Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas are the time when sales are everywhere you look. Customers will be planning for the holiday season earlier this year, so how will you optimise your marketing strategy to stand out from the crowd? Read through the winem8 guide below for how to stand out from the crowd and have your wine shine through.
Yes we know it’s only September, but can you believe it’s already September?
This year has flown by and with the next few months being some of the busiest of the year, we think it’s worth starting to plan your holiday marketing now, so you can breeze through when the time comes.
Let’s have a look at some of the key dates from now to New Year:
Early Bird Sales – now to November 19
Black Friday – November 19
Cyber Monday – November 28
Free Shipping Day – December 15
Christmas – December 25
Boxing Day – December 26
Big retailers have already started their early bird sales so now is your time to get ready and decide how you’re going to stand out from the crowd.
Ready to take this holiday period to the next level? Read through the winem8 team's top 6 tips below.
#1 Optimise your online store
First things first, is your website ready to handle the busy season? An improved website can help make purchasing easier and can be the deciding factor for a customer.
This is an essential step as it will impact sales, marketing, stock control, and distribution.
If you have a well-functioning website, this will have a flow-on effect and help keep your customers and employees happy. Take a moment to answer these questions:
Is it clear on my site what sales I am offering?
Can my customers easily find and purchase these sales?
Can customers easily purchase wine and other products through my site?
Is my website tested and prepared for a surge in traffic?
Am I incentivizing customers to buy more or sign up to my wine club?
Am I upselling and cross-selling online?
Can customers easily navigate my website? What about mobile?
Are there clear calls to action on my website?
Winem8 can help you incentivize purchases, get more subscribers, and allow for easy management of these orders through other areas of the business. The team also has experience with web design and development to help optimize your website.
Want to know how we can help your team? Book a Demo.
#2 Think strategically and stand out from the crowd
One deal fits all no longer cuts it online. Customers now expect a personalized experience based on their needs and preferences.
Think about what sort of deals your wine club or mailing list might like to see, including pre-release wines, special discounts, or packs just for them that will help them to feel a part of your community and connected to the winery.
On the other hand, new customers may need more of a push to sign up or buy for the first time. You don’t want to devalue your product by offering crazy discounts, so a well-thought-through and customer-focused deal will be the way to go this year.
Winem8 have put together the following tips to help get you started.
Start early, consumers begin to look for deals in October
Target past visitors and existing customers
Focus on repeat purchases and lasting loyalty
Don’t provide too many options, people may have choice overload and leave without purchasing
Optimize your product pages, what do you users want to know before purchasing?
Cross-sell and upsell your products, what makes sense together?
#3 Get the deals in front of the people
You’ve got your website set up, and your deals ready, now you just need to let the customers know!
Wine club members may be as simple as an email campaign, but new leads, abandoned cart, or warm leads will require a concept, strategy, and content plan. You will also need an optimized online store that allows users to navigate easily, add to cart, and purchase in just a few clicks.
Well, what channels can you use to get people to your store? Here are just a few.
Email marketing
Social media
Paid advertising
Word of mouth and referrals
Activations and in-person events
Need help creating and executing your marketing plans? Get in touch with winem8 team to see how we can help.
#4 People, price, and processes
All three are important to your customers and staff during busy seasons. It is important to prepare and overcommunicate to both for more efficient purchases and fulfillment, and happier people!
Your customers may be asking such questions as:
What are the shipping costs?
Can I easily make a return?
Will I get my order in time?
When do I need to make my decision by?
What other options do I have?
You need to ensure that your website and other sales channels provide customers with this information easily and effectively, and that your staff are also prepared to answer these questions also.
Internally you may be asking:
Do we have enough stock?
Have we tested our online store to ensure all products, shipping prices, and processes are correct?
How can we streamline the process of shipping?
Do my staff know what deals we are offering?
Do my staff know what customers qualify for what discount?
Are my staff ready and trained for a busy season?
It is important to answer these questions early and overcommunicate to your customers and staff to ensure a smooth process for all, and to create positive meaningful experiences with your brand.
#5 Thank your community, both online and in person
Wineries pivoting to online shopping, tastings, and experiences was fast-tracked through COVID, and the support of our online communities has helped it happen. Wine clubs and mailing lists have supported the wine industry for the last few years, and they would love to hear from you.
Take the time over this holiday period to send them a message of gratitude and throw in a discount code as an extra thank you.
This is where personalization in mass is important to keep people engaged and coming back. A personal connection to a brand will help build long-term loyalty.
Email tools such as Klaviyo and Mailchimp give you the flexibility to create personalised emails for your customers and segment them based on meaningful data. Get in touch with the winem8 team to see how you could be taking advantage of this.
#6 Benchmark and set smart goals
Often an overlooked part of the process, it is important to set benchmarks and goals to measure yourself against.
The busy season is a great testing time, and you should be looking back afterward and asking, what worked and what didn’t.
Winem8 has created the following tips to help you get started:
Set up Google Analytics 4 to measure what marketing tools are most effective, and what actions people are taking on your website
Ensure that GA4 is set up to measure your cart drop-off to see where people are abandoning their cart
Heatmapping tools such as Hotjar can be used to see how people are interacting with your website and where they are getting confused
A/B test communications in emails and ads to see what drives more traffic
Google will be removing Universal Analytics in June of 2023, so it is important to start setting up and using Google Analytics 4 now. There’s no better time to start testing and measuring important user data than the holiday season.
Need help with your measurement plan? Get in touch with winem8 to see how we can help.
Winem8 is more than just software and our team has years of digital marketing experience including UX design for optimizing and developing websites, and digital marketing strategy and execution, and content creation. Get in touch to see how we can help you grow your brand.