SMS Marketing Best Practices

When Should Restaurants Send Text Promotions?

Just how far in advance should you send a restaurant text promotion to your customers? Some feel you should send a text promotion the same day of the meal because 90% of are read in the first 3 minutes. Others say you should send a text message a day or more in advance. A survey done by thinkinsights with Google sheds some light onto this question by determining how far in advance restaurant customers are making decisions about where to eat their next meal.

Restaurant Text Message Promotion Statistics

Below is our advice based on this survey as to when is the best times to send restaurant text promotions to hungry customers.

Breakfast: 72% of people either choose where they will eat less than an hour before or completely on impulse while 20% take an hour or more to decide.  Sending a text promotion to these people 60 or more minutes prior to breakfast is best but be careful!  Remember not to wake people up either.

Lunch: This was the most divided of the three meals with 31% impulsively choosing, 37% choosing an hour or less and 28% deciding an hour or more.  Sending your text promotion 2-3 hours before is best.

Dinner: 46% say they want to take at least an hour before to plan where they will eat dinner.  With these types of people you can send a text promotion earlier in the day or as far back as earlier in the week and include a phone number for people to reserve.

When you are a restaurant, knowing when to send your text promotion can be tricky and knowing what meal you want to promote is key. Contact Tatango and ask how an Account Manager can help you send the right text message at the right time.

 


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