Let’s say you run your wine club batch and 10% (or more) of the credit cards come back declined. How can you get these resolved fast? How can you avoid this in the future? Here are a few ways to stay on top of the declined and expired cards, allowing you to recapture 40% to 60% of your total declines.

Make a list of customers with declined credit cards

Pull together a list of all the cards that have declined and give these customs a call. Not only will you save future shipments but many times you can get the customers to take previous shipments missed provided the wine is still available.  Also, they may go ahead and buy additional wines since they have you on the phone.

Be Proactive, fix them BEFORE they decline

Fortunately, many of the ecommerce and POS systems have the ability for you to run a report to see which club member’s card is ready to expire.  A call with friendly reminder so the customer doesn’t miss a shipment is great customer service, allows the winery to strengthen the relationship and sell some wine.

It’s not a bad thing, it’s an opportunity

When given the chance to touch a customer you should jump on it. It allows the winery to get closer to its customers, showing them you care and building a stronger relationship. Without the relationship you are just another winery!

Assign the calling to a staff member during down time

If you have a staff member that is good on the phone you can assign them to this project. The more calling they do, the stronger they will get at saving customers from canceling their club shipments. This way the declines are always being followed up on and you can keep them to a low percentage.

A few tips on keeping customers happy, receiving continued shipments and drinking your wines.

Cheers!