A 6% Reorder Rate From ONE Text Message!

The Newest Coffee Delivery Technology – It’s CRAZY…

I just came across this crazy news story about a MAJOR brand using texting to get customers to order more!

Check it out…

Illy – the famed Italian coffee company started this last December communicating with customers via text message!

What they did is dead simple.

The company contacts customers who have placed an order a few weeks after delivery… about the time they should be using up the last of their coffee.

The text is simple.

I just tells the customer they are likely low on coffee and asks if they want to reorder.

Yep, that’s all.

Crazy right!?!

If the customer responds with “Yes” the company processes the request and sends the customer a confirmation text and their order thereafter.

Talk about simple.

How effective is the text message?

Can you belive 6% of customers who get the text message respond with YES!

That’s a 6% reorder rate off of ONE SMS MESSAGE.

Can it get better?

How to Improve Coffee Delivery with Text Messages 

Now, a 6% reorder rate is amazing.  So, it will be hard to improve. However, If Illy called me and asked what I thought, I’d suggest three changes.

First, I’d send periodic texts to their customer about the coffee they ordered.  

Remind customers how good Illy coffee is, give them links to articles and videos on how to prepare the coffee in the perfect way, and highlight different uses / recipes for coffee.

In other words, send them content!

The second thing I’d do is offer the customer other options for reordering…

Yes, let them reply with a keyword to a “reorder text” of course (don’t mess with what’s working).  

But, I’d also give them a link to an order page where they can modify their last shipment.  Plus, for those not comfortable texting in orders, I’d give them a phone number to call too!

Here’s a bonus idea… if Lilly sent “free samples” of other coffee types along with paid orders, it would be a great way to upsell customers.  Send the samples, then ask them to give their opinion on the different coffee types!

Finally, the third thing I’d do is implement a detailed follow-up program.

This is for the people who don’t respond to the text… or click on the link… or call in an order.  I’d send a second and maybe even a third follow-up message by text a few days or a week later.

I’d follow up with other contact methods too, phone, email, even direct mail too.

Not everyone consumes coffee by the bucket like I do… so reorder times might vary.

This gives them not just one the four bites at the apple!

Illy is on the cutting edge of technology using SMS messages to grow their business… and it’s working!

How might you use texting to grow your business?

Oh, full disclosure, Lilly doesn’t use Betwext for their texting (they didn’t say who they used).  But, If you want to communicate with your customers like lilly, take a look at the Betwext software, it’s amazing.

The original article appeared on the digitalcommerce360.com website, you can find that here. 

How To Use Text Marketing For Your Business

SMS marketing is a very powerful tool, as you can see, it’s perfect for businesses of every size!