Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Associations

ASSOCIATION QUESTIONS

WINERIES QUESTIONS

 

ASSOCIATION QUESTIONS

We have trouble getting our members to fill out a 15 minute survey – why are they going to sign up for Community Benchmark?


Because Community Benchmark is for the wineries first – and always has been.  Community Benchmark is not “another survey.”  It’s a dashboard reporting tool that provides dynamic, customized insights toward sales growth.  Many surveys are intended and designed “for information purposes” or to provide a “state of the industry.”  Community Benchmark is specifically designed for and by the winery operators to provide a “state of their business.”

What keeps wineries interested after the novelty wears off?


Our reports become a part of each winery’s standard monthly reporting and operating decisions.

How do we know our wineries will sign up and how are you going to collect all their data?


We have a specific on-boarding and marketing playbook we have executed in several regions that has always resulted in between 40% and 46% of your members signing up in the first 30 days of our launch with your association.

We pre-create accounts for all of your members and then link them to our self-service on-boarding wizard.  See Data Submission questions for more details on how we collect the data.

What about the $199 setup fee for my wineries?


Sometimes an association will this fee for their members but sometimes it is not budget and/or grant feasible.  We have found the winery adoption rates achieved above (36%-51%) do not vary based on whether the setup fee was covered by the state or association.
We want enthusiastic, committed wineries to participate in our community.  Our experience demonstrates that $199 is very rarely the ultimate issue when set next to the value of the growth opportunities and other improvements we enable.  Most often there is an underlying issue in winery reluctance unrelated to the $199 setup fee.  

How much is this going to help my wineries in the first year and beyond?


We are a platform for your wineries, regional stakeholders, and consultants to deepen their business community around improving performance.  There are many aspects to how we achieve this but here are the results from our members in the last 3 years:

Below is the DTC growth that, on average, our members have achieved the past 3 years.
Assocgrowth (1)

 

 

 

 

 


How can we use the data as an association?


Also, for individual winery stories, we can provide multiple case studies upon request.

The first and easiest way is to regularly provide value to your members.  Of course every report they see will be “sponsored by [insert my association here] but also you can reference the key findings in your newsletters, publications, and other conversations with your stakeholders.  

Ultimately, providing this information will be one of the most visible things you provide your members and constituents.

In addition, tailoring any educational programming to the needs identified in the regional reports helps A) ensure better attendance and engagement from your and B) enables you to measure if your programming is actually improving performance in your region.

And finally, the information can be leveraged in meetings with your Board of Directors for strategic decisions including more targeted marketing and advertising budgets.

What details can you provide regarding the Visitation to our region?


We can of course show you the month over month, year over year trends of visitation to your region compared to other regions.  We can also help you understand the “quality of that visitation” (conversion, average spend) and also a proxy for what percentage of the visitation was new versus returning.  

How would it work for a winery that is a member of multiple region(s) and or regional associations?


If a winery is part of multiple associations, they will possibly get the added benefit of two benchmarks – one for each association.

We also have the concept of a “sub-region” or “neighborhood” that can provide additional benchmarks i.e. for your region and your sub-region.

What is the “Enrollment Period?”


The enrollment period is the time period that your Association provided account is available to be claimed and set up. The Association enrollment period will end a certain number of days after the Launch Event. If you do not set up your account in the enrollment period, we will not be able to offer you the Community Benchmark comparisons.

What’s the benefit to my association?


The Association will receive a monthly report with a summary of the aggregated trends of your region. As your association is developing and experimenting with their marketing plans and educational programming intended to help your winery achieve its goals, your association can better tailor its marketing, communications, and programming to your needs based on the trends it is reviewing. 

What is involved in the setup process for my member wineries?


You will need to 1) Accept our Data, Use, and Privacy Policies (five minutes), 2) Complete Your Winery Profile (five minutes), 3) Choose Your Metrics (five minutes), 4) Choose Your Plan (five minutes), 5) Submit Your Data (30-45 minutes for automated members, longer for non-automated unless you are already doing monthly reporting – see Data Submission below)