Building trust and increasing sales help

[webbiz1]

Hi Everyone,

I have a online florist shop Perth Florist - For fresh beautiful flower deliveries in Western Australia and was thinking of letting people know we only sell high quality fresh flowers. I was thinking maybe to give people peace of mind by offering a "Fresh or there free" offer or guarantee.
We have testimonials from past clients so maybe i should place more of them on the site. Im just hoping you guys could give me some ideas as we really want to increase sales and let people know we are very good at our job and dont send stale flowers to their loved ones.

Not sure where i should place the text with the offer either. Probably at the top of the page i guess. Your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

John Fowler

[Dcrux]

thinking of letting people know we only sell high quality fresh flowers.

How many of your competitors sell old wilted flowers? Sounds like you're trying to play it safe. However, if it is a real problem and concern with customers, you may be onto something. It's called a unique selling proposition. Playing the odds, however, probably not.

It does sound like you're trying to get a pat on the back for bare minimum competency. As Chris Rock would note, you get no credit for doing what you're supposed to be doing -- you get the sales bump from being outstanding.

One flower shop took those wilted flowers and sold them as "breakup gifts" along with melted chocolates. Got tons of free publicity because 1) They weren't playing it safe 2) Actually stood out from a notoriously boring industry infamous for inbred, uninspired thinking. Now that boosted sales.

If it doesn't scare your competitors, you're doing the competitive advantage thing wrong. In other words, look for everyone to offer the identical guarantee by this time tomorrow and the sale boost to be nil.

...we really want to increase sales

What the vast majority do is add a caveat ...."as long as increasing sales never pushes us out of the comfort zone." Most people never want to confront the unpleasant information that people are comfortable ordering flowers ...but they have so many other options you're in competition with. People want to maintain their comfort zone much, much more than increased sales.

As for people who haven't ever ordered online before -- and it's 2008 -- you shouldn't focus on people who've never bought online and probability says never will. Don't fool yourself that a tepid guarantee will change behavior in a major way. It doesn't happen.

This isn't the corner business, it's online. Competition is more fierce with options a click or two away, and online businesses still try to figure out the absolute least they can possibly imagine to do to win more business. Good luck with that.

[webbiz1]

My Goodness Dcrux now you have me thinking. When you think about it your right people should expect fresh flowers as the norm rather then the exception. So i guess its back to the drawing board for me.
Did think of one idea and that was to offer to take a photo of the receipient receiving the flowers. Only problem was it would only work some of the time becuase people may not want a photo and some may not be home anyway etc.

Thanks again for your very incitefull reply

John fowler

[Dcrux]

So i guess its back to the drawing board for me.

If the vast majority pretty much get fresh flowers to the customer, then it's just not a competitive advantage. If -- for some reason -- there's a chronic problem with wilted flower (why, I can't imagine) then it's possible.

[SisterSledge]

A value add that might be unique and that I personally would enjoy is that you'd take a pic of the bouquet you created for my order and email it to me.

When sending flowers online for a distant recipient, I'm never going to see what they truly looked like (unless you send me a pic). This would address the always sent fresh angle too.

[webbiz1]

Good idea sending a photo of the flowers before they are delivered. Thanks SisterSledge.
I actually wanted to take photos of the recepient receiving the flowers awhile back but there were a few problems with doing that. First they the recepient may not want their photo taken and Second they may not be there at delivery. Thought the sender may be get a buzz out of that but Im not sure.

[jawn_tech]

I think the picture idea is awesome. As someone who has purchased flowers for delivery, I've often wondered how they looked, and never had a chance to see them.

Personally, I wouldn't be interested in having a picture of the recipient at the time of delivery... It would have an adverse affect, imo. Almost 'stalker-like'. But.... maybe the idea needs to be explored more. In general, maybe an optional service for the recipient's sake -- discreetly ask them if they would like to send a picture message back to the sender, and do it for free. Makes the whole flower-getting experience more memorable (along with your business). If they say 'sure', great. If not, no pressure. They may have answered the door in a mud-mask and moo-moos, or at work sitting in a cublicle maze. Don't mention it to the sender / buyer before hand, so that it's not something that's expected. Hmm. Keep that idea on the backburner, imo.

Here's a strategy that might work (as for buyers getting pics of just the bouquet). Add a page that tells that they can opt into having a picture of the finished bouquet sent by email. Link to that page from the homepage. During checkout in the online form, make sure to have a field where they type their email address. Add two checkboxes nearby. The first lets them opt into receiving a pic of the bouquet that was made. The second is an opt-in checkbox that asks if they want to receive news and announcements from the florist. Upcoming sales, etc. This is your newsletter list. Send your customers a newsletter periodically. It keeps your business fresh in their minds. At least once a month, especially before holidays.

That's my brainstorm contribution for ya.

Oh yeah one more quick suggestion -- probably nothing, since you're not going to use the phrase "Fresh or there free" anymore... but just in case -- be sure to spell "there" as "they're" (I make tons of spelling mistakes, no worries)

[webbiz1]

Well it amazes me how many great ideas you can get when you simply ask. Jawn_tech man you really are a brainstormer. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread it really has helped me a lot.

Regards
John Fowler

[MaineWeb]

You DID get some great ideas! I really like the idea of seeing a photo of the actual arrangement I buy. Recently I sent flowers to my brother when his baby boy was born. It was supposed to be in a little red fire engine. Perfect, right? Well, the particular florist didn't have a wagon, so they sent it in a watering can. Huh??? I would guess if they were going to have to send a photo of the actual arrangement they would have at least found something closer than that.

As for the freshness guarantee, some florists offer a guarantee that the arrangement will last 7 days or it's free. I like that personally.

[Dubbya]

Originally Posted by webbiz1

Hi Everyone,
I was thinking maybe to give people peace of mind by offering a "Fresh or there free" offer or guarantee.

Can open, worms everywhere!

I'd define "fresh flowers" as being right out of the cooler, wrapped and placed in my hands. Before you offer "fresh or free" flowers, you'd better define that statement for your prospective customers or they'll define it for you.

You'll also want to define your service area for the same reason. If I order fresh flowers and have you ship them to Canada, what are the chances that they'll still be fresh when they get here? You simply can't underestimate the assumptions your prospective customers will make, so again, I think it behooves you to address any possible expectation and outline precisely what your logistical capabilities are.

While I realise this is outside the scope of your initial request, I just ran a test transaction on your site and it appears that you have some usability issues that you may wish to address. Please check the comments in the order page for more information.

Why is your telephone number, fax numbers and business address not visible in the header on your pages?

About your order confirmation page.
Payment Confirmation implies that you have processed the payment successfully. That didn't happen in this case because I used a test account number.

You might want to reword that phrase to read "Order Confirmation" instead. Then add a line of text informing the user that their order will be shipped when their payment has been processed successfully.

I couldn't find any shipping/delivery information. How do you ship? Can the user choose a shipping method? What are the costs? Is there a flat shipping/delivery fee? When do deliveries take place? Are there any days in the week when you don't ship

BTW, I just submitted three duplicate orders by using my browser's back button. This means that you need to disallow caching in your checkout and payment pages. In addition to the confusion this causes for the user, you'll probably want to let the user know that disallowing page caching prevents duplicate purchases

From a user's perspective, when I've completed the checkout process, I'd like to see a confirmation page which outlines my order, lists all the items, the shipping method, prices and taxes.

That's my .02

[webbiz1]

Ponder Ponder think think.

Dubbya thanks for taking the time to give all your feedback it's been really helpful and also its a wake-up call for me to really sharpen up some aspects particulary the ones you pointed out. I have spoken to my good old mate who helps me with the site and he said your critique of the site was excellent and he will help me in fixing it all up.

I wasn't really expecting a lot of rsponse from everyone as we all get busy and have our own lives to live, but thankyou everyone Im really grateful for all your input.

Kind Regards
John Fowler

[timekeeper90]

See, first of all evaluate your competition. Are there many flower sellers who sell stale flowers or are very few. If few then you proposition does not hold much value because nearly everyone is selling what you are promising to sell and give to your customers.
Now, if there are not many sellers who are selling fresh flowers, then you are in good position.
Try building a deal around your flowers. Give chocolates free with your bouquets.
Promote your idea, either fresh flowers or they are free. Place a big banner on the home page of your site. For other sites also, if your advertising through any banner, place the same deal there as well.
You can also try a running banner which will run on every page of your site, no matter on what page the viewer is...

[confettiguru]

Fresh or Free is probably not the way to go. Who decides?
I would assume if I received flowers that weren't fresh they'd
be replaced anyway.
I love the idea of having a photo of the bouquet sent to me as the purchaser.
What a lovely way to build your email list too.
What did you decide to do based on the advice offered here?