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I am trying to put the pieces together to arrive at a decision to continue or discontinue the Annual SVB Industry Survey, and I need your help to decide.
Almost 20 years ago I recognized there was a severe lack of good data and benchmarks, so I came up with the idea to start an industry survey. It was a novel concept for the era and was immensely successful. For the first time, small wineries had real business information to help in decision-making.
We gave the complete set of information and analysis to respondents and also used it to formulate pieces of the SVB State of the Industry Report. We've been fully underwriting the effort at substantial cost and producing results free of charge ever since. It has to be a labor of love on our part. I don't think anyone would confuse it with a for-profit initiative! But we are at a crossroads.
Reading the Tea Leaves
When we started the survey it was common to have 500-700 winery responses in the first week from just one email and we would end with over 1,000 responses. We have been thankful for the trust the industry has placed in us with respect to the way we use your data and information, particularly considering we live in an era when banks fall somewhere between class-action attorneys and politicians on the trust scale.
We've made changes to the survey to keep it as pithy as possible, enhanced the information given to respondents to increase value, and have worked on the timing and type of communication announcing the opening of the survey. But it seems we are working harder and harder to keep participation rates up, and that's got me wondering if it's worth it?
I can analyze the problem from several angles.
To be, or not to be?
There are also new sources of data that didn't exist when we started this survey, so maybe the survey is simply not as important today?
I had a reason I hadn't considered passed on to me today. Someone told me they didn't take the survey because they didn't get anything out of it. That's a good reason. But they felt the survey was better for me than for them as well. That's two people now who've told me that. I love the direct feedback here, but I'm not sure how to process that one.
Maybe I'm a little crazy, but I suspect for most people this work is valued. But it's harder to break through the increasing demands of everyday work-life balance, a shortage of time and the din of white noise in electronic communications and social media to successfully connect and get people engaged. I know those are pieces to the puzzle.
My instinct tells me there is still an appetite for the survey and the information provided. I suspect many winery owners would like to participate but put it down the priority list, maybe hoping someone else does it. It's just about balancing their hectic days. It's like the vote. Not everyone votes. Some people just believe their vote doesn't matter, at least until someone narrowly gets into office they don't like.
I know running the survey during harvest is a pain for everyone, but it's the only timing that gets the information back to respondents by January. It has to be at year-end around harvest so we have a sense of where 2019 will finish. Every year, I get a dozen calls after the survey closes from people who tell me they wanted to participate but didn't know the survey was open. People are just busy.
Current State Today
Nevertheless, the year to year trends of slowly eroding participation has us wondering if the effort and expense are justified. We have to be open to the possibility that the SVB Industry Survey has outlived its usefulness, isn't worth the substantial time and expense on our part and that it might be time to cross the bridge we've come to and move on.
I Need Your Help
I am going to use the final several days of the survey as a proxy and a vote for continuing the SVB survey efforts:
If we get a faint response in the final days, this will be the last year for the survey. If we get a significant pickup in responses - we will take that as evidence there is still demand and will continue on.
- If your firm hasn't yet taken the survey this year, you can find all the information to do that here: [link]
- If you would like to see us continue with this survey, please promote this post on your own social media. We could use everyone's support in promoting the last few days of the survey and turn this result around.
What do you think?
- Should Silicon Valley Bank continue with this annual survey?
- Do you have other ideas that could increase participation?
I'm disappointed to see the drop in the number of survey responses. Much of wine industry decision making is still based on "that other winery is doing it, so we should try it". The need for reliable data is crucial, even more so with the projected slow down in wine sales. The SVB report is a crucial part of my business planning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement Michael. Appreciated!
DeletePlease support the survey by promoting this blog through your organization affiliations and social channels. I'm hopeful we can get this year's response rates to a significant number and continue on with this initiative.
I agree Michael!
DeleteIs it possible that perceived participation is down because wineries with multiple points of contact are actually getting more organized about who takes the survey for the winery? For example, Michael takes the survey for us but a LOT of us get the email. I could see how it would be very easy in some organizations for multiple people in the same organization to have filled out the survey for the same winery. This would lead to a larger data pool with more “participants” but the data would not be wholly accurate because 5 survey’s represented one winery. I don’t know what your cross referencing for something like this looks like on the back end or if that scenario is even possible.
DeleteI can only speak from my personal experience but to me it seems like the last three years have been some of the most engaging SVB reports. The conversations and strategic planning around last year’s report alone went well into late spring and are still optics/data for us that we refer back to… well, for me… as recently as this morning. Keep it up!
Unk 4:22PM We send to several people within different wineries, and on occasion we get more than one response. Normally that happens only once or twice per survey. We delete one of the responses.
DeleteThis is an extremely valuable report for our industry. We all need it--whether a winery or the businesses that support wineries.
DeletePerhaps there is a disconnect between the leaders in the winery who want the data results and the people working in the winery that have to help complete the survey. In some cases, I know people will hesitate to complete the work because they worry bosses might penalize them if their business lags their peers in a geography.
Most likely its just that our teams are working harder every year, yet we still expect more and more from their time. Once a year projects (like the survey) have to be fit in AFTER completing the day job. Leadership will need to speak up to make sure this task is prioritized above the many other tasks requested.
Will share the link!
No!! Please say it aint so. This report is so valuable. Hope you can drum up enough support to keep it going.
ReplyDeleteAlder - thanks for the note. Please support the survey by passing around the link on your social media.
DeleteI am already writing the 2020 State of the Industry report and that will be released January 14th. That report uses this survey, but I also use a large amount of other research. At this point, virtually every source for industry information is working with me and visa versa. So I can and will produce a report without the survey. I can do that since I live and work in this business every day. But having that extra data and information makes the report that much better. Without the survey, we will just eliminate sections from the report.
I see this as a choice the industry is making and if we don't get a significant uptick
Hi Rob, I must say that from a personal standpoint, this survey has been crucial for me. Last years' results made me shift my focus to serve the wine industry and be one of the "transformed service providers and consultants" that help implement digital initiatives.
ReplyDeleteI have a few ideas on increasing participation:
- Leverage a conversational platform that eases the process of filling out the survey. (This can also help if people start the survey but can't finish it right away)
- You may be already doing this, but using automated reminders to fill out the survey can help.
- Reasonable Facebook/Instagram Ads budget using Custom Audiences based on people visiting the https://www.svb.com/premium-wine-banking page and current customers.
- Use the SVB wine banking page as an entry point for the survey.
There may be others that come to mind later. I will gladly share them and am available to help with any of them.
Sharing it to my social feeds as well.
Thanks for your hard work Rob!
Thanks for the note Cristian. We are employing all of the suggestions that you have made already and many more social media strategies through the bank's social media and marketing departments.
DeleteWe also have every major AVA and Industry Association cooperating and asking their constituents to participate through their own messaging.
I think it's just one of those things, much like voting in an election. People appreciate the survey and the report, but they don't think their response will matter, so they prioritize their time as such and let someone else do it.
Well - it does matter when enough people take that view. Every vote counts and I see this kind of survey as a responsibility instead of a choice. It's great for the industry and it's free. We've never had it better. But - that's just my view and others are welcome to have a different opinion.
Hey Rob - that's disconcerting for sure as the survey acts as such a basis for decision making amongst so many in the industry. I'm wondering if participation is positively correlated to business performance (or perception thereof). I think there may be something to that.
ReplyDeleteSteve
DeleteI haven't thought about business performance but I can see your point. If someone were struggling, maybe they would not want to report their data. That said - during the Great Recession, we had terrific response rates.
I figured people wanted answers to their problems, but maybe that's too much to bear for some?
Rob,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear this. While I am no longer at SVB, I still encourage my clients and prospective clients to participate in the survey knowing how valuable the report is. I will continue to beat the drum.
Thanks for the support Marshall. I see this as good for your clients too.
DeleteI wonder if the difficult trend lines have made folks pull back on reporting. It will be like Joni Mitchell said: Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone
ReplyDeleteJames - I answered this one above to Steve T.
DeleteI've never considered that perspective, but I understand someone who is overwhelmed not wanting to lean in and participate. But it defies logic, because I believe the survey produces strategy and solutions which change the trajectory of the business.
There are definitely some wineries out there that prefer to put their heads in the sand and drown out any unflattering data "noise". It's counter intuitive to learning WHY your winery and your brands are generating unflattering results and this survey helps provide benchmark data that can help you understand where you need to improve. Personally, the survey is another great data source to utilize within the industry, especially when helping clients benchmark their performance.
DeleteRob, you have done a tremendous job over the years. Perhaps folks don’t want to hear bad news? May be it is time to reinvent the survey or take it to another level?
ReplyDeleteNicholas - thanks for the kind note.
DeleteI've had a half dozen people tell me that the low response rate might have something to do with people not wanting to hear bad news. I'd never considered that.
The way I think, if there is a problem, I want to know about it so I can fix it. So skipping the survey because business is more difficult is contrary to logic. We need answers and data to make things better. But ... not everyone is logical.
Emotionally, I can see that some might just not want to sit down and answer questions that reinforce less than good results. It could be like putting a stake in the ground and admitting things really are more difficult when day-to-day, you put your hospitality face on and smile through things.
Given the number of people who have suggested this could be a part of the issue, I have to accept that it is part of the issue and will be a bias in the results. But it's one of the things I can't change.
Rob, sharing two points on why I don’t submit even though I watch and read the report every year.
ReplyDelete-I am under zero delusion that an anonymous response is possible in today’s ‘big data’ reality. We have a dab of banking business with SVB and I have a priority to ensure the info you receive from us is in the right context.
- Every year, I have to reconcile that the statistics delivered via SVB trend more toward huge or large brands and not the boutique/micro silo we inhabit at <4K cases. I respect the opportunity to understand overarching trends, but don’t feel our peers are reporting..either through lack of bandwidth or paranoia of the unchaperoned data I reference above. And, therefore, our economic realities are not exactly being reflected or addressed.
All that said, I respect the report and will miss it if abandoned.
Erin - thanks for the honest response. I love that transparency in people. It's a rare quality.
DeleteI hope that we have earned trust with people regarding their data management, but I understand the skepticism in light of the current social media disclosures of Google, Facebook and others, and the blow-back on how data are handled by these companies. It is a rational fear.
I can only tell you how we handle this information. It is segregated and access to it is limited to those who need it for analysis of the survey itself, or to provide benchmarks for a client. It remains in excel and isn't accessed by any other bank system.
Over the years, I've had well-intended people in the bank suggest we use the information for marketing. It's a good idea because for example, if a winery said they were going to grow and they were doing well financially, we could create a perfect calling list and avoid all those wineries who said they were doing poorly. But I'm a purist and mean what I say.
We don't use responses for marketing purposes. We don't put emails into lists for marketing either. It would be disingenuous to try and do something nice for the industry with that kind of a hidden motive. I couldn't live with myself.
Regarding size, the survey is weighted to the small producer. That's where we get most of the responses - under 10k cases with the most responses coming under 5k cases. It has always had a near perfect correlation with the industry itself. We've handed back the analysis, charts and anonymized cleansed data for all wineries to review and come to their own conclusions about the results and how that impacts their own situation too.
With the State of the Industry Report, I am looking at macro trends using much more than the survey itself. But those trends fall to all in the business. When I segment impacts - distribution for instance, I talk about how the little winery isn't served by distributors while the large ones are linked hand to hand. From that, I've gone into discuss ideas and thoughts for tasting room and DtC approaches that impact almost exclusively the small winery.
I'm glad you find the State of the Industry Report useful and hope I can get you to change your mind and take this year's survey, and at a minimum - if the report has been helpful to you, that you promote the survey via social media to your industry colleagues.
Is it possible that the late harvest is exacerbating small producers already limited bandwidth and contributing to lower response rates this year?
DeleteHate to see such a valuable resource disappear due to bad timing!
Ken Perine - Anything is possible that can explain spending increasingly more time and money to give something away the industry says they want ... but having fewer and fewer responses annually.
DeleteTo me, it's just a vote. If the industry really wants to see us continue with what we do, those within the industry have to take personal accountability and spend the 13 minutes to complete the survey.
I get it. Everyone is busy and so far I've still had enough data to get this to work. But the trend can't continue and I am out of outbound ways to beg for participation.
I am going to accept the combined vote of the industry and stop producing this survey if those in the industry can't look inward and find enough value in the output, to reposition 13 minutes in the course of a 3 week period.
Sorry for being so direct, but I can't produce data without contributed input. IDK - maybe I am charging too much?
As I am a consumer, rather than producer of wine, I wondered if you have considered doing a survey of consumer’s views rather than just the producer’s perspective?
ReplyDeleteAs a consumer who is extremely interested in the wine industry, I like to see the results of your current survey but I am not in a position to contribute to the current survey. However, if I was given a series of questions that attempt to gain my input then I would be far more interested, especially if I could see areas where the consumer and producer views where compared and overlaps/disconnects identified.
Would it help get more producer responses? I don’t know but it might make the results applicable to a broader audience and as such get more producers interested in the analysis. Of course, I have no idea of the volume of consumers who follow your work and who might respond to such a set of consumer questions.
Wilson
Wilson - our roles in the universe are to support the wine business. There are groups who have consumer panels and do the kind of research and surveys you discuss. They are for profit companies and we don't need to compete with them.
DeleteThe reason we survey as we do is because information for the wine business is limited and this initiative isn't a place where someone can expect to make money and produce reliable information that's widely useful. So we do this for free. Taking on more free work is more than I can handle.
I do hope you continue. This is an industry where there is a lack of good information and good data. This survey has been (and hopefully will continue to be) an excellent counterweight to that. I am not a winery, but rather an industry observer, and this is one great source of information. Thank you.
ReplyDelete/Per Karlsson
Thanks for the encouragement Britt. Please support the survey by getting the participation links out to your social media contacts and maybe we'll get enough participants to continue with this work past this year.
DeleteI'm a wine journalist. Regrettably, I'm not in a position to complete the survey, but I am in a position to value it — highly.
ReplyDeleteMeg - thank you for the vote. You can still support the survey by passing around the links to your social media connections. If we get the participation up before Tuesday, we will continue on in this initiative. If not - this will be the last year.
DeleteHi Rob,
ReplyDeleteHere it’s Lizzy from Italy. Pls, don’t stop your work. I realize your efforts and the current frustration (in Italy we have often the same problem, seemingly wineries have no time for any surveys), but, trust me, your work is important even for us, who aren’ t in the US. We always need data, and personally, as a wine journalist, I find yours really valuable.
Thanks Lizzy - It's really nice to get these supportive comments. It does help to know that some are passionate about trying to keep this initiative going.
DeletePlease pass on the links to the survey to your social media connections. It can only help to have more people reminded the survey is open through Tuesday at midnight.
Rob,
ReplyDeleteI have always found the information and data provided to be of very high value and would hope the project continues. I wish I had an answer for the low response rate, but you are certainly not alone. In our region it is like pulling teeth to get folks to participate in much of anything of a collaborative nature. Our organization, the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers has experienced a very significant decline in participation, and that includes surveys sent to members. We are embarking on some new marketing strategies and have requested feedback and get very low participation. This is what members are paying for, so you would think it should be important to them. There was no published data from the Oregon Winery and Vineyard census for this region. That too I see as very important data, acreage planted, acreage bearing, yields across varieties, and pricing. I struggle to understand, and my cynical self sees too much me, me, me and being absorbed in way too much screen time.
Unk 9:32 - I'm sorry for your frustration but in a perverse way, it's nice to know it's not just me. But it is disheartening to hear your story.
DeleteMy view is while there is information out there that can be purchased, there is little that is useful for the small winery. There are no analytic reports that can be read and processed with street level intelligence - and we at SVB are doing all of this entirely for free so the cost isn't an excuse.
I have countless people tell me how important this information is, but I think it's a little like the vote. Many people don't think their vote matters so they never mail in their ballot. It's about personal responsibility from my view.
If this is important to the industry and the industry wants to see this continue, not only should they 'vote' by participating in the survey, but they should be spreading the word the survey is open through all their messaging channels.
There have been some elections that turned out other than what people believed and came down to only a few votes in a few districts. This is an opportunity for the industry to vote on continuing this survey and initiative or letting it go. I will accept the outcome. In some ways - getting my November and December back to be a normal person again is appealing.
For those curious, we have had an added 32 responses on Saturday. Each region today has about half the normal responses to this point. Please pass on the survey links to associations and colleagues in your region and through social media. Sorry for the formatting but here is the current response rates by region:
ReplyDeleteRegion Count
Napa County, CA 89
Sonoma County, CA 81
Other (please specify) 44
Northern Oregon 42
Virginia 27
Santa Barbara, CA 17
Santa Cruz, Monterey 16
Washington 15
Lodi/Clarksburg, CA 15
Sierra Foothills 10
Paso Robles AVA 8
San Luis Obispo, CA 7
Texas 7
Lake County, CA 5
Mendocino County 5
Canada 4
Livermore, CA 4
New York 4
Fresno, Kings, Kern, 4
Solano, Yolo, 2
Southern Oregon 2
San Diego, Temecula, LA 2
Sacto, Merced, Stansls 0
Marin County, CA 0
Rob,
DeleteYou should definitely hit up Joel P at the Paso Wine Alliance - I would think their region would have more responses as a % of wineries than most . . .
And it's always interesting that Paso is separated from SLO but I guess that's how it is . . .
Cheers.
Tecero - We've always had a difficult time with Paso participation for some reason. Their new Exec Director seems sharp and I believe has been promoting the work.
DeleteA lot of wineries are small, and you are running the survey during Harvest. I might have done it a couple times early on, but continued requests during the busiest time of year begin to seem tone deaf after a point. Unless you actually only want responses from larger wineries with dedicated staff not involved in Harvest activities.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
DeleteThere are always 'excuses' to be made - it comes down to prioritizing your time' to do things that are important to you. Yep, these folks are tone deaf to certain things - but believe me, they are still hosting harvest dinners, selling to their wine club members, finding time to post pictures in vineyards, etc. There's ALWAYS enough time out there . . .
Matt - I truly understand the 15 minutes to take the survey are 15 precious minutes during harvest. FWIW, 30% of normal respondents produce less than 2,500 cases, and 50% produce less than 5,000 cases.
DeleteWe can do the survey in November, the analysis in December/January, and production and release of the information in February/March. But that depreciates the timing and value of the end product. So it is a trade off.
Totally get the perspective of wineries buried in harvest though and thanks for responding.
Rob
DeleteNot only is apathy raging, but 'excuses' are as well. If not 'harvest' it will be 'sales season' or 'visits to France season' or . . . Keep doing what you're doing as you've done it before - you started the survey awhile ago, right? When do you first the call to reply?
Rob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this - and the reminder. I just turned in my data . . .
I think we are seeing more apathy in the wine business - folks are doing their own thing and not looking at for 'others' as much. There are certainly plenty of examples of this not happening, but I see it more and more. Most folks will ask 'what do I get for doing this survey' rather than understanding that they are helping set a picture of what is really happening out there 'in general' and that THAT is what you'll get for it.
The concept that 'folks are busy because of harvest' is bullshit - these owners and winemakers have plenty of time to post pictures from their vineyards or wineries or talk about all of the beer they are consuming or putting on harvest dinners - they CERTAINLY have the time - they simply choose to spend it differently.
Keep up the great work - and please continue to spotlight the 'challenges' that exist down here in Santa Barbara County - an area where, unfortunately, apathy rules the roost . . .
Cheers.
Tercero - Thanks for the comments and doing the survey. I take a little different view though.
DeleteI believe harvest is a busy time and everyone's lives are increasingly busy. Choices need to be made regarding what's important in life.
I don't think people are apathetic about their businesses. I think they are quite passionate. I think this survey is just being pushed down the priority list because life is getting busier and it's getting increasingly difficult in this business to make it. Time is precious.
I also feel people are empowered with more information, but they might be missing where that comes from. There is more information than 20 years ago and less instinct that's required now to run the business. But if you trace back where most of that information comes from in the press and by word of mouth for the family owned wineries, it is from this survey. There is no researcher making money doing this kind of work, and since we give it all away - we aren't making money either.
It does say something when other bankers promote the survey of a competitor. My colleagues in banking understand the value and costs. They would have done it themselves by now, except they all do something more than the wine business and this is all we do. It makes doing this more sensible for our single business interest.
I also hope people do get something from this, in benchmarks and information they can use to manage their businesses and make early season decisions. I hope participation is not just about giving me a primary research tool for the Annual State of the Industry Report, though that too is a good reason.
With the survey, a winery can see by region what people believe about grape pricing. You can see what people's greatest fears are. You can get a sense of what others think about growth opportunities by case production and how they are doing financially. You can see which cohorts are buying wine. You can see what wineries are guessing about their own growth rates for the upcoming year. You can see if they expect to buy more or less fruit and much more. Participants get about 75 slides and commentary, and all of the anonymized data to sort through themselves if they want to pick their own benchmarks.
There are a lot of reasons to do this survey and for 15 minutes, it's the best offer out there and there are a lot of people who do see the value and take the responsibility to complete it. But ... I will accept the vote of the industry overall and if we don't see dramatically better response rates after tomorrow night, this will be the last Industry Survey we produce.
In the interim - I'd appreciate you using your own social media channels to push out the survey links (https://svbwine.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-svb-survey-is-now-open.html)
Rob,
DeleteThanks for the reply - and I did just share this with a SB Vintner's Facebook page.
I agree that wineries are not apathetic about their own businesses - not at all. What they ARE apathetic about is looking beyond their own businesses and seeing how beneficial it can be to support local groups or causes - rising tide concept. Will this survey benefit my specific small brand? Most likely not - I see the results presented each year at Central Coast Insights and elsewhere and wonder how they apply to me and my specific business - but I also realize that my datapoints are important for creating a broader picture.
Is there a way to 'segnment' the results and provide results by the region that we are in in the future - either on demand or through a specific region's Vintner's group? Just a thought . . .
My 'challenge' is that our results always get combined with SLO and Paso - Region 8 and all - and yet we are SO different than they are. A pet peeve for sure - but we really should 'stand on our own 2 feet' rather than being combined all the time into a term like 'Central Coast' which truly has no meaning because it's so broad - might as well just call us 'California' instead . . .
Cheers.
Tercero = We do segment out Paso and SLO. See above in the current response rates. Paso has 8 and SLO 7. In years when we don't get 15 responses, we merge them together because we need a good level of statistical significance to produce a region breakout. If there are only 10 responses, an outlier can dominate the results.
DeleteThe question is - would you do the same with all of the North Coast? If Napa, Sonoma and Lake did not submit enough, would you combine them? Sorry - just something that seems to happen often down here. Though we have very 'distinct' areas, we are always lopped together - see Wine Business Monthly; see Cellartracker, etc . . .
DeleteTercero - we dont start off combining the two. We want to separate them and if we got responses, we would separate then. It's not a good analogy to ask about that WRT the North Coast. If we didnt get a statistically significant response rate from those counties, we wouldn't have enough respondents to even analyze and would call off the effort as a fail.
DeleteI think your survey should include some questions on cannabis and the play that the new legal industry has in regards to wine. The same regions that grow great wine grapes have fantastic "terrior" for growing amazing cannabis, and the Tasting Room format is also going to be great for consumers to learn about the plant and the different experiences. It is clear that younger generations are looking for something different than the same old playbook that the wine industry has used, and cannabis is a piece to this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the survey, there is a question that asks about how 'other industries' such as craft beer, cocktails and cannabis might affect your business in the coming years IIRC . . .
DeleteUnknown 9:28 - I won't get good data about the cannabis industry by surveying the wine industry - outside of their feeling about the threat and that's not great evidence of the threat. I have better sources of information regarding cannabis that I can and have relied on to produce information on this topic.
DeleteSo I hadn't seen the survey in my inbox - but then searched for it and it came up but in a Social Folder. Our winery runs our email on a gmail system - which apparently is filtering your emails into the social folder, which I wasn't checking. Given the ubiquity of gmail as an email service for companies today, that may be the issue. I saw the article in WBM's daily newsletter which prompted me to look for it.
ReplyDeleteUNK 9:52 - thanks for the response and for looking. I'll pass this on to our marketing department, but I suspect this is common now. Microsoft has the same split between Focused and "Other" emails with 'other' typically being emails that are send to a large number of addressees. It's really the only way to do that one form of outreach.
DeleteIn addition to this email (we've sent three or four), all the major AVA's and Industry Associations in the West send out the notice in their own messaging. Wine Business Monthly, Lew Perdue's Wine Industry Insight, and Wine Industry Network also promote the survey at the top of their daily news feeds. I also blog at least twice on each survey to let people know the survey is open. Our Social Media and Marketing Department also activate on social channels.
The good news is we broke through the clutter in your case.
Thanks again for taking the survey and responding on the blog.
Good Day Mr. McMillan, it is disheartening, though not surprising, to see the low participation rate in the Sierra Foothill region. I share the frustrations of a prior poster from the Umpqua Valley region. My sense is that in this region, most of the wineries are too small, and too undercapitalized, to make much use, much less make sense of, the data provided by your survey, and thus are disinclined to participate. My impression is that many of my associates in this region are strategizing to get through next week...not next year. My hope is that you find the impetus to continue. In this region, especially, we do not suffer from too much information about the marketplace. Cheers, Mark Henry
ReplyDeleteMark - I appreciate the encouragement. I too hope we will continue. It will depend on if we get a material up tick in responses before tomorrow night. You can help by sharing the survey links on your social channels (https://svbwine.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-svb-survey-is-now-open.html)
DeleteKeep the survey going, just do it at a different time of year, like June. Since Sept/Oct. are by far the busiest two months out of the year for the industry on all levels it really is just about bandwidth Sept/Oct., esp. for the small to medium size wineries.
ReplyDeleteUnknown 10:35 - I truly understand the 15 minutes to take the survey are 15 precious minutes during harvest. FWIW, 30% of normal respondents produce less than 2,500 cases, and 50% produce less than 5,000 cases.
DeleteWe can do the survey in November, the analysis in December/January, and production and release of the information in February/March. But that depreciates the timing and value of the end product. So it is a trade off.
We can't do it in June because we won't have good viability on how the current year will turn out.
Totally get the perspective of wineries buried in harvest though and thanks for responding.
Rob, for your survey would be a good idea to tell survey takers how many more pages, questions, time to fill out remains
ReplyDeleteUnk 10:48 - That is an excellent comment and its something I have as a hoped for element in the next survey tool we purchase. Today, that's a limiting factor.
DeleteWe try and bridge the ...when does it end ... fatigue by giving out the PDF of all the questions beforehand so people are prepared and have a map of how much longer it takes. Typically for this survey, the time is 12-13 on average.
As a grower, I wish I could put in my $0.02, but the survey is only for wineries.It seems an important part of the industry is left out.
ReplyDeletecolinsvit - Thanks for your view.
DeleteWhen we put this survey together originally, there was zero information for family wineries so we filled the breach. There was and is a fair amount of data available for vineyards through NASS, Allied Grape Growers, Ciatti, Turrentine, and several other vineyard associations.
When we write the Annual State of the Industry Report, it is those sources we depend on.
In this case, we would have to have an entirely new survey if we did something for growers. We'd have to accumulate a database just of just growers and then go through all the steps we employ to create and analyze the results. Each survey costs well into the 6 figures and takes time away from my real job. For now - it doesn't make sense nor is it cost effective for the Bank to create one more survey ... as much as I'd like to given unlimited time and budget.
WELL... I have waited FIVE years to have my responses included... if I am correct to have your answers included you have to be selling wine for five years min...is that correct? Data... is always a good thing.
ReplyDeleteUnk 9:30 That's not quite correct. For questions like growth rate, we remove new wineries because they will/should have huge growth rates which mess up the data. For most of the other questions, those responses are included.
DeleteYou can also recast the data yourself when you get the output as a respondent. Only respondents get that stack of data.
Rob, your Annual State of the Industry Report has some much incredible insight on consumer behavior that I find it ironic that it is threatened by the (consumer-like) behavior of winemakers. Getting meaningful information from surveys is getting more difficult. Getting meaningful reviews online has become almost impossible – Amazon has to bribe people just to get ones that aren’t completely fake. More than apathy or fatigue, it seems that there’s a growing sense of futility in completing such tasks, a “why should I do your work?” mentality.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don’t know the answer, but there has to be a way to communicate the value of the report and the importance of collecting the info. It will be missed if it goes away just like the proverbial water from the well!
Steve - thanks for the comment. It is a quandry but I think I have it narrowed down.
DeleteWineries have been getting all the information they need from the State of the Industry Report. As response rates have fallen, everyone still gets the Report. It all works until it doesn't and we are close to that point.
What's happened is over 20 years, the industry has become used to getting this great data for free and it has disconnected from the personal responsibility that is need to take the survey, so we can do the analysis, so we can do the report.
I think we need to remind everyone this is a partnership and a responsibility everyone bears. If we want to have this gratis effort continue, its the responsibility of the industry to find the 13 minutes needed to complete this survey.
The question is: How do we properly message that?
Rob, I sincerely hope you continue with the Survey. As a supplier to Winery Brand Owners and Wine Wholesalers to help them promote their On-Premise wine-by-the-glass promotions we have found tremendous insight from the data you collect. As you have eloquently communicated over the last couple of years the consumer demand and ways they want to buy and experience a premium wine experience is changing rapidly, and the bad news is that the wine industry is behind the pace of change. As you have insightfully pointed out, unlike the Beer and Spirits Industry who invest heavily in the On-Premise guest experience, the wine industry has left it to fewer and fewer wine wholesalers to continue operating as they have always done, with little or no innovation. As has always been the case, successful wine brands must develop strong relationships with their consumers, On-Premise is the most powerful channel to introduce a Taste or a Glass of wine 'just as the winemaker intended'. I predict a leading Brand owner will invest in innovating the On-Premise sales channel soon, stimulating the industry as a whole. Which brings me to an idea.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you should expand the survey to include different segments of the Industry,
Growers, Wineries, Wine Wholesalers & Wine Marketing / Promotion / Affiliates.
I understand that would greatly increase the scope and work, but as the industry replies on all segments which will have to evolve quickly to meet the consumers expectations it could increase the value of the data considerably.
I wish you continued success, and look forward to the prospect of your survey evolving.
Thanks Richard. The good news to your question about expanding data, is a majority of data providers work with me now. They want their data cited and used. That opens up the ability to produce broader reports. I hope to continue that.
DeleteRob,
ReplyDeleteYour report is invaluable, so please do not stop publishing it.
I am in the early stages of evaluating digital innovation in the wine industry, with a particular focus on DTC tooling and products which, as you've often pointed out, could use some innovation. The only way I can evaluate the feasibility of my products and business is to understand the structure and trends inside the wine industry, in particular the trend lines inside the DTC channel.
The SVB report is extremely valuable to the industry, from legacy players to new entrants like me. Without this data, I/we wouldn't know where the industry is trending, where the consumer is trending, etc - and that's like walking in the dark.
You are a legend (IMO). The SVB report is legendary. Keep it going!
Best of luck.
Steve
Steve - thanks for the encouragement.
DeleteI will produce the report, but only if the industry takes personal responsibility to join in this initiative. It's become frustrating to push to ask for cooperation in answering the survey, create and give away something I constantly hear is valued, blow away my holidays to do it, (that ignores all the other people in my organization who help in this) ... then see disinterest from my wine industry community in finding the average 13 minutes needed to complete a survey.
If the industry can't support this work, the work doesn't deserve to be published. Simple as that.
All relevant wineries should participate IMO.
DeleteMaybe only those who participate should get the end product? That might skew your numbers, but if it encouraged higher participation, then maybe it's worth a try?
Any winery that doesn't take the time (13 mins) to fill out a survey in exchange for valuable, competitive-advantage kind of data probably is just winging it anyway, so maybe they can be excluded w/o hurting the numbers of the 'real players'.
Again, I don't know - I'm a software guy, not a statistics guy - and a newbie to the industry.
Steve
Steve Wall - Welcome to the industry and thanks for posting.
DeleteWe run the survey and give all of the data and about 75 slides ONLY to those who participate. We give a minor deck of slides to those who tune into the State of the Industry Video Telecast but not the full set of data.
I've believed that would be sufficient motivation to take the survey but that's not been entirely true.
More to come later on next steps.
Rob:
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry to see/hear you are contemplating discontinuing the survey. That’s an incredible shame. And it’s shame on the industry, not shame on you. I've seen lots of excuses about why people don't take it - from lack of trust, to time constraints, to who's the real beneficiary, etc, etc. But I can say without a doubt that any permanent absence of the survey will ring true just like the old Brooks and Dunn song...., "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone."
People often don't realize what they have until it's no longer there. Much of the industry discussion that occurs year-round regarding sales trends & consumer behavior is rooted in your survey in conjunction with other sources of information and data. The absence of the survey will cause a missing puzzle piece in the dialogue of industry trends.
I empathize with the you on the investment in time. Spending weeks of your life to provide something for "free" to the industry is a grind. We do the same thing with our annual grapevine nursery survey every January. The value of the data and information these types of surveys provide are immeasurable, and they come at significant cost to the providers. It's a shame that is not honored a bit more by those that would have free access to the data with a simple investment of a few minutes.
The true test would be to discontinue it for a year or two, and then re-introduce it. If it truly brings value (which I believe it does), then there should be a renewed energy level around it. And maybe it is something that is done every other year if every year is just too much to keep it fresh and appealing to folks. Your decision to keep or discontinue will be respected either way, but maybe there's a middle ground in having a bi-annual survey.
Jeff Bitter, President
Allied Grape Growers
eff -
DeleteThanks for the thoughts. We have been getting more surveys completed since this post on Friday, so I have hope we will have enough to analyze. There is a lot going on in the business and I hope we collect enough data to help with transformation.
Somehow I need to confirm the industry wants this effort in sufficient numbers that individuals publicize on social media when surveys are open, and spend the 13 minutes needed to complete the survey. It's a small thing to do from my chair but we can't have large numbers of people who want this to continue and take no action to ensure that it continues.
Rob:
ReplyDeleteIt seems that insights into motivating wine industry professionals to do what is in their "enlightened self-interest" and complete the survey might be found in behavioral economics studies by leaders like Dan Ariely.
His website: http://danariely.com/site-map/
Regards,
Bob
A quick search on the Web . . .
DeleteFrom behavioraleconomics.com
(posting date unknown):
"Optimising Survey Invites to Increase Participation"
URL: https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/optimising-survey-invites-to-increase-survey-participation/
By Adam Pemberton
Group Research Director at 2CV
(a full service, integrated consumer market research agency)
Excerpt:
"A key challenge in the market research industry, particularly in quantitative survey research, is participation; achieving good representation in samples is crucial to delivering useful insights. ..."
Additional research on the Web . . .
DeleteFrom SnapSurveys.com
(posted April 23, 2014):
"25 Ways to Increase Survey Response Rates"
URL: https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/25-ways-increase-survey-response-rates/
By Susan E. DeFranzo
And one more search result from the Web . . .
DeleteFrom SurveyAnyplace website blog
(posted November 22, 2016):
"34 Ways to improve your survey response rate"
URL: https://surveyanyplace.com/improve-survey-response-rate/
By Nigel Lindeman