This is the first place to start!

• Click CONTACTS Tab
• Click Create New

Edit the details of each opt-in list using the Opt-in Wizard. Here, you can edit or request keywords, revise your opt-in and welcome message text and add or remove coupons. The list name should be the name of your business or product. The keyword is the word your audience will text to shortcode 40691 to opt in.

When you use the other guys, a ton. When you use Manna Apps, much, much, much less.

Any questions?

Okay, we’ll get into things in more detail…

The Cost of Custom App Development

When you decide that your business is going to offer an app, the first thing you need to do is find a development studio that can tackle the project and tell them what you want the app to do. They’ll disappear for a while, analyze your request, and come up with some numbers.

Then comes the shocker: the price tag.

The average development studio will quote a price somewhere in the range of $50,000 to $150,000 to build a truly custom app. And it will take months of planning, development, and debugging. And that’s where you say, “Thanks, but no thanks. With that amount of money, I could open a second location!”

Where do you go from there?

The Cost-Effective Alternative

Okay. Obviously a custom app built from the ground up isn’t the answer for small businesses (unless your small business is printing counterfeit $100 bills). So, how are all these owners offering their own apps these days? Are there a lot of pizzeria owners that just happen to be software developers in their spare time?

Of course not! They’re buying Manna Apps!

Manna Apps is the world’s most popular solution for small businesses to have an app built. There are no issues, no debugging, and the one-time cost is a tiny, tiny fraction of what it costs to build a custom app by others.

As a result, apps are now within reach for everyone.

Restaurants can offer mobile ordering to customers. Spas can offer remote reservation scheduling. Bands can create an app for fans to connect, listen to sample tracks, and buy merch. The possibilities go on and on, and are as varied as small businesses themselves.

So, what does an app cost? A lot more than you think, and also a lot less. It all depends how you go about it.

Interested? Get started here.

Loyalty programs have been around for a long time now, but mobile loyalty programs are growing very quickly, as more and more small businesses put them in place. Why are the programs becoming so popular? The six reasons below set things straight. If you’re on the fence about adopting a mobile loyalty program in your small business, this post will help you see how valuable they can be.

1. Drive activity and boost revenue

This is obviously the biggest benefit for most small businesses. Mobile loyalty programs give customers an extra reason to stop by and make a purchase. Each sale, while rewarding on its own, now becomes a little bit more exciting for the customer as they build towards whatever benefit you have offered. When a customer is close to a reward, it’s very hard to stay away. Mobile loyalty programs take advantage of this and create a bit of extra energy around your business.

2. Ease of administration

Traditional loyalty programs with punch cards that need to be printed up, fake purchase detection to worry about, and other issues, can add tasks and costs that you simply don’t need.

A mobile loyalty program, on the other hand, is easy to administer.

You can change it as needed from your dashboard (if you're using Manna System, that is), there are no cards to carry around and remember, and everything is handled on users’ mobile devices.

Clean, elegant, and cost-effective – mobile loyalty programs make things very simple.

3. Reduce churn and improve loyalty

Mobile loyalty programs give customers a reason to choose you over the competition. This helps you bring down churn and improve customer loyalty. In short, when a customer thinks about his or her options, you’ll have given them a reason to choose you.

No surprise there. After all, they are called mobile “loyalty” programs!

4. Address loyalty program fatigue

A big stack of cards in your wallet or purse is no fun. People might carry a few cards for their favorite companies, but most people have a limit to how many they’ll bother with. Mobile loyalty programs cut right through the fatigue, and make it easy for people to participate without having to carry anything around. Once everything is on a mobile device, there’s nothing more to worry about.

5. Improve customer satisfaction

If your business is struggling to keep customers happy, a nice way to improve their experience is to offer a mobile loyalty program. It shows that you appreciate your regulars, and that you’re willing to give back a little, as well. Generosity can go a long way toward pleasing your customer base.

6. Track customer activity

Mobile loyalty programs help you see what rewards are motivating, how fast people redeem rewards, and more. Additional info can almost always give you insight into your customers’ minds, and can often help you improve operations. By offering a mobile loyalty program, you may learn valuable facts about your customers and your business.

Mobile loyalty programs are a great way to boost your business and keep customers happy. Everybody wins! Click here to learn more about the mobile loyalty program offered by Manna System.

We won’t belabor the obvious – sales are good for businesses, and most business owners want more of them – so we’ll cut right to the chase. If you want to increase sales, offering a mobile-optimized website is a great way to do it.

“Why bother?” you ask, “I’m already online. Most mobile devices can browse to my website just fine, can’t they? Who needs a mobile site?”

You do! Here’s why:

Browsing non-mobile-optimized sites is a nightmare

The problem is, even though some smartphones can pull up a website, if the website isn’t mobile-optimized, the experience can really suck, to put it mildly.

You’ve probably experienced it yourself – you search for a site on your mobile, wait for the results to load, find a likely link, click it… and then the problems begin.

First, the page takes too long to load. You’re staring at that damn progress bar as if you could will it to completion. But it won’t budge. You wait, and wait, and wait some more.

Finally, the page loads. You can’t read a thing, though – the text is the size of microscopic life. You try to zoom on your display, but you accidentally click a link on the page in the attempt, because you can’t see anything. A new page begins to load…

Okay, if your phone survives the browsing session without being planted into your wall, you won’t be going back to that site. And research shows that most people don’t return to bad sites. This is the penalty you suffer when you don’t have a mobile optimized site.

The mobile-optimized difference

The browsing experience on a mobile-optimized site is much smoother and easier. The site loads faster, and everything is simplified and designed to display well on the small screen. You can read the text, scroll quickly, and find what you need.

Why is this so important for small business owners? Well, 75% of people use their mobile device to get real-time location information. And overwhelmingly (90% of the time), these informational searches lead to an action, like a visit, or a purchase. In fact, 50% of the time, the searcher winds up buying something based on their searching!

Putting these things together, 1) people are looking for local businesses on their mobile devices, 2) if you have nice mobile site, your business will be in the running, and 3) half of these people are looking to spend money. Such conversion-ready leads are just about the best thing you could ask for when it comes to sales.

Okay, so they’re helpful. But what’s involved in getting a mobile optimized site up? Do I need to hire a developer to build a whole new one?

Nope. With Manna System, you can get a mobile-optimized site up in short order and start welcoming the mobile searchers that are going to help your business grow.

Easy as pie.

If you have any questions, please contact us – we’d be happy to help!