The Q1 2023 benchmarking report for UK flower delivery services has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK flower delivery services perform across the digital space.

The research in our report will give you an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice within the flower delivery space in the UK. We've included 12 top brands in the space; Bloom & Wild, Interflora, Freddie's Flowers, Waitrose Florist, Bunches, eFlorist, Prestige Flowers, Flower Station, Floom, Teleflorist, Cornish Blooms and Wild at Heart.

Our insights quantify the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for both you and other top floral brands to win digital brand exposure, secure online views, and ultimately win new orders and regular subscribers. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and will identify the barriers that may be reducing your ability to optimise digital performance. 

To see a preview and contents page of the Q4 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call. 

What the industry research report covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each flower delivery service based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.

Technical website compliance

Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. For brands managing a seasonal rotation of stock, such as flowers, they must ensure removing unavailable items is done with care and redirects are effectively managed.

In Q4, we recorded 339 error codes on Bloom & Wild's site. In Q1, Bloom & Wild had removed all errors, delivering neither any 4xx nor 5xx error codes. The site we have the most concern about is now Prestige Flowers who, with 419 4xx errors, are directing users to dead ends across their site.

Site speed & conversion rate performance

When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. When you're competing to sell a luxury item in a saturated market, such as flower subscriptions, an unappealing site (or one that doesn't signpost well to key products) can mean users turn to your competitors instead.

While last quarter we observed that Teleflorist had the quickest site (with a score of 55, falling to 53 in Q1) however, in Q1 Cornish Blooms leapt ahead of their competition to achieve a score of 67. The remaining 10 flower delivery services all scored below the 'okay' mark of 50. 

Building competitive advantage with domain authority

Domain Authority (otherwise known as Domain Rating) helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60.

The DA range for flower delivery services ranges from 21 to 72, with Bloom & Wild standing at the top of the scale while Cornish Blooms sit at the end. Cornish Blooms can look to improve their DA by collaborating with influencers, or running PR campaigns targeted at strong sites that can help improve their authority.

Organic performance - mobile & desktop

A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions.

Last quarter, we noted that Wild at Heart had seen a 76% loss in traffic year on year. Though most of our flower delivery services are still showing losses in traffic, Wild are Heart are now one of just two brands who have seen improved traffic, jumping 25% on desktop and 65% on mobile.

Ultimately, when competing for a limited pool of customers, your competitors' gains become your losses. Our UK flower delivery services must not take for granted that low-performers will remain at the bottom, and should be proactively optimising and defending their traffic.

Universal search opportunity

Google Universal Search Results  is an evolving opportunity to make your pages more visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. You can also appear for a universal search result without being strong in other organic performance.

For flower delivery services, 'Image Pack' is the most useful option for standing out from competitors and showing off their arrangements. Interflora were taking the top spot on Image Pack appearances in Q4, appearing for 1,600 results. This has reduced slightly to 1,500 results in Q1, with Interflora potentially losing ground to Bloom & Wild, who have grown from 120 image pack results to 818 in Q1.

Longtail keyword opportunity

Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific.  Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. For flower delivery services, these keywords could include terms such as "flower subscription plans sign up" or "order quick flower delivery".

Last quarter, we noted that Teleflorist, Cornish Blooms and Wild at Heart were ranking for a very low number of longtail keywords compared to their competitors, with none ranking for any phrases in the top 3 positions. All three florists have now begun ranking in these top positions, showing for 20, 29, and 21 respectively. Even with comparatively low numbers to their competition, ranking highly for any long-tail, converting keywords is likely to have a notable impact on their revenue.

Facebook adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 52  million users at the conclusion of 2022, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. For flower delivery services, Facebook (and other paid social ads) represent the chance to show off their highly visual products and grab attention from their target market.

Below, we can see examples of Flower Station's Facebook ads. Their use of video to grab users attention taps into the growing trend in video-focused advertising, and allows them to show flowers in a realistic-lifestyle setting.

Top social shares & content

When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies,  it is important to release evergreen content that has a longer shelf life and maintains its relevancy to an audience for long periods of time. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time.

Flower delivery services and online florists face the additional challenge of having highly-seasonal stock, so must ensure they have a well-considered content plan that anticipates trends and can be re-used the following year. These can include seasonal arrangements, flower arranging tips, or how to increase your bouquet's longevity in particular weather conditions.

Website readability & accessibility

20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. Sites such as flower delivery services often focus on their need to appear visually appealing and can therefore fall short of the accessibility requirements their users with visual challenges will need. Freddie's Flowers and Bloom & Wild are the only flower delivery services not showing high levels of accessibility errors.

Last quarter we noted that Bunches were seeing the most flaws in website accessibility and readability, with 166 alerts and 155 contrast errors. Though Bunches are still recording the highest levels of accessibility errors, these figures have reduced to 134 alerts and 130 contrast errors in Q1.

Who is the digital winner of the Flower Delivery sector?

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 flower delivery services on, check out our quick-look table below;

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q4 2022 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.

Photo by Angelina Jollivet on Unsplash