The next generation of DTC wine buyers is ready to engage today’s wine brands using their favorite communication channel - text messaging.
Maybe you’re already receiving texts from your healthcare provider or an airline, or your bank.
In a recent survey of online consumers, 91% were interested in receiving texts from their favorite brands, including 83% who’d like to receive appointment reminders and 60% who want to text businesses proactively, according to Attentive.
But most businesses – including wineries – aren’t yet up to speed. According to G2, fewer than 40% send business texts at all and only 13% are capable of receiving text messages sent by their customers.
Most consumers want to interact with their favorite brands using text messaging. But businesses are missing the boat.
This mismatch between supply and demand creates an excellent opportunity for DTC wineries to grow their business with text marketing.
Follow a Proven Path to Direct Marketing Success
The secrets to successful text marketing in the wine industry are the same as any other direct marketing discipline. The three elements required for text marketing success are:
List – build a list of prospects who want to receive your messages
Offer – offer solutions that meet the needs of wine consumers
Creative – create personalized messages that benefit your customers
Text messaging has its own strengths and limits compared to other direct marketing vehicles. But if you’re adding text marketing to your mix, the tactics may be different, but the winning strategy is still the same.
STEP 1 - Build an Opt-in Text Marketing List
The success of any direct marketing strategy first depends on building a qualified list. And since both wine and text marketing are federally regulated, no ordinary list will do.
For U.S. wineries using text marketing, all contacts must opt-in and be at least 21 years old.
Your winery’s website or commerce system should ideally offer the ability to sign-up for text messaging.
But even if they don’t, wine marketers can build their text marketing lists using these proven techniques:
Import – wineries can import existing opt-in contacts with age verification
Text-to-Join – customers can opt-in by texting a keyword like “LUVWINE” to your winery
Email – existing email contacts can be offered the chance to receive your text messages
Tasting Room – printed signs can offer guests the option to receive your text messages
Website– websites with age verification can also be used to opt-in text subscribers
All of these methods should only target adults over 21.
But if there’s any question about the age of your text subscribers, any modern text messaging platform should give your customers an easy way to confirm their age.
STEP 2 - Offer Solutions to Meet customer Needs
Chances are, you already know what text messages your customers want.
But in a recent national survey on text marketing, online consumers confirmed their interest in transactional and promotional text messages.
Transactional texts about recent purchases or upcoming appointments were the most popular, followed by promotional messages featuring special offers and event reminders.
If you have any questions about which text messages would work best for your customers, why not ask them? A quick online poll of your customer list will give you all the information your need to create compelling reasons for your customers to join your text marketing list.
STEP 3 - Create Personalized Messages
Once you’ve decided to move forward with text marketing, it’s important to create messages that are:
Personalized to individual customer interests
Automatically triggered by customer behavior
Brief and to the point
Linked to helpful landing pages
Consistent with your brand
Texting services typically offer marketers the choice of text-only messages (SMS) or text-plus-image messages (MMS).
Text marketing can be adapted to nearly any wine brand
Many customers prefer MMS messages embedded with photos or videos, and it’s been said a picture speaks a thousand words. But MMS texts also cost more than SMS messages. Brand and budget considerations can help you achieve the right balance.
No matter what format you use, remember that “spammy” or irrelevant messages are the top-two reasons consumers unsubscribe from text messaging.
Taking Action to Create Results
With soaring consumer demand for a new way to interact with their favorite brands, text marketing is the right tool for many wineries looking to improve customer service, increase engagement, and ultimately sell more wine to thirsty consumers.
A growing number of text marketing solutions are now available for wineries sending 100-to-100,000 text messages per month.
But for sneak peak of a new text marketing solution built specifically for the wine industry, we invite you to discover PreferencePro Toll-Free Text Marketing.
Whatever solution you choose, now’s the time for your winery to profit from text marketing.
Happy Selling!