Using Text Messaging with your Country Club Members

Think about how you interact with your phone daily…how often do you check your email? Check your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts? And how often do you read or send text messages?

Probably more often than you think…in fact, text messaging is becoming the number one app on a phone that people are constantly checking. That’s why it’s surprising that more country clubs and golf courses don’t use a text messaging service to communicate with their members because it’s such an effective form of instant communication. 

And how many times has someone told you, “Don’t bother calling, I respond best through text”? Personally, I don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers if I’m busy doing something else or if I have a meeting coming up. As a people, we are so inundated with marketing messages cutting into our time coming from social media, our TV, billboards, and the telephone, that it’s easier just to tune it all out to get anything done.

But the one type of medium that people always tend to pay attention to is their text messages. They’re easy to read, hard to avoid, and most of the time relay information that the recipient is interested in.

The average person looks at their cell phone at least 150 times a day, and 90 percent of cell phone users read their texts within the first five minutes of receiving them. On top of that, text messaging is five times more effective than email because your message doesn’t get lost in spam filters or compete with hundreds of other marketing emails.



Therefore, text messaging has become one of the new country club marketing trends- because people pay attention to them and it is the best way to stay in touch with your members. Here are five ways country clubs can use a text message marketing system to increase member engagement by communicating important, timely, or interesting information at the right time:

Using Text Messaging with Members - 5 Real World Use Cases:

1) Engage Members by Texting Them About Operations Changes or Emergency Updates

There are a lot of moving parts within a country club as management deals with everything from maintaining the golf course to making sure its restaurants, swimming pools, tennis courts, and gathering places are clean, safe, and accessible – especially in the time of Covid. Texting your members updates about the state of the golf course, weather forecasts, facility operating hours, and more pertinent updates like power outages in the area can help keep members informed and help build that trust by keeping them in the know.

2) Text Your Members About Upcoming Events

Country clubs are known to support their communities by providing members-only events or hosting a yearly one-of-a-kind charity golf tournament, and text message marketing is one of the best ways to keep your members in the loop about what’s going on. On top of that, you can even send members offers like Food and Drink specials related to the event, making text messaging a viable revenue generating tactic. Send your members a text about Friday afternoon cocktail hours or invite them to an exclusive holiday party…they will be delighted and encouraged to continue interacting with you.

3) Allow Members to place (contactless) to-go orders

In the time of Covid, everything is moving towards touchless solutions and limited contact. Restaurants are creating QR codes so that their diners can easily access the menu via their smartphones. Food establishments have updated their websites to make it more accessible to order to-go food and pick up via curbside. These new processes can also be applied to your members through text messaging. Text your members a link to your menu or send them new menu items to remind them that your restaurant is still open and serving delicious food. Text messaging can also be used as a restaurant buzzer letting people know when their table is ready.

4) Automate special birthday messages to Members

People love feeling part of a family and look for that sense of community when investing in a country club. Therefore, club managers who take the time to automate text messages with a “Happy Birthday!” or reach out during a holiday is a thoughtful gesture that reminds them why they decided to join your club…and it can increase their loyalty and long term rewards for you. Go above and beyond by texting them a gift (like a coupon to redeem a hat from the pro shop or a drink at the bar) to make them feel like a true VIP.

5) Instant communication to your entire staff

A great text messaging system doesn’t have to just be used to market to your members…you can also use it to communicate with your employees. Send broad updates about the weather, conditions of the greens, or other important work updates that your staff needs to know about in a timely manner.