Case Study - The Lily Pad Florist
A florist’s website as beautiful as the flowers, and twice as busy.
Client:
The Lily Pad Florist
Year:
2019–2023
Work:
Design, Development, Local SEO, Retainer
The Lily Pad is a high street florist in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Owner Gemma has arranged flowers for royalty and celebrities and worked on weddings from Dorset to the Peak District, putting her care and creativity into every wedding, funeral and hand-tied bouquet.
The challenge.
After years of problems with her previous website and the tech behind it, Gemma needed more than a redesign.
The Lily Pad needed a site that reflected the feel of the shop and Gemma's passion for flowers, a practical eCommerce solution for a genuinely creative business, and the peace of mind of knowing someone had it handled.
A creative florist selling hand-tied arrangements doesn’t fit the set-bouquet template most florist websites use, and the site had to accommodate that creativity without confusing the ordering process.
Understanding the shop first.
Discovery made one thing clear above everything - the flowers had to be the star.
I recommended a set of new brand photographs, the shop inside and out, Gemma at work, and the arrangements themselves, so the site could carry the retail experience online.
The technical thinking mattered just as much. Customers would arrive mostly through organic search, so I researched key phrases and competitors and planned the page hierarchy around local SEO, complementing the Google Business Profile Gemma already ran well.
The build.
The Lily Pad’s branding used a neutral palette, and Gemma wanted a colourful, lively site, so the flowers themselves provided the colour.
Full-width imagery was used throughout, bringing the look and feel of the shop to the screen. For wedding customers, galleries of previous work sat within easy reach.
Underneath the beauty, the commerce had to work hard. Checkout needed custom fields refined until the process was right, complex delivery-date selection with cut-off times and limited daily slots, and different options depending on location.
And because many visitors are buying funeral flowers or last-minute gifts, often on a hard day or in a hurry, ease of use led every decision, with the process explained step by step.
The ongoing work.
Ongoing support kept the site up to date and up and running, with uptime monitored around the clock and seasonal promotions designed and built so customers could always find their Valentine’s bouquet or Christmas wreath. When Covid arrived, the site adapted quickly with special messages for customers, pricing and delivery changes, and the shop taken offline and back as restrictions moved.
And afterwards...
Gemma has since sold The Lily Pad, and when she launched her next venture, Petals and Pampas, she came straight back. I designed and built the new site, and I look after it to this day. There’s no better review than a client who starts again and won’t start without you.
The results.
Wedding bookings more than doubled, from an average of 26 a year to 58 in twelve months.
Online sales grew to £26k a year, carrying the business through the Covid lockdowns.
Around two-thirds of enquiries mentioned the website.
“Kate has been an absolute dream from day 1. She brought creativity and ideas which exceeded my vision. She created a website completely in line with my style and brand. Kate delved deep to really get a feel for what I wanted, she asked me questions that I didn’t think I knew the answers to, but it was all for a reason and all aided the process! My wedding bookings went up almost immediately after going live, I went from a 26 a year average, to 58. I would say at least two thirds of enquiries comment on my beautiful/impressive/inspiring website. My eCommerce is doing brilliantly, and has really carried us through the COVID lockdowns. We call Kate our web unicorn, partly because she occasionally looks like one! And mostly because she is definitely magical. She usually thinks of things, such as upcoming dates and events, before I have managed to, sorts everything before I’ve even finished messaging her about them, and keeps her cool and remains patient and friendly even when I make ridiculous mistakes and cause her stress! I honestly cannot recommend Kate enough.”
Gemma Bowering
Owner, The Lily Pad Florist
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