Image credit: Viator

The common theme - and most pressing concern - for the past two weeks?

Wineries are seeing fewer people come through their tasting rooms.

We hear it from customers directly as we workshop and brainstorm options for them, and we read it in various reports and articles from around the industry.

What can wineries do about less visitation, and lost revenue as a result?

The low-hanging fruit to compensate for decreased traffic is to increase the number of customers who live nearby. It isn't as big of an "ask" of them to travel 15 or 20 miles, compared to, say, your Wine Club members who live across the country.

Maybe the easiest thing for you to do is filter your customer database by the names of nearby towns within a 20 or 30-mile radius. Maybe the easiest thing for you is to filter by nearby or adjacent zip codes. The Enolytics DTC software has a filter called "Distance to Winery" that makes this super easy but, even if you aren't already a user, you can still benefit from knowing your neighbors. Literally.

Once you identify them, maybe offer them a neighborly incentive to drop in, or designate a locals happy hour, or develop a fun loyalty program for frequent visitors. Or or or.

Having trouble coming up with ideas? You're welcome to slot some time on my calendar - I'm always game for brainstorming! Also, I'll be in Napa and Sonoma next week, leading up to a morning presentation at the NBBJ Wine Industry Conference on Thursday morning, April 20. I'd be happy to connect with you there IRL.

I look forward to hearing from you, and finding smart ways to approach this slump in tasting room traffic.

Thank you, as always, for reading —
Cathy