Drive more Floral Sales with Customer Reviews

Published: Monday 10 September 2018

Drive more Floral Sales with Customer Reviews

Did you know that Reviews by real customers are PROVEN to drive more sales for florists?  Recent research suggests that 92% of consumers read reviews online before buying and 60% of consumers will trust a site based on a high Google review above 4 stars.

There are many types of Reviews & places to submit reviews. and it’s hard to know which is best. So we have done the research for you and have whipped up a quick guide to the different types of reviews which you should aim for!

There are three common types of Reviews:

  1. Google Reviews (two types)
  2. On Site Reviews
  3. Other Third Party Review Aggregators

Each different type of review system has a different impact and is seen by customers at a different part of the sales process. However, Google is probably the most important review type for you to focus your attention on for impact for your business.

Google Reviews

There are a couple of different types of reviews and ratings from Google.  The most common is for your Google Business Listing to have a Star review.

Reviews Business Google Listing

For local search IE a search result looking for a florist in an area the Google Star Reviews are show under the Google Maps.

Local Google Star Reviews

The second type is the Google Customer Reviews where Google sends a request to the customer to review the purchase.

The Google ranking is shown on the webpage as a widget like below.

On Page Google Customer Reviews

These really do increase the sales conversion rates, however you need at least 150 reviews before the widget will be shown and for a small florist that can take a long time!

On Site Reviews

You’ve probably seen these type of reviews, this is where the website software itself allows people to self review.  Amazon is a prime example of the power of reviews, virtually every product on the website has reviews from various people.

 

On site reviews are generally for a specific product not the overall site / service as a whole. 

Third Party Review Sites

Reviews by Yelp

There are a few really well known companies that provide review services:

  • Feefo
  • Product Review
  • Yelp
  • Tru Local

Just to name a few.

Most of these cost to be a part of the and the cost can be a big factor for any small businesses.  It's certainly not a bad idea to encourage people to leave good reviews on any of these sites but your priority should be Google!

The third party review engines generally have their own widgets to allow the rankings for your site to be used on the site as well, which again has a fantastic impact on your sales conversion rates.

Pros and Cons

Google Business Reviews Pros

  • Easy to set up and is viewed when a customer Googles your business name
  • Reviews can be seen instantly on Google
  • Consumers Trust Google Reviews – especially from verified users

Cons

  • Anyone can make a review here which means non customers can make a review
  • It’s difficult to remove a fake review
  • You need to ask the customer for the review and have a process in place to ask

Google Customer Reviews Pros

  • Considered the gold standard for reviews
  • Visible on Google search results, Google maps
  • Limited to verified customers only

Cons

  • You have to have a minimum of 150 reviews to show the ranking on your website
  • So can take a long time to get the rankings

On Site Reviews Pros

  • Easy to add reviews and ratings to your website

Cons

  • Consumers do not have a great trust in on site reviews
  • Requires software to get the reviews
  • Products with no reviews or rankings look odd

Third party Review sites Pros

  • Generally they can integrate with Google
  • Can be shown on your website

Cons

  • They usually have a cost associated with these type of accounts
  • Consumers have a lower trust of unverified site reviews
  • Need software to show on the website and export the sales data

Best Approach for Reviews?

So what’s the best approach for reviews for your website?

This will depend entirely on the size of your business and how many orders you take.

First of think of this, only about 5 – 6% percent of customers bother writing reviews so if you get 100 orders a week that means you can really only expect about 5 – 6 reviews a week.

If you are medium to large online florist then I would definitely recommend that your set up Google Customer Reviews however it will take some time for the reviews to actually show on your website.

If we use the 5% rule of people leaving reviews and you get 100 orders a week it’s going to take 30 weeks to show your Google Badge review!

If however you are a smaller florist then I would recommend you implement Google Business Reviews and ask your customers to do give you a review.

Sources:

https://www.vendasta.com/blog/50-stats-you-need-to-know-about-online-reviews

https://www.reviewtrackers.com/online-reviews-survey/

 

Drew Wentzel

Drew Wentzel

Drew Wentzel is the principal of enflexion with over 30 years of experience in developing web services and software, Drew has helped design and develop usable and functionality rich Internet applications and built online presences for a wide variety of industries including retail, government, hospitality, lifestyle, corporate and technology companies.

Tags: New Features, Marketing, Florist Fight Back

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