The Single Most Important Question to Ask of Wine + Data Analysis

Image Credit: Seth David Chernoff

“You’re showing me all of this information and all of this analysis about my customers. Now what do I do with it?”

Now what?

It is perhaps the most important question we’ve heard so far, by way of feedback to the Enolytics DTC system.

So these past few weeks, as we’ve updated the system with our newest release, we’ve also been answering that question.

Now what? What do wineries do with all of the information the system shows them?

It depends in part on who’s asking the question. A CFO or CPA, for example, will ask what they do now that they’ve seen the forecasts for demands of their best selling wines. A winery owner, for another example, will ask what they do now that they’ve gained visibility into the demographics and profiles of their customers that they’ve never seen before.

Those are a couple of ways we’ve been working to answer the “Now what?” question.

This week, let’s take a closer look at another “Now what?” question, in this case from the perspective of marketers.

Now that marketers know more than ever before about the buying patterns of their customers, what do they do with that information?

It’s about strategies for engaging those customers, based on their buying patterns.

That’s the “Now what?”

Over in our Support Portal, you’ll find new content about categories of customers and suggestions for marketing to each category.

We start by identifying customers according to their buying patterns of how recently they’ve bought wine, how frequently they buy wine and how much they spend. (That’s the RFM analysis, which has been updated and improved in our latest software release this week.)

A few examples of those categories of customers:

• Top Customers, plus Top Customers to Watch and Top Customers at Risk

• Loyal Customers, plus Top Loyal Customers to Watch, Top Loyal Customers at Risk, and Potential Loyal Customers

• Wandering Customers, especially “newbies”

• Customers in Decline, particularly those who are Passive or Retired

Now you know, with a high amount of granularity. What do you do next?

We offer a suggestion or strategy for engaging each of those groups, in order to put into practice the insight we’ve visualized through your data.

Potential Loyal Customers, for example, are recent buyers who have bought on several occasions and could very well become part of your “bread and butter” group.

Now you know who they are, and their buying patterns. What do you do? What do you do for them, that you don’t do for any other group?

We suggest making an extra effort to make them feel special, like running contests, recommending other products and offering wine club membership.

That’s a different approach than the “Now what?” strategy for your Top Customers.

For them – the highly engaged Top Customers who bought recently, frequently and at a high dollar amount – we suggest focusing on loyalty programs and new product introductions. For them, forget about discount pricing to generate incremental sales. Instead, focus on value-added offers through product recommendations based on previous purchases. Build credibility with this group, since they’re the ones who will promote your brand on your behalf.

That’s a big difference in how you treat different customers in your database.

They’re also specific and tailored responses to your “Now what?” questions.

Does that make sense?

We hope so. We’ve been listening carefully to feedback these past six weeks or so as more and more people use the system, and we’re working to address and improve on the questions that have surfaced.

Curious about the demographic profile of your own customers?

We’d love to show you.

Please be in touch, and let’s get started. My email address is cathy@enolytics.com and my cell phone number is +1.702.528.3717.

Thank you, as always, for reading –
Cathy