What Happens When Your Website Goes Down?

How important is your website to your business? Have you thought about what will happen when you have an outage? Do you have a reliable backup plan that’s ready when you need it?

Just the other day, one of my websites unexpectedly went down when our host Gravity Free had a 4-hour outage in the middle of the work week. Now what? What would you do?

Throwing your hands up in frustration is usually the initial reaction, but it does nothing to fix the problem and leaves your customers in the dark about what’s happening. Are you closed? Have you moved...or worse, GONE OUT OF BUSINESS?

Instead, you need to have a plan in place for this exact scenario. Fortunately, the best solutions is an easy fix. It won’t bring your website back up - that’s likely out of your hands - but it will keep customers informed when they visit your site, instead of giving them a dead link.

Clicking on the image above will redirect you to a temporary site where you can keep customers updated on the status of your real site without missing a beat.

The Solution: Easy as 1-2-3

Simply follow these steps NOW before your next outage:

1. Create a simple web page on a different IP address. It will need to be hosted elsewhere and point your DNS from your website to the new one that acts as your temporary backup.

2. Design a simple and attractive page with your phone number along with a link to your Facebook page for clients to reach you. More people use a website lookup than a yellow page lookup to get your phone number. Google my Business and Bing Places link would also be helpful

3. Have a plan to post updates. You may have a wedding event that day and you could have lost your phones too. Just direct people to go to your Facebook page for real-time updates. With Google and Facebook, your customers can instant message you.

Everyone will have an outage at some point. You can’t control that, but you can be prepared when it happens. Scenarios like this are why it is advisable to always have a digital agency contracted to manage your digital presence. In this case, a backup solution should always be in place. At the end of the day, every business should have a plan.

-Art

Are you covered in case of an outage to your website? If not, Bloomerang Solutions can help! Give us a call at (941) 806-1911 or send us an email. We specialize in custom digital solutions and personalized online marketing. Let’s get started today!

New Customers from Mother's Day? Here's How to Keep Them Coming Back for More!

Did you know this past Mother’s Day that many florists got as much as 30% new business? Those are brand new customers who never shopped with them before!

Those are outstanding numbers, but now the challenge is turning them into regular returning customers. You have their contact information, so what are you doing with it? The answer is simple - send them a letter with a special offer they can use on their next order.

““Welcome and thank you for placing your Mother’s Day order with us! We don’t just want your order, we’d like to earn your trust.””

Then, simply give them a special offer and make sure they reference that offer or ask for a certain person at your business so you will now it came from that ad. This part is important because now you can track the results of the mailing. Simply do that and watch more orders come your way.

Grow your business with the new customers that ordered from you. Why? Because your competition is closed so this is your opportunity!

This is also a great time to take a look at surveys. You already have their email address and we have a survey program and we can do this for you. It could not be easier and it’s one of the best methods I’ve ever seen for finding out how customers see your business.

With the current uncertainty surrounding the economy and with restrictions limiting gatherings like weddings and parties, there are not many ways for you to get new business right now - but this is one way that is almost foolproof.

Preferred Customer Cards

Sending new customers a letter like we discussed above is a fantastic way to get a 2nd order, but if you’d like, you can take it a step further the same way we did at Beneva Flowers. Every new customer was sent a “preferred” customer card that they could use any time they placed an order. They didn’t need to sign up for any kind of special program, they were just automatically granted “preferred” status after the first order. The cards were no more expensive to send out than the letter itself but it let the customers know that you valued their business and hoped to form a long-time relationship. Here’s what the letter looked like:

It is really easy and I’m happy to help you with it. Bloomerang is on your side! Drop us a line below or call us anytime at (941) 806-1911. We look forward to making your business bloom!

Taking Back Our Sympathy Orders From Legacy.Com

I’m usually Mr. Optimistic when it comes to the floral industry but quite honestly, I don’t know where the sales are going to come from for the next several months - other than birthdays, anniversaries, and unfortunately, funerals and sympathy.

However, a lot of that business has been taken by a company called Legacy - who has partnered with the Sympathy Store (which is owned by FTD). It works like this: most online obituaries also include a link that allows you to purchase flowers and other gifts with the click of a button.

It’s incredibly convenient for the person viewing the obituary but it comes at the expense of the local florist. Once the customer clicks on the link and chooses the flowers they wish to send, Legacy takes commissions out of the order and sends it on to a local florist to fulfill. The local florist has little choice but to fill the order, but by doing so, they’re losing out on a percentage of the sale. 

I hate to say it, but going forward, there’s going to be a retraction in our industry. Those who are looking ahead and are thinking about ways to better their business are going to survive and they’re going to have a different business model when this is all over.

On the other hand, those with a ‘woe-is-me’ attitude who are content with sitting back and letting other people do all the work are going to be in trouble because their days are numbered. So, it’s up to you to decide which type of business owner you choose to be. 

Our industry of florists needs to be proactive if we expect to survive and that means looking for new ways of operating. There are too many ‘middlemen’ and order gatherers out there making it easy to order flowers, but they’re also taking our profits because we’re letting them do the work we could be doing on our own. 

One of the ways we can start is by breaking into the Legacy business. We need to get that “send flowers” button on obituaries to go to the local florist and not national corporations. They’ve never had anyone challenge them and they’re all over the country. It won’t be an easy fight, but it can be done by starting with just one florist in every market in the country and getting the funeral orders back to the local florist where they belong.

We need to pull together and support those who are supporting the floral industry. Bloomerang Solutions can help you do that and more. Give us a call today at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a note below. We can start today!

Imagine Spending $786.28 to Receive $14,280 in One Month. Could it Be You?

Above you can see the secret to why the national accounts keep parking ads in the local Google results (which is your local search results) is because most local florists are not properly placing ads to protect these guys form getting in.

* This report is direct and generated from Google ads. What Google is not capable of is recording phoned in transactions. The 36 calls are clicks to the actual phone number in the display ads that lasted over 2 minutes! That is the best they can do. What we have found for industry conversions that the true conversion over the phone is 4 phoned in orders to every online order placed directly on the website. This data is from Flower Manager.

After several years of studying this, the number used to be 5-1 but has now dropped to between 3 and 4 -1 as people have become more comfortable ordering online. But with so many businesses closed, many online shoppers clicked to reach your online storefront, called to place orders to be sure the flowers could be delivered. So it could have been even more phone orders.

MEASURE THIS

(You know you have at least 56 orders for sure)
The average order WITH DELIVERY is conservatively is $85.
Multiply the $85 x 56 orders on the website = $4,760
(In the most conservative calculation...assuming NO ONE would ever call, you the retail florist can see $4760 in conversions for $786.28!
NOW YOU HAVE BEEN INFORMED

If you conservatively want to say as little as 3-1, you can see you received over $14,280.

This was a great eye-opener for many florists that actually called me and paid closer attention. One client in the Albany, NY area was checking stats daily to compare and measure. He would ask me to email his spend for the day and could hardly believe how much the paid ads were pushing his volume.

The numbers are here and clear as can be. You have a choice to understand, learn and secure orders or continue to accept the wire-ins and fool yourself thinking they originated out of town.

Now that you can see what the true numbers are, you have no one to blame but yourself if you are not securing your own orders. The May weddings are canceled, school graduations will not be celebrated as usual. You can sit back and wait to get a wire-in, or you can call me to discuss just how quickly you could be out there securing your own orders.

Here is a visual to think about:

So to secure $14280.80 by spending $786.28 could make your summer sales a pleasure with profits to spare.

After this virus and Mother's Day, many florists realized the power of their websites.
Remember, if you want to secure the best placement, call me or a company that will ensure exclusivity - there can only be one #1.

The 2 main Google ad opportunities are:

#1 SMART Campaigns: This name has changed again form AdWords Express. This is where you spend about $300 a month and you get somewhere on the first page or second.

#2 Google Ads (aka AdWords): This is the powerhouse. No limits and enough control to do whatever you want. It will also measure your conversions.

With Weddings and Events gone for the short term, it's in your best interest to keep securing your backyard by having your ads appear converting orders and keeping your shop busy.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ARE YOU READY? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Please call me - let's talk! My background with Google goes way back to the very beginning when Google started on Sept 8 1998. Drop me an email, I will be happy to assist in any way possible.

- Art Conforti

Do You Charge a Re-Delivery Fee?

As retail florists, one of our greatest strengths is our ability to deliver the same day, it’s what sets us apart from the supermarket down the street.

Re-delivery fees are not a new concept, yet as an industry, we seem divided on the subject. Shops are typically either all for them, or completely against them, claiming customers need to know the final cost at the time of purchase.

The average profitability for a retail florist is about 10% and in most cases shops don’t generate a profit on delivery. The average delivery service is typically a loss when we discount it to $10 because average cost is $16.95. These types of numbers don't allow us the luxury of giving away services that cost us money - so then why are we doing it?

Does This Happen In Your Shop?

A customer calls or visits and makes a purchase of a product you decided has a value. They ask for a balloon, so you charge for the balloon. They ask for a teddy bear, so you charge for the teddy bear. All is good and the customer is getting what they want.

Now, they ask for delivery and give you the address. You look it up and charge the appropriate fee depending on where it is to be delivered.

Then it begins…

Your driver goes to the customer's confirmed address and the recipient is either not there, or the address given was wrong, so your driver returns to the shop with flowers still in hand. Your designer then has to re-cut the flowers and change the water as your customer service rep notifies your customer. All of this effort takes time in which we are paying staff and incurring additional expenses which is not our fault.

At this point haven’t you performed the actions requested of you?

Do you now let the customer know the flowers are back at the shop and ask if they would like to pick them up, OR do you ask if they would like to have another delivery made?

Will this second delivery attempt not cost you revenue and continue to chip away at the little margin you have? Maybe you should ask for the proper fee for this additional service they are requesting of you? As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your shop profitable.

How to Ask For The Re-Delivery Fee:

Hello (Mrs. Doe), my name is (Bob) calling from (Your Flower Shop) about the order you requested we deliver to (Jane Doe). After arriving at the address you gave, we found out that she no longer lives there. We had to bring the flowers back and are now calling to make you aware. Would you like to pick up the flowers you ordered or would you like for us to arrange for a new delivery?

Remember, the customer ordered these flowers and the responsibility to pay for them is theirs. We attempted a delivery and the recipient is no longer where we were requested to go - this is not a fault of yours. The customer is responsible for the $50 bouquet and we are trying to help get it delivered.

They paid us to deliver a gift from our shop to a specified location. If this is not possible, who should be responsible? We need to remember we provide services and maybe we gave away this second delivery before, but should we continue to do so? The choice is yours.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

-Art