Winery email marketing helps backfill lost sales, but signs of consumer fatigue emerging: report

Wineglass Marketing in Napa has released its second annual benchmark report with winery email marketing response rates and other statistics such as frequency, subject-line success and average revenue per email.

Included in the findings, which cover September 2019 through September 2020, was that the number of email campaigns sent per winery doubled after the coronavirus pandemic led to shutdowns of tasting rooms and restaurants a year ago.

According to the report, 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.

The researchers report emojis score creative points with consumers by increasing open rates, and short, to-the-point headlines help ensure emails get read. But the report shows that including an exclamation point in a subject line will decrease the 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. 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 percent of sales, although other mid-week days of Wednesday and Thursday perform well.