WineDirect 101: A QuickStart Guide for Winery Marketers
Introduction to WineDirect
WineDirect is a platform that offers many different tools for wineries, including e-commerce, wine club management, POS systems, and marketing tools.
We’ve consolidated numerous how-to articles and FAQ documentation from WineDirect to give you the most efficient overview of their e-commerce platform capabilities.
Our goal is to bring you up to speed in just 10 minutes on the basics, while invoking some key questions to ask yourself when choosing a platform.
Let's get started!
Plans start at $79/ mo and are month to month. Cancel anytime, but there is a $399 onboarding fee that increases up to $2,500 for the DTC Advanced tier.
All WineDirect plans include access to their full feature set.
WineDirect Feature List
24/7 Winery support
1,800 Available App Integrations
Advanced Built-In Automation and Marketing Tools
Simple Drag and Drop Website Builder
Custom Wordpress Integration
Custom Avalara Integration
PCI Compliant Level 1 Security
Lets dive a bit deeper into some of these features
Key Feature Review
WineDirect 24/7 Support
Chat Support: Real-time chat support is available.
Contextual Assistance: The support system is integrated within the app, offering context-based help.
Unified Support Hub: All your interactions and support history are centralized in one place.
Accessibility: The support icon is easily identifiable and located at the bottom right corner of the admin panel.
1,800 Available App Integrations
The current page from WineDirect that aims to outline their integrations for the All New WineDirect is a bit disappointing.
The search bar rarely produces results and there are only (3) integrations featured.
When we looked deeper into the developer documentation, we are only presented with a PDF screenshot showing a handful of integrations.
WineDirect has been promoting and slowly rolling out new features for the last year or more. Our hope is that this is likely something on their to-do list after all the bugs are worked out.
The documentation for the Classic WineDirect is much better, but will soon be obsolete after the classic version is discontinued.
Advanced Built-In Automation and Marketing Tools
WineDirect offers an "Automatic Promotions" feature that allows wineries to set up product discounts based on specific criteria like cart content, order amount, or customer history. The promotions are automatically applied at checkout, eliminating the need for coupon codes.
The platform also provides advanced customization options, including scheduling sales and limiting promotions to certain days. However, these promotions only become visible to customers after items have been added to their cart.
This feature aims to streamline the promotion process, making it easier for wineries to manage and optimize their sales strategies.
Simple Drag and Drop Website Builder
WineDirect's Page Builder Sections offer a flexible way to design and customize your winery's website. The feature is similar to popular WordPress builders like Divi and Elementor, making it user-friendly for those with experience in those platforms.
You can add, rearrange, or delete sections to create a tailored web experience. The platform also supports various content types, from text and images to videos and forms, giving you the freedom to showcase your brand as you see fit.
Custom Wordpress Integration
WineDirect offers two versions: Classic and All-New WineDirect, both of which can integrate with WordPress. The Classic version is more straightforward but less flexible, while the All-New WineDirect offers advanced customization and features.
If you're already using WordPress for your winery's website, either version can be a viable option, depending on your specific needs for customization and functionality.
Other key considerations
(for Marketing nerds)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Will moving to WineDirect hurt my site's SEO?
According to WineDirects SEO documentation, the platform does a fairly good job of educating business owners on the basics of SEO and does provide a sitemap and robots.txt file automatically (these ensure Search Engines are reading your site correctly).
GA4, Analytics & Reporting
Google Analytics & GA4
WineDirect offers an integration with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for Enhanced E-commerce tracking.
You’ll want to be familiar with the basics of GA4 and Google Tag Manager in order to ensure a successful integration.
The setup process involves creating a GA4 property (if you don’t have one already), and adding your Measurement ID to your WineDirect admin panel. This is fairly straightforward and Google offers lots of documentation.
Next, you’ll need to make changes to your Google Tag Manager container (or create one).
You will need to import custom variables that WineDirect provides to ensure the proper GA4 setup.
The process is not complicated, but it does need to be followed exactly. If you have a developer, this is something they can assist with easily
When setup is complete, you will have much better visibility within GA4 on which marketing channels are driving the most important customer behavior; such as product views, adds to cart, and purchases.
Additional Reporting Features
Overall WineDirect does a pretty good job of providing a large variety of reports right “out-of-the-box” to help inform your business decisions.
We’ve listed a few below worth mentioning.
Wine Club Reports
See which Sales Associates are signing up Wine Club members.
Email reports
See which customers opened it and which customers clicked links in the email. (if you are sending emails through WineDirect)
Search Detail and Summary Reports
View all the searches made on your website. Tip- use this report to decide which products to highlight in your web content.
Coupon Usage
This report lets you view which promos have been used within a specific date range.
Email Marketing
For most wineries, email marketing is a huge driver for online sales, wine club success, and repeat purchases.
This integrated feature enables wineries to create, manage, and optimize email campaigns directly from their WineDirect account.
Let's explore how wineries can benefit from using WineDirect's email marketing platform and weigh its pros and cons compared to using a standalone solution like MailChimp.
Pros of WineDirect's Built-in Email Marketing:
Seamless Integration: One of the most significant advantages of WineDirect's email marketing platform is its seamless integration with other features of the platform. Wineries can easily access customer data, order history, and segmentation, enabling highly targeted and personalized email campaigns.
Centralized Data: With WineDirect's built-in solution, customer data remains within the same ecosystem. This centralized data approach eliminates the need for manual data transfer, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring consistency across marketing efforts.
Automated Workflows: WineDirect's email marketing platform offers automation capabilities. Wineries can set up automated workflows for various scenarios, such as welcoming new customers, sending abandoned cart reminders, or delivering personalized recommendations based on purchase history.
Cons of WineDirect's Built-in Email Marketing:
Limited Advanced Features: While WineDirect's email marketing platform is effective for basic to intermediate email campaigns, it may lack some of the advanced features found in dedicated email marketing platforms like MailChimp. Wineries with more complex email marketing needs might miss certain functionalities.
Design and Customization: The level of design customization in WineDirect's platform might be limited compared to specialized email marketing tools. For wineries with unique branding requirements, this could potentially impact the creative aspects of their emails.
Scaling Challenges: As a winery's email marketing efforts grow, there might be limitations in terms of scaling and managing a large subscriber list efficiently within WineDirect's platform.
Using a Dedicated Email Marketing Platform like MailChimp:
Wineries opting for platforms like MailChimp benefit from a wider range of advanced features, robust design customization, and the ability to integrate with various third-party tools.
However, this approach might involve additional steps for data integration and might not be as tightly integrated with the winery's sales and customer data.
Wine Club Management
Managing subscriptions, billing, and shipping can be complex. How does WineDirect simplify these tasks? With its wine club management tools, WineDirect handles these aspects, allowing wineries to focus on other areas.
You may end up with multiple Wine Clubs
In order to set up a club with frequency options, you'll need to set up separate clubs for each frequency option and provide links to each.
For example, Wine Club #1 has three frequency options - month to month, every other month, and quarterly shipments. This means you will have to create 3 separate clubs for each type of option.
If you want to set it up so that the customer pays for the first month and then is a continuous wine club member with continuous shipments, then you will need to add a welcome package.
Conclusion
Throughout this guide, we've delved into the core functionalities of WineDirect, focusing on its e-commerce prowess, marketing tools, and the intricacies of its email marketing platform. It's essential to weigh the advantages and drawbacks of WineDirect's built-in email marketing solution relative to other options like MailChimp.
While WineDirect's seamless integration, centralized data, and automation capabilities offer a solid foundation, businesses seeking extensive design customization and advanced features might find specialized platforms more suitable.
Furthermore, WineDirect's seamless integration with systems like CRM or accounting software and its contribution to in-person sales through POS solutions emphasize its commitment to providing a comprehensive ecosystem for wineries.
Navigating the intricacies of compliance, wine club management, and reporting features adds to the holistic support that WineDirect aims to offer.
However, the decision to opt for WineDirect depends on the unique requirements and goals of each winery. This guide offers an objective overview of WineDirect's features and capabilities, assisting winery professionals in making informed choices tailored to their operations.
As an impartial exploration of WineDirect, this guide neither endorses nor promotes the product. Instead, it empowers wineries to consider crucial factors and explore insights directly from WineDirect's documentation.
By aligning these insights with their specific needs, wineries can confidently determine whether WineDirect is the ideal platform to drive their success in the wine industry.
Want more support? We can help!
Wine retail shelves are overcrowded, Facebook is full of brands competing for the same customer, and email inboxes are overflowing with the same generic messaging about top-rated wines.
To compete in this industry you will need a proven marketing strategy that can help you find new customers, sell them more wine, and grow your DTC channel. Together, we can achieve this.