Marketing Tip: Coupons, Be Gone! How to Market Your Store for Maximum Results!

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Coupons are so yesterday. Today's savvy pizzeria owners are targeting their customers with personalized messages by mail, e-mail, and even handheld devices. With the right point-of-sale system and a little creative know-how, you can stand out, stretch your marketing dollars, and get past the coupon overload.

Go beyond 30, 60, 90

Most POS systems will give you the ability to mail to your "lazy" customers – those who haven't ordered in 30, 60, or 90 days. This is a great strategy to start out with. But don't stop there! Use your database to its fullest potential.

For example, with the Phoenix POS system you can search for customers based on specific items ordered, or not ordered. So you can find everyone who likes your "Veggie Special" and do a mailer just for them. Or find people who've never ordered your pasta, and give them a special incentive to try it.

By getting your regular customers to try new menu items, you are likely to boost the number of times they choose to order from you! This is often much easier than getting new customers to try you out.

"Customer tracking with Phoenix is great," says Ed Barski, owner of Philly's Phatties in Oaklyn, N.J. "Analyzing customers' spending and ordering habits has been extremely profitable. Sales are up a minimum of 30% since implementing the Phoenix system."

Brynne Humphreys of Avalanche Pizza in southeastern Ohio agrees. "Phoenix's marketing feature is great," she says. "We ran a query on all customers who hadn't ordered from us in more than two months and got 600 names. We sent these customers letters for $5 off their next order, and got more than 400 of them back–a 66 percent return! Even if 5 percent of these people become regular customers, we've been paid back. Now we're going to market to customers who have ordered from us two times or less."

Use your Receipts as Promotional Messages

Another way to boost your business with those people already walking in the door is to give them an incentive to come back, before they've even left! Your receipt is a valuable communication tool–and unlike mailers or coupon inserts, it costs you nothing to send!

Many POS systems let you get creative with your receipts as a marketing tool. For example, the Phoenix system lets you print a promotional message based on the items ordered. So if someone orders the Spicy Chicken Pizza, give them a coupon for your Spicy Chicken Pasta redeemable on their next visit.

Fax, E-mail, or "Call In" Your Message

Looking for another low cost way to communicate? Try fax, e-mail, or via a handheld device. Many customers would be happy to sign up to get special offers by e-mail, fax, or text message from a company they know and trust. This is especially valuable for business customers–right before lunch!

If you find coupons are still an effective marketing tool, but don't want to bother with printing or mailing them, use the Phoenix POS system to issue them "electronically" to your customers. Their available offers will display next time they call to place an order.

The Phoenix POS system also lets you categorize your customers as "home," "business," or "lodging" (like hotels and dorms) so you can customize your marketing approach for each group.

Make Friends with the Neighbors

Now that you've tried every effort to get your customers coming back more often, you just might want to branch out to get new ones. Again, your POS system can help you pinpoint the most lucrative areas to try.

It helps if you start out by purchasing a residential database of everyone in your area (Call FireFly for details on these!). Then, you can sort your customer base by zip code or even by street address to find areas where you have a heavy concentration of business. It makes sense to target new customers in that same area!

Here a personalized approach can make a big difference. Just think of the impact of receiving a letter or postcard that says, "Dear Jane, We've been delivering to your neighbors a lot and we've noticed you've never ordered from us. We'd love it if you'd give our great pizza a try . . . and to help you get hooked on us, we've enclosed a coupon for a FREE small pizza." Don't be afraid to give them a great offer–it's worth it to hook a new customer, and you know from your database that this won't be going out to people already ordering from you.

Marketing can be a fun challenge if you have the tools to do the job right! That's where the Phoenix POS system can help. For more information, please give us a call at 866-678-6781.