One of the best ways for wineries to connect with their customers is through an email marketing program. However, if wineries were given the capability to e-mail customers personalized newsletters, promotions, RSS feeds, etc., would they actually want or take the time to do it? Winemakers are rustic people and have a very strong passion for what they do. They enjoy the human element of winemaking and having close relationships with people that they do business with. Technology, especially e-communication, takes the face away from the customer, which in the eyes of the average winemaker or winery marketing director is not a real way of connecting. The marketing potential, however, is too great for this perception to not change in the near future.
In reality, wineries have indirect relationships with their customers through salesman, retailers, and distributors and that barrier is something that has existed for awhile. Thus, this new direct-to-the source e-comm. approach probably makes wineries a little timid, especially since they’ll have to become tech-savvy to utilize its potential. Even though they may be turned away at first, this does not deny the fact that if wineries directly connected with their customers more often, they would have increased success … they just need a medium that understands the consumer and understands how to deliver the winery’s information when and where the consumer wants it.
There’s a great product called iContact that simplifies this whole process. Through its web-based system wineries can send newsletters with personal messages, new products or promotions as well as surveys that get customer opinions about various issues, such as the quality of the latest vintage. They do RSS feeds, autoresponders and all that good stuff, as well as detailed metrics and tracking systems that inform who is opening newsletters and surveys, and therefore who is more likely to become a quality customer. This type of info can be so valuable to wineries because, with it, they can feel confident that they know who their customers are and what they want. Furthermore, they know that if they deliver on their customer demand, they can develop quality long-term relationships them.
The most important thing, however, is for all of this information to consistently get to the people that want it, while absolutely never becoming spam! This cannot be emphasized enough. It is a must that customers personally sign up for these newsletters, surveys, etc, which they can do on winery websites or other community sites. If people keep getting messages that they don’t want, they are just going to be annoyed and probably won’t buy your product again. Intellicontact’s parent company Broadwick has strong relationships with ISPs to guarantee that messages get to the customers, while strongly advocating ethical approaches to email marketing that are about building relationships rather than overloading inboxes.
This is some cool stuff, and there is no doubt that smart, tech-savvy marketing directors out there will start doing it for their wineries. For those that are more technologically challenged, I guess you’ll need a little guidance.
