How long does it take for website to start getting orders?

[retro]

Ok everyone told me I needed ecommerce, so I got an ecommerce website. I spent a LOT of time refining it, paring the # of items down, changing the wording on descriptions, added some of my own designs, still mostly JH. I wanted it to be perfect before I went live with it. The site went live almost a month ago, on July 10th. In close to a month I have received 2 orders from it. One was for the cheapest thing on the site, the other for a plant. I am using the same url as my old non-ecommerce website, so that domain hasn't changed. It did take longer to transfer over another domain I had (about 2 weeks) but now it works and points to the website. Just wondering how long it generally takes to generate orders on a regular basis from an ecommerce website, specifically from new customers searching for a website to order from.

http://cityfloristonline.com

 

[theRKF]

It's a constant process, but you really do have to give it some time.

We always counsel clients to view their web site as a second store front. You can't evaluate a new store opening in 2 weeks or two months ... you might be able to tweak some things and gain some insights, but it can take a full year to get a real ROI picture.

 

[bootcampguy]

It will take time, but tell as many people as you can about the new website. I drive traffic to my site for the after hours and have printed it on everyhting that we are available 24/7. Statements, mailings, pens, stationary, van, front door, etc. anything you can put that url do it. You will be happy down the road. Got order last week and the cutomer got the web off the front door, he came by when we we're closed.

 

[BobbiR]

We have had our own (not TF) site for 4 months now--Started April 1
We have had close to 20 orders directly from site, BUT I have had a LOT of people calling while on the site
So, what I am saying is always ask--my customers like to check if I have the colors in the picture or if they can get it in another color!
I encourage this on the first page--telling them if it needs something specific--give me a call--seems to work very well for me.
Today alone--in dead August, we had 3 calls from people on our site!
http://www.plantsandthings.com

 

[KABERS]

I like your site. I went through the whole order process and made up a fake address not even in your state and it excepted it with a $15.00 del. Now I need to see if my website will accept any address.
I wonder if people are confused by the "hand delivery" term?? You come up 3rd on my google place pages but 2nd in the listings.
I'm also a little torn that City Florist sounds like an OG. (Don't smack me, just being honest)

 

[retro]

Thanks all for the insightful comments! Thanks Jenifer for checking out the process. The $15 for out-of-area orders is for my wire fee and the other shop's delivery fee. I thought "hand delivery" would let people know the order isn't coming in a box lol.

The generic name of the shop has been the same for 30+ years so I didn't change it when I bought the shop 4 years ago as we have a good rep locally. I have always worried that out-of-towners or other florists would think I’m an OG. I have read about other shops in this boat adding a last name like “Laney’s City Florist” and then years later dropping the City part. I don’t know if I should do that or not. I hope my face book page adds some credibility that I’m real.

I will add more verbage to the site to encourage customers to call for different colors and something specific. I am not the most patient person. I just got worried from stories from other florists like “I had 10+ orders the first week”. I need to get the 24/7 message out there.

~Karen

 

[theRKF]

I am not the most patient person. I just got worried from stories from other florists like “I had 10+ orders the first week”. I need to get the 24/7 message out there.

~Karen

It may also take time for consumers (the good ones order ~3x per year, right?) who are used to a non-ecommerce site to come back and see the difference. Let's see how it performs through the first holiday season!

 

[retro]

I'm also wondering if those florists with a good order rate right off the bat either had a prior ecommerce site or had email marketing in place. I don't have any email addresses for my current customers. That's a whole other problem.

 

[Eric S]

I remember when I switched from Teleflora website to our own website using the same URL it was like a switch turned off and we didn't have a single order for almost a month. I thought to myself I really messed things up.
But slowly but surely we started getting orders again and by the fourth month we had surpased our Teleflora website orders and it still continues to improve to this day.

During your checkout process I would change message to card message or gift message.

The link to Floranext should open into a new browser instead of leaving your website.

Your content at the bottom of the page is the same on each page. Not really good I would see about changing it up on each page.

Overall it woks really nice. At least you have different titles, descriptions and keywords. Be patient and continue to work on adding more content and you should see a difference. Don't try to do a whole bunch of pages one or two a day. I always say to myself that the search engines are always looking for "New Content" so if you build your website and don't add anything new to it for a long time its going to suffer.

Good Job by the way!!!

 

[retro]

I remember when I switched from Teleflora website to our own website using the same URL it was like a switch turned off and we didn't have a single order for almost a month. I thought to myself I really messed things up.
But slowly but surely we started getting orders again and by the fourth month we had surpased our Teleflora website orders and it still continues to improve to this day.

Thanks Eric you are making me feel better! I will see about making those changes too.

 

[kt4ye]

Here are a few comments, not necessarily in order of importance...

None of your bouquet descriptions that I saw contain their physical dimensions. Customers like to know how big something is. Otherwise, you WILL get phone calls complaining that "it looked bigger on the website!"

Perhaps the best way to PROVE that you are a local florist is to put a picture of your shop on the home page (at least.) Maybe instead of the "stylized" skyline at the top?

Place your shop name, address (including zip) and phone numbers at the bottom of every page.

Place a statement like: "Order ONLINE 24 Hours a day using our SECURE ordering system!" on every page. You cannot assume that people will know this.

There is no apparent order to the presentation of products in each category. High priced and low priced items, as well as items with different functions (Like Casket sprays and crosses) are often placed side-by-side. This makes it difficult for customers to find an item. It also has negative connotations: "If their website is disorganized, why should I expect their business to be different?"

Your delivery policy seems complicated and the charges are not explicit.

These are things we learned (sometimes painfully) over the years. Hope they help.

All the best, Bill

 

[Doug Munro]

Be Patient....

Ryan's advice is the same as I tell our own stores..... Treat your website like a second storefront

This means far more than just developing a mental attitude, it means devoting a serious amount of time and some real cash if you want it to be successful. How many florists would expect their store to be a success if it was a part time venture for them? If they were only willing to invest 4-6 hours week and say $99.00 a month?

The reality is that most florist sites plug along generating an order a day if they have a good week. This is an extremely competitive marketplace sector on the web, more so than most