There’s a good chance you may be a little too familiar with the feeling of seeing a wine shipment ready to go out; but instead, it’s sitting there due to the customer’s credit card coming back declined. While it can be frustrating, it’s simply a reality in the wine industry that a customer’s first priority when they get a new card probably isn’t to update their wine club membership. And with credit card fraud continuing to increase year over year, credit card declines aren’t going to slow down. And of course, since your wine club members are likely regular travelers, they are even more susceptible to credit card theft. But instead of fretting over seeing an unpaid shipment sitting in your winery, take it as an opportunity to connect with your customer and even sell them more wine.

Start calling customers before their card expires.

While there’s nothing you can do about credit card fraud, declines due to expired cards are 100% avoidable. Make sure to keep track of expiration dates and start calling the month before they expire. Even if they haven’t received their new card when you call them and don’t want to use a different one, they’ll be much more likely to remember and call back to update their information when the new card arrives. 

When a card declines, call your customers!

Whenever you have a card that declines, calling your customers is a no-brainer. You’ll avoid the phone call later when they’re wondering where their wine is, and it will give you a chance to reconnect with them too. While you have them on the phone, you can easily add wine onto their order too; especially this time of year when all you need to do is ask if they need any extra wine for the holidays.

If you’re like most wineries out there, you’re staff is too busy running your winery, or simply doesn’t have the right skill-set to call your customers. That’s why our staff is ready to start calling for you. Get in touch to learn more about getting a campaign started and stay on top of your credit card declines.