Pink Is Out of Season!

[goldfish]

I'm talking about wire outs here.

That said - we don't even have a 1% complaint rate - more like about 1/2 of 1%.

This is not a criticism of your shop, but 0.5-1% complaint rate for wire-outs is too high in my opinion. Consider this...

One, not all senders will actually see the flowers; most recipients won't complain about the gifts they received.

Two, only a fraction of dissatisfied customers actually complain. Most of them just shrug off and move on.

So 0.5-1% complaint rate is a gross underestimate of the actual dissatisfaction rate. I wouldn't be surprised if the dissatisfaction rate could be 10-20-times more than that.

Another note: you and I sometimes debate over the virtue of having cookie-cutter arrangements. As I said in the past, we don't and actually can't fill most cookie-cutter arrangements because we don't carry the component flowers (carns and daisies etc). We refuse a lot, undoubtedly reducing our revenue potential.

Now here's the thing, though. We still fill over 1,000 wire-ins a year. Complaint rate? Less than 0.1%, meaning that we don't even get one arrangement-related complaint per year. In fact, we had only one complaint in the past two years. We had other complaints though, mostly about late deliveries.

I'm not saying that we are "good." Of course I want to believe we are not bad, but that's not the reason why the complaint rate is so low. I think the reason is that we are avoiding all those picture arrangements that are, in our opinion, fantasies, something you can't have in reality.

 

[NavyBrat]

Another blogger is writing about shopping online - this time at both FTD and 1-800-Flowers.

1-800-Flowers: Pretty in Pink? I don't think so!

She ordered the 'Florist Select' European Hand-tied Bouquet and assumed the colors would be the same as the ones in the picture. (The photo on the site is different today - it's here.)

The product description is as follows:
Not exactly clear that the florist chooses the color, IMO. Anyway, the funny part comes when the 1-800 CSR tells the shopper that 'pink is out of season.'


Blaming the customer is just ludicrous here. The 1-800 team is a group of fast learners so I expect they'll get the product description fixed real soon.

But I just want to yell at the top of my lungs "Call a local florist. We know when pink is in season!"

Cathy,

I did just that...tried not to yell, but think I put my message through loud and clear about using a local florist. I posted a lengthy response on her blog.

I would like to personally thank you for always being the "watchdog" and alerting us to bloggers like tradinggoddess. It benefits all of us to take the time to post about the benefits of using your real local florists to these bloggers. Thanks, Cathy!

 

[bloomz]

This is not a criticism of your shop, but 0.5-1% complaint rate for wire-outs is too high in my opinion. Consider this...

One, not all senders will actually see the flowers; most recipients won't complain about the gifts they received.

I didn't factor out the ridiculous complaints - they still have to be dealt with, and of that 1/2%, probably at least half of those require nothing more than a phone call to let the sender know you care about their business. If I can keep 99% of my customers happy I am just totally fine with that.

I hear people in here talking about how bad it is to send wire orders - like Queen's horrible experience with a 50% failure rate. I guess it's all relative.

opinons vary...

 

[RWK]

I have to comment here about sending of wire orders. Speaking for me and me alone here, I LIKE sending orders out. Even on the busiest of holidays, I will take the time to call the intended filling florist and talk with them.
I don't send on Mercury or Dove. Just punch a few buttons and off it goes into the never-neverland of forwards, rejects, resends, more forwards, more rejects, more resends.......
If the filling shop can't do the order for whatever reason, then they will tell me then and there and I can then let my customer know. If they have this, but don't have that, then they will tell me so then and there.

Does it take a little longer time to pick up the phone, dial the number, and talk to someone? YES
Are you able to converse for a second or two with a friend or fellow shop you know?
YES
If there is a problem, Do you know about it right then and can alert your customer? YES

This next statement could step on some toes and I am sorry if it does
:
We call ourselves real florists and battle daily with OG's and customers who take the easy road and order online .......... and then we fire off an order on the machine so we can get back to doing what we need to do. If our customer's should call and talk with us as real florists, then should we not call and talk to each other...real florist to real florist?

 

[lori042499]

Actually 'designer's choice' is the only thing we sell on our web site (take a look), except for the wire-out section. Even in the wire-out section, we still highly recommend "designer's choice" together with a few arrangements that we are certain most florists can do. I mean, we can't be more honest than this, can we?

On the plus side, designer's-choice-only site like ours will remove all sorts of problems associated with selling pictures that, most of us know, can't be duplicated in actual arrangements.

On the minus side, it's quite possible that designer's-choice-only site like ours may not generate as many orders as other sites do.

I like your site it is not bad...Do you get your fair share of orders off it?? Do you find that people call you ta ask specifically what will be in their arrangement?

 

[lori042499]

I have to comment here about sending of wire orders. Speaking for me and me alone here, I LIKE sending orders out. Even on the busiest of holidays, I will take the time to call the intended filling florist and talk with them.
I don't send on Mercury or Dove. Just punch a few buttons and off it goes into the never-neverland of forwards, rejects, resends, more forwards, more rejects, more resends.......
If the filling shop can't do the order for whatever reason, then they will tell me then and there and I can then let my customer know. If they have this, but don't have that, then they will tell me so then and there.

Does it take a little longer time to pick up the phone, dial the number, and talk to someone? YES
Are you able to converse for a second or two with a friend or fellow shop you know?
YES
If there is a problem, Do you know about it right then and can alert your customer? YES

This next statement could step on some toes and I am sorry if it does
:
We call ourselves real florists and battle daily with OG's and customers who take the easy road and order online .......... and then we fire off an order on the machine so we can get back to doing what we need to do. If our customer's should call and talk with us as real florists, then should we not call and talk to each other...real florist to real florist?

I do call on picky orders and 9 times out of 10 after I talk to said florist they ask me to Dove it. Dove makes for easier paperwork and faster inout into POS system. Most of the time if I am calling a shop it is because i want to hear how knowledgable said shops employees are and if they will be able to handle the very specific order I want to send or I don't know them and never heard of them...I do like talking to real florists when the need arises, but if I am sending a 45.00 mixed vase arrangement there really is no need if their little blurb says master florist, or award winning florist etc, etc..

 

[RWK]

I looked at your Flowers Insolita site.....very nice site. But I have to ask.......

How many people order the lottery ticket add-on and have won any significant amount of money?

 

[goldfish]

I like your site it is not bad...Do you get your fair share of orders off it?? Do you find that people call you ta ask specifically what will be in their arrangement?

Directly from the web store (shoping cart): 4% of non-WS sales
Call-in by a customer looking at the web site: about 25% of non-WS sales

We pay $40/month for web-hosting, so worth it definitely. In fact we would be dead a long time ago without that stupid site I, amaterur, made by myself.

Our web store (store.flowers-insolita.com) is currently separate from the main site (www.flowers-insolita.com), so that's probably hurting the sales.

 

[lori042499]

Directly from the web store (shoping cart): 4% of non-WS sales
Call-in by a customer looking at the web site: about 25% of non-WS sales

We pay $40/month for web-hosting, so worth it definitely. In fact we would be dead a long time ago without that stupid site I, amaterur, made by myself.

Our web store (store.flowers-insolita.com) is currently separate from the main site (www.flowers-insolita.com), so that's probably hurting the sales.

What do you find is the reason for them calling in instead of placing order on web?? Just curious....That is not bad #'s for a cheaper DIY website and to me it doesn't look like a diy site it looks darn good.

 

[goldfish]

I looked at your Flowers Insolita site.....very nice site. But I have to ask.......

How many people order the lottery ticket add-on and have won any significant amount of money?

Oh, lottery ticket? Directly from the web, so far just one. But many more people ordered it over the phone. I'd say about a doze so far. It's just a small little add-on. We go to a supermarket to buy fruits anyway, so buying a ticket doesn't cost any additional expense. Clever, huh?

 

[Chezbloom]

Goldfish,

I love the vintage photo on your website-charming!

 

[goldfish]

Goldfish,

I love the vintage photo on your website-charming!

It's from Comstock.com. You have to register, but they allow you to download royalty-free pics.

 

[MANORVILLE]

Cathy,

I did just that...tried not to yell, but think I put my message through loud and clear about using a local florist. I posted a lengthy response on her blog.

I would like to personally thank you for always being the "watchdog" and alerting us to bloggers like tradinggoddess. It benefits all of us to take the time to post about the benefits of using your real local florists to these bloggers. Thanks, Cathy!

Likewise and ditto, ditto, ditto, here on this end.
Got involved as well with a lenghty post and had direct contact thereafter. Will keep all advised.

Diane way way way excellent post to the blog. You be the bestest!
CHR thanks for yet another heads up.

kevin

 

[goldfish]

What do you find is the reason for them calling in instead of placing order on web??

I can only guess, but these are the two main reasons I can think of.

1) Fear of entering personal info into an unknown Internet web site. People trust 1-800-flowers more than a site run by a small florist (unless they know our store).

2) Some of the customers (I'd say 1/3 of callers) want to order a particular arrangement shown on the main site. They can't do that on our web store, so they have to call and talk to a real human.

Seriously, Lori, you might want to make your own site. It's not too difficult, because even I can do it. Web site is a second store front, and it has to be unique IMO.

P.S. Thank you for your compliment.

 

[ivygreen]

I have to comment here about sending of wire orders. Speaking for me and me alone here, I LIKE sending orders out. Even on the busiest of holidays, I will take the time to call the intended filling florist and talk with them.
I don't send on Mercury or Dove. Just punch a few buttons and off it goes into the never-neverland of forwards, rejects, resends, more forwards, more rejects, more resends.......
If the filling shop can't do the order for whatever reason, then they will tell me then and there and I can then let my customer know. If they have this, but don't have that, then they will tell me so then and there.

Does it take a little longer time to pick up the phone, dial the number, and talk to someone? YES
Are you able to converse for a second or two with a friend or fellow shop you know?
YES
If there is a problem, Do you know about it right then and can alert your customer? YES

This next statement could step on some toes and I am sorry if it does
:
We call ourselves real florists and battle daily with OG's and customers who take the easy road and order online .......... and then we fire off an order on the machine so we can get back to doing what we need to do. If our customer's should call and talk with us as real florists, then should we not call and talk to each other...real florist to real florist?

Several thoughts on this:

1. It takes a lot longer, and sometimes you don't have time for chit chat.
2. If I have a concern regarding an order, I speak to the florist first and then dove/merc it, ususally their preference anyway.
3. It takes time to answer those calls too, I like mine any way I can get 'em but prefer them sent to me.
4. I consider many OG's to be someone who beat me to a good idea. Better web presence, better marketing, etc.
5. Ordering online is here to stay.
6. I have very few problems with wiring out orders, and I steer my customers in the direction of ordering something reasonable to make, create, or have on hand. and then I get a second choice, anyway.
7. Love to talk to fellow florists, have received great info on the phone while doing wire outs, but there is a time and a place for that and the busy seasons are not it.
8. My complaints are low on wire outs, I only had one for Christmas, and it was my own fault.

JMO

 

[lori042499]

I can only guess, but these are the two main reasons I can think of.

1) Fear of entering personal info into an unknown Internet web site. People trust 1-800-flowers more than a site run by a small florist (unless they know our store).

2) Some of the customers (I'd say 1/3 of callers) want to order a particular arrangement shown on the main site. They can't do that on our web store, so they have to call and talk to a real human.

Seriously, Lori, you might want to make your own site. It's not too difficult, because even I can do it. Web site is a second store front, and it has to be unique IMO.

P.S. Thank you for your compliment.

I tried and didn't like the results. I didn't have the attention span to do it or the time. I could find no help, my husband is a network guy not a web guy so he told me....I had no images of my own either or a camera to take them with. My store was a giant dissaster when I bought it and needed my full attention the first 5-6 months to get it 100% functional. I don't even think i had time for lunch in that time...now that I have the images and the time maybe I will work on it again. I see that quick books has web sites and carts, i'll have to look into it....

You are very welcome..