Creating opportunities to connect with your target audience quickly and effectively could be achieved by creating a direct-texting campaign. These can be a powerful tool for a brewery to use and some breweries have dipped their toes in the waters to see what it can achieve. Striking a balance between engagement and respecting customer preferences is crucial to harness the benefits of direct texting.
MadTree has used a texting campaign and Trevor Self tells Brewer that they have continued to utilize it ever since.
“We went from hundreds of entries from previous campaigns to thousands of entries utilizing a texting campaign,” he said.
The brewery uses the platform Slicktext which Self said has been very helpful in ease of use, setting up the campaign, and capturing valuable data — such as age and zip codes.
“We really like to use them for our giveaways like our Get Outside Campaign — where people opt-in to be entered to win an outdoor gear bundle or an all-inclusive trip to New River Gorge as well as let them know about major things happening,” Self said.
A main advantage to having direct texting can be a high open and response rate. However, there are potential downsides to consider. Direct texting campaigns may be perceived as intrusive if not executed carefully, leading to customer annoyance or opt-outs.
READ MORE: 5 Ways Texting Takes Your Brewery to the Next Level
GameCraft Brewing has toyed around with the idea of “Beer Alerts” that give followers a push notification as soon as something new drops, explained Brand Manager Kelly Beach. “We haven’t really found a platform we like yet and this would require our guest to opt-in voluntarily.” For now, email is GameCraft’s preferred line to communicate with retailers, insiders, and their beer club the “Lager League.”
The Alementary has avoided direct texting to avoid fatigue since it’s currently on-trend for many industries.
“We see that guests are coming to breweries for different reasons now,” said COO Blake Crawford. “Less for releases, and more to just go.”
MadTree tries not to push out more than a few messages — two to three — a month and Self said they try to keep it very high level.
“If we’re throwing a huge party or event, run a 20% off gift card promotion, or have a major announcement or new release, we’ll send out a text,” he said.
The opt-out rate for MadTree is pretty low, Self said, saying it is around 1.2%-2.4% and doesn’t really occur until the text-to-win campaign ends and you send them a text afterward.
“Those who were only in it for the sweepstakes will opt out,” he said. “We’ve seen it drive awareness for events, help drive sales, and another avenue to connect and reach consumers.”
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