But Response Rates Have Fallen According to WineGlass Marketing
February 22 – NAPA, CA – WINEGLASS MARKETING, LLC released a second annual benchmark report for response rates and statistics around email marketing for wineries. This report covers September 2019 through September 2020 and contains information about frequency, subject lines, and average revenue per email.
“This year’s report is more expansive than our previous report, which covered 2017 – 2019”, explains WGM President Susan DeMatei. “This year, we pulled statistics on 222 wineries with over 9,000 campaigns and just shy of 46 million individual emails.”
Included in the findings was that the number of email campaigns sent per winery doubled after COVID. The report points out that email is relatively inexpensive and does not require staff to be present in an office or consumers to be in a particular location, making it the perfect flexible COVID marketing platform. However, after an initial bump in interest, the report continues that consumers are getting tired of increased frequency and no longer responding in higher percentages. Also, bounces (incorrect email addresses) plague winery mailing lists by jumping more than 20% post COVID due to higher-than-average unemployment numbers.
There are still successes, however. “We see more creativity in messaging, with clever offers and subject lines,” says DeMatei. “We are encouraging our clients to be thoughtful about this communication channel and provide value with each touchpoint.”
For the first time, the report looked at key elements of subject lines. Emojis score creative points with consumers by increasing open rates, and short, to-the-point headlines help ensure emails get read. But don’t yell. The report shows that including an exclamation point in a subject line will decrease your open rate by 10%.
When it comes to sales, the analysis showed the average conversion rate fell by more than 50% from the year prior but is still twice what other industries report for emails proving that, once again, our customers love to buy wine. On the positive side, the 2020 orders per campaign are up by 23%.
And the best day to send emails? Tuesday was the winner with the highest open rate, click-through rate, and % of sales, although other mid-week days of Wednesday and Thursday perform well.
The report concludes with some cautionary tales for wineries. With Instacart and online retailers offering curbside pickup, the availability of wine in the eCommerce channel has never been more crowded. If wineries want to compete by selling directly to their customers, they’ll need to take some cues from big-name retailers and have thoughtful and competitive offers and emails driving customers to well-organized online carts.
“If 2020 was a sprint, we made it through on adrenaline,” says Dematei. “Now, get ready for the marathon.”
Download the entire free report at www.wineglassmarketing.com/2020_emails. Based in Napa, WineGlass Marketing is the largest full-service direct marketing agency for the wine, beer, and spirits industry. The firm is located at 531 Jefferson Street, Napa, CA 94559 or call (707) 927-3334 online at www.wineglassmarketing.com.
