Leeann Froese
It has become particularly clear in the past year that you need to have your direct-to-consumer strategy and tools in place more than ever. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) in the beverage alcohol industry is not a new concept, as building a direct relationship between you and your customer is the foundation of growing your winery sales.
Your tasting room remains the key component among the three main DTC sales methods:
- Tasting Room
- Wine Club / Email List
- E-Commerce (your online shop)
Be a customer-driven company, and make sure you understand the consumer journey, so you may offer memorable experiences at each of these touch points. Most tasting rooms are not yet fully open for the season, so we will cover that another time, and there is an article on page 39 in this issue on email marketing, so we will not overlap that content here (except to say that email marketing is probably the most important tool for companies to use considering the pandemic, and ever-changing social media network algorithms). Instead, today we will look at websites and e-commerce.
Before your customer shops with you or visits you in person, it’s likely that they’ve already checked out your winery online. People today, especially millennials, first search for information about products before any kind of interaction with a brand. They read articles and watch videos before buying. Make sure that your website is an extension of your cellar door and that it reflects your overall brand and sales strategies.
Can people find your website? Making sure that you appear at the top of your search results on Google requires some work on your SEO. You want wine lovers taking a look online to discover you with the relevant SEO keywords that pertain to your brand, location, and sub-GI, perhaps by including them in your title tags, URLs, and meta-descriptions. There are plug-ins and SEO tools that can help you with that.
You also want to protect what else people find when they search you online. Often when someone Googles a winery, the first thing that pops up is the Google listing which holds the reviews from others. Make sure that you are staying on top of your review sites like Google reviews and TripAdvisor, gaining good reviews from your customers. What if you don’t have a good review? If you have a negative review, the way you respond says a lot to anyone who looks at the comments. If someone had a bad experience or opinion and shared it on your profile, what did you do to make it right? Showing a positive outcome in a negative customer situation can drive more traffic for you.
For your website itself, make it enjoyable and easy for people to shop. Your website is always a work in progress, make sure that it is maintained from the front and back-end, so that it functions well and looks good. How does your site appear from the perspective of a first-time visitor? Or a repeat customer?
Don’t make the mistake of creating your website and then forgetting about it until it’s time to upload new wines. Having an inconsistent or outdated online presence can be very damaging. Making sure that your site is up to date, including what SKUs are for sale, your About Us section, and other business news, not only helps with your search engine optimization, but it provides content that keeps people hanging around on your site, or coming back for more.
According to a report from Econsultancy, the focus will likely be on short-form content. For example, short posts on new developments at the winery will be sufficient in keeping customers' attention and persuading them to buy new bottles based on a promotion for one of your newer vintages. There is the potential for long form content, such as a post on how the winery approaches its grape growing and winemaking. A balance in content can encourage customers with both insights on your unique way of running your winery and special offers of the right now.
Also make sure that your website is mobile optimized, pages are fast to load, and that links all work. Is your website copy easy to read, the path to purchase simple, and is there a call to action to move people to sign up for your newsletter/email list, and to buy?
You want the sales steps to be as short as possible, with no more than two or three clicks. The more steps there are, the more likely customers are to abandon their purchase.
Determine what the best online store is for your needs. Options include: Commerce7, WooCommerce, Squarespace Commerce, Oliie, WineDirect, etc.
Ensure that all the costs a shopper face are shown clearly, and if any special prices or offers on shipping are in place, that it is clearly laid out.
Can people shop securely on your website? Make sure that your connection is SSL, the global standard security technology that enables encrypted communication between a web browser and a web server, so that people can trust your site with their personal information and credit card numbers. You want to guarantee to your customers that all purchases are made in a secure environment.
And once the purchase has been made, ensure that you have a follow-up email that goes to the customer automatically to thank them for their purchase. This email, and ongoing communication to follow, is super important as it presents the opportunity to speak directly to your customer and build a real relationship with them. In other words, the “direct” in direct-to-consumer.
Leeann Froese owns Town Hall Brands – a marketing and graphic design agency that specializes in branding and promoting in the areas of agriculture, beverage alcohol, food, and hospitality. See more at townhallbrands.com or on social @townhallbrands