Ten Things Every Winery Website Must Include

 

Many wineries are missing the boat when it comes to their online presence. As a wine enthusiast, I like to explore new wines online or learn more about the latest wine I picked up for dinner. As a wine blogger, I need detailed information at my fingertips and if I can’t find it easily, I often move on to another wine. Regardless of what type of consumer we are (blogger, enthusiast, or occasional wine drinker), we all demand immediate access to this information. Right or wrong, that is the world we now live in.

 

I think there is a great opportunity for wineries to educate and connect with their customers via their website. To take the guesswork out of it, I have come up with a list of ten things every winery website should include.

 

 

• Up to date information – If you haven’t updated your website in the last month, I would rather you take it down. I don’t want to see your Latest News section riddled with articles and events from 2008. 

 

 

• List of wines available for sale with prices – I want to know what wines you make and the price point of each. If you have a 2007 and a 2008, I would like to see both, especially if they are priced differently.

 

 

• Complete tasting notes on each wine – Let’s face it, most people don’t create their own tasting notes, so this is your chance to tell people what they will be tasting. The power of suggestion is very powerful and very real. This is your opportunity to shine.

• Directions to tasting room, tasting room fees, and hours of operation – Again, if your website is not up to date, I am not convinced that your 2006 tasting room hours are still being followed.

 

• Detail about the winery and the winemaker – Help us connect with you by telling us your story and bragging about your winemaker. We want to get to know you, so we can have a more intimate experience with your wine.

 

 

• List of wine events – We want to know of any wine dinners you are hosting, or special events. Please don’t rely on your Wine Trail or Vintners Association website to give us this information, as they are usually more outdated than your site.

 

 

• An email address to the winery – Contact forms are so 1995. We are lazy and I don’t want to have to type my name and email address on your form, if I already have an auto-signature on my email. If you are really committed to connecting with your customers, I would go so far as to list your winemaker’s email address.

 

 

• Good photos – I bore easily and want to be visually stimulated by good photos. I want to see your vineyards, tasting room, staff, wine bottles, harvest, crush, equipment, and yes even customers tasting your wine.

 

 

• Links to your social media sites – I should be able to link to your Twitter and Facebook pages without searching around for them. If you don’t use Twitter and Facebook, you are missing out on a great way to connect with your customers.

• Signup form for your mailing list – Why in the world would you not want to capture the name and email address of customers who want to know more about you? This is simple Marketing 101. Once you get my email address, send me updates, news, coupons, etc no more than once per week.

 

 

None of these things are revolutionary, expensive, or otherwise difficult. Most wineries have this information readily available; it is just a matter of publishing it to their website. It may seem like I am nitpicking, but I believe that connecting with your customers is vital in 2010. 

Comments

[Vinotology]

Couldn't agree more. As a consumer, and as a blogger, everything on this list is exactly right. I think people like to make informed decisions, so the more information that you can give them, the better.

I often have a hard time finding even basic information that I would like to know before I write a review of a wine. I always love it when I find a winery who has a website that has all the information that I'm looking for.

[twitter.com/andrewkamphuis]

This list is bang on - although I would argue that a short Contact Us form isn't 1995. More people complete the 'Contact Us' form on our website than click our email address on that page. A nice 'Contact Us' page should have both.

[Drvthru]

First of all, great post. Every point is strong.

But I also think this raises some very interesting points concerning site maintenance, thorough information (vs. marketing copy), and even historical data (past vintages, former winemakers, etc.). In my experience, this hasn't been taken seriously enough. Today's wine consumer is saavy, and when information is accessed online, more often than not the end user is conducting research.

I look forward to more posts,

Rick Breslin
Drive Thru Interactive

[Ilpalazzone]

Great post! Thank you very much, this is very useful to me.

The only point that doesn't work for us is posting prices.

We are an Italian winery and our wines are sold all over the world. We sell direct to visitors to the property. I feel that posting prices creates confusion since our wines have different shelf prices in different countries and I have no control over my distributor's costs (temp-controlled shipping etc) or margins. I don't know if it's helpful for a Japanese client to see a price in Euros that bears no relation to the price of our wines in Tokyo... I also worry that I will undercut the work our importers do if I show our prices.

If people contact me I can give them correct information for their country.

Thanks again for a great post.

Laura Gray
www.ilpalazzone.com

[Shannon Casey]

Thank you all so much for your great comments.

Jackslife - Your point about sites lacking even basic info is mind-boggling to me, yet I see it every day.

Andrew - Interesting perspective about the "contact us" form. As long as your page has both, I will give you a pass ;)

Rick - I agree that wine consumers are becoming more savvy and their access to information is becoming an expectation.

Laura - I certainly understand your pricing issues. For global brands, it does complicate the issue. For primarily domestic brands, I would argue that prices should be shown as priced in the tasting room.

[Justin Winkelman]

Excellent and on-the-point article Shannon. Kudos!

[Shannon Casey]

Thank you Justin. I appreciate the feedback.

[Thewinemaestro]

Very good advice, Shannon, and not difficult for a winery to achieve.
I would add that the directions to the tasting room must include the GPS coordinates, not a vague pretty map.
And a blog would be a useful means of communicating.

[@nectarwine]

Good stuff bro. Another one of your posts that I can forward to my winery friends here in Spokane.

Josh

[Juan Antonio Ruiz]

I've just found this post and is very good, thanks Shannon.