With the increase of Covid-19 cases worldwide, the current pandemic is seemingly not having any end in sight. As millions are quarantined, businesses are forced to close down their brick-and-mortar operations as a means to prevent face-to-face contact.
Even with the rapid adoption of digitalization strategies, one of the industries that was heavily impacted by the pandemic is undoubtedly the F&B industry. With the heavy restrictions implemented on open-space dining, restaurants and F&B outlets are finding it a lot more difficult to generate sales, as well as retain their current customer base that has become inactive.
However, as quarantine measures are implemented, consumers are opting more for food deliveries and online F&B stores. This can been seen from the fact that Singaporeans are spending 56% more on food deliveries monthly in 2020 than in 2019. As such, F&B businesses are turning to O2O strategy with digitalized incentives for an answer.
By focusing on O2O mobile marketing strategies to boost online sales, F&B businesses can not only direct their inactive customers from online to offline services (Such as pickup & deliveries), it can also allow businesses to reach out to new customers via online and social media platforms.
Furthermore with mobile marketing strategies, F&B businesses can tap in to the limitless resources and tools that online commerce offers.
As a food business owner with a mobile-first strategy, you can not only increase brand awareness digitally, but also analyze sales and customer data, understand customer behavior and use this information to make changes that can ultimately boost your sales revenue.
With that in mind, we have put together 6 mobile re-engagement strategies that you can plan & implement using a voucher management system like Vouchermatic.
#1 Weekend incentives
This re-engagement strategy allows your business to re-engage your inactive customers in a cost effective manner.
By distributing small value incentive codes via social media or placing Qr codes around the restaurant, you can encourage your customers to pre-claim vouchers and motivate them to dine with you when deciding where to eat.
With these incentives, your customers would be more willing to reach the required minimum spending whenever they place an order from your outlet. (eg: $2 off on minimum $20 spent),
#2 Gamified rewards on every purchase
Gamification can help you engage & push more coupons as 30% of millennial consumers always use coupons.
Gamification is one of the most effective mobile marketing strategy today for any business aiming to increase customer engagement.
By implementing gamification as a part of your re-engagement strategy, you can engage your customers with exciting activities in form of minigames & offer meaningful incentives on winning the games.
A minigame with addictive game mechanics draws users in and makes them interact with your brand for a longer period. Minigames capitalise on habit-forming behaviour well. It encourages customers to take initiative to use the app with the hope of earning more points, discounts, and rewards.
As such, F&B businesses can increase their online orders by creating package deals that allows customers to have a chance to receive gamified rewards on every purchase.
This can not only help your F&B business to boost its B2C engagement rate, it can also help your business to attract new customers that are enticed by the attractive incentive programs your business has in place.
#3 Limited time offer
Limited time offers can work great in helping your business promote new dishes / special menus & short term offers.
Limited time offer is extremely effective in capturing shoppers’ attention as it promotes a sense of urgency in that there is only a short period of time to grab the offer. It also triggers customers’ fear of missing out (FOMO) from a good opportunity your business is presenting.
This can be shown from the fact that promotions conveying a sense of urgency or limited deals has 14% higher click to open rates, 59% higher transaction to click rates and twice as high transaction rates when compared to normal promotions (business2community)
Furthermore, limited time offers can help your F&B business analyse the impact that your new dishes/products have on your customer base. By analysing statistics, such as sale numbers or social media tractions, you can use your findings in deciding whether your new dishes/products are a good new addition to your menu based on its appeal to your customer base.
#4 Co-Branded Vouchers
“Joining forces with like-minded brands means you share the benefits of increased brand awareness, and sales, by tapping into each other’s fans and followers,”
Having partnerships with other brands can greatly help you to increase your business’ brand awareness and attract new diners.
Co-branded vouchers are a great way of promoting your F&B business, it can not only grab the attention of your inactive customers, but also help you to attract first-time customers from other businesses.
The key thing to note here is that you must find the right partner to collaborate with who is in the non-competing space. You may want to collaborate with brands that share the same values & ethos as yours.
Today, you can see this strategy being used by large fast food chains. Such as collaborating with GRAB & UBER to offer discounted rides to their restaurants.
As a small restaurant owner you can look at how you can collaborate with other smaller non-competing food & drink brands, eg: If you are small fast food outlet you can think of collaborating with a new bubble tea brand whereby, both can offer co-branded discount e-vouchers.
#5 One-for-One campaign
As simple as it sounds, 1 for 1 campaign can be a great starting point for any F&B businesses to kickstart their mobile re-engagement strategy. As the name suggests, 1 for 1 campaign allow customers to buy one product and get another product for free.
Despite being simple to execute, 1 for 1 campaign can help your business increase its sales rate, as majority of customers are often enticed by free item deals when making purchase decisions. This is proven from a study which shows that offering a free bonus pack in a purchase can increase sales by up to 73% (convince & convert).
1 for 1 campaign can also be a great customer attraction tool for your F&B business. Studies shows that 66 percent of customers prefers Buy 1 Get one free campaign more than any other retail promotions (wiser).
Furthermore, 1 for 1 campaign can also help you to reduce less desirable inventory while maintaining your business’ profit margin.
#6 Incentivise feedback
Customer feedback is a great ways to understand your customers and seek their opinion on your products and services. As Kate Zabriske – a training industry expert, once said has- “The customer’s perception is your reality.” However, the problem business owner’s face with this strategy is the low response rates.
Attaching an incentive to your customer feedback has proven to be one of the most effective ways to increase response rate. According to a study by PeoplePulse, there was a general increase of 10-15% in customer responses when an incentive is offered.
Incentives offer a reason for your customers to invest their time in sharing their opinions about your products and it also helps in building up customer loyalty
A good re-engagement strategy should be
- aligned in your sales and marketing goals,
- properly suited for your target demographic and
- be within your expense limits.
Want to know more about Vouchermatic and how it can help your business grow? Call us for a free consultation at +65 81189106, visit our website www.vouchermatic.app or email us at [email protected]
