples who celebrate Valentine’s Day will go out for dinner in restaurants. Valentine’s Day is big business for the restaurateur.
The final piece of the puzzle for Jack! As his Valentine’s getaway is not until the weekend he needs a plan for Valentine’s night. He can’t decide between eating in, eating out or just popping to the cinema.
It’s a tough call but Jack’s worried that all of his favourite restaurants will be fully booked. He can’t be bothered ringing up, enquiring and facing the dreaded “sorry we’re full”. Luckily enough, you’re one of Jack’s favourite restaurants and you have tables available for Valentine’s night!
But how can you communicate this?
You have a database of customers that includes Jack and many more like Jack. You could,
• Email them
• Tweet it
• Facebook it
However, it’s likely that your message will go unnoticed. Every day, people are inundated by Emails and social media messages!
You need a way to cut through that noise. Want the simple, convenient and effective solution? Use SMS!
Text your customers informing them that you still have tables left for Valentines night. Encourage interested customers wishing to make reservations or enquires to reply to your text. This can be done using a Keyword! For example, the customer texts back to a number provided using your selected Keyword (let’s say “BOOKINGS”). You get the message and the customer will get an automated reply.
So you send out your text. Jack sees it and immediately replies with your Keyword, “BOOKINGS”. He receives your automated reply letting him know that a member of your reservations team will be in contact shortly! A member of your bookings team receives Jack’s info and calls him back to discuss making a reservation. Voilà, you’ve filled another table!
Wow, you’ve just saved Jack so much hassle.
There you have it! A few hours ago Jack’s Valentine’s Day plans were non existent. He was on a one way trip to the dog house; but now his girlfriend is none the wiser. Within a few short hours and after a few simple texts Jack had flowers, food and a romantic weekend away all sorted, hassle free.
Why not use an SMS solution so your business can help customers like Jack!
Sources: Cover Photo, Lastminute.com, Visa Europe, Valentine’s by Numbers
Categorised in: Marketing for Business