Case Study in Conversion

Credit cards typically expire every four years, and for this reason expired credit cards often account for anywhere from 5% to 10% of a wine club run. This can represent a significant lost opportunity if your club managers do not have the bandwidth to contact club members prior to each processing date.

The Challenge

This enterprise client was losing sales across multiple brands each month due to expired or declined credit cards. Not only did they find that club managers at the winery level did not have the bandwidth to make the calls each month, they also discovered that the task requires a special skill set. When giving credit card information over the phone, customers must have confidence that they are speaking to a trustworthy and secure source.

The Call for Wine Solution

  1. Our sales representatives scoured the databases of the two brands that we worked with at the time and began making phone calls to customers whose cards had, or were about to, expire.
  2. Utilizing a comfortable yet professional tone, we obtained new credit card information or updated expiration dates where needed.
  3. As appropriate, we used the opportunity to present additional offers to these valuable club members.

The Results

  1. These two wine club managers were now able to more easily maintain their large club memberships, while recognizing a significant revenue spike each processing period from cards that would have formerly expired.
  2. Because of the added personal contact, the wineries recognized excellent incremental phone sales overall. Both the club managers and the customers truly appreciated this service.
  3. Overall conversion rates for wine club members quickly jumped to 75%.
  4. A significant number of sales occurred after 7pm in each time zone. Our hours of operation extend well beyond that of our winery clients and we’re happy to report that up to 30% of YTD sales volume for these two brands was produced after normal business hours.

Based on exceptional results with these first two brands, Call for Wine gained three additional winery brands as clients.