Want to play a drinking game?
Mid-October is spooky season, and the Email Mavens have a fun drinking game we like to play around this time of year. Every time we get an email with a subject line that leads with “No tricks, just treats,” we take a shot.
Okay, obviously, we’re being facetious (at least we hope it’s obvious). But what’s not obvious is how wine brands can lean into a theme like Halloween in a way that stands out in an inbox overflowing with “spooktacular” savings.
Read or watch for three unique ways to embrace spooky season and sell your wine for Hallowine… GAH, Halloween!
Why lean into Halloween at all? Consumer spending behavior.
According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween 2023 was the biggest on record at the time, 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, with Millennials the generation most likely to participate.
With so much money spent on a holiday that involves food and gathering, and with wine as the natural accompaniment, spooky season is a real opportunity to position your winery’s offerings.
But how do you do it without being 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 your winery may have in surplus. The key to success is giving your customer enough information, or a big enough discount, to offset the risk of spending a couple hundred dollars 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 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. Open your cellar doors to a top tier of customers, offering wines that have been resting quietly for years.
This thematic tie-in doesn’t have to be overly spooky. 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 here 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 they’re already buying. Creative pairing campaigns also tap into customers’ curiosity about themselves. Many 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. Executed well, it gives 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, 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. If you’re stuck, write 30 subject lines and pick the best one.)
- Don’t blast your entire email list with everything you’ve got going on. Be intentional about segmentation. At minimum, segment your wine club from everyone else, and target locals differently than people who shop online.
- Bad personalization is terrifying. If you’re personalizing with a customer’s first name or other data, make sure fallbacks are set up in case you don’t have it.
Want the full list of frightful moves? We dedicated a whole post to the scary email tactics killing holiday sales.
So, What’s Next?
Now that you have some fresh inspiration for using Halloween to sell wine, what are you going to try? A mystery case, a cellar sale, or a playful pairing? And which scary-bad tactics will you avoid? (Hopefully all of them.)
Halloween is also the on-ramp to your biggest quarter. Once your spooky send is scheduled, map the rest with the nine holiday campaigns that sell more wine.
At Email Mavens, we believe every winery can sell more wine online by sending better marketing emails. Embrace these Halloween campaign ideas if they make sense for your brand, and keep pressing send on your next best (possibly spooky) email!
