[February 29, 2024 – Sandra Beals]
How do high-performing winery teams across the nation, increase visitation, grow consumer contact lists and build brand loyalists year after year? At DTC Wine Workshops, we teach every member of the direct to consumer team to focus on the second sale and beyond to be most successful. In today’s blog post, I will help your team get to the 2nd direct wine sale with these top three tools. This sale can occur back at the tasting room, at a private tour or tasting, at a winery event, through the winery web store, or a personal email offer, but starts with collection of the qualified visitors email address at minimum. Enjoy these proven methods and sign your team up for my next Tasting Room Sales Training Webinar set for March 5th. Cheers!
#1 Develop a Reengagement Model and Train Tasting Room Hosts to Increase Repeat Visitor Sales
DTC Wine Workshops winery clients know how to go from good to great by focusing on the “Reengagement Model” put into place at the beginning of each year.
Do’s> Train all hospitality team members on the importance of inviting back at every consumer touchpoint. Upcoming events and private tours or tasting experiences go along way in ensuring a second visit from local guests. Be sure to include event tickets with the wine transaction whenever possible while wrapping up time with guests. Why not offer to book the next visit with a private tour or tasting experience while wrapping up the wine purchase? Guarantee the next visit with local, qualified visitors before they leave the first visit. A personal invitation that is customized based on guest(s) interest and geographic location not only shows that your host listened but also encourages qualified visitors to opt-in to your “personal invitation list”. Today, tasting room guests convert to membership programs 8-20% on average. There has been a lot of opportunity left on the table by not giving the staff tools needed to invite back outside of membership. Let’s do some simple math to show the monthly revenue potential of implementing the “DTC Wine Workshops Reengagement Model”. For example:
- 1000 monthly tasting room guests (40% members).
- Of the 600 convertible guests, let’s say 10% convert to a membership program – this leaves 540 convertible guests.
- Of the 540 convertible guests, let’s say hosts successfully invite back 50% of the time and capture 270 new contact records that month.
- If 50% of those new contacts take your hospitality manager up on the private invitation to revisit, your tasting room team will be hosting 135 repeat visitors in the next 90 days
- If the average tasting room order is $200, the potential revenue through the “Reengagement Model” is $27,000 conservatively.
Don’ts> Don’t rely on just email address captures for ship-to orders and purchase receipts to build a solid reengagement program. While businesses can technically email a consumer with a recent transaction on file – one time, this isn’t an ideal way to invite back. Find complete details on the Can-Spam Act HERE.
Wine brand loyalty begins when first-time guests choose to stay connected by opting in to the consumer contact list. “Permission Based Marketing” is now an expectation when reengaging with consumers at all outlets. Don’t start the direct to consumer relationship off on the wrong foot.
Don’t skew your forecasted numbers. Qualified tasting room guest emails have a much higher probability rate when forecasting potential revenue from reengagement campaigns.
Don’t invite out of state guests to an upcoming event that takes place next week. Be thoughtful by putting Active Listening Skills in place when extending personal invitations to reengage. Typically, these type of qualified out of area guests will appreciate an invitation to a special event at least 2-3 months out. Trip planning tools are ideal when reaching out to invite back.
#2 Always have a shipping promotion ready to offer for six-pack and case purchases
Most luxury travelers don’t want to haul wine around in a vehicle during a fun visit to wine country. By anticipating needs, tasting room hosts can deliver the unexpected when catering to first-time visitors. Train the team on how to include shipping on first-time case purchases when joining the membership program. The invitation should sound like this, “I would be happy to comp the shipping on your first case purchase as a new member”. If the guest isn’t interested in membership, extend the case shipping offer or flat-rate savings such as $10 or $20 on six pack purchases. The invitation should sound like this, “I would be happy to build a custom case for your upcoming pool party and will comp the shipping as a courtesy for your first order”. Let’s do some simple math to understand the return on investment here. A 20% savings on the same carry out case order is extended when a members visits. Let’s go with an average bottle price of $30 for this scenario. Members receive a $120 savings on their carry out case or $60 savings on their six-pack when visiting (20% standing member savings). Can your tasting room team offer the same offset to guarantee a case or six-pack purchase from qualified first-time guests? OR if the first-time guest would prefer to have their tasting fee comped in lieu of the shipping offer, is that an option using this same math?
Do’s > Develop a “Hospitality Toolkit’ and train all members of the hospitality team on how to best leverage the right tool based the most common scenarios for your visitor center.
Do include this offer on the top of your winery website Store page. Go beyond the store page to program within your cart pop-up message once 1+ bottles are added by an online shipper using a new email address (Commerce 7 and WineDirect). Don’t forget to include this offer in all of your digital outlets.
#3 Offer to host the guests next celebration
Plant the seed early when first-time guests qualify well. Whether your winery team can leverage a private event space, a vineyard space, or a private tasting room, be sure to extend this tool when inviting these type of guests back. Talk about the last private celebration you all hosted for a friend of the winery or member. This goes a long way in encouraging a revisit. Business owners, local influencers, and social butterflies will be intrigued by such an invitation. Collect the guest email when closing out their transaction and indicate the type of invitation offered. Be sure to include a note in new membership sign-up form. Could your membership program include use of a private space once a year for celebrations? Perhaps it is time to update your membership program perks with more value-based offerings.