Report: Text Message Subscribers Visit Stores 44% More Frequently

PHOENIX — Text message marketing can have a significant positive impact on guest frequency, spend and ROI for restaurants and brick-and-mortar brands, according to a new report from Mobivity Holdings Corp., global provider of personalized guest engagement solutions that drive customer frequency and spend.

Mobivity's 2021 Restaurant Text Marketing Benchmarks Report found that, upon examining its own network data of 15 million subscribers and 500 million transactions from 2018 to 2021, text message marketing subscribers visit stores 44 percent more frequently than non-subscribers. Additionally, once a consumer joins a restaurant's text messaging program, their spend increases 23 percent.

Measured over six months, a text subscriber can be valued at $12.15 on average in incremental revenue. Mobivity saw brands with incremental text subscriber revenue as high as $16.59.

"Restaurants of every kind were particularly hit hard at the onset of the pandemic and continue to experience staffing, supply chain and traffic issues. The No. 1 takeaway they've learned is that building an efficient, direct to consumer owned media channel is critical — and text messaging enables that," said Mobivity Chairman and CEO Dennis Becker. "With text messaging open rates 5X-20X better — and often with higher adoption rates — than other owned media channels this lifeline helps restaurants connect with guests and offer them valuable offers that drive traffic and spend."

Guests who join text marketing programs also stick with them: 96 percent of subscribers remain in a text program after 90 days and 90 percent are still in the program after two years, outpacing app and email subscriber retention by a factor of two times and three times, respectively.

The report also found that offer timing matters. Benchmark data shows that 60 percent of redemptions occur within the first 24 hours and 39 percent of redemptions happen the same day the subscriber receives them.

Mobivity noted that more than 30 percent of redemptions occur within the first three hours after receipt, and nearly half of those are within the first, further highlighting the immediacy of text messages.

"Traditional mass marketing techniques are becoming less effective as consumers expect more personalized and authentic engagement, consuming media via new individualized streaming methods, and as tech giants hobble traditional third-party ad targeting," Becker said. "First-party data is the new oil that fuels brands' ability to control their marketing destiny in a one-to-one world of marketing."

The full report is available for download here.

Mobivity provides a platform to connect national restaurants, retailers, personal care brands and their partners with customers to increase retention, visits and spend.