.png)
When is it all just too much?
The Perils of Texting Too Much
As with many of my posts, this one was inspired by personal experience. As a marketer, my inbox and text threads are inundated with offers, new releases, and newsletters. I know most people have similar experiences, but I actually LIKE seeing what others are doing, and I actively engage with outreach, so I can stay on their radar.
This story began four years ago (yes, I went back through my credit card statements to verify the date). My now-husband and I had a friend in town visiting and were looking for a place to add to our tasting roster for the day. I had driven past this tasting room countless times; it’s right there on Highway 29, but I knew nothing about it, and I had never even had any of the wines. But we were looking for a low-pressure option for our third tasting of the day. And on the day of, we were pleasantly surprised. We even came home with a couple of bottles. But I’ll also confess, outside of driving past the building, it wasn’t a winery that really crossed my mind again.
That is, until about 18 months ago, when it was announced that the winery had been sold to another major player in the valley. Slowly, they started doing more digital outreach. The occasional email and some texts.
At first, I was impressed. The outreach was manageable, and the new owners were clearly trying to reinvigorate the brand and reengage some lapsed customers. It was a smart strategy. So one day I clicked through an email to see what other digital changes they’d made.
Then I got a text message offering a steep discount on a three-bottle bundle of library wines. Intrigued, I clicked the link to check it out.
That's when it all went downhill. I clicked twice, so clearly I was a hot lead. I’m sure you can predict where this is going
I’ve now received 48 text messages in the last two months.
Let’s do some quick math: 48 messages ÷ 8 weeks = about 6 messages per week
So, I did something I rarely do. I unsubscribed.
And it led me to the question: when does it all become too much?
When I worked for Wine Access, we spent a LOT of time discussing customer engagement strategy, and we asked ourselves this very question.
Let’s start with the obvious. For most consumers, daily is too often. Particularly over text. It smacks of desperation and, quite frankly, can just be annoying. And that assumes you have full opt-in approval to send text messages.
But I firmly believe the answer to this question is unique to every business and can’t be answered in a single article. The right answer depends on whether you have something meaningful to say, how often you've historically reached out, and, quite frankly, on your customers.
At Wine Access, we emailed our engaged audience daily, but that was the foundation of our business model, and customers understood they were signing up for a daily offer. Roughly once a month or every six weeks, we identified a particularly interesting offer and expanded our reach. Our customer service team routinely identified high-value customers who hadn’t purchased in a while and reached out directly via email and phone. We also used automated flows to reach out to customers at risk of lapsing.
But all of these efforts relied on clean data, thoughtful segmentation, and prioritizing resources. A lapsed one-time purchaser from four years ago wouldn’t get the same effort as a high-value, frequent purchaser. And we were an entire team. Nonetheless, a comprehensive strategy like this can still work for a smaller organization if you approach it thoughtfully.
The text offer of a steep discount on library wines was an interesting hook. But not a strategy that I think ultimately paid off. It got me to click through to learn more. But steep discounts cheapen the brand, and more importantly, the text strategy completely failed. I did not make a purchase, AND I removed myself from the list for any further outreach.
If you want help finding the right cadence for your customers, I’m happy to talk. I can help when you want to invest in recapturing or reengaging your audience. Or when you want to optimize your messaging. Let’s talk and figure out the right cadence and platform for your business and your customers.
One thing worth saying plainly: I write every word of these posts myself. No AI, no ghostwriter, no shortcuts. Just me, an opinion, and too much wine.
Enjoyed this one? I write about wine, marketing, and the space in between. Subscribe on Substack to get it in your inbox. And if you're a winery ready to grow through smarter marketing, I'd love to talk.
Want to talk strategy?
Comments