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This month, we’re diving into some of your most pressing questions about boosting your online presence, improving email marketing, and making the most of Google’s latest updates.
Read more about:
- Tracking Website Success: Key Metrics to Watch
- Boosting Your Google Rankings with Reviews
- Maximizing Email Marketing Results
- Why Buying Email Lists Doesn’t Pay Off
- Handling Google Algorithm Updates Like a Pro
- Avoiding Google Penalties for Review Incentives
- The Decline of Photo Geo-Tagging for Google
- Google Ads vs. SEO: Choosing the Right Strategy
- Reporting Incorrect Google Listings: Simple Steps
- Outranking Low-Quality Competitors on Google
How can I tell if my website is performing well?
In addition to overall sales from the site, there are two important numbers to monitor. The conversion rate tells you how many shoppers converted into buyers. This ratio is expressed as a percentage, with most shops running between 4% and 8%. You want to aim as high as possible.
The second important number is the average order value. This increased for most shops during the pandemic and should be above $80—many shops are over $100. The main factor affecting order value is the number of higher-priced choices available on the site, so offer more premium options if your order value is low.
I read that Google reviews are becoming more important for ranking in Google searches.
That is correct. Google made a monumental update to its algorithm late last year. Among other changes, it values reviews more than ever. Currently, more than 50% of how Google ranks your business is based on your reviews and the activity on your Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly Google My Business.
It is more important than ever to get your customers engaged in leaving reviews and posting to your GBP. One way to improve this is to develop a group of fellow retailers in your area and reciprocate with one another. You post on their GBP, and they post and leave valid reviews on yours. You should also call your favorite customers regularly and enlist their help. It does not take many visitors to your GBP to boost your rankings, but you want continual active engagement from your community.
What is a good response rate to email marketing?
You can expect to get between 1 and 5 percent of your list to make a purchase during the holidays, fewer at other times of the year. The most significant variable in email marketing success is not how engaging the message is or even the timing or frequency of the messages. It is getting your email past the mail server's filters into the recipients’ inbox.
It is estimated that only about 20 percent of marketing emails are actually delivered to the recipient’s inbox. An exceptional rate is 40 percent. This means that 60 to 80 percent of your emails are never seen by your customers because they are filtered by their mail server before they even see them.
Here are a few steps you can take to improve deliverability:
- Do not send to an email address that is more than a year old. A study by TeamFloral shows that 21% of the emails on a flower shop’s list become invalid in just one year. The older the list, the higher the rate of bad email addresses. When a mail server, such as Gmail, sees a list with a high percentage of dead emails, it automatically treats the entire list as suspect.
- Run your list through a “cleaning” service such as klean13.com.
- “Warm up” your reputation with the mail servers by sending to those customers that bought in the last 30 days. These are your most engaged customers and will be most likely to open your email, which builds your reputation with the mail servers so they trust your emails and will deliver more of them.
- Send emails at least every 6 weeks but no more frequently than every 2 weeks. Remember that most customers buy less than once a year, so they do not need to hear from you very often.
Is it worth buying a list of consumers in my area for email marketing?
No. It is almost impossible to know if someone on that list is really a candidate to purchase from your shop. And besides, you already have the best possible list – consumers that bought from you in the past. If you believe that you do not need to market to your own base, consider that studies show nearly 7 in 10 of your customers will not return to a florist year over year. That is an alarming loss of customers. The solution is an active email campaign that keeps your shop top of mind but does not bombard the list with messages.
I read that Google made a change in the way it ranks businesses. What is the best way to take advantage of the change?
Google makes about four major algorithm updates a year and dozens of minor ones. When a change is made, your shop’s ranking can vary widely because Google usually “stress tests” the change by exaggerating the effect to see how it performs. The effects of this stress test can last a week or longer. During this time, your shop’s ranking can improve or decline dramatically or both.
The rapid changes are normal and typically settle down after a week or so. During those occasions, continue your SEO activities as usual. It is not wise to make changes in reaction to the variation in rankings because sometimes Google will reverse a change in the algorithm during this stage, and any change you made could ultimately do more harm than good.
However, you want to evaluate your SEO efforts based on these changes. The best way is to follow a reputable forum that has SEO experts commenting on the changes and what they mean and make your plans based on the information once the update has settled in.
We are considering offering a free small arrangement to customers that leave a Google review. Is that a good idea?
No. Building the number and quality of Google reviews will be even more important in 2022. But it is against Google’s policy to give prizes or offer any compensation for reviews. If caught, you could have all of your reviews deleted and possibly your Google My Business.
The only practical way to keep up with other shops that are getting frequent reviews is to use a review service that sends requests to every purchaser. It is also important that you survey customers to see how their experience was before you ask them to leave a review. It is against Google’s policy to filter customers from whom you ask to leave a review, but you can address the concern before you ask them to leave one. A good service will do all this for you.
We post photos and product pictures on Google My Business. How important is it that they have geotag data?
With recent Google updates, geotagging the photos you post on Google is no longer worth the extra work. You can also reduce the number of posts to your Google My Business to twice per week. While the number of posts has become less important, the interaction with your posts is more important. For this reason, you want to find ways to get customers to visit your Google My Business more.
What is the difference between Google AdWords and SEO?
Great question. They are both methods to get new customers but in different ways. Google AdWords or Pay-per-click are ads that appear when a shopper does a Google search. You pick certain words that, when entered in a search, trigger your ad to pop up. They are usually at the top of the page, though some appear on the right side. Some common keywords are “florist” or “flower delivery.”
SEO or search engine optimization is the process that encourages Google to place your shop above other shops in a search. The ultimate placement is inside the “map pack”, where Google features 3 choices. Studies show that almost 60% of all search traffic goes to one of the 3 businesses featured in the map pack.
Both methods are excellent ways to grow your shop. And using one does not mean you should not use the other.
Google shows a shop that is no longer open when I search for a florist in my area. What gives?
Google’s information is good but not perfect. It relies on help from the community to report incorrect listings. The process is simple. Go to the closed shop’s Google My Business Page and click the link that says “suggest an edit.” From there, you will be able to report that it is closed. It is a good idea to periodically check your town for incorrect listings and report them.
One of the worst shops in town is always ranked at the top of the Google listings. Why does Google choose them?
You live and operate in the real world, but Google can only see what is online. The lower quality shop that you mentioned must “look” better to Google than the other florists. To correct this misconception, you want to make sure that your online presence properly reflects your real-world presence.
One of the most important ways that Google evaluates you is from your activity on the Google My Business page. You want to be active on this site. Make sure that every single section is completed. Post a series of questions and answers (yes, you can ask yourself questions). Post products and post photos regularly – about 2 times per week.
The reviews left for you on Google are also very important. Answer every review, both positive and negative. This shows an engaged business that is responsive to their customers. Having a growing number of reviews is also helpful. If you are not getting new reviews regularly, use a “review generator” service to send emails and text messages soliciting reviews from your customers.
Making sure that your shop’s name and contact information is consistent throughout the web is a third way that Google uses to evaluate your shop. There are hundreds of directories on the web, so this task is best handled by a service. These are a few of the more important activities that show Google that you are an active business, one worthy of being placed higher in a search. Google “how to improve my Google ranking” for more ideas.
