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Tired of empty tables and missed reservations?
SMS texting is your secret weapon to increase customer engagement, reduce no-shows, and boost your restaurant's bottom line.
In fact, automated text reminders are a powerful tool, reducing no-show rates by an impressive 40%.
Here's how to use SMS effectively, while avoiding spam filters and keeping your customers happy.
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Pro tip: Follow carrier rules and government guidelines for restaurant SMS to avoid spam filters.
Top 10 ways to avoid your SMS from being spam-filtered
When it comes to SMS messaging at your restaurant, avoiding spam filters is crucial to ensure that your messages reach your customers' mobile devices.
Here are 10 powerful ways to prevent your SMS from being spam-filtered.
- Try to limit the number of SMSs you send out to customers every day by prioritizing the most important messages first (eg: booking notifications) and sending out bulk messages sparingly (eg: marketing messages).
- Keep your messages unique. If you're using software, like Eat App to send automated SMSs, you can plug in personalized variables into your message template to custom tailor each message (read more about that here).
- If you support two-way SMS, try to get responses from your customers (an example could be, "Reply NO if you don't want to get updated about your booking").
- Always provide a way for subscribers to opt out; carriers heavily filter messages that don’t include STOP language.
- When possible, try to send out SMSs according to your recipients time zone. 2pm for you is 3am for someone else - a poorly timed message could greatly increase your risk of being spam-filtered.
- Personify your tone of voice in your SMS messages so it sounds like your brand. Don't be cold and robotic to avoid the chance of it being detected as spammy or automated.
- Make sure to use keywords like the following in your SMS: STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, OPT-OUT, CANCEL, SUBSCRIBE, START, OPT-IN. This makes it clear to the recipient that its possible to receive more messages or stop receiving messages entirely.
- Avoid using words and phrases that are typically associated with spam messaging - using this kind of language is a quick way to get you rejected by messaging carriers. See a common list of words to avoid here.
- Complying with applicable law and industry guidelines. See guidelines here.
- Frequent sending following these rules and with a low spam filter rate will keep your SMS send rate high.
Key Takeaways
SMS texting is a powerful tool for engaging customers, reducing no-shows, and boosting your restaurant's bottom line.
By implementing the tips and strategies mentioned above, you can ensure that your restaurant reminder SMSs are not flagged as spam and filtered out.
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