Florist website: what gets the order and the trust

People who open a florist's site are usually not in your shop. They're sending flowers to someone else, often today, sometimes to a funeral. They want to know four things: is this a real shop in that town, can you deliver today, what will it cost in total, and what will actually arrive.

In October 2026 we opened 27 independent florist sites in 12 towns, on a phone, and looked at what people search for. The catalogs were good. The basics around them were thin: only 12 showed a readable phone number on the first screen, 14 gave a same-day cutoff time (always deep in a policy page), and only 9 told a buyer what a funeral order needs. This guide goes through what matters, with the steps for each.

Show you're a real local shop

Websites that only take orders and pass them to someone else often use a town's name to look local. The FTC has warned about this since 1998, and its advice to buyers was to deal only with shops that list a street address with the phone number. A real shop has what they can't copy.

1. Click Business info. Under Basics, check your Phone: it must ring in your shop, not at a call center. On phones, visitors tap it to call.
2. Under Location, fill in Street address, City, State and ZIP code, and set your Regular hours and Time zone.
3. Add an Open today section near the top of your home page and turn on Show address and Show phone number.
4. Click Menu, then under Header button turn on Call bar on phones. See Add a call bar on phones.
5. Add a real photo of your front door and counter, and an About page with your name, your team and how long you've been in town.

If you fill out-of-town orders through other shops, say so on your delivery page: "We deliver nationwide through trusted local florists." Be as plain as one site we read: "We coordinate delivery through vetted local florist partners." See Business info and hours.

Put the same-day cutoff where people see it

At least 14 of 27 shops gave a cutoff time. The times ran from 10 AM to 3:45 PM, and several said "in the recipient's time zone", which makes an out-of-town buyer do the math. Say yours in one sentence near the top of your home page and your delivery page:

"Same-day delivery in Ithaca: order by 2 PM, Monday to Saturday. We don't deliver on Sundays."

Use the Announcement bar for it if you like: Turn on Show announcement, type the line (90 characters), and pick the News style. See Announcement bar.

Say what delivery costs

About 10 of 27 gave a dollar amount. Others said a fee "will be added" or is "nominal". A buyer wants a total, so give one:

1. Make a page called "Delivery" (Pages, New page, Basic page). See Add a page.
2. Add a Price list / menu section with a group called "Delivery fees". For each town, add an item with its Name and Price, like "Lansing, $15". Add a line for what's free, like "Funeral homes and hospitals, free".
3. Add a Service areas section for the towns you cover, and use Note under the list for "Don't see your town? Call us."
4. Write any minimum order, service fee or address-correction fee. Three shops added a separate service or handling fee, and the trade association treats an undisclosed one as deceptive.
5. Add your cutoff, your delivery days and your holiday closures on the same page.

Take orders online, and know what the store can't do

Most shops run their catalog in an ordering system built for florists (it knows delivery zones, cutoffs and ZIP codes). If you have one, keep it. Add an Order online section near the top of your home page with a button to your catalog. See Add online ordering buttons.

The Online store add-on ($10 a month) suits a shorter catalog: pickup arrangements, plants, gifts, kits and bulk buckets. For each product in Lists › Products, add a Questions for the customer question with the Date answer type for the delivery or pickup day, and set Made to order to the days of notice you need. See Sell products with the online store and Made to order.

It can't stop an order placed after your cutoff, close Sundays or holidays, charge different fees by town, cap orders per day or check a delivery address. Its flat shipping price takes any US address. So don't use it for same-day local delivery. Write the rules on your delivery page and check the Store screen each morning.

Say how substitutions work

Twenty of 27 shops mentioned substitutions, and six used the same paragraph from their website vendor, with no mention of what happens when it isn't right. New Jersey's attorney general settled with an online florist over, among other things, undisclosed substitutions. Write your own, on a "Substitutions" page or in your FAQ:

• What stays the same: colors, style and value.
• What can change: a flower or a vase, and what you'll call about first.
• What you won't change: a named flower, or a color the buyer chose.
• What the buyer can do: "Tell us within 24 hours with a photo and we'll replace or refund."

Make a sympathy page that gets the order right

Twenty-four of 27 sold sympathy flowers, but only 9 said what a funeral order needs. On a page called "Sympathy", say:

1. What to send us: the person's name, the funeral home, the date and time of the service, and who the card is from.
2. How late you can take an order for a service that day, and "call us for a timed service".
3. Whether delivery to funeral homes is free, and which ones you deliver to.
4. A phone number that someone answers.

Add a Form (see Forms and your inbox) if you take them by message, and tell people to call for a service today. Keep the family's details off your site.

Take wedding and event inquiries

Seven shops had a form for weddings, eight said to call, and only one said how a date is held. Make a page called "Weddings & events":

1. Say how far ahead to ask, and that you'll answer within two business days.
2. Add a Form and start from Catering or event inquiry. See Start from a ready-made form. In More questions, ask for the event date, venue, colors and budget, and turn on Let people attach photos.
3. Add a few real photos and a starting price, like "Bridal bouquets from $150". Couples ask for one.
4. To hold a date, use Payments › Request a payment for a deposit. For consultations, the Bookings & RSVPs add-on lets people pick a time. See Request a payment and Take bookings on your site.

Get ready for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day

We looked in October, so those notices weren't up yet. Post your order-by dates and holiday hours weeks ahead, and again as the day gets close.

1. In Business info, add your Holidays and special hours. See Add holiday hours and closures.
2. Use the Announcement bar's Holiday hours quick start, and set Show from and Last day shown.
3. Send a reminder with the Newsletter sending add-on. See Send a newsletter.
4. Say whether you take pre-orders, and mark a product Sold out when you've run out.

Flower subscriptions and gift cards

Fourteen shops sold subscriptions, and only 2 said how they bill or how to cancel. Our site doesn't run billing, so link to your ordering system or a payment link you've set up as a repeating payment in your Stripe account. Next to the price, say how often it bills, on what day, what it covers and how to pause or cancel (a link and a phone number). A gift subscription that ends after 12 deliveries is simpler. See Take payments with payment links.

For gift cards, the Gift cards and coupons add-on ($2 a month) sells them on your site and takes from them with a QR scan at your counter. See Sell gift cards on your site. Federal rules say a gift card can't expire in under five years, and some states are stricter, so say yours don't expire.

Show your reviews

Almost everyone reads reviews before choosing a local business. About 10 of 27 shops showed theirs.

1. Add your best recent Google reviews under Lists › Reviews, with the date, and mention the town.
2. Add a Reviews section to your home page, and your rating and count to your Highlights, like "4.8★ · 310 Google reviews".
3. Paste your Google review link into Leave-a-review link in Business info.

Don't offer a discount only for five stars. See Reviews and Ask customers for reviews.

Care tips and pets

Add a "Flower care" page or FAQ answer: trim the stems, use fresh water and flower food, keep flowers out of sun and away from ripe fruit. Say that lilies are dangerous to cats (the ASPCA lists them as toxic to cats), and offer pet-friendly arrangements. Only 6 of 27 shops had care tips.

Photos that prove you're real

Take your own photos with your phone in daylight, near a window:

1. Your storefront with the street number, from across the street
2. Your counter with the buckets of flowers
3. A finished arrangement, straight on and from above
4. A hand-tied bouquet in paper
5. A sympathy piece before it goes out
6. A wedding bouquet, with permission and credit to the photographer
7. Your team at the bench, and your delivery vehicle

Ten of the shops used a vendor's catalog photos. A visitor who has seen the same bouquet on three sites stops believing any of them, and the photos may stop being yours if you leave the vendor, so check your agreement. Until you have your own, Free photos has good ones for "florist arranging bouquet in flower shop" and "hand-tied bouquet wrapped in kraft paper". See Free photos.

Rules worth knowing

This isn't legal advice, just what we found looking at florist sites. Laws vary by state, so check yours with your attorney general's consumer office.

• Don't promise a delivery you can't control. The FTC's order rule makes a stated shipping date a promise, so tell the buyer and offer a refund if you can't. A shop's usual line, "we can't guarantee a delivery time", matches New Jersey's order.
• Itemize fees, and don't use a call-tracking number in place of your own.
• Renewals: state laws (California, New York and Colorado are strict) apply to a subscription that bills until canceled.
• Licenses: a few states license cut-flower or plant sellers (Louisiana requires permits).
• Photos: a photographer owns their pictures unless you have a signed agreement.

Questions customers ask

Add an FAQ section. Florist questions to answer:

• Can you deliver today? What time do I order by?
• Where do you deliver, and what does it cost?
• Do you deliver on Sundays and holidays?
• Will it look like the picture? What if you don't have a flower?
• What if my flowers arrive wilted?
• How do I send flowers to a funeral home?
• Do you do wedding flowers? How do I start?
• Are these flowers safe around cats and dogs?
• Are you a real local shop, and where are you?

In Lists › FAQs, Suggest questions drafts more from your own site. See Use suggested questions.