Adrien VINPOP

Thanks a million for your feedback. Which has been much better than any physical feedback. That's very very interesting. Indeed wine is an experience. But we forget about the taste of the products. As a winemaker, I have made a lot of physical and online survey and the main reason people are turning their back to the wines is the disappointment from the taste. Secondly people feel stupid to ask a question about wine. While the quiz is simple to complete, each question targets specific daily food habits (like black coffee, citrus, or salt preference) that serve as proven biological markers for tannin sensitivity and acid tolerance. In Rotterdam, I have made some blind tasting to shoot some testimonials which are shown on the landing page at the result stage. Would you suggest me that I should give some explanation from the answers given by the customer before showing them the bottles that would match with their taste. You are pointing out it is exactly my point. I never give a taste description, because everyone has its own taste sensitivity. Coffee is a perfect example. It is funny how a simple industry is becoming more and more complexe. People drink coffee because most of the time they get what they expect. However, I know precisely the taste similarities between every wine. The quiz is the only subjective step of the website, because it relies on people answer. Then soon as people rate the wines, every single customers who bought wine from the taste similarities have been satisfied. The only negative rating a wine received was the most expensive bottle of my website that I have offered because I love it... which shows that taste is unique. Regarding your point on samplers: since shipping miniature formats isn't economically viable in our logistics (we only ship standard 75cl bottles, meaning an unavoidable ~€30–€35 threshold for 3 bottles), I have to bridge that trust gap digitally. From your perspective as a skeptical buyer: Would receiving an in-depth, educational breakdown of your biological taste profile right after the quiz (explaining why your palate matches these profiles), coupled with unedited videos of real people blind-tasting their kit, be enough to make that initial €30–€35 leap feel like a fair discovery rather than a sales trap?

Hi Norbert, Thank you for moving the topic to the specific board. Here are the answers to the five mandatory questions: 1. Description of your concept: VinPop is a Dutch D2C wine e-commerce platform that matches bottles to individual taste profiles using lab molecular analysis. We never judge whether a wine is "good" or "bad" our algorithm calculates: "If you like Wine A, here is Wine B with an exact percentage of chemical taste similarity." 2. What have you done so far to develop this: - Background: Bordeaux winemaker (10 years) using oenological lab analysis for 7+ years to craft wines. - Tech & Industrial Validation: Taste-matching algorithm built with a partner lab whose profiling technology supports producers representing over 3 million bottles. Validated in Rotterdam blind tastings (participants couldn't distinguish between different wines sharing the same molecular profile). - Marketing & Testing: 6-question quiz onboarding, €5,000+ invested in Meta Ads. A past discount offer (€29.90 for 4 bottles) validated demand but attracted one-off bargain hunters. We recently redesigned the UX/UI toward a clean, data-driven experience with upfront transparent pricing. 3. What challenge are you trying to solve: The "wine guessing game" and wasted money. Consumers pick bottles blindly based on confusing labels, marketing, or subjective medals, regularly wasting €10–€25 on bottles they dislike and pour down the sink. Wine consumption is dropping because people find it overly complicated and intimidating. We remove that friction: the wine adapts to the drinker's biology. 4. How does this differ from existing solutions: Traditional shops, supermarkets, and apps (Vivino) rely on subjective crowd ratings, critic scores, or seller bias ("what others like"). VinPop is strictly objective. We measure precise molecular metrics (acidity, body, tannins, sweetness) to determine the exact similarity between wines. No forced subscriptions customers start with a 3-bottle Tasting Kit. 5. Feedback requested: - Funnel & CRO: Why 100% of Meta Ads visitors complete all 6 quiz questions, but drop off to 0% at checkout (€30–€35 cart). - Dutch Consumer Psychology: Is the jump from a free 60-second quiz to an upfront purchase too abrupt? Does the lab/data angle trigger trust or skepticism? - Value Proposition & Trust: How to effectively bridge the credibility gap so a first-time visitor feels safe ordering without having tasted the wine first. Website link: https://vinpop.nl (The 6-question quiz is on the homepage to see the results and checkout flow). Kind regards, Adrien

I guess Peter Rahal will be a good inspiration for you. He explains who he started his first and second business. You will have probably a lot of things in common. https://youtu.be/0OdHGliowm4?si=GUmy14x3-LBAc4gW

Hi everyone, I’m a Bordeaux winemaker building a wine-tech e-commerce platform for the Dutch market. I’m currently hitting a critical funnel bottleneck and would love direct feedback from experienced founders. (If allowed by moderators, I’ll gladly share the link or screen recording in the comments. I'm not here to promote, just trying to fix my checkout drop-off). --- ### The Problem We Solve Buying wine is usually a gamble based on marketing, confusing labels, or medals. The result? Consumers regularly waste €10–€25 on bottles they dislike and pour down the sink. When people dislike a wine, the industry often implies: "You just don't have the palate." In reality, taste is subjective. Our value proposition: "Never pour a bottle down the sink again." We replace subjective ratings with objective lab data. --- ### The Concept As a winemaker, I’ve used laboratory molecular analysis for over 7 years to craft my own wines. We apply that same precision to consumer taste: 1. Step 1 (Tasting Kit): Customers take a 6-question quiz. Our algorithm maps their profile against 100 molecular criteria to recommend a 3-bottle kit. 2. Step 2 (Calibration): They taste at home and rate each bottle (Love / Like / Dislike). 3. Step 3 (Predictive match): Ratings calibrate future selections based on chemical similarity (from safe matches to new flavor adventures). --- ### The Bottleneck & Past Test Currently, 100% of traffic comes from Meta Ads. The top of the funnel converts well: 100% of visitors who start the quiz finish it. But once they reach the checkout page showing their 3 matched wines and the cart total (~€30–€40), conversion drops to 0%. Past experiment: A few months ago, I tested an entry offer (€29.90 for 4 bottles, €50 retail value, free shipping). It converted very well, but attracted pure bargain hunters with near-zero retention. Unit economics were unsustainable, so I stopped it. --- ### Recent Changes (UX) We redesigned the checkout to look like a clean, data-driven lab experience: - Clear taste profile comparison sliders per bottle (quiz answers vs. lab molecular data). - Prominent, active dark checkout button. - Transparent pricing (free shipping applied upfront on the first kit). Still, no purchases. As a founder, the lack of sales is 100% my responsibility. --- ### Questions for the community: 1. Value Proposition: Does the lab-data matching (% match + molecular sliders) feel like legitimate personalization, or does it trigger skepticism / look like a gimmick? 2. Price Transition: Is moving from a free 60-second quiz directly to an upfront €30–€40 cart too abrupt for first-time visitors? 3. Offer Structure: How would you balance sustainable gross margins without scaring off buyers who haven't tasted the wine yet? Any insights from founders running quiz-funnels or physical B2C products would be hugely appreciated! Thanks, Adrien