The Winery Web Site Report

Lazy Sunday: the advertising power of video

I've posted before about applications of video to marketing wine on the Web, as has Josh at pinotblogger.

This Dove "piece" (it's not really an ad, per se) is a great example of the power of video (here's some excellent commentary and analysis of it).  Unfortunately, it's not from the wine biz, but on the other hand, it means that the first winery to do something equally compelling will get a great boost in awareness.

Check out this viral video from The Campaign for Real Beauty:

A "time lapse" effect is a great hook, and the "shocker" of the piece is the final PhotoShopping that takes place.  I can imagine someone like Don Sebastiani & Sons (who are already doing high-production-value  wine video) doing something like this.  Of course, it might be someone equally whimsical like Twisted Oak or Bonny Doon.

Looking back on wine "memes" in the general population, I can only think of two off the top of my head:  "We will sell no wine before its time" (Orson Wells for Paul Masson - ack!) and "Thank you for your support" (Bartles & James wine coolers - ack!).  Feel free to add yours in the comments.

The key, as always, is to tell a great story, and show people something they wouldn't otherwise see.  It's much more about being interesting than high production values, IMHO.  Note the quality difference between the YouTube posting and the original on the Campaign for Real Beauty site.

Who will create the first great viral winery video? 

Google Website Optimizer Beta

You can check it out here: http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/

Basically, it offers a way to test multiple variations of a Web page to see which ones work best.  This is not for Web site novices, but if you're already tracking conversions, this is a good next step.

300 Million Potential Wine Drinkers?

As of today, the US population exceeds 300 million.

Most of them will reach drinking age being extremely comfortable with getting their information via the Web and ordering products online.  How are you going to reach them?

Turning Abandoned Shopping Carts Into Sales

Do you know how many visitors to your winery Web site put wine into their online shopping cart and then abandon it (i.e. leave without completing the purchase)?  Do you know how many of them come back and finish the order at a later time?  Can they even do that?

Even if you don't know these important e-commerce statistics for your site, you should read this article on automatically e-mailing shoppers who abandon their carts.  (If you're thinking about reading it later, print out a copy, as MarketingSherpa articles are only free for 10 days, and this one will disappear into their extensive library of case studies on October 22nd, where it will cost you nine bucks).

One of the thing I like about MarketingSherpa articles is that they usually have a sample of the e-mail or other creative work mentioned in the case study.  I also like the fact that their newsletters are free and full of useful, real-life information.

I expect that Inertia Beverages will snap up this auto-email idea for their customer base (one of the reasons to consider a firm like Inertia, Cultivate, or eWinerySolutions is that you usually get the benefit of ideas that they work on for other clients).

Remember, someone who abandons a cart (as many as 59.8% of shoppers in some cases) was almost ready to buy.  You need to (a) understand why that happens if you can, and (b) nudge them gently past their reluctance.