How the Wineshipping & AfterShip partnership helped Splash Wines uncork their post-purchase potential

Alcohol beverage delivery is a tricky business. Not only do you need to ensure the product is delivered safely and on time, but you must also ensure that you are within applicable laws and regulations. Wineshipping, a tech-enabled third-party logistics (3PL) provider, helped Splash Wines tackle these issues through its partnership with AfterShip Tracking.

With this partnership, Splash Wines doubled its referral program registrations and significantly reduced returns during peak season.

A Sommelier of Shipping

Wineshipping manages the fastest, most accurate, and most cost-efficient delivery network in the United States for wine, beer, and more. In the United States, shipping alcohol is heavily regulated, so shipping direct to consumers is a big challenge.

“In the United States, shipping wine is heavily regulated, meaning someone of legal drinking age needs to be home to sign for the package, and many consumers aren’t aware of this. They expect the delivery to be like Amazon, where it can just be left at the door.”

Emily K, Director of Marketing at Wineshipping

With an adult of legal drinking age needing to sign for the delivery, the tracking communications must be extremely accurate. When evaluating post-purchase tracking solutions, Wineshipping looked at several options and chose AfterShip because it believed in AfterShip’s commitment to API-focused innovation and growth.

Creating the Perfect Pairing

Wineshipping uses AfterShip Tracking to help its customers improve their post-purchase experience. With 8 million packages shipped annually and representing over 1300 different wineries, Wineshipping is responsible for many happy wine drinkers. This is why Wineshipping’s customer, Splash Wines, has seen excellent results using AfterShip Tracking.

Splash Wines is a family-owned and operated business with generations of history in the wine industry. They offer curated and custom cases of specialty wine, delivered right to your door (with the help of Wineshipping) and at a fair price. It is difficult to stay profitable in the wine business, so Splash Wines heavily focuses on streamlining operations to keep costs low.

When they decided to switch to AfterShip Tracking, they were only a few weeks away from the beginning of peak season. The implementation needed to be seamless.

“We were able to implement in September/October when there was very little room on anyone’s plate for anything extra. It tells you how easy the integration went and how smoothly things went as well because anything too work intensive would have to wait until January.”

Garrett I, CMO at Splash Wines.

Reducing WISMO tickets

Splash Wines initially used Shopify’s notifications and consistently had issues providing customers with the correct information. WISMO calls were rising, and shipment exceptions were higher due to inaccurate shipment data. Once Wineshipping set Splash Wines up with their new branded tracking experience, their customers were actively engaged with their proactive shipment notifications. Email open rates were as high as 79.5%, and CTRs were as high as 57.7%. This resulted in a drop in WISMO tickets and less strain on their service team.

Minimizing shipment exceptions

Wine delivery has a 3% failed delivery attempt because of the strict regulations within the industry. With more customers engaged post-purchase, the communication with Splash Wines and its customers was streamlined significantly. Splash Wines’ customers knew when they needed to be available to receive their packages, which resulted in a 15% reduction in returns during their last peak season.

Capitalizing on the new marketing space

Splash Wines decided to utilize its new marketing space on its branded tracking page and promote its customer referral program. Their emails were getting higher than average open rates and CTRs, so they wanted to take advantage of the increased traffic. With the added attention, their registrations didn’t just spike - they doubled!

Splash Wines is just one of several wineries utilizing the AfterShip and Wineshipping partnership to provide customers with a top-rated post-purchase experience.