Wine clubs are a great way to generate recurring predictable revenue. Club members are more likely to visit your tasting rooms often and spend more each time they visit, making them some of your most valuable customers. With that in mind, how can you increase your memberships? Here are 10 easy tips you can begin implementing today:
1. Simplify your club structure
Does your club offer too many choices? Make it easier for your prospective members. Keep your club options simple and based on bottle increments. Offering 2, 4, 6, and 12 bottle choices keeps things manageable for you while providing enough choices for your customers without being overwhelming.
2. Train staff to promote wine club member benefits
How many times have you avoided signing up for something because you didn’t know what the benefits were? All staff members should be trained on the club benefits and be able to clearly explain them in a minute or less. This makes it easy for potential members to understand why they should join, but it’s not a long-winded sales pitch that could turn some people off. If visitors are interested, then staff can discuss the benefits in more depth. Staff members should also be trained on how to look for appropriate opportunities to segue into talking about the club.
3. Clearly state club benefits on all promotional materials (tasting cards, website, etc.)
As mentioned above, most people don’t want to sign up for something without understanding what the benefits are. By stating the club benefits on your promotional materials, you’re not dependent on customers being in your tasting room to hear the club pitch. Include information for how people can sign up, such as a link to your sign-up page on your website.
4. Make it easy to join the club on your web site
Your web site is essentially a virtual tasting room. So, make it easy for your customers to join your club through it. Include buttons that link to a sign-up page and calls to action within the copy. One tactic is to include a call to action next to the shipping amount with a link to the wine club that says something like, “Did you know you can save on shipping by joining our wine club?” This encourages customers to look at what the wine club has to offer. Even if they don’t sign up right away, they may decide to later.
5. Reengage former club members
Customer acquisition can be difficult, so once you have someone signed up, it’s important to hold onto them. Even if someone cancels their membership, they’re still your customer! Re-engagement can often coax them to return. This can be done in a variety of ways, like inviting them to special events, sending out surveys to find out what they would like to see change with the club, or even with special “welcome back” promotions.
6. Offer exclusive wine selections to entice prospective members
Everyone enjoys having access to something special or limited, and what better way to offer that than some exclusive wine selections? If your customers already love your wines, access to exclusive selections (in addition to your other club benefits) will be hard to pass up.
7. Encourage members to bring friends and family to events
When hosting events, be sure to encourage your members to bring friends and family along. Not only will your members appreciate being able to bring someone along, but you’ll also have the opportunity to introduce visitors to your wines and attract new members to your club.
8. Offer member incentives to recruit friends and family
Offering incentives for referrals (such as a free bottle of wine for each sign-up) is one of the easiest ways to boost club enrollment. You can promote referrals by tucking a referral postcard into shipments or doing a promotion on your social media channels. You can also invite members to bring a guest to your exclusive tasting event and offer a reward for both the new and referring member if the guest signs up.
9. Differentiate!
It’s not uncommon for people to enroll in several wine clubs to test them out. This makes it especially important to differentiate. If you’re offering the same benefits as everyone else, why should they stick with you? Maybe you have unique member’s only events or priority access to new release wines. If you’re not sure what makes you different, take a look at your competitors to see what they offer. How can you make your club stand out of the crowd?
10. Publish “Club Pricing” on all price lists (tasting cards, online, etc.)
Everyone likes a deal, so make sure to let them know they’re getting one when they sign up for your club! Make sure to include “club pricing” on all your price lists, including your website. This is a gentle reminder to people who haven’t signed up that they could be saving money with a membership.