Brutal Assessment Please

WARNING PATRIAL THREAD HI-JACK

I wanted to type this thread but was afraid to, so thanks Linda. Two weeks after MD a large forture 500 called and said they wanted us to be their vendor. They had heard about our affliliate marketing program for get wells/birthdays. They said the current florist was great but didn't provide the level of service they need. My wife took the meeting and came back with tears in her eyes. The HR girl, said "we want you, but your website sucks". I take comments very well and followed up with her. She and 3 other (high ups in the company) all gave us a D on our website. Having alot of commerical accounts i quickly called 5 other Admin assists. and ask them to evaluate our site, our highest score was a C. A frick'in C. I sent them a thank you card with gift card to Outback and made the call I needed to. Having 3 months left with current vendor (not Ryan) I called and we made some changes within 2 days. Changed wesite, all new pics, new look and feel. What you guys are not going to want to hear, I asked all 5 of the surveyed and the new account for 3 - 5 websites they love, they we're all OG sites and Tele.com. I'm not wanting to be an OG, but they do have the money and have applied the money to what works. So I mirrored my site (now) with what they like and used all stock pictures. Last week on the phone with Ryan's people, that even more needs to be done as I move forward from this vendor. I realized, I have to give the customers what they want to see and not what I want them to see. So I will in the end, I went to all of the sites, layed it out like "suggested" and used stock pics. All of the these girls & one guy, all knew the names of some of the most popular bouquets and from many different sites. If you think for a second that your customers are not "looking" around and will have an affair on you in the right timing, then your "nuts".......................Like book 2 says, we have to put a fence up around our ponds and I failed to do that on my ATM site. which is what a website is.

This company has just shy of 500 employess, 20K they spend on flowers a year. They went with TF for a short period of time, but realized it would be bad for their business, but can we copy them................................

I'm a numbers guy, you might want to invest in some imput from YOUR CUSTOMERS, we can't really judge each other fairly in all circumstances, we usally all see with the same sets of eyes. Sorry for the hi-jack
 
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I don't think that was a hijack at all.....Just a good long look at reality.

When I went to work for FBML They had 2 websites. Both sucked and I was told they sucked by customers.

One was a TF site that had nothing done to it ever I think it was still exactly the same since 1995. seriously. It looked so bad and hard to navigate. The second was just a flat out joke- Not even a commerce site so what the heck was the point.

Anyway- The joke site address I pointed to the TF address since the Tf was a commerce site. Then I got to work tweaking the TF site.
Viola! Then I got tons of compliments on the site. I cleaned it up and it looked great.

My site I have for Shannon Loves Flowers even though it's not a TF site I tried to make the layout sort of like a TF site. I do have my own floral work on my site- but I think my pics are pretty good.

When I take my pics I will literally take at least 25 pics of each item. They look very different on the screen than they do on the camera. And you really can't tell until they get uploaded on the computer.

I have gotten lots compliments on my new site. I hope they aren't blowing smoke.
 
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KABERS said:
I'd bet they would be impressed with Belvedere's website. I sure am!
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Thanks Jenifer, I just went live yesterday, I still have a lot of tweaking to do, and like I said, every website is always a work in progress :) I hope it does well for me! I am excited about it! Only time will tell, I pretty much abondoned the family friendly website look for a more professional clean website that focuses on the designs.

I am always willing to take big risks and make big changes, I think that is important to survive this tough biz! Don't be afraid to do something drastic, whether it be dumping WS, or getting new website, or changing your business model all together, you must adapt and change, IMO.
 
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I have never understood all the stuff on the left. Maybe because I'm not from the area (but most people on your site aren't) but I get confused by that and not sure why all that explanation of areas is there. At first I thought there was different arrangements for each area of town. And then I thought maybe there was a different shop in each town and those would take e to that site. Then when I click on them there is a random explanation. Maybe this is for search engines? I guess I am just not sure what help it is to the customer but it takes up a prime spot. I might be missing something. I don't know. A lot of the stuff in that prime left hand space seems somewhat useless to me. Even the care and handling... because the sender does not usually care about the care and handling, right? That info should be on the flowers given to the recipient. It's just that if there are too many words and info it gets a little confusing. And I have noticed before that the home button is nowhere to be found.

Also, I love that photo of the inside of your shop that is on the description for blooming plant on the right. I wish a picture or pictures from inside your shop could be incorporated on the site somehow even if it is in the "About Us" section. People won't usually take the time to read all that stuff in the About Us section but pictures really speak. Seeing the inside of your shop makes me want to buy from you because it's so beautiful inside and it looks so clean and full of stuff. I think people are fearful when ordering from out of town and they are trying to get a feel for your shop by looking at the website and I think pictures help. That's all I've got except, of course, better quality pics would be awesome too but I know it's hard to find the time. I think a consistent look/background/lighting is important.

Good for you for asking for brutal feedback. I don't think I could handle it. Not right now at least. I'm so fragile about the shop right now.

This thread is making me want to completely re-do my site. I haven't done a complete makeover in awhile. Maybe then I will ask for feedback.

It is so hard to see through the eyes of the customer isn't it? I loved Adam's old website so much. But I can see how much better and more professional the new one might look to a customer. But to me, it's impersonal in a way. But now I'm wondering if I should abandon that personal/local look for something more professional looking. Website decisions are enough to make you crazy...
 
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I don't know either, Sarah, about that stuff on the left. It was there when I got my site and I assumed it had to do with help for the search engines. But you are right, it's very valuable space. I have been waiting on a lot of these things until the new platform, to see how it even looks.

It is EXTREMELY hard to see through a customer's eyes. That's why those awful shots are still up there, I started wondering if that was what people wanted to see, home-made so to speak. But now the last week has dropped off substantially so maybe.....Ugh. Don't know. I really like Rick's idea about asking customers. That makes the most sense to me.
 
Sarah is right. My next months blog is all about this, the customers eyes. IMO the reason the OG do so well is they are always asking for feedback, adapting and trying to show aunthenticity. When authenticity meets mass casual, it equals to: extreme growth and profits. I got a rude awakening.........and I'm all ears now........I'm just say'in
 
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anytimeflowers said:
I don't know either, Sarah, about that stuff on the left. It was there when I got my site and I assumed it had to do with help for the search engines. But you are right, it's very valuable space. I have been waiting on a lot of these things until the new platform, to see how it even looks.

It is EXTREMELY hard to see through a customer's eyes. That's why those awful shots are still up there, I started wondering if that was what people wanted to see, home-made so to speak. But now the last week has dropped off substantially so maybe.....Ugh. Don't know. I really like Rick's idea about asking customers. That makes the most sense to me.
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That "stuff on the left" is to help with search engine ranking, particularly for towns you deliver to but aren't necessarily located in. This type of page I have hidden by just having "our delivery areas" on the front page which links to a page showing a full list of suburbs I directly service (it's a big list). The suburbs I have pages for then link from the delivery area list page. I don't think this is as effective SEO wise but it does look better to human eyes.
 
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Sarah Jane said:
... But now I'm wondering if I should abandon that personal/local look for something more professional looking. Website decisions are enough to make you crazy...
Click to expand...

A think it's good to capture the "personal/local" flavor in your website but what we all need to make sure is that 'personal' is not confused with a novice look.
 
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rewolf said:
A think it's good to capture the "personal/local" flavor in your website but what we all need to make sure is that 'personal' is not confused with a novice look.
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Amen, Katie.

This is a really fine line. I'm going to be taking the next couple of months to diligently work on this, (in between planning and paying for my daughter's wedding..) That's why I started this thread. I am so grateful for so many eyes looking at it. REALLY grateful.

I'm also going to try something similar to what Rick did in getting people to look at other sites, along with my own, and tell me what they really like, and what they don't like at all on ANY site. I need to find people who regularly shop on line, I don't think people who never do are going to give honest feedback and the last thing I need is a bunch of back patting. My regular customers are too kind for what I need.
 
Hey Linda, I am not a person who shops online much as a matter of fact every single time I have I have been dissapointed with the return policies, or product..I am a very tactile person and not being aboe to see, touch and inspect an item is a problem for me..anyway, I asked on my FB page if any of the people who regularly shop inline cold tell me what their favorite ecommerce sites are and why...so far an overwhelmingly majority of people are price shopping and are solely shopping at favorites based on cheapest price...now mind you these are people buying books, games, movies etc, not flowers but can they really be that much different...now I am not saying that we all have to run right out and load our sites with 25-35 dollar arrangements, but I am seeing a trend that my TF site did much better than my new site and I am guessing that 90% of it is because the prices are just too high...the few less expensive items I have on there are not enough value for the money and the WS images that are chopped and photoshopped to death are winning out over my images and other stock images that have taken more a design route than a customer eyes route...all I know is that I really need to get a handle on what people on the internet want and quick because I am losing money big time from the web...since getting rid of TF...not enough to warrant paying them 600.00 a month again but enough to be alarmed and know that I am losing my market share of web orders to others in the area..

I have said this before if 25 people walked through my door and turned on their heel and walked out without ever looking around, inquiring or purchasing I would be alarmed, well it is happening on my website and I am at a loss on why all because I don't shop on the web and I don't think like a customer...at a complete loss..
 
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Linda and Lori, I guess I am going to chimne in on this thread although I hesitate to for fear of offending someone, but here it goes. First of all I have not read every post on this thread but I agree with all I have read especially Ricks comments. He, in my opinion, is completely right. Lori, I think on FB, save the florists, I might have commented on one of your questions. I made a comment, concerning websites, that I heard some time ago which I thought was some good advice. The advice went something like this, "look at what the big guys are doing and copy it". the thought being, like Rick said, these big players like TF, 1800 Flowers etc., have the money and the means to find out what works. Do you think they would keep their websites looking the way they do if they DIDN'T WORK? No, of course not. They design them the way they are because that is what the web buying public wants. I know we are all creative people and want something different. We want to stand out from the rest, however, that may not be what gets us the order. I think we can have alittle of both. Now my website is not all that great in the eyes of many people, but so far my customers seem to love it, at least that is what they tell me when I ask them. I have much work to do on it and so many corrections to do to it but I continue to get orders off of it on a regular basis and I don't believe there has been much of a change in the web orders since I changed from my TF site. Before I designed my site I asked people what they liked about my TF site. So many said it was easy to use and many pictures to look at. I was afraid to change for fear of losing customers but, like Lori, I didn't want to keep beholding to TF for anything! Anyhow, so I set up my site to resemble TF's websites, somewhat. The navigation is very similar, along with the contents on the left and lots of pictures. I added some of my own ideas, that I am sure many of you would not like, but it than makes my site my own. I love it! I have mentioned before that I have a coupon on it and people use that coupon alot. Not all customers use it but I would say 75% do. A person, who is doing an article on my coupon that I have on my business card, really liked my coupon idea. the one thing that stuck in my mind with my conversation with her was, "people are looking for a REASON to buy from you". Now that made alot of sense to me. As Rick said, if you think people are not looking around and comparing sites you are wrong, they do. The coupon, as small as it may seem - right now only $2.00, can be the deciding thing that causes the customer to buy from you. They are getting alittle bit of a deal and we all want that! :) So I give that to them, happy to do it. I have a mix of pictures on my site, some good some not so good. Some are from my camera, which I am not good at taking pictures but I try. I have found that people buy the craziest things. So I leave the weird and different pictures on there with all kinds of different price ranges. I really like my scrolling bars and people do read them. I have specials that people do buy and I change them from time to time. I have put on my old TF and Bloom products with the arrangements in them and have sold out of many of them. Ya! Amazing! So my site is working for me in my area. It may not work for others in their areas but if you can take any thing from my site that you like and think might work for you, feel free to use it. That's what I did. I looked at all kinds of sites before putting mine together. Like I said, it's not the greatest, and right now I am like Sarah, I am too fragil, not brave enough, to have you critique it for me, but if I can help anyone with any of my ideas I would be happy to.
 
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Lori, When I dropped TF WEB site I increased my on line orders. Today I met with my Web/Marketing/ SEO guy and we did a complete analysis of what's working and what's not. Since leaving TF my web orders are up 500%. My site is no where near perfect and is a constant work in progres. I'm just saying, TFtd sites are not the be all end all of web sites. The main thing you need to do is get a lot more product on yur site that is your own. You can make a profitable $35 arrangement and so what if it isn't a work of art. Show the masterpieces, too, so that they know what you can do, but seriously, most people just want basic pretty arrangements with good value. That's what you have to give them.
 
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Helen, good advice.

I thought about putting higher end on, and when I get my new site I should be able to feature some of that too. But just today I got two orders, each for $25 plus $12 delivery. I simply reached into the cooler and grabbed, already made because they are standard arrangements at great mark-ups that are FASSSST if I do have to custom make them. $80 is better than zero any day of the week for me. The key is profitable plus perceived value.

Helen, I revamped my entire sympathy info page from your comments, I thank you. Gonna take a whole lot longer to insert the substitution policy on all of the items since some of them cannot be substituted but that's going to happen too.

Some of the others are going to take extra work, especially the too bright/fuzzy images.

Keep 'em coming, I'm on it!
Linda
 
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