Create repeat customers with text messaging

CityGro, a loyalty and text marketing company based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, uses compiled data from customers’ experiences at a business to compose email and text-based promotional messages tailored to each customer. Jon Parrish, CEO of CityGro, talked to Fuzic’s Adam Ritz about how they do this. Parrish says that they use both reward systems and simple engagement to “remind [customers] the business is there.”

Essentially, CityGro works with businesses to track data points about customers, such as the day or time the customer comes in and how often they visit. A text or email campaign containing customized promotions is then deployed based on the customer’s habits.

By using a given zipcode, CityGro can also geotarget the customer. If he or she is within the geofence of CityGro’s client, they can send the customer a text asking them to download an integrated app. This app helps set up a perimeter to trigger messages to the customer. For example, a customer who downloaded the app for a convenience store might receive a notification about a recently purchased item as soon as they step within the store’s geofence.

Parrish told Ritz that the legal world of sending text messages has changed dramatically over the years, but CityGro has diligently stayed on top of the requirements needed to give clients and their customers the privacy they deserve. Parrish also says that CityGro is different from its competitors because it offers a variety of opportunities to obtain customer consent.

In order to keep texts relevant and meaningful to customers, Parrish and his staff make sure that no more than 2-4 texts or emails are sent per month to each customer. He says that the most important factor when considering how frequently to send texts and emails is how substantive and relevant the promotion is. If customers sign up for rewards, the texts and emails they receive should deal with significant specials.

Catch the full interview here: