Mobile: We all know that it’s a big deal and that it’s here to stay. But here at Teleflora—a company that brings together the time-honored tradition of sending flowers with the modern benefits of an advanced local florist network—we were a little late to the party. We fooled ourselves into thinking that the shift to mobile wasn’t relevant or as urgent for us. After all, we’re a gift item with a multi-step checkout process (the delivery address is often different than the billing address, sometimes customers need to write a gift note, etc.), and it can be challenging and time-intensive for customers to complete their order on a smartphone.
But last year we decided to get in the mobile game and the results we’re achieving are highly encouraging: Year-to-date mobile traffic is up 10% year-over-year, and our mobile revenue is up more than 50% year-over-year. Here’s how we did it:
Establishing an organizational structure to support an emphasis on mobile was the first priority. By creating a team focused on the satisfaction and success of our mobile shoppers, we ensure that the nuances of each device are not an afterthought, but a primary part of the conversation before we launch any initiative or project. Every department on the e-commerce team has a clearly defined goal that’s centered on evolution and achievement in the mobile space—and bonus payouts hinge on it. It’s to increase mobile conversion rates by two basis points to grow mobile orders.
We’ve also implemented a robust and aggressive UX testing program. Every day we run multiple tests to understand how to best serve our mobile customer. A hypothesis to test may come from our daily review of heat map data, site survey results, session replay monitoring, or good old fashioned “gut instinct.” Something as simple as adjusting the placement of calls-to-action in the cart has resulted in a 3% uplift in checkout funnel progression. We’ll soon be launching a redesigned product description page based on our testing in which we saw a 13% reduction in cart fallout.
Finally, we’ve built a practice to test and establish marketing programs designed specifically around the mobile user. We’ve tested mobile display, push notifications with affiliates, and Instagram influencers. Not everything has worked. In fact, more of these initiatives have failed than succeeded. But in our constant test-and-learn culture, we’ve uncovered a few bright gems that are materially improving mobile performance and growing margin contribution. Two of the most notable ones are mobile abandon triggers and paid search.
By displaying a “save a sale” pop-up to mobile site abandoners, we’ve generated an incremental 2% order lift. As for mobile paid search, we started exploring it about a year ago with a day-parting test. In partnership with Google and our search agency, we identified prime hours (by time zone) on prime days to bid more and less aggressively. Next, we moved into finely-tuned bid modifiers by state, then by city/metro. In doing so, we’ve seen our location-specific mobile orders grow by more than 350% year-over-year. We are continuously testing mobile ad copy with marginally positive results, and the jury is still out on the tests we are running with Google’s expanded text ads and price extensions.
Are we mobile mavericks? Not yet. A true adaptive experience is still on our future roadmap–with lots more testing to do. Still, I’m proud that we’ve moved conversion 1.5 basis points so far. No bonuses for the team yet, but they’re on the horizon.
About the author:
As Teleflora’s VP of ecommerce, Beth Monda is responsible for leading and executing the e-commerce vision and operations for Teleflora.com, the world’s leading floral service provider. In her current role, Monda oversees Teleflora’s online and offline marketing strategy, partnership management, UX, merchandising, analytics, and site operations. Among her many achievements since joining the company in 2015 is the rollout of Teleflora’s new industry-leading ecommerce platform, in partnership with Oracle. Formerly, Monda held a variety of senior executive roles specializing in marketing, ecommerce, and CRM at some of the top global fashion brands, including BCBGMaxAzria, Lucky Brand Jeans, and Coach Inc. She has an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in Vermont.
