Virtual Wine Tasting Platform

When you run your virtual tasting experience through Cellr you are creating an ongoing conversation with the consumer. Cellr seamlessly connects your virtual tasting directly to the consumers phone, and that is just the beginning. With Cellr’s unlimited direct to consumer engagement features at your disposal, you are able to build a lasting relationship with your consumers, online. 
Find out more about how you can get connected with Cellr here.

Let’s turn back the clock BC (Before COVID), and think about the wine industry’s reliance on cellar door tastings as the main avenue for driving sales, growing their fanbase and gaining new wine club members. As Rob McMillian said in the state of the industry report…

“In an increasingly digital world, what industry would insist that its consumers first physically come to its place of business to buy its wares?” 

The almighty Cellar Door sales channel has taken a significant hit, and is not likely to return to its former glory. Producers have been exposed by the lack of foot traffic through the door, and it is a harsh reminder to all that ignoring other growth channels is risky business. 

Virtual tastings, the 24/7 cellar door

We love the fact that some producers took it upon themselves to give the cellar door tasting experience a lifeline by taking it online. But we aren’t writing this piece to join the other 10000 articles out there high-fiving the select few wineries who are doing this. The virtual tasting channel has become a direct avenue to engage the market, yet not enough wineries have occupied this space. 

Like a virtual tasting, but we make it better. 

We are here to talk about how to navigate the uncharted virtual tasting channel, and how to make the experience even better and more accessible. Why? Because it’s a great way to improve online engagement, sales and brand loyalty. 

So what would Cellr do (#WWCD)? We would use our connected labeling solutions to connect your virtual cellar door experience, or virtual tasting content, directly to their phone, via the tasting packs. Find out more about how you can get connected with Cellr here.

Cellr provides connected labelling solutions that use NFC (Near Field Communication), which a consumer can scan with their mobile phone. This leads to a custom, branded experience that you control in real-time from an easy to use admin portal. Furthermore each smart label is unique for each bottle, meaning you can continuously customise and update content as you go. 

First things first, no excuses!

Sure, your winemaker may not be great on camera, but that’s not a bad thing. The real, genuine voice of the brand is the one that resonates with consumers. In other words, you don’t need to spend mega bucks on hiring Hollywood’s latest superstar, you just need to be able to tell a story from the heart that is seamlessly integrated into the brand experience.

Virtual tastings without instant connection, lack connection

Let’s say you have decided on sample sized tasters, or full size bottles and got all the finer details that would normally be part of the cellar door conversation together. Then depending one your preference you would either: 

• Create and upload pre-recorded video content to go with the tasting
• Set some times aside for people to book in for a live virtual tasting

An voila! You’re close to pulling together a decent virtual tasting.

But it’s from here that the experience to date has fallen in a heap. Why? Because there is no direct line of connection between the tasting pack, consumer and virtual experience you have created for them. Whether you send them a link in an email or a URL printed in the tasting pack, it still requires too many steps to access a simple video. The result? People drop off and the overall experience with the virtual tasting you put a lot of time and energy into isn’t going to be great (even if the video itself is)!

Instant connection = instant engagement 

With Cellr’s connected labels, as the customer scans the bottle with their smartphone a page dedicated to the wine instantly pops up on their screen enabling either: 

• Your virtual tasting video broadcasted directly to their phone
• A link to book in a live virtual tasting

Consumers are immersed in the wine as they peruse your content and watch the video/s or engage in the live session. But even once the virtual tasting experience concludes, they can continue to explore your winery’s profile and engage with other content, follow your social media and so on. With Cellr the options and direct to consumer engagement opportunities are endless.

Find out more about how you can get connected with Cellr here.