Marketing to Women Online - Middle Sister Wines Case Study

 
Women, websites and wine are three of my favorite subjects.  So when I met Susan Lombardi at a recent conference and found out she was working on a website for a new wine company targeting women, I sat my butt down and settled in for a lively conversation.

Middle Sister Wines has done a masterful job of creating a brand and an online presence to connect with women consumers.

First - a little background

Middle Sister Wines was created by Erin Wassum - a real middle sister, and Terry Wheatley - a wine professional with over 30 years in the business.  According to the website:

Terry’s mission has long been to bring a female point-of-view to the male-dominated world of wine. Terry started her wine company, Canopy Management, with friends in the wine industry to create delicious, affordable wines with stories that come from her life experiences. Middle Sister was inspired by the style and attitude of the sassy second daughter of one of her closest family friends and the middle sisters she has met along her way.

Why Middle Sister Wines' website is so successful

Middle Sister understands what women want from a website.

• Bright colors - The site uses a variety of bright fun colors, but with plenty of white space so it's not overwhelming.
• Unusual fonts - We learned from Gender, Design and Marketing that women like unusual fonts. The fonts used on the site are informal and fun - just like the brand itself.
• Interactive, interactive, and more interactive-The whole site is designed to create ways for customers to interact with the brand and with each other with features like quizzes, photo sharing, and social media links.  My favorite is a picture of Rebel Red you can print off and take with you to include in your photo ops which you can then post back on the site.  Too funny.
• An open design- Women like design that is open, less compartmentalized.   Instead of lots of boxed elements, the site features a more holistic, open feel with only squiggly lines to separate elements.
• A fun personality- Everything from the copy to the labels to the personalities of the wines themselves are fun and engaging.  The brand has a very distinctive voice.  This is critical when you're marketing to women.   Here are a few tips on how to find your brand's voice. 

The site only launched recently, but they've seen a huge increase in site visitors, newsletter sign-ups, and Facebook page fans. 

What do women think of the site?

The most important question is - does the Middle Sister Wines website connect with women consumers?  Here are examples of the feedback so far:

This site ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Sister! I just discovered your wine, found at a little shop in
Lambervtville, New Jersey. They carry the Drama Queen PG. It's delicious and particularly appealing to me as I AM the middle sister! Great website!

Had the Rebel Red for the first time and loved it!! Your marketing is
brilliant. We really hope to get your wines added at our local shop!

Love the wine and the labels! Sisters are the best

Just bought my first bottle at Target b/c I LOVED the label! I can't wait to try the wine. You all are very clever and funny...love it!!

You ladies are too cool!

LOVE the new website!

Love the logo. I have 2 sisters and I am the middle one! Took the quiz and it was pretty right-on. I LOVE pinot grigio

What do women think of your website?  Is it female friendly?

Comments

[Jeff]

Great post, Holly,

My wife bought a bottle of the wine based on the label alone - Now that's good marketing! Plus the wine was good enough that we'll be buying more. As the parents of 3 girls we know all about the "Middle Sister Syndrome" and its very clear that the website totally fulfills visitor expectations for sassy fun that the brand name implies. Loved your analysis of all the elements that go into making that happen.

- Jeff

[Anne]

Hi Holly,
I am launching a new online business targeted primarily at women, and I am so glad to have found your site! I really appreciate the wealth of information - some of which has my nodding my head, because it matches my gut - but some of which is surprising.
One thing I'm pondering right now is the style of graphic (line art, like my logo and other little icons) I want to have on my site. I expect most of my customers to be women, but the site is not explicitly for women, like DailyWorth.com, and some minority of customers will be men. Any thoughts?
Anne

[Holly Buchanan]

Jeff - you definitely have your hands full with those lovely daughters of yours. Glad you like the wine - it really is a fun brand.

Anne - I always say design your website and your brand based on your company values. Just because you're marketing mainly to women doesn't mean you need to "paint it pink." But there are many design elements that will appeal to both men and women - good use of white space, having a real voice/personality, answering your customers questions, using colors that evoke the emotions you want your brand to convey.

I'd just stay away from proven elements than can hurt conversion for women - for example black backgrounds, reverse text,logos that have lots of sharp lines and are very mechanical-looking, use of techno-jargon, language that can be considered boasting, bashing your competition, not having enough of a personal connection in your About Us section.

Hope that helps. Good luck with your venture!

Holly

[Susan Lombardi]

Holly - thanks so much for featuring our website! We really appreciate your comments and respect your opinion. We are flattered that you respect our marketing approach and we will keep you posted on our future successes. Cheers! Susan

[compléments alimentaires]

Hello
You have given really very nice information about middle sister wine.Thank you very much for giving such a good information.You have done a good job.Keep up the good work.

[Online backup]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading about Online marketing. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

[Tracy]

Hello Holly

I came across your website today, very helpful and informative.
I was wondering whether this topic comes up alot amongst your readers.
Do they have many issues with online fraud and women hesitant to purchase online regarding the safety of their financial transactions or opening themselves to possible ID theft not with the particular business but what happens on internet in between wanting to make a purchase and their information transmitted across the internet ?
Have you any insights ?

Thankyou
Tracy
trice@ihug.com.au

If this is an issue for readers could you please share how they overcame this

[Jeanette - UK wedding photographer]

That explains so much about why I'm not comfortable with my own website - its about weddings, so its 90% aimed at women! I need a test group now!

[Website design]

I really liked reading about your example.Women do get attracted to a website by the points you have mentioned over here.Middle Sister Wine Cases study was an explanation of that.Thanks a lot.

[Chynna]

What a joy to find soomene else who thinks this way.