floralapp® blog

In an effort to keep floralapp® on the cutting edge of retail apps, we are constantly brainstorming and coming up with new ideas to increase functionality. We have recently made a few updates and enhancements to give your customers the best shopping experience on your app. We’ve enlarged the category and arrangement images on iPhone (and soon to be competed on Android), and also condensed the profile screen to make it easier for your customer to start their shopping. All of your floralapp® orders now have time stamps so check your email for instructions on how to change your time zone.

STILL TO COME: We are currently implementing a reminder program which will link to certain social media networks, as well as a wedding gallery which will make it easier for the customer and your wedding consultants to stay connected. These enhancements, as well as the others we have planned, are all available at no additional cost to our floralapp® Members!

Sometimes it can be hard to see the future, especially when it comes to tech. Apps are not just coming, they are here. More people are using apps today than ever before. I won’t bore you with the BILLIONS compared to BILLIONS but I will tell you this, the most recent data from Forrester research shows that 1 in every 3 smartphone user uses apps on their phones! What does this mean to you?

Because of the partnership with FTD, and the endorsement by SAF, they are able to offer floralapp® for an amazing deal of just $70 a month. This will not last. floralapp® continues to grow with new features and functionality. There are so many already locked in, isn’t it time you joined us? The amount of trafficyou will generate at Mother’s Day will be just what you need to get people to download your app. You also have WILL CALL available for those prom orders to get the high schoolers to join you.

WHY are downloads so important? Apps allow a feature called “PUSH” notifications. This is where you can send a message directly to your app users (a feature unavailable to mobile versions of websites). You have a captive and targeted audience at your fingertips. It does not cost extra to use PUSH notifications.

Please take a moment and read this study. It is eye opening. Those on the app today understand and see it, yet many are on the fence. ANYONE who compared building and hosting their own have joined FLORALAPP®. Take a minute, review the study, and don’t get caught behind.

We can have your site up and ready for Secretaries Day and prom if you call us this week (800) 560-0501.

floralapp® is a turn key solution to captivating the smartphone market. All you have to do is “turn the key” and floralapp®  connects you with your customers!

The best way to market your floralapp® is to treat it like a toll free phone number and advertise it EVERYWHERE. Put it on your delivery confirmations, your email receipts, any and every marketing piece that goes out the door, send push notifications to your current users, and never miss a chance to tell your customers and potential customers how they can shop from your app.

Here is a video with a few tips on how to maximize your floralapp® usage:

Some simple steps to boost your floralapp® exposure

Boost your floralapp® exposure with these 3 suggestions:

1) Delivery Confirmation – Add “Do you have floralapp®?” content & tell the customer how to download. SAMPLE BENEVA DELIVERY CONFIRMATION

2) Receipt confimation with a simple line about floralapp® with incentive – we suggest $10 off their first order through floralapp® SAMPLE BENEVA RECEIPT CONFIRMATION

3) QR codes & PUSH notifications – we can make trackable QR codes for your business so that you can tell who is looking to download your floralapp®. Push notifications are also helpful since they provide an instantaneous message to your floralapp® users with an incentive to buy. LEARN MORE ABOUT floralapp®  FEATURES HERE

If you need help implementing any of these steps, please email lindsay@beneva.com or mary.visser@beneva.com and we will be happy to give you all the tools you need or guide you in the proper direction.

Thank you,

Arthur F. Conforti

Beneva Corporation | President

Photo credit to website: www.dtail.com/2012/03/paypal-here/

PayPal has launched a competitor to SQUARE called PayPal Here, which is a mobile payment solution that allows small businesses to accept almost any form of payment.

The service offers a free app and triangular thumb-sized card reader, which turns iPhones (and soon Android smartphones), into a mobile payment solution. It presents small businesses with more sales opportunities because merchants can accept payments by swiping cards in the card reader, scanning checks with phone cameras, or manually entering card information. Additionally, merchants can use the app to send an invoice and setup payment terms. Learn more about PayPal Here in this e-commerce article or on their PayPal Blog.

One obstacle we all face during the holiday crunch is the long lines to check out. Now you can take an order on the sales floor and slide the card through HERE using a cell phone. They have a free app you download on your Smartphone or tablet, swipe the card, email the receipt and you are all set.

This will also be great at wedding set ups where a balance is due. Just use PayPal Here.

Until now, you would have had to use a program called SQUARE and then set up another CC account. Not now… You already have a PayPal account with floralapp®. You can just have the funds dropped in there and the rates are coming down too. The competition is heating up and we, the retailers, are winning.

Having Paypal as a checkout option is HUGE, as they are clearly the worldwide leader in online web transactions. I am THRILLED to have this option since I want to provide an express checkout but did not want to get another account. Now our app orders and counter orders can be reconciled in one place!

Video: PayPal Here: How it Works

Talking with some of the users getting orders every week on the app I hear one procedure in common…..DELIVERY CONFIRMATION. We all get notification when someone registers our app. The combination of a good giveaway (iPad3 or Flowers for a Year) along with a message that reads download our app and get $10 off your next purchase on your delivery receipt is working best. The downloads are daily for many and the orders are starting to come in now.

It’s up to you. Treat it like a toll free number. If you post it everywhere, people will use it. Take advantage of your mobile floralapp® before your competition does.

Also, Mother’s Day brochures are wrapping up this week. Please consider a QR code for your coupons. We can make a tractable one for you. Insert or mail to your local zip codes but don’t miss this last chance until autumn to promote your business and secure your customer. Visit us and see the Mother’s Day Brochureat www.benevasolutions.com.

Arthur F. Conforti

Beneva Corporation | President

floralapp® was recently mentioned in Living on the Suncoast‘s Tech Connections column written by Sondra Guffey. Here is the excerpt from the article.

Beneva Flowers has been a successful and popular florist in the Suncoast for 25 years. Led by Arthur Conforti, the company has also been on the leading edge of technology. Most recently he teamed with Gold Class Apps of Sarasota to create an application (“App”) for smartphones that allows users to easily order flowers.

Floralapp® is now used by Beneva as well as about 350 other florists in the United States. It costs about $4,000 to create an app, so Conforti, who’s also a great businessman, created the app so that other florists could buy the rights to use it as well. There are about 17,000 florists in the US and only about 25 apps for the industry.

“Arthur is a visionary. He sees around the corner,” stated Raj Doraisamy of Gold Class Apps. They started on the project about a year ago, and now this is the number 1 app for independent florists. “It’s empowering. Florists have been around for centuries, now they have the most up-to-date technology.”

“It’s like the 800 numbers that came out in the 1970s that gave businesses an advantage. Now if you want to compete, you have to have a tech edge,” said Conforti. “Every other advertisement during the SuperBowl was about an app. It’s a sign of things to come.

Yet apps are not only expensive to create, they also have to be approved by Apple®. They are not going to approve an app for 17,000 different florists. Conforti says they are constantly upgrading and improving the technology.

“There are now more smartphones than there are credit cards in the world. In September, 2011, two out of every three smartphone owners used them to make a purchase,” added Conforti, who studies trends in technology.

Floralapp® is designed specifically for those ordering flowers. “For example, when you’re ordering flowers the program asks where you want to send the arrangement. Well, your contacts are in your phone, so all you have to do is push our ‘look in my contacts’ and it will take care of that.”

Beneva Flowers has also found that having the app has helped them appeal to younger buyers. “We’re getting more prom business now,” noted Conforti. “The students can order from their smartphones and come by the shop to pick up the flowers.”

How do you get more downloads of your floralapp®? A florist recently shared with us that they have developed a “WIN an iPad2” business card complete with contact information, a QR code, and the “WIN an iPad2” promotion all in one. What a great idea! Dana of Julia’s did this and got over 100 downloads in just under 2 months. She has started building her captive audience. Remember, app users are a captive audience. Once they download your app they are yours to keep and market to. This week is a great time to set up a special offer and use PUSH NOTIFICATION to remind them to order early for their Valentine. You also have the special offers module to attract more cash and carry deals.

We have also found that many people who order once on the app order again and again. It is so easy to use and, best of all, it’s FAST!

So take advantage of today’s growing app users and get in the game. Did you know that last September, 2 out of every 3 smartphone users made a purchase using their smartphones? If you are not on board yet, what are you waiting for? Check out the stats and see a demo at http://www.floralapp.com today and start capturing your customers and keep them connected to you with floralapp®.

Today Oracle announced the results of its “Opportunity Calling: The Future of Mobile Communications – Take Two” report, which surveyed more than 3,000 mobile phone consumers worldwide to examine their mobile phone use habits, interest in new mobile technologies and expectations for service providers. The survey is a complement to Oracle’s first study, “Opportunity Calling: The Future of Mobile Communications,” which was released in September 2010.

“Customer demands continue to evolve rapidly. To maintain a competitive advantage, communications service providers must invest in information technology solutions that provide them the most flexibility and agility, enabling them to rapidly deliver innovative services or to adopt new business models as new opportunities arise. Providers also have an enormous opportunity to enhance their customer relationships by engaging with them at every touch point, leveraging their dynamic role in consumers’ shopping experience, and providing valuable information about usage, new services and mobile security,” said Bhaskar Gorti, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications.

Key Findings

• Data is in demand: Sixty-nine percent of global mobile phone users report using a smartphone and 47 percent of mobile users have increased their data usage in the past year — a larger percentage than text or voice.

• Technology is outpacing expectations: In 2010, more than 50 percent of respondents thought their mobile phone would replace their camera, MP3 player or GPS device within five years. By 2011, 43 percent of respondents already replaced their camera, 34 percent their MP3 player and 24 percent their GPS device with their mobile phone.

• Apps are adding up: Consumer demand for apps is growing significantly. Fifty-five percent of respondents have downloaded a free app and 25 percent have paid for an app on their mobile device. In addition, demand for apps is spreading from phones to other mobile devices, particularly tablets. Fifty-seven percent of respondents already own a tablet device or plan to purchase one in the next 12 months, even though the technology is in its infancy.

• Security concerns linger: While consumers are becoming more comfortable with location-based services and online banking, they have security concerns. Sixty-eight percent of respondents do not believe, or are unsure, whether information stored or transmitted from their mobile device is secure.

• Mobile purchasing habits:  More consumers are continuing to leverage their mobile devices for retail activities. Thirty percent of mobile phone users comparison shop on their mobile device, while 24 percent read customer reviews and 14 percent have scanned a QR code in an advertisement or article. But, when it comes to shopping for phones, 84 percent of respondents prefer to purchase in store.

• To access the full report — which delves extensively into mobile phone use preferences, security concerns, consumer purchasing habits, motivations for change and family data plan demand, as well as key differentiators between various global regions — visit: http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/communications/oracle-communications-future-mobile-521589.pdf         

SOURCE: Oracle Corporation www.oracle.com

About Oracle Communications Only Oracle’s software and systems span the communications industry technology landscape — from carrier-grade servers, storage and IT infrastructure, to mission-critical business and operational support systems and service delivery platforms; from business intelligence applications and retail point-of-sale solutions to the Java platform running on more than two billion mobile and handheld devices. Oracle helps 100 of the world’s top 100 service providers innovate and exploit new business models, build strong, profitable customer relationships, and streamline operations.

Today, more and more shops are using delivery confirmations to indicate order delivery and completion to customers. This is a GREAT email to have your floralapp™ QR code and keyword in. Think your customer needs more of an incentive to download? Here are 3 suggestions to use in your delivery confirmation.

1) iPad Giveaways:

Think your customer needs a motivation to download? Nothing will motivate a consumer to download your app faster than a chance to win a FREE iPad2. Just be sure to remind them to enter your KEYWORD.

You may not think there is not much value in contests, but after reading this: http://www.hipcricket.com/solutions/brands.aspx you’ll see that it’s all in the contests!

2) Save on Their First Order:

Remind your customer that they will SAVE $10.00 off their first order using your FREE floralapp™. Don’t forget to mention to enter your KEYWORD.

3) Remind Them That floralapp™ Is a Local Florist:

Despite all your marketing efforts, some customers may think that floralapp™ is different that ordering from you, their local florist. So why not include this tagline educating them on how floralapp™ works?

You trust us with your local order, now let us handle your out of town request. Every order is 100% guaranteed. Use our FLORALAPP™ for ALL your floral and gift giving needs. Across town or the USA, YOUR SHOP is all you ever need to call!

No matter what you chose to do, don’t let this valuable marketing space go to waste, and use it to help promote your floralapp™.

Sept 21, 2011 (Paramus, NJ) - Eddie Von Bargen of Entenmann’s Florist won a surprise giveaway of floralapp^TM for his shop at a presentation for florists at Hillcrest Gardens.  The evening was sponsored by Hillcrest Gardens and featured Arthur Conforti of Beneva Solutions, a leader in marketing solutions for the floral industry.

Conforti’s message was how to become even more successful by marketing, embracing technology, and using creative design to grow business for independent floral shops.  In attendance were over thirty florists from the tri-state area.

With an emphasis on staying ahead of the technological curve, Conforti’s message included specifics on retailing in a fast-paced world from tracking unique website visitors to the evolution of smartphone apps as the up and coming wave of the future. “App usage,” says Conforti, “is EXPLODING to the tune of a 50% increase each year.  Raw numbers don’t lie. This is a great opportunity for us to make technology deliver on its promises.”

floralapp^TM is the most widely used app for the floral industry. More than a scaled down mobile version of a website, floralapp^TM has proactive features to connect with the consumer without waiting for them to visit the shop or website. These features include push notifications of special offers, contest entries, and multiple payment methods. Because floralapp^TM uses stored information in the users phone, tedious typing of fields is replaced with just a few taps on the phone to send flowers. Shop owners can further individualize their own version of the app by adding their own products, specify delivery fees by zip code, and implement block-out dates.

Entenmann was visibly pleased by winning the app. “I never saw Eddie smile so wide,” said Conforti.  In addition to the app, five florists also received 1,000 pieces each of a customized holiday brochure.

The event was an undisputed success, thanks to its organizer, Eric Levy. “There were GREAT questions from the shops and we all enjoyed an evening of feeling better about our industry,” said Conforti.  “These shops were there because they were ready for a new and better way to do things. Marketing is the key, and the customer experience is more important today than ever before.”

When considering floralapp™ notice the increase in usage for mobile apps in one year.