Resources
Twelve campaigns for a shop with a club
Each idea below has a shop type, an occasion, an example text under 160 characters so there is room for your shop name and the opt-out link, and the one rule it has to respect. Texts need Local Favourite; emails work on either paid plan.
The quiet Tuesday
A cafe fills an empty afternoon with one text sent at midday.
Send it at noon for a 2 to 4 window. The offer should be small and the time short, so it feels like a tip from a mate rather than a sale.
Slow afternoon, so any coffee and a slice for $9 till 4 today. Mention the club.
The rule: send it to the club only, and never more than once a week. A quiet-day text every day teaches people to wait for it.
New season stock
A boutique gives the club first look at the autumn range.
Give members something a stranger cannot get: an hour before the public, or a first pick. Say the day and the time.
Autumn is in. Club members see it first Thursday 5 to 7, with a drink and 15% off anything new.
The rule: the offer must be real. If the public gets 15% on Friday, the club text was a lie and the next one is ignored.
The birthday month
A gift shop offers a treat during the member's birthday month.
Counter Club does not know birthdays, so this is a message to the whole club, inviting anyone with a birthday this month to say so at the till.
Birthday this month? Tell us at the counter and pick a card and a wrap on us with any gift. Happy birthday from all of us.
The rule: do not ask for a date of birth by text. Let them tell you across the counter, and do not record it.
The last Saturday before Christmas
A butcher moves ham orders earlier and thanks the club.
Send this at the start of December, not the week before. The message is about certainty: order now and it is yours.
Christmas hams and turkeys open for orders now, for pick-up in the three days before Christmas. Club members, thank you for the year.
The rule: one Christmas text. A second one in the last week, to everyone, is the one that gets STOP replies.
The weather day
A bakery turns a cold wet morning into soup and bread.
Send it when you see the rain, early. Weather texts work because they are obviously written today by a person.
Pouring out there. Pumpkin soup and a warm loaf for $12 till it runs out. Come and dry off.
The rule: send it only when the weather is actually doing the thing. A rain text on a sunny day reads as spam.
The first of the season
A greengrocer tells the club the mangoes have landed.
Produce news is the best news a greengrocer has. One line, the product, the price, the window.
First Kensington Pride mangoes are in. Trays $28 this weekend, club first.
The rule: say the price in the text. A text that makes people come in to find out the price is a text that annoys half of them.
The new vintage
A bottle shop gives members first call on a small allocation.
Small quantities make it honest and urgent at once. Name the wine and the number of cases.
The new Heathcote shiraz landed today. 12 cases, club first till Sunday, then the shelf.
The rule: keep the tone on the product and the maker. Nothing about drinking more, and respect your licence conditions on promotions.
Flea and tick season
A pet shop sends a seasonal reminder with a small club price.
Seasonal reminders are useful even without an offer. Add a small one and it is a kindness with a reason to visit.
Flea and tick season is here. Vet-brand treatments 10% off for club members this week.
The rule: once a season, not once a month. A reminder that repeats stops being a reminder.
The author evening
A bookshop fills the chairs at an event with an email to the club.
This one suits email, which both paid plans have: a subject line, the author, the night, how to say you are coming.
Thursday 6:30, Odile Brannock reads from her new novel. Free, chairs for forty, so ask at the counter or ring the shop to hold one.
The rule: email only goes to members who gave an address and confirmed it, so do not expect it to reach the whole club. Put a sign by the till too.
The thank you with nothing to sell
Any shop sends one message a year that asks for nothing.
Once a year, usually at the end of it, send a message that is only thanks. No offer, no hours, no link beyond the opt-out.
A year of you coming in made this shop. Thank you. We are open till 2 on Christmas Eve and back after New Year.
The rule: mean it, and do not spoil it with a discount. The reply rate on this one tells you how the club feels about you.
The reward nudge
A cafe tells members with full cards to come and claim.
Counter Club does not segment, so this goes to everyone, and that is fine: it reminds the half-filled cards too.
Got a reward code waiting? Come and claim it this week. And if your card is nearly full, this might be the week.
The rule: do not promise anything to the people who are not close. The message is a reminder, not an offer.
The hours change
Any shop tells the club about a public holiday or a new late night.
The most useful text a shop sends is the one that saves someone a wasted trip. Say the dates, say the hours.
Long weekend hours: open Sat 7 to 1, closed Sun and Mon. Back to normal Tuesday.
The rule: this is still marketing in the eyes of the law because it comes from your shop to your club, so it still carries the opt-out link. Counter Club adds it; you do not have to.
Put the QR by the till this week
Setting the card takes two minutes. The first fifty members are free, paid for by a marketing consent instead of a card, and the card runs in full from day one.