Flower Shop Network

[Tom Carlson]

Testimonials for Flower Shop Network would be appreciated. We are in a city of 60,000 with very high unemployment and could handle more incoming orders without increasing payroll.

$249 a year, no other fees except 20% going to the sending florist.

Flower Shop Network already has a good florist in town, with them since 2002. Another shop would only dilute what already comes to our city, another member would not increase exposure to consumers unless FSN would have equal or better results with Search Engines.

Experience with FSN would be appreciated.

Tom Carlson

 

[Julz]

I love FSN, been with them for around four years, great people to work with. No hidden fees and checks are sent out every Monday!

 

[master J]

if you are looking to get a lot of incoming, don't bother, especially if there is already one in your town. I don't use FSN for WS, but I do use them for their directory, which IMO, is worth the investment, and you will get 100% web orders from the directory. Ive been with them for over 7 yrs and always re-new the yearly directory.

Overall, I like FSN, a good company with good intentions for hard working florists. If you are looking for added incoming though, don't count on a lot of volume.

 

[artistry in bloom]

I used to love FSN. When I signed up with them in 2005 there was me and two other florists. I didn't get many (virtually one or two a year) orders from them but I did get a lot of business from them when people clicked onto my own site and ordered online or called to order.
They also used to show up number 2 or 3 from most searches for florists or flowershops in Victoria. Now they are on page 3 for florists and at the bottom of page 1 for flower shops. Worse than that is that there are now 9 florists listed on FSN for Victoria including one that is not even in Victoria but Nanaimo which is another town 90 minutes drive away- so not even a local florist.The number of people clicking onto my site has dropped dramatically because of all the added florists.
They phoned me a few weeks ago to renew and I don't think I should have. If I would have had a day to research I would not have renewed.I was really busy when they called and said it was due immediately. I was caught off guard trying to get orders ready for delivery and said I had asked them to let me know a week or so before it was due because last year they did the same thing . I don't usually renew anything on the spot and honestly I don't know why I did this time but upon reflection I think I made a mistake. I don't like companies that don't give you time to think. I'm sure they do that so you don't have time to check out if they are still beneficial .I have learned a lesson to trust my instincts and not give in to pressure which is something I don't normally do but I guess because they have been a benefit in the past I didn't question it.
If you are thinking you will get a lot of orders from them I would say save your money.I'm sure the only florists that get orders from them are the ones that pay extra for the FSN website.
Dianne

 

[master J]

I used to love FSN. When I signed up with them in 2005 there was me and two other florists. I didn't get many (virtually one or two a year) orders from them but I did get a lot of business from them when people clicked onto my own site and ordered online or called to order.
They also used to show up number 2 or 3 from most searches for florists or flowershops in Victoria. Now they are on page 3 for florists and at the bottom of page 1 for flower shops. Worse than that is that there are now 9 florists listed on FSN for Victoria including one that is not even in Victoria but Nanaimo which is another town 90 minutes drive away- so not even a local florist.The number of people clicking onto my site has dropped dramatically because of all the added florists.
They phoned me a few weeks ago to renew and I don't think I should have. If I would have had a day to research I would not have renewed.I was really busy when they called and said it was due immediately. I was caught off guard trying to get orders ready for delivery and said I had asked them to let me know a week or so before it was due because last year they did the same thing . I don't usually renew anything on the spot and honestly I don't know why I did this time but upon reflection I think I made a mistake. I don't like companies that don't give you time to think. I'm sure they do that so you don't have time to check out if they are still beneficial .I have learned a lesson to trust my instincts and not give in to pressure which is something I don't normally do but I guess because they have been a benefit in the past I didn't question it.
If you are thinking you will get a lot of orders from them I would say save your money.I'm sure the only florists that get orders from them are the ones that pay extra for the FSN website.
Dianne

You could have just told him, you need to think about it. I guess you got a pushy rep on the phone. I agree it has gotten watered down a bit, but I find that people who use those directories dont just click on the first ad, they do look for the florists with the best website and prices. Try lowering the prices on your directory ad, and maybe offer a $5 off coupon code- FSN, I get a lot of people who use my coupon code on the FSN directory.

Also, I have been able to pay my membership in 2 payments, they will let you do that. Also, try to work a deal, dont pay the top price, they will usually discount $50-100 if you ask. Play hard ball next time.

 

[Flowerchatter03]

If you need a way to wire out orders, they are a good alternative to wire services. You cannot wire out anything under $40 not even if you call the shop directly first. You have to call FSN as the computer program won't take it. Don't expect a lot of orders from their service.

If you already have a way to wire out that works for you whether it is a ws or calling direct, you may wish to save your money.

They're statistics on their number of hits are WAY overinflated.

 

[KABERS]

I really like fsn - But I did pay the extra for the website (699.00) and you also pay 3.99 relay fee for sending.
I will be out of ftd officially at the end of the month so this is how i'm handling sending orders.
I didn't want the expense and respondsibility of an e-commerse site. We may get an order a week in but I still wire out a lot
and want the convenience.
I also love the funeral home, hospital, and florist directories.
You can customize the fsn website, but I havn't tried yet.

 

[dlnfloral]

I'm very happy with FSN. I don't send out alot of orders but I needed a hassle free web site that I really don't have time to deal with or the know how to.So it worked out for me. I do get a far share of "wire ins" from them but alot of direct calls from other florist or from customers referred by another FSN florist. I believe I also split up my payments. They were happy to deal with me and make it easier. I also like that you can edit the website and add your own pictures or products.

 

[steve]

We been with them since Feb we do not use them for sending purposes but we do receive a couple orders per week from them . But there directory gets us many hits per week. They are nice people and have a good product.

 

[anytimeflowers]

We had a similar thread going a while ago.

FSN is not a wire service. I originally signed with them so that I would have a way to serve my customers when they wanted flowers sent out of state. You can use the florist directory, which is what I use. I choose the florist that will recieve my order. You also have the option to just have FSN choose a florist. Either way, the cost is $3.99. They keep your credit card on file and they will charge you 80% of the total plus the $3.99.

I have a web site with them. It used to show up very prominently in searches, now, it does not. I will be dropping the website now that I have my own which shows up much more readily, but I will still keep them for sending orders out. They belong to, I believe Teleflora, so if there is not a FSN shop in that town, they can still place the order for you.

If you DO get an order, and I get possibly one or two per MONTH, I recieve a check for 80% of the total, including my sales tax, in about one and a half weeks from the delivery date. But I get VERY FEW orders.

They are very nice about splitting the payments. Mine always comes due in July, so I split it out 2 months, last year 3 months. VERY nice to work with, very dedicated to make sure you got the order and can accept it. They fax the order to me, and if I don't call and confirm, they will call me and confirm.

If you are looking to add income, probably not going to happen on any sort of large scale. jmo

 

[clay]

I would say yes if you were the only shop, sharing with another shop (and they would be listed first) might be questionable. That being said, I do like that they can link to all 3 of my websites and I have gotten orders from them (could not tell you how many/much off hand). They do let you have 10 other town/community listings with your fee.

I am going way out on a limb and trying one of there fsnfuneralhomes.com banner ads....mainly because of all of the surrounding towns that I want to start marketing to. They gave me they page impression stats for little surrounding towns like Edna, TX.....I am going to set up a seperate affiliate home page with Analytics to see if I get any action out of it.

 

[Eric S]

Here is the last 12 months of traffic.

 

[Eric S]

FSN Funeral And Hospital Traffic

Here is the traffic from the Funeral and Hospital Pages

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

hmmmmm...on life support??...

 

[anytimeflowers]

Eric, are the percentages shown in comparison to your main site overall? Interesting that people who DO end up on the fsn spend a great deal more time on the fsn pages and seem to look at more pages than the site in general.

Those statistics show exactly what we have been saying, though. If you are looking for more revenue, fsn is not the answer!

Thanks for sharing those, good good insight!
Linda

p.s. -Mikey, you crack me up!

 

[HydrangeaBleu]

Eric,
Not my area of expertise by any stretch, but wondering if the stats that FSN supplies excludes the search engine hits (google, yahoo, etc.)?

I had FSN for about a year in 2006, I think. Not much business from them. I don't think that it even covered the yearly fee.

Anne

 

[sandytf]

We've been with FSN since last Dec. in preparation for dropping FTD (at the end of this month). They are nice people and the service is good but we have recieved about 3 incoming orders in that time (and that's with 5 locations signed up with them). We have had some complaints from our customers on outgoing orders (although that's nothing new). We really needed a way to send orders out as a couple of our locations do a good outgoing business.

Anyone have any any suggestions for sending outgoing orders overseas? We have a couple customers who send overseas regularly and I'm not sure how to accomodate them. Our company does not give us a credit card to use so we can't just google and send the order with a credit card.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Hi Sandy,

FSN can do international. I have never sent one through them, but I believe the charge is $16.99.

 

[Eric S]

Eric,
Not my area of expertise by any stretch, but wondering if the stats that FSN supplies excludes the search engine hits (google, yahoo, etc.)?

I had FSN for about a year in 2006, I think. Not much business from them. I don't think that it even covered the yearly fee.

Anne

I think the stats from FSN include robot hits and that could increase the number of visitors.

I wonder if these directories could of survived if they just would of past on some of their link juice?

Eric, are the percentages shown in comparison to your main site overall?

Yes they are.

 

[Eric S]

Hey I thought we have some of their people here on the board? Are they still here?