iContact helps wineries communicate with their customers

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  • How much e-communication do wineries want to do?

     

    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.

    icontact.bmpThere’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.

     

    Comments

    1. Michelle Said,

      Greg:
      You know, there are several wineries that email me. I suppose that in my excitement, I signed up for a few too many email lists on my very first trip to Napa several years ago. Thus, Coppola emails me once a week and their information goes straight to my spam. They are an example of over-use of the medium.
      However, several wineries have “clubs.” Not wine clubs, per se. Email clubs, where they send you free gifts at Christmas (Chandon sent me a champagne sealer) and I get occasional emails and free downloads.
      Ledson & Cline both send me occasional emails for winemaker dinners and new releases. Ledson is even more personal. Our wine room attendant from 2 years ago emails me on a regular basis to let me know what they have available that fits my tastes, etc. I suspect they use some cool software to track what I’ve purchased and what I might like. As cold as that might seem, I like having Brigitte call or email with suggestions that suit my tastes.
      Anyway, my point is that some wineries have seen the light and are moving forward with the revolution. But others, as you point out, are rather rustic.

    2. eljefe Said,

      I’m finding that the technical part is being handled OK by such services, but there are still the two hard parts: writing the messages, and pulling together and maintaining that list.

      I think it is important to remember that a computer is simply a tool, and that there still must be a human communicating with you behind that screen. The computer may be helping to keep track of your preferences, but you could also do the same with a file of index cards (and people used to do it that way.) Does using a computer make it “colder”? I like to think it doesn’t. There is still a human behind it all deciding to care about what you do and don’t like, and reaching out with those suggestions.

      Also, a winery can be as rustic as it wants in the front, and have a server and satellite dish in the back…

    3. Mike Duffy Said,

      The main issue (for smaller wineries certainly) is that it is one more thing to do (just like maintaining a Web site). Which is why most wineries don’t keep their Web sites fresh, and why most don’t do much e-mail marketing.

    4. J Said,

      Great points to all.

      Coppola is a large winery, so we can expect them to have the resources to email you every week. I really like the idea of the occasional gifts, and of course the recommendations… anyone likes a great recommendation, especially if its personalized to your taste.

      In regads to Stai (el jefe), I would say the latter problem you mention, maintaining the list, should be the least that someone should worry about. If you are using appropriate software for the newsletters, it maintains the list for you based on when people sign-up, or sign-off. I really like what you have to say regarding the human element, it is so important.

      Mike.. true.. very true. How should that be handled? Should wineries have someone else writing a weekly newsletter and maintaining their websites? Maybe they can set it up somehow so that we (the customers) are writing the content…

    5. Greg Said,

      So the big question is who is going to create this content for the winery and do all of the work for them? They can use a product like Intellicontact, but there still has to be someone creating the newsletters and other content, sending it to the consumer, tracking the information, and then relaying it back to the winery.

      I really liked your comment Michelle about the “email wine clubs”, which gives a good idea about where the balance should lie. Wineries can’t over-communicate with their customers. However, if they send them free gifts and downloads along with OCCASIONAL email messages, they have a good chance of keeping the consumer interested without pissing them off with spam. Good stuff

    6. Bulk Email Marketing Said,

      I’m Krish from Emphasize Outsourcing…We are one of the bulk email marketing, data entry, administrative assistant and mailing list company using IContact service since 2006 and I just like to describe IContact in one word “Excellent”

      http://emphasize.elance.com
      http://www.emphasizebpo.com

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