Turning Visitors into Repeat Customers: Lessons for Mid-Atlantic Wineries

By CLAUDIA SCHMIDT and KATHY KELLY
Penn State Extension

Prioritize recent visitors and combine timely follow-up with messages tailored to customers' locations, tasting-room experiences, wine preferences, household characteristics, and interest in loyalty programs.

Those are the keys to success in turning visitors into repeat customers. But don't rely on a single regional marketing strategy. That's because our research, published in the International Journal of Wine Business Research, found visitation patterns differed across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Recency Matters Most

Across all three states, the strongest predictor of intended visitation was the date of the consumer's last tasting room visit in that state. Twelve of the 18 actionable segments had consumers who had visited a tasting room in the relevant state within the previous 12 months.

This result makes recent visitors a logical starting point for tasting-room marketing. A winery that waits too long to reconnect may miss the period when the experience is still familiar, and a return trip is easier for the customer to imagine.

Wineries can put this finding into practice by establishing a consistent post-visit communication schedule:

• Thank guests shortly after their visit and invite them to stay connected.
• Ask for permission to send email or text updates at checkout or during online reservations.
• Send a return invitation tied to a new release, seasonal flight, event, food pairing, or another reason to visit again.
• Identify customers whose last visit occurred 6 to 12 months ago and test a re-engagement offer before they become less-recent visitors.
• Track whether follow-up messages lead to reservations, event registrations, purchases, or repeat visits.

To clarify, we found an association between recent visits and future intentions. Our research did not demonstrate that a particular follow-up campaign caused repeat visits. Wineries should therefore test message timing and offers using their own customer and transaction data and see what works for them.

New Jersey Opportunities

New Jersey’s seven actionable segments were concentrated among people who had visited a New Jersey tasting room within the previous year. Three high-likelihood segments included recent visitors with children aged 17 or younger in the household. Among recent visitors without children in the household, New Jersey residents, particularly women, also appeared in high-likelihood segments. Core wine consumers from Pennsylvania and New York formed another actionable group.

The highest-likelihood New Jersey segment combined a recent visit, children in the household, consumption of at least one 5-ounce serving of wine on an average day, and current or potential interest in a winery loyalty program. Another re-engagement opportunity consisted of people who had visited a New Jersey tasting room more than 12 months earlier and consumed at least one serving of wine per day.

For New Jersey wineries, these findings suggest several priorities:

• Focus first on retaining people who visited within the past year.
• Develop distinct messages for in-state guests and nearby wine consumers from Pennsylvania and New York.
• Promote loyalty options to recent visitors who express interest, while offering a separate, lower-commitment path for guests who do not want a traditional club.
• Explore adult-oriented experiences for customers without children in the household, such as date nights, elevated tastings, or small-group events.
• Study visitors with children more carefully before investing in family amenities.

A household that includes children is not the same as a tasting-room party that includes children. We did not ask whether respondents brought children to wineries or preferred child-inclusive experiences. New Jersey wineries should avoid assuming that "parents" automatically means "family-friendly"; some may be seeking an adult occasion away from home.

New York Opportunities

For New York, location and tasting-room visit frequency became important after accounting for the timing of the most recent visit. Consumers living in New York or New Jersey who had visited a New York tasting room during the previous year were especially promising when they visited tasting rooms at least once per year. This was also the largest actionable New York segment in the model, and 96% said they were likely to visit a New York tasting room during the next 12 months.

Pennsylvania residents who had recently visited a New York tasting room were also actionable when they had purchased a bottle of wine for later consumption during the week before the survey. Among New York residents whose last visit occurred more than a year earlier, those who visited tasting rooms at least annually formed the state’s highest-likelihood segment, with all members of that model segment reporting an intention to visit.

For New York wineries, the findings point to these actions:

• Give frequent tasting-room visitors an immediate reason to schedule their next trip.
• Re-engage New York residents who still visit tasting rooms elsewhere, even if their most recent New York visit was more than a year ago.
• Use geographically targeted campaigns for New Jersey and Pennsylvania consumers within a practical drive market.
• Connect outreach to recent wine purchasing, new releases, cellar replenishment, or trip planning.
• For some out-of-state audiences, test flights and messages that include sweet wines rather than communicating only around dry-wine preferences.

Distance and travel planning remain important. Instead of sending the same event message to the full email list, wineries can segment contacts by ZIP code and adjust the call to action. Nearby customers may respond to a short-notice event, while more distant customers may need advance notice, itinerary ideas, lodging information, or a reason to combine several winery visits.

Pennsylvania Opportunities

Pennsylvania produced the most varied set of actionable segments. Our model identified opportunities among recent visitors, visitors whose last Pennsylvania tasting-room trip occurred more than a year ago, and even consumers who had never visited a Pennsylvania tasting room.

Two large, high-likelihood segments consisted of New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents who had recently visited a Pennsylvania tasting room and generally visited tasting rooms at least once per year. Wine preference separated these groups: one included consumers who drank only sweet wine, while the other included consumers who drank only dry wine. Their reported likelihood of visiting during the next 12 months was 95% and 100%, respectively.

Among less-recent visitors, actionable groups included heavier wine consumers and Gen Z, Millennial, or Gen X consumers who drank one to two 5-ounce servings per day. New York residents who had recently visited a Pennsylvania tasting room were more likely to return when they lived with other adults who drank wine.

Pennsylvania also had a distinctive first-time prospect segment. These consumers had never visited a Pennsylvania tasting room, but they visited tasting rooms elsewhere at least once per year, drank sweet red wine, and either belonged to a winery loyalty program or were interested in joining one. About 90% lived outside Pennsylvania, and 85% said they were likely to visit a Pennsylvania tasting room in the next year.

For Pennsylvania wineries, these results suggest the following actions:

• Retain recent visitors with preference-based communications and varied flights for sweet-only, dry-only, and mixed-preference customers.
• Build re-engagement campaigns for younger and middle-aged consumers whose Pennsylvania visit occurred more than a year ago.
• Market social or household experiences to guests who live with other wine-drinking adults.
• Treat the first-time, out-of-state segment as an awareness and trip-conversion opportunity.
• Feature sweet red wines and explain loyalty benefits in campaigns aimed at tasting-room visitors from neighboring states.
• Reduce planning barriers by providing clear directions, estimated travel times, reservation details, nearby attractions, and suggested itineraries.

Match Offers to Customers

Loyalty program membership or interest helped distinguish actionable groups in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This finding supports a flexible approach to loyalty rather than a single club structure for every customer.

Wineries could test multiple participation levels, including:

• A traditional allocation or shipment club for highly committed customers.
• A visit-based program that rewards repeat tastings or event attendance.
• A no-shipment membership with preferred pricing or early event access.
• A points or punch-card program for customers who resist recurring commitments.
• A free email "insider" tier that creates a pathway toward paid membership.

The value proposition should be visible and specific. Rather than advertising only "join the club," explain what members receive, such as exclusive wines, flexible selections, shipping or pickup options, discounts, priority reservations, or personalized tasting experiences. Wineries should also track cancellations and ask former members what caused them to leave, because some actionable consumers in the study were former members or were not interested in joining a conventional program.

Wine preference offers another practical segmentation variable. New York and Pennsylvania included actionable groups defined partly by sweet-wine consumption or by whether consumers drank sweet, dry, or both styles. Wineries can use purchase history or a brief preference question to tailor emails, flight recommendations, event themes, and release announcements rather than assuming every wine tourist wants the same experience.

And as Always - Interpret with Care

Our study measured self-reported intentions, not actual future visits, purchases, or spending. We also relied on an online panel and focused on consumers who had visited at least one tasting room in New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania since January 2022. Consequently, the percentages describe the surveyed segments and should not be treated as guaranteed visitation rates for an individual winery.

The results also do not show that demographic characteristics cause visitation. Characteristics such as generation, gender, or children in the household can help identify audiences, but wineries still need to understand the experience, convenience, product, and communication factors that influence customer decisions.

For Mid-Atlantic wineries, the most important starting point is to use the date of the most recent visit as the first segmentation variable, then tailor outreach using state-specific patterns and the winery’s own records. The central business opportunity is not simply to attract more people; it is to maintain the relationship while the previous visit is still recent, and give each promising audience a relevant reason to return.

About the Research

We surveyed 953 adults living in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania in 2024. Participants had purchased and consumed wine during the previous three months and had visited at least one winery tasting room in one of the three states since January 2022. Participants reported their wine purchasing and consumption behaviors, tasting-room visitation history, and demographic characteristics. They also rated their likelihood of visiting a tasting room in each state during the next 12 months. We used a decision-tree method called Exhaustive Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection, or ECHAID, to identify combinations of characteristics associated with an above-average likelihood of visiting.

The analysis produced seven actionable visitor segments for New Jersey, five for New York, and six for Pennsylvania. "Actionable" means that the segment had a higher predicted likelihood of visiting than the overall sample for that state; it does not necessarily mean that the segment would spend more or generate a greater return on marketing investment.

Source

Kelley KM, Govindasamy R, Li J, Schmidt C, Sharma A, Albano DM, Falcone L, Kelly M, Gómez MI (2026), "Understanding consumer profiles of wine tourists in the Mid-Atlantic region". International Journal of Wine Business Research, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. doi.org/10.1108/IJWBR-11-2025-0074

Funding provided by the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State (Strategic Networks and Initiatives Program).