Where did our customers go?
The following won’t be popular with many florists who got into this biz to be creative, but I think it has become a reality that we can no longer ignore.
Many have experienced a decline in business in recent years. We scratch our heads and ask ourselves “where did these customers go?” Many went to the big boxes, but big boxes have been around for some time now, so where did the rest go? I believe they became lost in the internet. Convenience – the fastest way to get from point A to point B. It’s human nature to look for the fastest way to accomplish a task, and online internet shopping caters to this. Our past, present and future customers have turned to our competition that are internet savvy, this includes dOGs, OG’s, drop shippers and even some of our fellow B&M’s. The customers that have magically disappeared from our stores are now shopping on the web and we need to connect and re-connect with them to get them back. I truly believe the future success of the new generation of florists is to have a dedicated web person or persons.
SEO is important and there are people like Ryan that offer these services at an affordable price. But they can only do so much. They can give us the tools, but it’s really up to us to use them.
Study the online competition.
See what the others are doing and learn from them. If you blink your eyes for one minute you’ll fall behind. Learn what to do and what not to do and apply these. Be aware of whom you are competing with. Just like you are aware of every shop within a 10 mile radius of you, know what every online store within 20 search results of you are up to. Offer something different than them, like products, pricing, service…, just be better.
Study the behavioral patterns of your customers.
I can’t express enough how important an analytics program such as “Google Analytics”, “Get Clicky”, “Omniture”, etc… is. See how your customers found you, how long they stayed on your site, their entry and exit paths, which items are clicked on more than others, etc… Learn from it and adjust accordingly. You can learn so much from their online behavior by “spying” on them. I’ve made many adjustments that have had an immediate impact on my conversions.
Email Campaigning.
It works and it is cheap. I’ve recently ventured into this form of marketing and if done properly, it really does work. Short term sales are not the goal here, a long term connection is what we’re shooting for.
There is so much more, those are just the tip of the iceberg.
Everyday I seem to spend more and more hours on my computer, studying, learning, and monitoring the web development side of my business. There is so much to learn and so little time, and I don’t think any of us even realize the degree of impact that the collective bits of information we are able to gather will have on the success of our businesses in the future. There is no way I could do all these things if I were still following the duties of my job description of 10 years ago. So much has changed, and found in order to survive I had to evolve with these changes.
The successful traditional florist usually offer the following: great designs, great product, great marketing, great customer service and hard work.
The successful neo florist with an EDGE = the traits of a successful traditional florist + the X-Factor.
The X-Factor is a dedicated web person.
The following won’t be popular with many florists who got into this biz to be creative, but I think it has become a reality that we can no longer ignore.
Many have experienced a decline in business in recent years. We scratch our heads and ask ourselves “where did these customers go?” Many went to the big boxes, but big boxes have been around for some time now, so where did the rest go? I believe they became lost in the internet. Convenience – the fastest way to get from point A to point B. It’s human nature to look for the fastest way to accomplish a task, and online internet shopping caters to this. Our past, present and future customers have turned to our competition that are internet savvy, this includes dOGs, OG’s, drop shippers and even some of our fellow B&M’s. The customers that have magically disappeared from our stores are now shopping on the web and we need to connect and re-connect with them to get them back. I truly believe the future success of the new generation of florists is to have a dedicated web person or persons.
SEO is important and there are people like Ryan that offer these services at an affordable price. But they can only do so much. They can give us the tools, but it’s really up to us to use them.
Study the online competition.
See what the others are doing and learn from them. If you blink your eyes for one minute you’ll fall behind. Learn what to do and what not to do and apply these. Be aware of whom you are competing with. Just like you are aware of every shop within a 10 mile radius of you, know what every online store within 20 search results of you are up to. Offer something different than them, like products, pricing, service…, just be better.
Study the behavioral patterns of your customers.
I can’t express enough how important an analytics program such as “Google Analytics”, “Get Clicky”, “Omniture”, etc… is. See how your customers found you, how long they stayed on your site, their entry and exit paths, which items are clicked on more than others, etc… Learn from it and adjust accordingly. You can learn so much from their online behavior by “spying” on them. I’ve made many adjustments that have had an immediate impact on my conversions.
Email Campaigning.
It works and it is cheap. I’ve recently ventured into this form of marketing and if done properly, it really does work. Short term sales are not the goal here, a long term connection is what we’re shooting for.
There is so much more, those are just the tip of the iceberg.
Everyday I seem to spend more and more hours on my computer, studying, learning, and monitoring the web development side of my business. There is so much to learn and so little time, and I don’t think any of us even realize the degree of impact that the collective bits of information we are able to gather will have on the success of our businesses in the future. There is no way I could do all these things if I were still following the duties of my job description of 10 years ago. So much has changed, and found in order to survive I had to evolve with these changes.
The successful traditional florist usually offer the following: great designs, great product, great marketing, great customer service and hard work.
The successful neo florist with an EDGE = the traits of a successful traditional florist + the X-Factor.
The X-Factor is a dedicated web person.
