Welcome to the Email Mavens blog—the place for winery owners and marketing pros who want to sell more wine online by sending better marketing emails.

Here’s why you should lean into Halloween to sell wine:

Consumer Spending Behavior

According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween in 2023 was the biggest on record, with an estimated $12.2 billion spent on costumes, candy, food, and decorations. 87% of people polled by Power Reviews said they planned to celebrate Halloween, with Millennials being the generation most likely to participate.

With so much money being spent on a holiday that involves food and gathering together—and with wine as the natural accompaniment—spooky season could be a perfect opportunity for your winery to position some of your offerings.

But how do you do it without being overly tacky? Let us lay it out for you.

1. A Mystery Offer

We love a good mystery case bundle. If your winery is willing to offer a discount or a shipping deal, consider a “reveal your deal” mystery offer that requires customers to click to see what incentive you’re offering.

Mystery cases are a great way to bundle and move inventory that your winery may have in surplus. The key to success with mystery cases is giving your customer enough information or a big enough discount to offset the risk of spending a couple of hundred dollars on an offer without knowing what’s inside.

• Target customers who have previously purchased something in the mystery case, and let them know they’re getting at least a few bottles of something they’ve loved before.
• Sneak a top-scoring favorite or a library wine inside the case to make it more compelling.

2. Wine Library or Cellar Sale

A wine cellar is traditionally cold and dark, which ties in nicely with the spooky season. You could open your cellar doors to a top tier of customers, offering them wines that have been resting quietly for years.

This thematic tie-in doesn’t have to be overly spooky or scary. The key to success with a library sale is segmentation and targeting. Give your best customers access to your most age-worthy or perfectly aged wines to kickstart the holiday entertaining season.

3. A Playful Pairing Campaign

People are thinking about candy and costumes this time of year, so why not create wine pairings to go with the candy they’re buying or the costume they’re planning?

Part of the success of a playful pairing campaign depends on how playful your brand is. If you’re traditionally buttoned-up, this angle may not feel natural—or it might be exactly what your customers need.

Wine and candy may not be a natural pairing for your brand, but recommending wines based on your subscribers favorite Halloween candy could be a fun way to align your product with something your customers are already buying.

Creative pairing campaigns also tap into customers’ curiosity about themselves. What wine should you choose based on your favorite Halloween candy or costume theme? Many customers will be intrigued enough to try something new.

• If your costume is spooky, choose a daring wine like Mourvèdre or Charbono.
• For a glam costume, recommend a classic Chardonnay, an elegant sparkling wine, or a sultry Syrah.
• For a playful costume, go with an approachable red blend or a crowd-pleasing Rosé.

See? It doesn’t have to be tacky or corny. When executed well, it can give your customers a way to connect with your wines in the context of a holiday they’re excited to celebrate.

What NOT to Do

Now, here are a few tactics that will just be flat-out creepy—and not in a fun way:

• Avoid the subject line “All treats, no tricks.” Literally, everyone is going to use it, and we don’t want to have to take shots of tequila. (Just kidding, but seriously—don’t do it.)
• Don’t blast your entire email list with everything you’ve got going on. Be intentional about segmentation. At a minimum, segment your wine club from everyone else, and target locals differently than people who have to shop online for your wines.
• Bad personalization is terrifying. If you’re going to personalize a campaign with a customer’s first name or other information, make sure you have fallbacks set up in case you don’t have that data.

So, What’s Next?

Now that you have some fresh inspiration for using Halloween to sell wine, what are you going to try? Will you do a mystery case, a cellar sale, or a playful pairing? And which scary-bad tactics will you be sure to avoid? (Hopefully all of them!)

At Email Mavens, we believe that every winery can sell more wine online by sending better marketing emails. So, embrace some of these Halloween campaign ideas if they make sense for your wine brand.

And until next week, keep pressing send on your next best (possibly spooky) email!