With physical shopping prohibited pretty much everywhere, your website has taken center stage this spring. “It was important before, but now it is number one,” said web expert and floral consultant Vonda LaFever, AIFD, PFCI, during a recent webinar for the Society of American Florists.

In “Prepping Your Website for Holiday Sales,” LaFever and Kami Martin, teammates at Flower Clique, broke down essential steps to set yourself up for success this holiday season.

Here a few of their must-dos:

• Pare down your menu. “You are not the Cheesecake Factory,” Martin said. “You cannot — and should not — offer everything under the sun.” With resources (both product and labor) in short supply, you have to be especially selective in what you sell this year. “You want recipes that use the same flowers,” LaFever said, adding that you might start with pre-made consumer bouquets and then come up with arrangements that match those.

The women advise “skinnying up” your site. Start with your Mother’s Day menu, which should appear prominently on your homepage, ensuring that it has no more than five rows of products, with some plants, add-ons and “designer’s choice” options sprinkled in. Don’t worry that’s too paltry, LaFever said: “Too many choices fatigue customers. This helps them feel confident making a decision.” Move on to other important categories (birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, etc.) and cross promote as many of your M-Day designs as possible. “Customers will not care, or likely even notice,” Martin said. “They tend to only shop one category.” Additionally, the women recommend hiding more esoteric categories, such as “floral art,” to better manage the holiday volume. “Be sure you don’t deactivate these categories,” Martin said. “They still exist in Google searches and you don’t want to risk having a customer click on a broken link.”

• Hone your homepage. “Without fail, the homepage is responsible for the vast majority of sales,” Martin said. Make sure it features the designs you most want to sell (i.e. don’t populate it with $30 designs) and that photos appear “above the fold” (near the top of the page, so customers don’t have to scroll).
• Make sure everything’s up to date. When you run out of a particular option, don’t simply remove it. “Mark it as ‘sold out,’ because that phrase shows you have high demand and creates a sense of urgency,” Martin said. That said, be sure to move items still available to the top of your homepage, LaFever said. “You don’t want to discourage people from the get-go with a row of ‘sold out’ messages.” In addition, the women recommend doing a price check on your site. “Have your prices gone up? If so, you need to charge a little more than usual,” LaFever said. “It’s so important that you make a profit.”
• Make it clear what you’re doing. The women recommend using pop-up messages about your current situation, whether that’s offering contact-free delivery or a temporary closure. “Make the message concise — and pretty,” Martin said. “Include photos that show you are a flower shop.” Reinforce the pop-up message by posting the same copy on your homepage.

Watch the full webinar here for greater detail and more tips.

Katie Hendrick Vincent is the senior contributing writer and editor for the Society of American Florists.