As a winery owner, the list of things to do is endless!
With a vineyard to attend, vintage to undertake, wines to make, labels to be designed, bottles to be filled, tasting room to be operated, wine shows to enter, staff to manage and wines to sell. The list goes on and there’s simply not enough time in the day, the week, the year, to do everything that needs doing.
The problem is, the wines won’t drink themselves. It’s not enough to make them, you must have strategies to sell them too!
In an ever increasingly competitive and fragmented marketplace, in which retailers are squeezing margin, smart wineries are constantly looking at ways they can increase their direct sales options and achieve greater profit margins on sales.
Email marketing presents a time and cost effective way of communicating directly with consumers to increase and motivate direct sales.
To make sure your email marketing efforts receive the return your winery is aiming for it’s important that you are authentic, clever and concise in your approach.
Read the below tips and tricks for email marketing and think about how you might apply them within your wine business to increase your direct sales both in the present and ongoing.
Get personal
Make sure the address that your email comes ‘from’ is personable. By this I mean from an actual person within the winery, that is associated with the wine, the winery and preferably mentioned in other marketing and communications. Personalising your emails has a significant effect on your email open rates and make the receiver will feel like they are a member of your wine family.
Hook them from the start
Use the subject line to capture the audiences attention. These are the first words they will read and can potentially sit in their inbox to remind them of your offer and about your winery for some time. The better these words are at motivating a sale the better! Be clever, creative and true to the brand positioning.
Short and sweet
People spend less that one minute reading an email before they decide to read on or hit delete. Keep your message short, relevant, to the point and interesting.
Great content
Make sure you understand what messages you want the reader to understand and then make it crystal clear. In general the purposes of your email should be to:
- Promote your winery and/or your wine
- Build relationships
- Stay top of mind
- Make a sale
The wording used must be consistent with your brand and appealing enough to motivate them to take action.
Get targeted
Segment your email list into relevant categories so you are able to send out information that is relevant to the receiver. It will reduce your unsubscribe rate, enable you to use a better call to action, and reduce emails being flagged as spam. Here are some examples of segments you could use:
- Wine Club Members
- Tasting Room visitors
- Distributor Partners
- Staff or distributor lists
- Restaurant guests
- Newsletter subscribers
- Demographic groups
A picture tells a thousand words
Beautiful imagery, clever graphics, and appealing photos all make people stop and look. Using professional images and scenes that are aspirational for your brand will lure people in.
Measure your results and learn
Make sure that you use a platform that enables you to measure your results. Data like open rates, click through percentages, unsubscribes and sales conversions are all very valuable insights. Looking at and understanding these numbers will enable you to learn what works best for your audience to ensure your newsletters are more effective in their communication.
