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Christmas Success Guide for Florists

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The most wonderful time of the year (and a wonderful sales opportunity too!). With the right preparations, marketing and customer care, florists can maximise their in-store and online sales this holiday season. Here’s our ultimate Christmas success guide for florists to ensure you’re ready for a blooming great peak period.

Christmas lights illustration

1. Create a Festive Shop Experience

Decorate your shop : Transform your shopfront and interior into Santa's Grotto and reflect the magic of Christmas. Use twinkling lights, festive garlands and displays of your Christmas arrangements to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. A beautifully decorated shop can attract footfall and inspire impulse purchases.

Host a Christmas event: Consider hosting a Christmas-themed event, such as a wreath-making workshop or late night shopping with mince pies and mulled wine. This can draw customers into your shop and build community spirit, whilst also boosting sales.

Seasonal packaging: This one's a little obvious but wrap your seasonal designs in festive wrapping paper and ribbons, and hand-write message cards. This is the type of service consumers look for when shopping with local businesses over large impersonal corporate companies.

Put together 'pick up and go' products: From mini Christmas trees and festive mixes to seasonal foliage bunches such as eucalyptus or ilex berries. Promote these items on your website and social channels as 'click and collect' products to drive footfall to your shop.


2. Enhance Your Website & Online Store Optimise for Mobile

Festive makeover: Be sure to make a song and dance about your Christmas Collection on your website. Update your online store with your Christmas collection, including high-quality images and clear product descriptions (take a look at our How to Write Product Descriptions guide here). Incorporate Christmas-themed homepage banners and promote seasonal arrangements, gift ideas and promotions on your website's homepage to drive orders. If you're an eflora subscribers, we'll automatically add a Christmas banner to your homepage and use smart-merchandising to add the Interflora Christmas and Winter designs to your florist website.

eflora Christmas homepage banner example

Ensure your website is ready for increased traffic, including; 

  • Easy navigation: Make it easy for customers to browse Christmas-themed products by creating a dedicated “Christmas Collection” category.

  • Delivery information: Clearly communicate your Christmas delivery options and cut-off dates for placing orders. Be sure to keep your website and Google Business profile up to date with your latest opening hours and events. Amending your opening hours on any florist website should be easy to do and is even easier for eflora subscribers with Myeflora and our How To Videos.

  • Ensure your website is mobile-friendly: With many customers shopping via smartphones, a responsive website design is key to making sure users can easily browse, select and purchase flowers on any device. All of our eflora florist websites are built with Mobile First technology so that they work seamlessly across all devices, plus lots of other handy website features.

Add your local gifting range: Think candles, diffusers, bath salts etc. - perfect stocking fillers! Creating a new 'Stocking fillers' category for these items on your florist website is super easy - for eflora subscribers you can update these details with Myeflora or if you need a hand, drop us an email. For florists using an alternative website provider, this should still be simple enough to do with just a few clicks.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) for Christmas: Use targeted Christmas-related keywords (e.g., “Christmas flower delivery,” “festive floral arrangements,” “festive centrepieces”) to optimise your product descriptions, blog posts and landing pages. This will help increase your organic traffic and improve search rankings on Search Engines such as Google and Bing. We know that SEO can be a bit mind-boggling so we've put together A Beginner's Guide to SEO to help you understand the basics.

Online gift guides: Create a Christmas floral gift guide on your website to inspire customers. Categorise your products into “Christmas gift sets,” “festive home décor,” “luxury centrepieces” or even “budget-friendly bouquets”, this will help customers find the perfect arrangement for their needs. Share it via email and on your social media channels to inspire shoppers looking for unique gifts.

Online & phone orders: Make it easy for customers to order online or by phone. Creating a 'Click to Call' button on your website makes it easy for customers to contact you if they have any queries. Ensure your online ordering system is smooth and that you have enough staff available to handle phone orders during the busy holiday period.


3. Run Festive Digital Marketing and Social Media Campaigns

Social media;

  • Instagram & Facebook: Share high-quality, festive images of your Christmas arrangements and behind-the-scenes videos of your floral preparations. Use Instagram Stories, Reels, and Facebook Live to showcase your products in real time. A short shop tour video will give your followers an insight into the products they can buy from you and help drive footfall to your shop. Don't forget that with every social post you should be including a call to action in the caption so that viewers know what to do next, this could be 'Shop now at www.exampleflorist.co.uk', 'Visit us in-store at 1 Flower Street, Flower Land, AB12 3CD' or 'tag a person in the comments who'd love to receive this bouquet'.

Social media Christmas carousel post example
  • Pinterest: Create Christmas-themed boards featuring your products. Consider adding DIY Christmas floral arrangement tips to increase engagement and inspire customers.

  • Video tutorials: Latest social media trends show that consumers are really engaged with video content which can often drive more traffic to your website. Offer easy-to-follow tutorials on Christmas flower arrangement ideas, care tips, wreath making or festive floral décor ideas on platforms such as TikTok or Instagram.

  • Hashtags: Use relevant hashtags like #ChristmasFlowers, #HolidayBouquets, #ChristmasDecor, and location-based tags (#ManchesterFlorist, #LondonChristmasFlorist) to reach a broader audience. We've got some more Social Media SEO tips here.

  • Partner with other local businesses: Collaborate with nearby businesses (like bakeries, gift shops, or cafes) to create Christmas bundles that include flowers and other festive treats. Promote these partnerships on your socials to expand your customer base. Top tip! Tag the other business you're partnering with to help reach their followers too.

Check out our other Social Media Tips for Florists.

Email marketing;

  • Festive newsletters: Send well-designed Christmas-themed newsletters to your email list. Include seasonal promotions, discount codes and early access to collections. If you can, segment your email list to offer personalised recommendations. Mailchimp is a great tool for designing and sending email marketing campaigns. Don't forget to ensure you have your customer's permission to send them marketing emails.

  • Countdown campaign: Send a series of emails leading up to Christmas, each highlighting a different product or offer, such as “12 Days of Christmas Deals”.

Google Ads & Social Media Ads;

  • Targeted Christmas ads: Run Google search ads and social media ads that target customers searching for Christmas flowers, gifts, décor in your area.

  • Retargeting ads: Use retargeting ads to remind previous visitors about your Christmas collection and encourage them to complete their purchases.


4. Create Engaging Digital Content Blog Posts

Blog illustration

Blogs are another great way to boost your website's SEO. Write Christmas-themed blog posts such as “Top 10 Christmas Flower Arrangements for 2024” or “How to Decorate Your Home with Fresh Flowers for the Holidays.” Include links from your blog post to products on your website to make it really easy for customers to shop.

Here's our top tips for blogging:

  • Do your keyword research - the process of finding the keywords and phrases that your target audience uses to search for your products or services. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or SEMrush to find relevant keywords with a high search volume and low competition that you could work into your blog post.

  • Link content in your blog post to other pages on your website that are relevant. For example, if you're writing a blog all about peonies, create a link from your blog to one of the peony products on your website.

  • Drive traffic to your blog posts by sharing them on your social channels.

  • Feature lots of relevant imagery in your blog to make them visually appealing.

  • Keep your content up to date and relevant.

All of our eflora websites for florists come with blog functionality as standard so that you can reach as many customers as possible and share your expertise. Take a look at some examples of our websites.


5. Offer Festive Promotions and Loyalty Incentives Discounts

Promotions and special offers;

  • Offer early-bird discounts for Christmas pre-orders or free delivery for orders placed before a certain date. This is a great way to encourage early orders so that you can better manage your stock levels.

  • Use limited-time offers and flash sales to encourage quick purchases during peak holiday shopping periods. We can help eflora subscribers create a homepage banner or pop up alert on their florist websites to let their customers know. Take a look at this fab example:

eflora pop up alert example

Loyalty programs: Reward returning customers with loyalty points or exclusive discounts. Promote these offers through email or your social media channels. This will encourage customers to shop with you again, particularly with Valentine's Day and Mother's Day hot on the heels of the festive season.


6. Clearly Communicate your Delivery Options

Ensure delivery options, cut-off dates and pricing for Christmas orders are clear and easily accessible on your website and communicated to your customers in store. eflora subscribers - don't forget you can set your own delivery prices for local products on your florist website so that you can charge a little less, or little more depending on the delivery location.

Delivery technology illustration

Optimise your delivery routes: Plan efficient delivery routes to cover as much ground as possible while maintaining timely service.

Order tracking: Provide customers with order tracking and delivery updates to give them peace of mind. Our fabulous Delivery Technology creates optimised delivery routes and also

enables you to send your customer a picture of their order before it goes out for delivery, gives them live delivery tracking and even sends them a picture of their flowers being delivered so that they know they arrived safely.


7. Encourage Customer Reviews

After delivering your Christmas arrangements, send a follow-up email asking customers to leave reviews on your website, Trustpilot page or Google Business profile. This will help to build trust with future customers. You can showcase customer testimonials on your website and social media. For eflora subscribers, we can even add a Trustpilot widget to your florist website so that your reviews are automatically displayed on your site.


8. Measure & Optimise Your Digital Efforts Analytics Tracking

Insights: Use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and Instagram Insights to track which campaigns/social posts are driving the most traffic and sales. Analyse which products are the most popular and adjust your promotions and advertising accordingly.

A/B testing: Run A/B tests on your ads and email subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience. This can help you optimise your digital strategies throughout the peak period.


9. Provide Exceptional Customer Service

Ensure your staff are well-trained and ready to handle the Christmas rush. Provide extra training on customer service, product knowledge and upselling to maximise sales during the season.

Personalised Service: Offer personalised recommendations to help customers find the perfect arrangement. For example, ask about the recipient’s favourite colours or floral preferences and suggest a tailored design.


10. Collect Feedback & Plan for Next Year

Collect feedback: After the holiday season, gather feedback from your customers. This can be done through surveys, emails, or face-to-face conversations. Don't forget to ask your staff what they thought worked well too. Use this insight to improve for the next festive season.

Analyse sales data: Review your sales data to understand which products were the most popular, when peak sales occurred and what marketing strategies worked best. This analysis will help you prepare for an even more successful Christmas next year.


11. Take Care of Yourself & Your Team

The holiday season can be exhausting for small business owners and staff. Make sure to plan ahead, manage your time and provide breaks for your team. A well-rested, motivated team will be key to delivering excellent service and making the most of the Christmas rush.

 

Get Ready to Bloom This Christmas

Christmas tree illustration

By adopting these tips, your florist business can capture the magic of Christmas and turn it into a season of growth. From enhancing your website and running festive marketing campaigns to offering seamless customer experiences and gathering valuable insights, you’ll be well-equipped to make the most of the holiday spirit.

 

If you're looking to get ahead for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day then our "Maximise your online sales this Valentine's Day" and "Is your website Mother's Day ready?" blogs have some handy tips.

 

Not part of eflora yet? What are you waiting for? Find out what an eflora florist website could do for your business and book your demo.



 If you're an eflora subscriber, access our exclusive content by joining our private Facebook group.

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