WineDirect is a powerful platform and it is easy to miss the many valuable features buried in the settings. The goal of every wine brand is to sell more wine. I want to highlight five features that can help increase sales. Some can be turned on with one click, while others may require the help of a web developer. Either way, they are worth your time and investment. 

Add A Case Button

Upselling is the easiest way to increase your sales. The power of suggestion is incredibly strong and simply mentioning to customers that they can buy more can be enough to close additional sales. Hidden deep in the Website Settings, under the Product tab, is a small checkbox that says “Show Add Case.” 

With most website templates on WineDirect, a button will automatically appear on your shopping page that shows the price for a case and a button to automatically add a full case to the cart. This one click feature takes less than a minute to turn on and pays for itself. 

Filters

Sales conversion and customer engagement increase when customers can filter products. Frequent readers of WineDirect’s developer documentation (am I the only one?) may have noticed a section titled Product Navigation Tags. This page details the five filters that can be added to your store with the help of a developer injecting WineDirect’s code. With this code, customers will be able to easily filter your wines by price, varietal, appellation, brand, and vintage. 

Filters are a great tool for customers at all steps in the sales funnel. Customers at the top of the funnel who are not familiar with your brand can use the filter options to familiarize themselves with your portfolio and learn about the price points and varietals your offer. For frequent digital customers ready to make a purchase, filters can help them sort through your wines faster and easily find the exact bottle they are looking for. Many shoppers will give up and exit your site if they have too much technical difficulty finding and purchasing a product. Help your customers easily sort your wines and easily navigate your shop with WineDirect’s product filters.  

Action Emails

One of WineDirect’s most robust features is their automated Action Email module. With a few simple clicks, you can set up a vast array of emails and triggers and even customize the design and content of the automated emails. Everyone’s inbox is stuffed with impersonal marketing emails. Stand out with an automated, but personal, email that speaks to a specific action a customer took. 

One of my favorite action emails is an automated message to customers after they have purchased online. I would schedule this email to arrive a couple weeks after the order was placed so odds were their wine was already in their hands. I had the email come from my personal email address and sign my name and title to the email so it felt more personal. I thanked the customer for their order, checked in to make sure the wines were tasting well, and encouraged them to personally reach out to me if I can be of further assistance. I set this email up once and it paid dividends over time. Remarkably, many customers would reply and thank me for the note and either book a tasting with me or place a follow up order. This was so easy to set up, that I forgot it was even turned on until I got a reply from a customer. 

The most important e-commerce specific action email you can send is an abandoned cart email. WineDirect’s system can automatically email customers who have added wine to their cart, but did not complete the purchase. You can customize this email sequence to be either a gentle nudge to complete the order or even offer an incentive to complete the order such as a code for a shipping discount. No matter which approach you take, it is a no-brainer to try to recapture lost sales. 

Loyalty Points

Wineries do not need to discount their wine to create value for their customers. Many join clubs because they love the wine, but a further incentive can help close the deal. With WineDirect’s Loyalty Points feature, you can set up a system for clients to earn rewards based on how much they spend with you. You can customize how much they earn and how they can redeem the points. 

Think about having a high threshold for points that only members or big buyers can reachand let them redeem their points for a special private tasting with the winemaker. A lower threshold reward could be branded merchandise such as a decanter. WineDirect’s loyalty points feature lets you incentivize customers to buy wine without discounting and creates a uniquely engaging buying experience. You must check with your states laws and regulations to determine what can be given away as a reward.

Product Badges

Have a wine with a great score you want to feature or new release you want to call attention to? WineDirect’s Product Badges feature allows you to add eye catching graphics to your shop page. The possibilities are endless and you can create as many different badges as you want.  

We suggest brainstorming five unique phrases you can use to describe your wines that will make a customer want to learn more. Try to stay away from cliché terms such as “Reserve” or “New Release” that any winery can claim. If you are a family owned winery try “Family Favorite.” 

If a wine is exclusive to wine club members, create a badge that says “Club Exclusive” that can excite existing members and intrigue prospective members.  

Let’s Make it Happen!

WineDirect is a powerful platform that when used to its fullest can propel your wine business forward. It is important you optimize the settings to match your operations and goals. 

Need help implementing any of these features such as coding the product filters or designing custom emails or product badges? Reach out to us at Highway 29 Creative and we would be glad to assist! Our agency is a Gold Certified Partner of WineDirect and know the ins-and-outs of their system like no other. Shoot us an email at hello@hwy29creative.com to chat.