CASE STUDY | RETAIL GROCER

Morton's Gourmet Market sold 7.5x more pork chops with a $375 text

Morton's Gourmet Market used to reach shoppers through social media, online ads, and email. After adding text messaging with Text-Em-All, one text to 3,900 loyalty customers turned a three-day pork chop special into the store's best campaign yet.

$4,709

IN PORK CHOP SALES FROM A $375 TEXT

7.5x

MORE PORK CHOPS THAN LAST YEAR

71%

REDEEMED THE FIRST COUPON THEY SENT

THE CHALLENGE

Plenty of channels, no direct line

Morton's Gourmet Market is a 57-year-old, family-owned gourmet supermarket in Sarasota, Florida. The store reached its customers through social media, online ads, and email, but none of those get in front of a shopper the way a text does. A feed has to be scrolled, an inbox has to be checked, and an ad has to show up at the right moment. A grocery special only lasts a few days, so a shopper who finds out on day three may have already missed it.

Before Text-Em-All, the store had never texted its customers. It had been collecting text opt-ins from its loyalty program, though, so a list was ready to go. What Morton's didn't know yet was how much difference one text could make.

An illustration of email, online ads and social media linked by a long, winding path that passes several shoppers without reaching them directly.

SOLUTION

Start small, then send to more

Morton's didn't launch with a big campaign. The store started with a test: one $10-off text to 65 of its top spenders. When that worked, it widened the audience, first to 721 loyalty customers who had shopped in the last 30 days, and then to all 3,900 loyalty customers for a pork chop special.

Every text followed the same simple formula: one discount, one product or kind of food, and a set amount of time.

I’m definitely no expert, but Text-Em-All makes it easy for the non-expert!

Kristin M., Proprietor, Morton's Gourmet Market

RESULTS

Three texts, each one increased sales

Measure	The test campaign	July campaign	October campaign
Audience	65 top spenders	721 loyalty customers	3,900 loyalty customers
Offer	$10 off	15% off prepared meals	Pork chops, $12.99/lb ($5 off)
Text cost	$18	$61	$375
Discounts	$460	$49	Built into the sale price
Redeemed	46 (71%)	14 (about 2%)	n/a
Sales	$3,983	$1,033	$4,709

The test

Morton's started small: one $10-off text to 65 of its top spenders. Within a couple of days, 46 of them had redeemed it, a 71% redemption rate, and no one opted out.

The text cost $18 and the coupons cost $470. By the end of the promotion, those customers had spent $3,983 at the store, about $8 back for every $1 spent on the text and coupons.

The next step

In July, the store sent a 15%-off prepared meal text to 721 loyalty customers who had shopped in the last 30 days. Fourteen of them redeemed it, spending $1,033 in-store. The text cost $61, and the discounts came to $49, about $9 back for every $1.

Redemption was lower than in the top-spender test, but the offer still paid for itself many times over.

The big success

In October, Morton's had its most successful text campaign to date. The store ran a three-day pork chop special at $12.99 per pound, $5 off, and texted 3,900 loyalty customers at 10 a.m. on day two.

Day	What Morton's did	Pounds sold
Tuesday	Posted the special on social media only	41.7
Wednesday	Texted 3,900 loyalty customers	214
Thursday	Ran day three of the special, no extra outreach	148.5

The text cost $375, and pork chop sales on Wednesday and Thursday brought in $4,709, or $12.56 in sales for every $1 spent on the text alone. On the same two days last year, Morton's sold 48 pounds of pork chops. This year it sold 362.5 pounds, about 7.5 times as many.

The impact likely went beyond the pork chops. As Kristin Morton put it, "I think it's safe to assume that some of those customers bought other items as well."