If you’re like many wine marketers, your to-do list is daunting.
You need to write a newsletter, post on social media, update your blog, manage your next winery event, and launch a new vintage of wine.
With so many hats to wear, today’s wine merchants need any help they can get.
That’s where automated SMS workflows can save the day with personalized texts sent to the right customers at the right time to generate game-changing business results.
Automated SMS marketing maximizes customer satisfaction and sales without requiring more labor.
What IS AUTOMATION IMPORTANT?
In an ideal world, your best sales rep would stay in touch with each customer and reach out instantly when you can offer them something they value.
Automated SMS workflows provide this same service by using computer automation to monitor consumer behavior 24/7, then send personalized text messages whenever your business can help individual customers enjoy your brand experience.
Fundamentally different from one-off text marketing ‘blasts’ sent to everyone on your list, automated SMS workflows are triggered when customers take a specific action, like asking for more information, ordering products, or joining your club.
By using automated SMS workflows, wine merchants can better serve their customers by sending the right message at just the right time – maximizing wine sales and customer satisfaction without asking more from their marketing teams.
The Top-5 Automated SMS Sales Campaigns – 2022
With wine merchants reporting 32-times better results using text messaging instead of email to reach their customers, the rush is on to identify which SMS campaigns drive the most sales revenue.
So, our friends at Listrak analyzed 1.1 billion marketing texts sent across all industry segments to conclude that automated SMS messages triggered by customer behavior always outperform marketing blasts — generating 2-to-20 times more sales per text than typical broadcast messages.
In their landmark report “2022 Benchmarks: Text Message Marketing,” Listrak identified the top 5 automated campaigns available to wine merchants in 2022:
Welcome Series
Transactional Updates
Shopping Cart Abandonment
Browse Abandonment
Post-Purchase Sequence
The revenue generated by these campaigns averaged 8-times better than the sales produced by typical text marketing blasts.
Of course, these results shouldn’t surprise most wine marketers. Automated email campaigns also maximize sales revenue compared to email blasts. It turns out timing and relevance play a vital role in the success of direct marketing.
So that’s why for many years, we’ve been advising “it’s time to get past the blast...”
Automated SMS Workflow #1: Welcome Series
A welcome text is your chance to make a great first impression with new subscribers, wine club members, and recent guests.
Research on human behavior shows consumers are most engaged when they first sign up to receive your messages. It’s why their experience in the first few weeks defines the rest of the relationship.
If you offer consumers many ways to engage your brand, sending a series of messages might make sense instead of a single text. New subscribers to your text list might enjoy:
A link to your winery’s social media pages
Info on what new subscribers can expect
A thank-you gift for joining your text list
A similar welcome sequence can work for new wine club members and retail customers by using autoresponders to send your SMS messages at specific intervals.
However you harness the power of an automated welcome sequence, you’ll be profiting from one of the most productive marketing techniques available to wine merchants in 2022.
Automated SMS Workflow #2: Transactional texts
While many wineries work with commerce systems that can trigger personalized text messages whenever customers place orders, make reservations, or expect a wine shipment from your winery, most wine merchants have yet to profit from transactional text messages.
Transactional messages like order confirmations, shipping notices, and appointment reminders are among the most popular text messages sent to consumers by their favorite brands.
For wine marketers looking to deliver a world-class customer experience, linking your wine commerce system to text marketing opens a new channel of communication that works 24/7 to engage your best customers without growing your workload.
And for U.S. retailers, the sales revenue generated by transactional SMS messages averaged $1.16 for each text sent.
Automated SMS Workflow #3: Cart Recovery
Savvy wine marketers know that most U.S. online wine orders are placed by repeat customers like wine club members and mailing list subscribers.
Yet, for every ten successful orders placed by repeat buyers, another seven orders are lost due to cart abandonment – when customers fill their cart but don’t complete the checkout process.
Of course, consumers have many reasons to abandon the purchase process before completing their order. Extra costs like shipping, a frustrating checkout process, or even a slow website can send thirsty shoppers away before purchasing your wine.
But did you know that 20-40% of these customers can be lured back with a thoughtful automated cart abandonment campaign?
To put these results in perspective, a typical winery experiencing 70% cart abandonment and a 30% cart recovery rate will generate 20% more online revenue than wineries that don’t use automated cart recovery techniques.
For U.S. retailers, Listrak’s latest report shows that abandoned cart campaigns generate an average of $1.04 of incremental revenue for every text sent, nearly 6-times more than a typical SMS blast.
Automated SMS Workflow #4: Browse Abandonment
Similar to shopping cart abandonment campaigns, automated texts sent to shoppers who spent time browsing your products, but didn’t add them to their carts, can also boost online sales by turning “window shoppers” into happy customers.
Both offline and online, browse abandonment is often just a natural part of the purchasing process.
According to sales conversion experts, for every customer adding a product to their online shopping cart, three more prospects viewed your product pages without taking further action.
So, if your website can identify opt-in SMS subscribers who viewed your products without purchasing, browse abandonment campaigns offer wine marketers another opportunity to nudge them to buy.
Some of the most productive browse abandonment campaigns reinforce consumer interest by featuring product reviews, related offers, or special time-limited promotions.
And for U.S. retailers, the latest research on SMS marketing shows that abandoned cart campaigns generate an average of $0.56 of incremental revenue for every text sent, 3-times more than a typical SMS blast.
SMS Workflow #5: Post Purchase Sequence
Since market research shows consumer interest peaks at the time of purchase, direct marketers can leverage this honeymoon period to build long-lasting relationships by launching an automated post-purchase campaign.
After customers receive their wine, successful marketers often use personalized messages seeking customer feedback on the purchase process, suggesting food & wine pairings to complement their selection, asking for product reviews, or offering a chance to order more wine.
While many post-purchase messages don’t focus directly on incremental sales, the latest research on SMS marketing still shows that post-purchase campaigns generate an average of $0.51 of sales revenue for every text sent, 3-times more than an average SMS blast.
The Bottom Line on Automated SMS Wine Marketing Campaigns
Most wine marketers face the same problem: balancing a long to-do list against limited time.
Devoting resources to SMS messaging -- the wine industry’s most productive DTC marketing channel -- is a smart business decision. But setting up automated SMS campaigns is even smarter.
For wine merchants looking to delight their customers with personalized service, engage more consumers without doing more work, and grow their business using the best practices of SMS wine marketing, automated text messaging is a proven path to success.
By generating 2-to-20 times more sales revenue than typical text blasts, the five automated campaigns outlined in this article can help any wine merchant maximize their profits with SMS wine marketing.
Happy Selling!