Must-Use WineDirect Features Amidst COVID-19 Restrictions

As tasting rooms across the US and Canada close due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, wineries are looking for new digital ways to drive DTC sales. One of the best ways to do that is through your online store.

According to our 2019 DTC Sales Report, the average order value (AOV) of an online order is 2.5 times greater than in the tasting room. In the long term, online sales are the best way to reduce your dependence on in-person visits and position your winery for financial stability. The good news is that you can build and execute email campaigns from home if your team is working remotely, and if you have a fulfillment house that is prepared to ship your orders.

Let’s have a look at some powerful tools available within WineDirect that will set you up for long term success way beyond COVID-19.

1. Craft an Enticing Promotion

Here at WineDirect, our research has shown that shipping incentives outperform pricing discounts. Specifically, flat rate shipping - such as 1 cent or $5 - performs best. Typically we see wineries offering these rates on 6 or 12 bottles. Consider your customers, inventory and costs, then create a promotion that works for you. With many wineries reaching out to their customers right now, make sure your offer is timely and unique.

For more tips on setting up promos, watch our recent webinar: 3 tools to drive online sales (Skip to minute 5:58 for shipping promos)

Here's a great example of a flat rate shipping promotion from Hess Collection:

2. Use One Click Offers

We all have enough on our minds at the moment. To avoid overwhelming your customers with choice, curate a 3 or 6 pack of wines that you know they’ll enjoy. With One Click Offers, you can then generate a link that automatically adds those wines to their shopping cart. Embed the link in email or social media posts for increased online sales conversions.

Learn how one Oregon winery leveraged One Click Offers to drive sales in our case study.

Please note you need to be using our current checkout tools to take advantage of One Click Offers.
> Learn How to Update to the New Checkout and why you should upgrade here.

3. Upsell with Carrots

WineDirect’s carrot feature enables you to deliver targeted promotional messages to your customers while they’re on your website. For example, you can encourage them to add more bottles to their cart to take advantage of your shipping promotion or price discount. Or, you can let them know about a new release they may be interested in trying.

For more information on how to set up Carrots, check out our Documentation or this training video.

4. Promote Digital Gift Cards

Many restaurants are promoting gift cards as a way for loyal customers to support them and generate funds to pay staff. Your winery can do the same with our digital gift card feature, available to all clients. It’s easy to batch generate codes in the Admin Panel and issue them via email, making this a fast and easy solution to implement. >Learn more

5. Segment Your Mailing List

Personalized offers perform better than generic ones, and during this tumultuous time it’s especially important to show your customers you know and care about them. To segment your customer list for an email or telesales campaign, WineDirect’s List Builder tool offers a powerful solution. For example, target customers by:

• Geography - Customize the shipping promotions for locals vs. those out of state
• Lifetime Value - For club members or VIPs, send them a case offer or promote a Library selection. For people who have not yet purchased from you, send them a 3 bottle offer or a more entry level wine.
• Purchase History - Have a new spring release? Create a list of those who bought the last vintage but have not yet bought the new one and send them a special offer for that wine.

For more tips on using List Builder, check out our recent webinar: 3 tools to drive online sales (skip to minute 18:16)

6. Ship Pick-Up Orders

If you have a lot of wine club orders waiting to be picked up from your tasting room, you can easily change them to shipping orders, in a single batch. With many local club members no longer wanting to pick up their wine in your tasting room, this feature ensures they get their wine fast.

Pro Tips: 4 Steps to take before changing orders from pick up to ship

7. Offer Curbside Pickup with Tock

Another option for closed tasting rooms is curbside pickup reservations, available through Tock, like the below example from Zo Wines. This service is free for wineries currently using Tock for reservations. If you are not currently signed up with Tock, you can use the curbside feature with a 3% fee on transactions.

>Learn more

Our team is looking for ways we can be helpful during this challenging time, so would love your feedback on what topics you are most interested in, and/or what formats you prefer for future resources. Please email us at marketing@winedirect.com with your feedback, ideas and requests. We’re all in this together, and we will get through it together.