Same birthday, next year
Last April, a customer ordered flowers for his mother's birthday. He chose a bouquet, wrote a lovely card and paid. This April, he remembers the birthday the evening before, searches for 'flowers delivered tomorrow', and orders from a national website that happens to appear first.
Your shop had his mother's address, the date, the bouquet he liked and the card message style. You simply did not have a way to remind him.
The same is true for anniversaries, the date of a bereavement, a colleague's work anniversary and many other repeat occasions.
Why repeat occasions slip away
Most orders do not record the occasion or its date, only the delivery date. Even if they did, nothing in a typical florist's order system turns that into a reminder a year later.
Customers are also cautious about marketing. A blanket newsletter is easy to ignore. A specific reminder, 'your mum's birthday is next week, shall we send flowers again?', is useful, but only if the customer agreed to receive it.
Reordering takes effort. If the customer has to re-enter the address, pick a product and write a card from scratch, a quick national website competes easily.
What forgotten occasions cost
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Occasion not recorded | No reminder possible next year |
| No consent captured | Hesitation about contacting customers |
| Reordering from scratch | Customers choosing a quicker national site |
| Loyal customers treated as new | No recognition of their history |
| Quiet weeks without repeat trade | Harder to fill the workroom |
Repeat occasion customers are among the most valuable a florist has: they already trust you, and they order at predictable times.
Timing matters here. A reminder the evening before is too late for anything but a rushed same-day order, and a reminder a month ahead is easy to forget. Most customers want a nudge far enough ahead to choose calmly, and a second one close to the date if they have not ordered. Without a system, neither happens, and the national sites win on convenience.
Recipients change address, too. A mother who moved into a care home, a friend who moved house, a colleague who changed office. A saved occasion that sends flowers to last year's address is worse than no reminder at all, which is why a reorder should always show the address clearly and ask the customer to confirm it before paying.
How we set up occasion reminders
- At checkout, online or on the phone, the customer can choose the occasion (birthday, anniversary, other) and tick a box to be reminded next year.
- The occasion, recipient and date are saved against the customer, with their consent recorded.
- A reminder goes out at the interval you choose before the date, by email or text, in your own wording.
- The reminder links to a pre-filled order: same recipient and address, the previous bouquet or a seasonal suggestion, and the option to change anything.
- Customers can see and manage their saved occasions, or stop reminders, from a simple account page.
- You can see upcoming occasions by week, which helps plan the workroom and stem buying in advance.
What you send and to whom depends on the consent you collect and on data protection rules. We build the consent records and opt-outs your adviser asks for.
We also keep reminders sensible. A customer with several saved occasions does not get a flood of messages in one week, and anyone who orders early for an occasion is not reminded about it again. The aim is a message that feels thoughtful rather than automated.
Repeat orders that arrive on their own
A week before his mother's birthday, the customer receives a reminder from your shop. He clicks, sees last year's bouquet and address, chooses something similar and pays in a minute.
- Occasions recorded with the customer's permission
- Reminders sent at the right time before each date
- Reorders with details already filled in
- A forward view of occasions to plan around
Is repeat trade slipping away?
- Orders do not record the occasion or its date.
- You do not remind customers of repeat occasions.
- Returning customers re-enter everything to reorder.
- You rely on newsletters for repeat business.
- Customers you served last year order from national sites.