CASE STUDY: Mayflowers Floral Studio

Digital Marketing Makes Mother’s Day the Top-Selling Holiday Amidst Pandemic

How our digital marketing services made Mother’s Day the top-selling holiday amidst the pandemic for this local florist.

Client: Mayflowers

Executive Summary

We had been working with Mayflowers Floral Studio for three years when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit just after Valentine’s Day 2020. Like many small businesses, we knew that Mayflowers would have to adapt and ramp up communications to stay consistent in their sales.

After creating Mayflower’s first e-commerce website in 2017 and expanding our work to meet their changing needs, we knew we’d be able to help them take on this new challenge. With the help of our social media and email campaigns, we were able to help Mayflowers Floral Studios stay consistently top-of-mind, turning Mothers’ Day 2020 into the biggest day of the year at the local florist, surpassing Valentine’s Day, even in a global pandemic.

GOALS

  • Drive traffic to the online store and convert visits to orders

  • Keep customers connected and in-the-know about the Mayflowers’ operations during the pandemic

RESULTS

  • For Mother’s Day, the website saw a 20% increase in traffic over Valentine’s Day, a 67% sales increase over Valentine’s Day 2020, and a 1000% increase in orders over Mother’s Day 2019.

DELIVERABLES

  • eCommerce Website

  • Digital marketing campaigns to communicate important updates and new products

  • Optimized Facebook Messenger to answer customer questions

Background

Mayflowers is a boutique florist fluent in the language of flowers. They create locally sourced, hand-crafted flower and plant arrangements to celebrate, honor, and appreciate the beauty in all of life’s moments. Mayflowers Floral Studios has two stores, one in Reston, VA, and another in Mclean, VA.

We first started working with Mayflowers in 2017 when we were brought in to redesign their website to include eCommerce features. This project allowed Mayflowers to expand their services beyond the brick-and-mortar retail space and increase order volume.

The site was successfully launched in time for us to launch email marketing campaigns for Valentine’s Day in 2017. Within one week of the website being pushed live and our strategy in action, it had collected over $2,500 in orders.

After seeing the success of our marketing efforts, we made it official. We grew our agreement from a 1x effort to handle all their digital marketing needs going forward.

The How

DISCOVERY

When the pandemic hit, we met with May, owner of Mayflowers, over video conference to get the latest updates regarding Mayflowers operations and created a plan to shift her marketing to adapt to the new normal. We determined that the goals of our efforts were:

  • Keep customers connected and in-the-know about the latest updates to store hours, safety measures

  • Promote curbside pickup and online ordering

  • Drive traffic to the online store rather than in-store

  • Convert website visits to orders

Once our goals were clearly defined, we brainstormed new ways to connect with customers.

PUTTING IT INTO ACTION

Communication Updates

Given the shopping experience would have to change to keep everyone safe, we knew we had to create new ways for Mayflowers customers to engage with the products before buying them.

We helped Mayflowers add and update a notification bar and created an operating status page on their website to give customers confidence in the safety of the purchase.

We also integrated and optimized Facebook Messenger into their website to answer questions.

This made communication with customers easy, accurate, and efficient.

Social Media & Email Campaigns

We utilized social media and email campaigns to drive traffic to the online store by sending frequent updates about the store’s hours, procedures, local vendors, and new products.

In addition, we developed an email campaign to increase Mayflowers’ social following by promoting a series of how-to videos that were exclusively published on social media.

These minor tweaks helped them communicate their “safely open for business” status to their customers, instilling confidence in safe purchases.

The Results

During the months of the digital marketing campaigns, Mayflowers Floral Studios’ social channels saw an increase in followers. In addition, we saw an increase in the amount of time visitors spent on the website.

Overall for Mother’s Day 2020, the website saw a 20% increase in traffic over Valentine’s Day 2020, a 67% sales increase over Valentine’s Day 2020, and a 1000% increase in orders over Mother’s Day 2019.

With customers knowing the shop was open, operating online, and continuing to deliver joy through their quality boutique floral arrangements, we turned Mothers’ Day 2020 into the biggest day of the year at the local florist.

Where Are They Now

Even as pandemic restrictions eased, stores opened, and the world returned to a new version of normal, social media and email campaigns continue to be powerful tools to drive traffic to the website. Since Mother’s Day 2020, Mayflowers Floral Studios’ online order volume has increased and surpassed in-store ordering.

These efforts remain in place as Mayflowers Floral Studios continues to see their results multiply each year thanks to the custom digital marketing strategy that we developed. Now in 2023, we are starting to branch out into digital advertising.