Wine Club Fatigue Is Real: How to Reignite Member Engagement in 2025
Are Your Wine Club Members Ghosting You? Here's Why
Your wine club members are breaking up with you, but they're not telling you why. They're just... disappearing.
The numbers are stark: Silicon Valley Bank's latest research (which we are going to reference a lot in this blog) shows wine clubs are experiencing member attrition rates between 28-36% annually, with luxury segment clubs performing only marginally better at 23-29% (SVB Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report, 2025). That's not a leak, it's a flood. And while many wineries frantically chase new sign-ups to replace the departed, few address why members leave in the first place.
Wine club fatigue isn't a mysterious phenomenon. It's a predictable human response to predictable winery behavior.
The Warning Signs You're Already Losing Them
Before members cancel, they disengage. They're sending signals you might be missing:
Email open rates drop below your average
Shipment modifications increase (downgrades, skips)
Social media engagement with your brand disappears
The once-reliable referrals dry up completely
When members stop consuming what you're sending, physically or digitally, it's not because they suddenly hate wine. It's because you've stopped being relevant to their lives.
Why Members Leave (And It's Not Just the Wine)
The truth might sting: most wine clubs aren't designed for long-term engagement. They're designed for initial conversion.
According to SVB's research, the average wine club tenure is now just 30 months, down from 36 months in 2022. Even more concerning, members who join during promotional periods (like harvest festivals) show 42% higher early cancellation rates than those who join during regular tasting room visits (SVB Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report, 2025, p.62).
Four patterns trigger most cancellations:
Generic experiences masquerading as "membership"
When everyone gets the same bottles, same emails, and same perks regardless of their preferences or history, you're not running a club, you're running a subscription box.Predictable becomes forgettable
The fifth shipment of Cabernet to someone who's shown interest in exploring whites doesn't just miss the mark, it signals you don't know them at all.Silent treatment between shipments
When the only communication is transaction-based (your shipment is coming, your card was charged), members feel like walking wallets.
Value perception erodes
SVB's research reveals a startling trend: 48% of cancellations now cite "better deals elsewhere" as their primary reason for leaving, up from 31% in 2022 (p.65). When direct-to-consumer promotions offer similar or better deals than membership, the "exclusive" club feels like an expensive commitment with diminishing returns.
What Streaming Services Know About Retention That Most Wineries Don't
Streaming platforms don't assume you want to watch the same show forever. Instead, they track what you actually watch, analyze how your preferences evolve, and continually adjust recommendations.
When you finish one series, they don't keep pushing more of the same, they suggest something different but aligned with your emerging tastes.
For wineries, the parallel is clear: Your Cabernet lovers might become curious about your limited-production Tempranillo. Your white wine enthusiasts might be ready to explore your rosé program. But you'll never know unless you're tracking behavior and responding to changing preferences.
SVB's research supports this approach. Wineries that implemented preference-based club options saw 18% higher retention rates than traditional vintage-based clubs (p.63). Streaming services retain subscribers not by offering the same content repeatedly, but by continuously adapting to evolving preferences. Your wine club should operate on the same principle.
Segmentation: The Foundation of Any Retention Strategy
Sending the same communication to every club member is like addressing a stadium with a megaphone and hoping individuals feel personally spoken to.
Start by creating meaningful segments based on:
Tenure-based segments
Newcomers (0-6 months)
Established members (7-24 months)
Veterans (25+ months)
Engagement-based segments
Highly engaged (opens emails, attends events)
Moderately engaged (occasional interaction)
At-risk (minimal engagement in last 90 days)
Purchase pattern segments
Variety explorers (purchase across categories)
Category loyalists (stick to one wine type)
Premium buyers (consistently choose higher-priced options)
SVB's research indicates that wineries using at least three distinct segmentation strategies in their club communications saw renewal rates 16% higher than those using no segmentation (p.67). Once segmented, you can create targeted communications that actually resonate rather than broadcasting generic messages that interest no one.
The Win-Back Campaign That Works
When subscribers leave fitness app ClassPass, they don't receive a generic "we miss you" message. Instead, they receive a personalized offer based on their exact usage patterns. Heavy users get different incentives than occasional users.
Your win-back campaign should follow similar principles:
Flow 1: "We Notice You" Email Sequence for Disengaged Members
Day 1: "We've selected something special for you" (highlighting a bottle aligned with previous purchases)
Day 4: Personalized offer (based on their purchase history)
Day 7: "Last chance before we release your allocation" (creating scarcity)
Flow 2: Lapsed Member Text Message Re-engagement
Message 1: "Your [specific wine they previously purchased] allocation is being held. Respond YES to claim."
Message 2 (if yes): "Perfect timing! We've saved you [personalized offer]."
Message 3: Confirmation and next steps
SVB's data shows that targeted win-back campaigns have a 23-28% success rate compared to just 8-12% for generic reactivation offers (p.66). The key difference between these campaigns and most wine club win-back attempts? They're specific to the member's actual behavior, not generic pleas for attention.
Beyond the Bottle: Creating Value That Transcends Product
REI doesn't just sell outdoor gear, they sell expertise, community, and identity. Their membership program offers education, events, and insider access that makes product purchases feel like just one aspect of the relationship.
Your wine club should create similar non-product value:
Knowledge currency: Winemaker video notes specific to that shipment's bottles
Access currency: Virtual tastings with vineyard managers (make your members feel special!)
Status currency: Member-recognition programs visible to other customers
Community currency: Facilitated connections between members with similar preferences
SVB's research confirms this approach: wine clubs offering at least three non-product benefits showed 22% higher retention rates than product-only clubs (p.64). The bottle gets them in; the experience keeps them enrolled.
Automation: Making the Personal Scalable
The objection I hear most often: "We don't have time to personalize communications for hundreds or thousands of members."
This is where strategic automation creates leverage:
Post-shipment satisfaction triggers: Set up automated emails 7-10 days after delivery asking for feedback, then route responses to different follow-ups based on sentiment.
Milestone recognition: Automatically track membership anniversaries, birthdays, and purchase milestones, triggering appropriate recognition.
Behavioral response flows: When a member shows interest in specific content (clicks on vineyard updates vs. winemaking details), tag their profile and adjust future communications.
These automations can be built in platforms like Commerce7, Klaviyo, or even Mailchimp, creating personalized experiences without requiring manual intervention for each member.
The Implementation Roadmap: What to Do Today
Don't try to overhaul everything at once. Start with these priority actions:
Audit your current segmentation: How many distinct membership experiences do you currently offer? If the answer is "one," that's your first problem to solve.
Implement post-shipment feedback automation: Set up a simple flow that asks for member feedback after each shipment, then actually use that data.
Create one high-value, non-product membership benefit: What exclusive access, information, or experience can you offer that members can't get elsewhere?
Identify your 50 most at-risk members: Look for declining engagement patterns, then create a personalized outreach plan.
Check out this blog to learn more about how to use email marketing for better customer retention and prevent members from leaving your wine club
The Hard Truth About Wine Club Retention
The uncomfortable reality is that most wine clubs are designed for the winery's convenience, not the member's evolving relationship with wine. Shipment schedules, wine selections, and communication cadences typically prioritize operational efficiency over member experience.
This approach has flaws. The operational aspects of your club should serve the experience you want to create, not define it.
SVB's research backs this up: wineries that redesigned their clubs around member experience rather than operational convenience saw retention improvements of 18-24% in the first year after implementation (p.68). Even more telling, these improvements came with no additional product discounting, proving that experience, not just price, drives loyalty.
The question isn't whether you can afford to personalize your wine club experience. It's whether you can afford not to.
Some additional resources:
Learn how to transform visitors into loyal wine club members with effective retargeting strategies
Take your wine club beyond a simple mailing list with our CRM implementation guide
Need help implementing these strategies? Book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss how we can help you reduce churn and strengthen your wine club.