Dutch Henry Winery in Calistoga, California sends emails to their wine club customers two weeks before their wine is shipped, informing them of what product is arriving, as well as the pricing. They generally add a supplemental wine offer, which nets considerable extra sales. The special wine club offers typically discount a particular product from their stock and are termed successful by Gary Koehler, the winery's "Official Man Of Many Hats." "We do roughly a third of our sales retail from the winery, a third from wine club, and a third from wholesale," Mr. Koehler states, and email campaigns generate a respectable amount of income from the first two thirds: "about 10% of our sales from retail and wine club, for a total of 20% overall."
The winery also uses emails in order to promote their own concert series, as their "music programs always net new buyers. The tried and true always show but half of those attending our events are new guests."
Mr. Koehler has learned the value of proper campaign timing as the winery's "email promotions are definitely profitable, but you have to
be careful not to over-email."
