One of the best surprises in life is receiving a beautiful bouquet of flowers hand-delivered to you. One of the worst surprises is when you buy flowers online with a product image and then your recipient sends you a picture of something that looks different than what you purchased online.
Are the flowers beautiful, yes, but you picked the arrangement because of the sunflowers, because your wife loves sunflowers and that’s what you call her when you are being cute together, but the florist replaced them with daisies and you hate daisies!
While your wife is happy about receiving flowers, you are left with a bad feeling around sending the arrangement. You start saying to yourself:
“Why didn’t the florist use sunflowers?!”, “Why didn’t they tell me they were going to swap out the sunflowers for daisies?!”, “Maybe I will just order chocolates next time, sending flowers is too unreliable” and “I am going to write a bad review”
Then this happens:
The interesting part is that a simple heads up to the customer would have avoided all the frustration. Customers understand that things can change, they just don’t want to be surprised. If they are notified that a certain flower is not in stock, then the blame no longer falls onto the florist, because the customer has all the information to react (pick a new arrangement or choose the replacement flower). In fact, when the florist reaches out the customer about a substitution, what could have been a frustrating situation actually turns into a happy loyal customer, because they felt you took the time to connect with them about their order and worked out a solution.
As a florist, you know that changes to arrangements happen all the time and it’s near impossible to notify every order. So, you have to just make the substitution, do your best and hope the customer likes it. Well, with BloomNation’s new substitution notification system, you can simply click a button and we will automatically notify your customer of a potential substitution in their order.
How do I send a Substitution Notification?
At the top of your order detail page, you'll see an action called “Send substitution notification”. Clicking it will send both an email and text message to your customer. (Examples included below)
- For the customers that are not concerned about the substitution, you will make them feel like you are a florist that’s on top of your game!
- For the customers that are more….detail-oriented…they will be prompted to reach out to you so you can make sure they are satisfied with their order before it goes out!
When you click "Send substitution notification", the following page will open:
The following information will automatically update:
- Customer Name
- Order Number
- Shop Contact Information (email and phone)
- Shop Name
Simply select the options that apply to the customer's order. Feel free to enter any additional comments they may need to know to ensure a great experience!
Confirm you want to send:
You will see the full message in your dashboard:
Can you show me examples?
Example of the text message:
Note: Bracketed information will update automatically, based on the information entered in the "Substitution Notification" screen.
Subject: Important update to your order
Hi [customer name],
We just took a look at your order # [customer's order number]. Based on our current fresh inventory, there will be some substitutions in your arrangement.
We will always try our best to match the overall style and feel of the arrangement but if there was something important to you about the arrangement, please contact us as soon as possible so we can work something out. You can reach us at [shop phone number], or email us at [shop email address].
Thank you,
[Flower Shop Name]
Example of the text message:
“This is an automated message from [vendor name] regarding order #[order number]. To ensure your recipient receives the freshest flowers, we need to make some substitutions to your arrangement. Don't worry, we will make sure it looks great. We sent you an email at [customer email address] with further details around what substitutions will be made. Please do not reply to this message. ”
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