Why winery growth needs more than good intentions

How many times have you heard me say, “A goal without a plan is just a wish….” Growth is the number one reason people come to 5forests, and most of the time we find ourselves having to first work with our client to define exactly what that means. But here’s the deal: you’re not going to make wine without knowing what you’re aiming to craft. The same should go for marketing and business planning. Whether you want to increase tasting room revenue, scale your wine club, or improve e-commerce performance, success starts by defining what “better” looks like—and how you’ll know when you’ve achieved it.

That’s where strategic goal setting and KPI planning come in. Let’s break it down.

What growth looks like for wineries in 2025

“Grow our business” is too vague to be useful. If you want to compete in today’s market, you need to define growth by the numbers—and track your progress along the way.

Here’s what growth really looks like for modern wineries:

Improved conversion rates: From the tasting room to the online cart, what percentage of your visitors are becoming customers?
Higher average order value (AOV): Are you increasing the spend per purchase, either in-person or online?
Customer retention: Is your wine club churn creeping up, or are you building long-term loyalty?
Better acquisition costs: How much are you spending to gain a new customer—and is that spend sustainable?
Operational efficiency: Are you using your time and tools effectively, or constantly putting out fires?

And here’s the kicker: Growth looks different for every winery. What matters is that your goals are grounded in reality, based on your unique position, and supported by the right metrics.

What makes a good KPI for a winery

A good KPI isn’t just a number on a dashboard. It’s a decision-making tool—something that helps you understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus next.

For a KPI to be useful, it must be:

Tied to a clear goal – If you want to increase wine club sign-ups, your KPI isn’t “Instagram followers.” It’s the percentage of tasting room visitors who join your club.
Trackable over time – One-off wins don’t tell you much. You want metrics that can be monitored weekly or monthly.
Actionable – If a KPI drops, you should know what lever to pull to fix it.

Let’s say your goal is to grow DTC revenue. That’s still too broad. Break it into component parts:

What’s your website conversion rate from visitor to buyer?
How many repeat customers are coming back?
Are cart abandonment rates rising?
Are your email open rates trending down?

Each of those answers points to a specific strategy: maybe your product pages need work, your emails need testing, or your checkout process needs streamlining.

KPIs help you stop guessing and start acting.

Why digital data matters in goal setting

Most wineries collect data. But few use it to guide decisions.

You don’t need a stack of spreadsheets or expensive dashboards. You need relevant, real-time insights that help you stay aligned with your goals and course correct before problems become patterns.

That’s where digital data comes in.

Digital data can tell you things your gut never will:

Which product pages are converting—and which are bouncing.
What time of day customers are most likely to buy.
Whether your email campaigns are driving revenue or just opens.
Which customer segments actually return, refer, and spend more.

For example, you might think your top-performing wine is driving club growth, but a closer look reveals it’s actually your limited-release rosé that’s turning browsers into buyers. Or maybe you’re seeing strong traffic from Instagram, but your analytics show zero conversions from those visitors.

Without data, those stories stay hidden. With data, they shape strategy.

At 5forests, we don’t just track performance—we build measurement into your wine marketing strategy from the ground up. So your winery doesn’t just guess at what’s working. You know.

Digital tools to help you track performance

When wineries think about measuring performance, they often jump to expensive platforms or complicated CRM systems. But the truth is, most wineries can start with tools they already have—if they’re set up correctly.

Here’s what we recommend:

Google Analytics (GA4): It’s not perfect, but it’s still one of the best tools for understanding where your traffic comes from and how visitors behave on your site.
Commerce7 dashboards: A recent rollout, Commerce7 dashboards can help you visualize which channels are driving sales, how well your club is performing, and what products are resonating.
Meta Ads and Google Ads Manager: For wineries running paid campaigns, these tools track everything from impressions to purchases. But without proper conversion tracking and UTM parameters, the data is nearly useless.
Heat mapping tools like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity: These show how users interact with your site—where they click, how far they scroll, and where they get stuck. It’s like a window into your customer’s experience.
Email marketing platforms like Klaviyo or Mailchimp: Track open rates, click-through rates, and revenue generated per campaign. Segment data can reveal how different customer groups respond to different messages.

None of these tools work in isolation. That’s why we help wineries connect the dots—mapping tools to KPIs and translating numbers into action.

The real ROI of goal setting

Most wineries don’t need more data—they need better decisions. That’s where clear goals and well-chosen KPIs pay off.

With the right strategic framework, you can:

Make smarter budget decisions: Know where to double down and where to cut back.
Align your team: Everyone from your tasting room to your digital agency understands what success looks like.
Respond to change: When traffic drops or conversion dips, you’ll have the context to act quickly, not guess.
Measure what matters: Instead of vanity metrics like follower count, you focus on things like new club signups, order frequency, or repeat bookings.

We’ve worked with wineries who’ve gone from “we think it’s working” to “we know it is.” That confidence doesn’t come from dashboards—it comes from the clarity of good strategy.

Bringing it all together

Wineries with a clear vision and defined success metrics outperform those that rely on guesswork or tradition alone. Whether you’re mapping out your DTC funnel, launching new sales initiatives, or simply trying to understand what’s working, strategic goal setting backed by meaningful KPIs can make the difference between flat growth and real momentum.

At 5forests, we’ve helped wineries around the world build strategies that start with clarity and scale with data. This kind of planning isn’t a one-off project—it’s a foundational part of every smart marketing move.

To dive deeper into how goal setting, KPIs, and digital data collection fit into an effective wine business strategy, explore our Wine Strategy & Research services.

How to Set Goals and KPIs That Actually Grow Your Winery