Miguel Gomez, assistant professor of horticultural marketing at Cornell University, conducted a study measuring customer satisfaction based on attributes of twelve winery tasting rooms in the Finger Lakes region of New York in 2010. The study showed that customer satisfaction is directly tied to increased sales. Excellent service and a suitable tasting room increased customer satisfaction, which led to increased wine purchases (on average one more bottle per visit).
Tasting room managers should focus on five areas to improve customer satisfaction and sales:
- service,
- atmosphere,
- tasting experience,
- retail execution, and
- tasting protocol.
Read the full report: Increasing Customer Satisfaction Improves Tasting Room Sales, which appeared in Appellation Cornell, Issue 4, November 2010.