The WineDirect Blog

Everything Changes, Nothing Stays the Same

Last week Bloomberg.com published an article entitled “Retailers Shut Facebook Storefronts amid Apathy” in which they painted a pretty bleak picture of Facebook as a vehicle for online sales. GameStop, a company with 3.5 million fans, opened a Facebook store only to shutter it six months later. So did Gap, J.C. Penny, and Nordstrom. Of course, this begs the question – Should I have a Facebook store?

My answer is an emphatic “It depends.”

Here’s what we know:

1. Social commerce in general is still relatively new when you think about how long it took for eCommerce as a sales channel to take off. The people who do buy on Facebook could still be considered early adopters. This indicates to me that it’s way too early to abandon ship. 
2. The examples above are clearly not representative of the typical winery who maintains a Facebook presence. These are large retailers with a strong Internet presence and substantial traffic, not to mention very large product catalogs. For them, the line is more distinct. Facebook probably should be more about building community, leaving the shopping experience to the website. For our customers that line is fuzzier. Facebook offers an engaged audience, some of whom found your page through friends. You could send them back to your website to make a purchase, but should you? Once again, it depends. My inclination is to say no. It’s an extra step and you run the risk that those visitors will become distracted along the way.
3. Social media is on the verge of becoming the dominant driver of online content. According to a recent study by comScore, it represented 16.6% of Internet time in 2011. While the benefits of maintaining a storefront are still up in the air, the benefits of maintaining a strong presence clearly aren’t.

 “All things are difficult before they are easy.”  Thomas Fuller

I built my first eCommerce store in 1997. To put that date in perspective, Google was incorporated in 1998. While it was never easy, both my husband and I made a nice living from that business and I still look back fondly at those days. ECommerce is a whole new ballgame today, but the one valuable lesson that I learned is that everything changes – not just from one year to the next, but rather from one week to the next. I found that once I learned how to optimize my site for one search engine, its algorithm would change, or another search engine would enter the scene. The key to success online is perseverance, patience, and a relentless quest for knowledge. Some things will work. Others won’t. But you never know until you try.

So, to go back to my original question, “Should I have a Facebook store?” - If it were me, I would go for it.

Feb 21, 2012 at 7:00 AM

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Expand Your Domain: Protecting your company from those who want to use, or abuse, your good name

Your Space
The word “domain” has several definitions depending upon the context of its use. The common thread is however, it represents a range of territory or scope of characteristics over which one maintains ownership. In the internet world, the space your company occupies is your domain, your cyberspace territory. It represents that space on the web you own where you can present your company message and products. Whatever you name this space is your domain name.

Most companies give their domain a name that represents what they do or identifies them to the public. The most obvious is to give the domain the same name as the company; WineDirect.com being a perfect example.  It says who we are and what we do. If the preferred name is unavailable, the company may invent variations using hyphens, abbreviations, similar terms or creative spellings. “Vin” is a common alternative to “Wine”, for example. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

In addition to the name selected, domain names consist of the top-level domain; familiar as suffixes such as .com, .gov, .org, .biz and so on. Between the variations in the name selected and the variety of top-level domains, a multitude of combinations of potential domain names is available, as well as many opportunities for others to exploit or trade upon it.

Threats to Your Space
So what happens when a company acquires its preferred name? Or even its second choice? Often they stop there. They feel comfortable they’ve secured their domain space on the web. They’ve got their own registered .com and no one else can use it. However, this sense of security is really an illusion. And it’s a mistake.

A recent presentation by David P. Branfman, Esq., "HOT Trademark & Copyright Issues For Non-IP Lawyers", discussed threats to domain names and the most expedient and inexpensive way to protect your space. He points out that with the explosion of the internet many companies spend significant dollars securing the rights to that one domain name they covet most, yet leave themselves vulnerable to “cybersquatters” who trade off their good name or worse, disparage it.

Mr. Branfman notes that if you own only the one domain name associated with your business you are leaving yourself exposed to other parties who acquire the rights to any or all of the domain name variations still available. A competitor could acquire a variation on the spelling of your name, or an alternative top-level domain with your exact name, creating confusion for your customers and potentially stealing away some of your business. Worse still, an unhappy customer, a disgruntled former employee or just someone with an axe to grind could snap up a similar name strictly for the purpose of attacking your reputation online. They could even create a “nasty” variation of your domain name for such purposes.

Defending Your Space
Branfman’s solution is easy and inexpensive. Domain name registrations are cheap, usually in the $10-$15 range per domain through a registration service. Once you’ve landed on a name you like, protect yourself by spending a little extra money by buying up the rights to the most common variations, including the possible “nasty” names that make you look bad or confuse your customer. Although you won’t be actively using these domain names, no one else will either. It’s inexpensive insurance against someone exploiting or sullying your good name and reputation. Expand, and thereby protect, your domain. It’s cheaper than a lawyer!

The information conveyed in this blog post is made available for general informational purposes only and none of the information provided should be considered to constitute legal advice.
 

Feb 16, 2012 at 7:00 AM

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Are you testing your email messages before blasting?

Given the number of mailing lists our Client Services team has joined, we too often experience that “oh no” moment when we receive an email that was clearly sent untested.  And, recently, at the ecommerce workshop I attended at the DTC Symposium in San Francisco, the topic of email testing was discussed at length.  This has prompted me to provide some tips to follow before sending out marketing emails.

I think many of us have been there, right? Rushing to meet a deadline and feeling like a quick preview of the email will be a sufficient enough test.…….but then you send the email and WHAM! It hits you like a ton of bricks as you sink down into your office chair, burying your head into your hands…….your email has typos, broken links and the merge tags are inaccurate so users can't easily place an order on your website, which was your point to begin with. You could be faced with customer service calls and now need to send out the dreaded apology email with corrections. Your customers may have lost faith in this important communication from you and it makes you really wish you had taken the time to test.

Our ecommerce team can’t stress enough how important email testing is as it provides the opportunity to catch mistakes in advance and ensure the email is sent with accuracy.  If desired, we will gladly review our client’s emails and make suggestions for improvement to help ensure it is sent without error.

Our client, Alexana, does an incredible job of not only creating emails with rich content and images but segments their list to ensure it reaches the proper audience.  Including extra time for testing will help ensure email success as well as a positive customer experience.  I’ve attached a recent sample email they sent which speaks to their attention to detail.

Some tips to help you check your email prior to sending:

• Proof your content by reading it out loud to ensure readability. Or, ask somebody to proof your work.
• Create an email address at Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, MSN, etc. and send the email to this test group. Preview your email in both a web and outlook client.
• Check for typos, broken links and proper tags.
• Don’t save images with spaces, dashes or characters in the name or they may not render in some email clients. Check that images are sized properly and aligned with text.
• Check email on a mobile device, IPAD, etc., more and more users are reading email on handhelds.
• Ensure your list segmentation results are what you expected.
• Join other winery/brand mailing lists that you think highly of to see how they communicate with their clients.

Testing is an email marketing best practice that not only helps you avoid errors, but improves the overall effectiveness of your email marketing program and how your brand is perceived. 
 

Feb 2, 2012 at 6:00 PM

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Vision and Mission

As we begin the New Year, it’s customary to reflect on the events of the previous year and to look ahead to what lies in store. This was a big year for our company, as we acquired the WTN Services division of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and became WineDirect.

The process of bringing two companies together provides a unique opportunity to reflect on our vision for the future. The landscape for the wine industry and Direct-to-Consumer sales is constantly evolving. For us to help our customers succeed in this ever changing market, it’s important to look to the future and understand the trends that will shape our industry over the next several years. With that thought in mind, our team has used the merging of our two companies as an opportunity to reflect on our Vision and Mission. These two important statements capture the essence of who we are and provide guidance in everything we do.

So here are our new Vision and Mission statements. Please enjoy. I welcome your thoughts and look forward to working together as we see what changes the coming year will bring.

Vision
We aspire to be the leader in winery direct sales. To that end, we must fully support our customers with products, services, and information to help them succeed, and build a positive culture by encouraging and rewarding employees for delivering on our promises.

Mission
We make Direct-to-Consumer easier by providing responsive and efficient winery fulfillment, eCommerce, and telesales services. Our commitment to technology and a strong team allow us to deliver peace of mind to our customers as they build their direct sales programs.

Jan 17, 2012 at 8:00 AM

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Characteristics of a Great Winery Website

Are you missing out on opportunities in Direct-to-Consumer eCommerce?

Retailers often have an advantage over producers where eCommerce is concerned because this is their bread and butter. Buyers have become accustomed to shopping through retail sites and consequently they hold certain expectations regarding the user experience. As a producer, it’s important for you to meet those expectations.

There are a number of reasons you may be losing out on Direct-to-Consumer opportunities:

1. Your customers are unaware that you have a web presence, or they may be unable to find your website
2. Perhaps previous experience with your site has been less than perfect. Even if it’s improved a great deal since your early days online, you may have trouble winning them back.
3. It could be that experience with winery sites as a whole has been poor; in which case customers may have been conditioned to go directly to retailers. Retailer sites often have better features and functionality, particularly when it comes to finding what you’re looking for.

How can you overcome these challenges? You can start by working to build awareness and by following some basic principles regarding the design and navigation of your website.

Building Awareness

1. It may seem obvious, but remember to put your URL on every piece of marketing material that goes out (newsletters, package inserts, advertisements, etc.).  
2. Do a little bit of research on SEO and make sure your title tags, marketing URLs and site content are optimized for search engines. Statistics show that 42% of search users click the top-ranking link, while just 8% click the second-ranking link. Your name should come up first in an Internet search for your brand or for your wines. If you’re not doing it today, you should also consider using Google AdWords to promote your brand.  
3. Use analytics to gain an understanding of your customers and learn how they interact with your website. How are customers finding you and which pages do they tend to exit from? Use this information to continually improve the customer experience.

Basic Web Principles

Design

Last month I put together a quick list of design tips which you can read here. In addition to these basic tips, you’ll want to make sure your site displays well in all browsers. See this link for some interesting browser usage statistics. Usage among the top three has changed pretty dramatically over the past several years.

Navigation

Can your website visitors easily find what they’re looking for? Website navigation is often taken for granted, but research by User Interface Engineering shows that it’s a significant issue for customers. Their research indicates that people can’t find what they’re looking for 60% of the time. Even more importantly, Forrester Research estimates that approximately 50% of potential sales are lost because users can’t find the information they’re looking for. Your navigation should be prominent, i.e. it should be at the top of the page or above the fold on either side. It should also be logical with link copy that makes sense. For a good overview of navigation usability, see this article.

Just for fun, here is an example:

Great Navigation

Resources

The Anatomy of a Perfect Website (Infographic)
The Do's and Dont's of Website Navigation Usability

Jan 13, 2012 at 11:02 AM

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Design Tips for Your Website

Is your website design beginning to feel dated? It’s always a good idea to step back and look at your site objectively; to make sure you’re on top of the latest trends in design and to ensure that it’s performing optimally.

Here are a few things to consider (be sure to scroll down to the bottom for some examples).

Use of Color
There are a number of resources available if you're interested in learning more about the psychology of color. Your website can invoke different moods depending on how you use the primary colors from your logo relative to any complementary colors you've chosen. For example, have you used a dark or light colored background? Which colors have you chosen for highlights and headers versus body text? When working with a designer, have him or her prepare several variations and then solicit feedback from friends and colleagues.

Contrast
Remember the old days, when it was popular to use white text on a black background? Computer monitors use light to generate images, so displaying text with too little or too much contrast can strain the eyes. You’ll want to test different combinations of background and font color for readability before you choose a design.

Line Height
This is a very simple, yet effective concept. Adding some additional space between the lines on your pages makes them appear cleaner and your content will be easier to read.

Imagery
The use of beautiful images is very common in the wine industry, but effective in other industries as well (think apple). It doesn’t take long for a visitor to decide whether or not to spend time on your website. Arriving to see a beautiful image of your tasting room, vineyards, or wines will encourage customers to linger and enjoy.

The Shopping Experience
If your current website structure and navigation is the one you designed several years ago, it’s time to look at it again with the customer experience and ease of use in mind. Make sure customers can easily figure out how to “buy” wine. And that they can get from the home page to the shopping cart with a minimum number of clicks. Today’s web users have been spoiled by easy-to-use eCommerce sites and will quickly leave a website that’s not intuitive.

Designing for Tablet Use
Tablet owners are valuable customers. According to a study by Forrester Research and BizRate, tablet owners spend on average 28% more per order than non-tablet owners. That study also sheds some light on the frustrations the tablet user experiences, with the most common complaints being that the experience is “limited” relative to the desktop experience and that it’s difficult to click on exactly what they want. These are important considerations when redesigning your site.

Content
There’s no better time than a redesign to reevaluate the content on your website. Remember that customers rarely enjoy reading long blocks of text. Use bullets, icons and images and try to be concise with your verbiage. And if writing is not your forte, consider hiring a copywriter. You’d be amazed at the difference good copy will make.

If you’re considering a redesign for the New Year, I’d suggest contacting your Account Manager right after the holidays.

Some Resources:

HubSpot Blog
71 Secret Tips for Website Redesign Projects

Practical eCommerce
The Psychology of Color
Color Psychology Showcase

BizRate Insights
The Emerging Tablet Market: What Online Retailers Need to Know

Here are some examples of customers who've gone through the redesign process recently.  We think they look great!

Dec 15, 2011 at 11:15 AM

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Abandoned Carts: How Do You Win Them Back?

I heard an interesting number the other day. Did you know that over half of all shopping carts are abandoned before the customer finishes checking out? I’m sure there are quite a few different reasons for abandoned carts. Maybe the customer was pressed for time, or maybe they left and couldn’t remember your URL. However, the fact that these customers took the time to visit your website and put an item in the cart is a pretty strong indication of interest. 

Cart recovery is a big missed opportunity for a lot of wineries.  Fortunately there are several steps you can take, all of which provide a good chance of saving the sale at a low cost.

Collect Contact Information 
This may seem obvious, but in order to have any chance at winning the customer back you’ll need to be able to contact him or her. This means you should collect the important contact information like email addresses and phone numbers in Step One of the checkout process. Better yet - and forgive the shameless plug here - the one-page checkout that our licensing partner Vin65 uses will actually mean fewer abandoned carts to begin with.

Look for Clues 
Use Google Analytics to watch for patterns that might provide clues as to why customers are abandoning their carts. This will help in determining whether the issues are better solved by tweaks to your website, promotional incentives, or customer service.

Be Quick with the Follow-Up
Use automated emails to send reminders with language such as "Thank you for visiting. We noticed that you didn't complete your purchase. Is there anything we can do to help?" The sooner you send these reminders the better, so that your products and/or offers are still fresh in their minds. I would suggest you send the first email within an hour, with a follow-up 24 hours later. SeeWhy Research has analyzed data on abandoned carts and found that 54% of successful cart recoveries happen within the first few hours. Over time, you can test different follow-up emails to see which convert better, adjusting the language or adding special incentives like reduced shipping on the second email.

Friendly Customer Service Calls
Call for Wine has been conducting abandoned cart campaigns for some of our customers and they've found that these type of calls have very high close rates. The added benefit of calling your customers is that it provides insight into why customers leave. If they are confused about your checkout process or shipping policies you’ll learn this information in a phone call.

Try Search Engine Remarketing 
The idea here is that when a customer visits your site without making a purchase, you place a “cookie” on their computer. This allows you to use a platform like Google AdWords to target customers using display ads. Personalized retargeting has become increasingly popular over the past year and is used very successfully by companies like Zappos, Art.com and eBags.  Zappos even uses a separate landing page to explain the technology to people who wonder why they're seeing the ads. Learn more about remarketing by visiting Google’s remarketing page.
 

Nov 21, 2011 at 8:00 AM

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Email Marketing Tips and Best Practices

Despite the rise in social media, email marketing continues to be a very effective way of communicating with your customers, especially at this time of year. With that in mind, what better time for a quick email marketing refresher.

These are just a few of our tips:

Whitelist Request

Before the holidays, you’ll want to try and minimize the probability of your emails landing in the junk folder. Why not consider sending an "add to address book" request prior to your next email marketing campaign. Overstock.com (now o.co) segmented their whitelisting campaign by webmail client (going so far as to show detailed instructions for each.)   

Don't Get Caught by the Spam Filters

Along the same lines, by avoiding the use of certain words in the body of your email, and more importantly in the subject line, you can improve delivery results. “Spammy” words include things like free, limited time, act now, coupon, click now, and open immediately. For a great resource, see this article in the MailChimp knowledgebase.

Keep the Message Short and Sweet

Your customers are pressed for time, especially at the holidays. Be sure to focus on the offer and make it as easy as possible for your customers, carefully spelling out the important details while leaving out information that detracts from your message.

Design Refresh

If you really want to get noticed, a holiday motif will help get your subscribers into the spirit for seasonal shopping AND think of you in relation to their holiday shopping lists. If you use our eCommerce platform, our Account Managers are here to help. Be sure to contact them for assistance in creating a holiday email template.

Be Kind to Your Mobile Users

The viewable space of an iPhone or Android phone is much less than that of a desktop computer or PC. You’ll want to be sure your customers can easily read your email on their phones without resizing the message. Popular mail programs like MailChimp or Constant Contact will include mobile versions of their templates.

Target Your Emails Using Segmentation or List Builder Tools

Leverage the data available in your customer list to segment geographically or by purchase history and send more tailored messages. It can mean a world of difference in terms of response rates.

Use the data you’ve collected during signup and from purchase history to segment and personalize your emails.

Use More than Email to Stay in Touch

Whether you use Call for Wine or choose to do it in-house, you should be calling your customers to stay in touch. The slow period before the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays is a perfect time for this. 

Remember that Many of Your Customers Will Not Download Images

So make sure your message is readable when images are disabled.

Optimize Your Landing Page

To increase conversion rates make sure the offer resonates on your landing page.   

Put Your Subject Line to Work

The subject line, sender address, and first few lines of content are your best chance at getting the customer to open and read your email. Use something that will spark curiosity.

Don't Forget to Include Your Contact Information

Your address, phone, email address, URL, and tasting room hours (if applicable) should be included in every email. 

Offer Post Holiday Coupons

This just may be the incentive your customers need in order to use some of their holiday gift money for wine purchases.

Nov 15, 2011 at 8:00 AM

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Tips to Help You Get Ready for the Holidays

Now that the calendar has switched over to October, the 2011 holiday season is right around the corner. That means that now is the time to start mapping out a strategy to ensure a profitable fourth quarter. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

Build a Customer Communications Plan

If you’re not in the habit of sending regular email communications to your customers, you’ll want to spend some time building and cleaning up your list. If your customers aren’t used to hearing from you, you’re likely to see not only some bounces, but also some fairly low conversion rates in the beginning. By starting to send consistent, relevant, and interesting communications now, you can condition your customers to look forward to receiving your emails. As a result, you should enjoy higher conversion rates with your holiday offerings.

Plan Your Product Offerings

Which of your products tend to appeal to gift givers? Can you offer suggestions in different price ranges or create gift sets to accommodate multiple tastes and budgets? If you use our eCommerce platform, don’t forget about our gift card feature. Gift cards are always a great option for customers who don’t feel comfortable making selections on behalf of their recipients.

Create Some Nice “Calls to Action”

Traditionally, reduced shipping has been the best motivator in driving holiday sales. You may want to consider shipping incentives for quantity purchases, such as a reduced $5 or $10 flat fee for a two bottle gift set and “shipping included” or “1¢ shipping” for quantity purchases such as six bottles or more. Be sure to clearly spell out the offer to avoid confusion and make sure your tasting room staff knows what deals are available.

Make Sure Your Products Are Ready for Shipping

To ensure that everything is ready once the orders start to arrive, make sure your products are setup in Fulfillment and inventory has been received for efficient order processing. If you’re shipping 3-Tier, you’ll need to make sure that Price Posting and Label Registrations have been taken care of well in advance. Contact your Account Manager with any questions about compliance requirements.

Spruce Up Your Website and Marketing Materials

Now is the time to start thinking about your website, email templates, shipping inserts, and any other marketing materials you plan to send out. You should review your product descriptions and images now to make sure they present your brand in the best light. And adding some holiday messaging and graphics will help get customers into the shopping spirit. Your promotions and contact information should be easy to find no matter where your customers connect with you. Phone and email addresses should be prominently displayed throughout the website and in any promotional emails that you send out. And finally, don’t forget about social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) when trying to spread holiday cheer.

The holiday season can be chaotic but with a little advanced planning, both you and your customers can enjoy a satisfying shopping experience.
 

Oct 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM

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Welcome to WineDirect

Today is a big day for us! We announced the formation of WineDirect, a company that combines the direct sales and fulfillment services of IBG with those of WTN Services™. To read the official announcement, visit our press page.

I see this as a turning point, not only for IBG and WTN Services, but for the Direct-to-Consumer channel. It’s good for our two companies because it allows us to place unwavering focus on our strengths and deliver best-in-class direct sales services to our mutual customers. It’s good for the channel because the integration of services creates value, or to quote Aristotle, by forming WineDirect we’ve created a platform where “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Our vision hasn’t changed.

Our vision is to help our customers succeed in the direct sales channel by providing the best technology and services around. Today’s announcement just means we’ll get there faster.

Combining the fulfillment operations and direct sales capabilities of our two companies is a logical move and ultimately our customers will benefit in a number of ways:

• New Sales and Marketing Opportunities: 1-800-FLOWERS and its WineTasting.com and Fannie May subsidiaries are powerful consumer brands with extensive experience in and dedication to the wine space. For wineries this means exciting new opportunities to sell more wine.
• Efficiencies: By combining new marketing and sales opportunities, telesales, inbound customer service, eCommerce, and fulfillment into a single offering, we can offer remarkable efficiencies to customers who are interested in a one-stop-shop. We see this as a huge opportunity to make it easier for wineries to sell direct.
• Visibility: With our customer portal and the fantastic new dashboards that our licensing partner Vin65 recently rolled out, the degree of visibility into both operations and sales we offer is second to none. Even more exciting - this is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the coming months we’ll be tightening integrations, so stay tuned for some great advancements here.

Our Commitment

As we enter the busy holiday season, we realize that the last thing our customers want to worry about is changes in their fulfillment operations. Rest assured that this is of utmost importance to us and we’re determined to make sure there are no disruptions in service. Our customers will continue to enjoy the same level of service they have in the past.

Exciting Times Ahead!

By bringing together the best of IBG and the best of WTN Services/WineTasting.com we believe we can drive a new era for the winery DTC channel. I hope you share in our excitement.

We welcome inquiries from anyone interested in learning more about today’s announcement or our integrated programs and encourage you to contact either myself or our COO, Steve Waller.
 

Sep 6, 2011 at 6:58 AM

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