Like any other business product or service, gift baskets must be marketed. Those who promote their businesses do well, and those who don’t will be disappointed.

Three ways to make your gift basket business profitable.

1. Set up a way to capture the names and emails of visitors to your site.

You’ve no doubt been on many websites where a box floats into the page asking you to sign up for a free item.

You can do this by offering a free newsletter, free reports, tips or other item they may value. This list is very valuable. If you don’t capture this contact information, you may have lost the chance to sell to these potential customers forever.

But if you are emailing them announcements, special sales information, gift-giving tips and so on, they are more likely to return or call to buy a gift basket.

2. Sell more to your current customers

Once you’ve landed customers, stay in frequent touch with them. Encourage them to expand their purchases by adding a balloon or other added value for which you can charge an additional fee.

Your current customers are valuable because they’ve already shown faith in your company and product. One example of a company that does this well is Vistaprint. You probably know them for their free business card offer.

Each time I take Vistaprint up on an offer for free postcards, a free t-shirt, or other imprinted product, I must go through several pages of offers to upgrade my order or add additional products. I don’t mind going through these because I’m getting the product free.

How do they make money, you wonder? Well, they don’t offer everything free. And, you must pay to use your own image if you don’t want to use their stock images.

Each time I receive a shipment from them, there’s another little sales booklet offering more free items with the special access code to purchase from their website. They are smart marketers and know that waving the offer of free products in front of me works. Besides, once I receive the products and see the quality of their products I’m much more inclined to buy at regular price.

3. Hustle

The owner of a balloon supply store once shared with me that folks keep calling his store asking if they sell gift baskets. He had to keep turning them away. He said to me, “You gift basket designers aren’t doing your marketing.”

Unfortunately he was right. During the 18 years I’ve been consulting and speaking to gift basket business owners, I’m amazed at how many do very little to go after business. Putting an ad in the paper and putting up a website is not marketing.

To make your business profitable you must

• take advantage of every networking opportunity possible to ask for orders
• follow up on every person you meet at Chamber and network meetings
• keep up with trends such as putting updates on Twitter and Facebook to keep news about your business in the public’s mind
• modify your business to draw in more business. This may mean partnering with another company, raising your prices (some of you aren’t charging enough and people think you must offer an inferior product,)  or changing your designs and offering to meet trends and current demands.

I recently heard a story about a sandwich shop that was in a busy shopping center. During the summer, people kept coming in the store all day long asking, “Do you sell ice cream?”"No,” the owner announced to each person. Finally, he got so annoyed that he put a sign in the window: WE DON’T SELL ICE CREAM.

What would have been a smarter thing for the store owner to have done since there was obviously a demand for ice cream?

Are you meeting current demands of customers, or are you turning away money?

When I began my gift basket business in the early 90’s I didn’t even own a computer, a website and certainly not an e-commerce system.

My first customers were friends, relatives and people I met at networking meetings. They ordered by telephone and paid by check or cash.

Even after I invested in a computer, I still didn’t have a website for about a year. Of course, many other businesses had not moved into cyberspace either. When my customers would call for information I would describe some basket ideas on the phone and mail them a brochure.

The Internet has definitely changed the way I do business, and I suspect it has changed the way you do business as well. If you want to be profitable, there are three ways you must change your business now that the Internet is at the hub of modern communication.

1. How you get customers

Meeting potential customers at networking meetings, Chamber events, holiday boutiques are still popular ways to attract new customers.  But with the advent of the Internet you have access to larger number of potential clients and can meet them at a much faster rate.

Now you can get at these potential clients by going to them virtually.  One way to do this is be sure your website is optimized to place you near the top of the top page of search engine results.  This happens when you carefully select and place keywords.

The second way is to build up leads by offering a free newsletter or other incentive that appeals to your customers.  Once you have the email addresses of your leads you can keep in frequent contact with them, reminding them of your services and announcing new products.  Unlike regular mail that takes time and costs postage, email enables you to create one message and send it to an infinite number of people for a very low cost.

The third way to get customers is to build online relationships on social media sites. Facebook and Twitter are at the top of these. On YouTube you can post movies that you’ve created that give some advice or offer demonstrations.

To neglect any of these ways to get customers via the Internet and you’re leaving money on the table.

2. How you serve customers

Unless you are intentionally restricting your sales to just a few customers, you need a website to extend your reach.  And not just any website.

Because your website is competing against thousands of others who sell gifts, gift baskets, flowers and other retail gift items, it needs to stand out.  In addition to being attractive and easy-to-navigate, it must also have a seccure and easy-to-use e-commerce system. Reassure your customers by using a safe system and announcing it on your site.

Modern customers expect a variety of choices, options to customize and payment system that not only takes their credit card information, but confirms their order with an email that arrives within minutes of the sale. Customize the thank you email so that it takes customers back to a page on your website where you can also list other similar items and services for sale.

In addition, to be competitive with other online sellers your shipping method should provide tracking information so that your customer can follow if she wishes.

Once visitors land on your website the selection of a gift or gift basket through payment should be a smooth, seamless process.

3. How you keep customers

Regular contact helps keep your customers coming back to you. When they make a purchase be sure to follow up with a thank you email. Reward loyal customers with something special, a bonus or an add-on.

Find out what your customers want and need by asking them on a survey. This will help you better serve them when you shop for inventory and supplies.

One of your most powerful Internet tools in staying in touch with your customers is email. You can set up regular emails to go out through an autoresponder program such as AWeber. It is a proven business fact that it is much easier to sell to existing customers than it is to get new customers. So once you have earned a customer’s trust and business, nurture it by frequent contact.

One of my subscribers sends out an attractive newsletter to her customer base and has experienced increased sales. Here’s what Jean, owner of Bountiful Baskets by Jean said,

Since [I began sending out my newsletter] I think [sales have] increased at least 30 to 40 %. Consistent reminders of holidays have improved my customer contact and have also given the ones that have never ordered ideas on what to order!

Another way to stay in touch with your customers is to find out where they hang out. If your customers are active on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and other social media, connecting with them there will help strengthen your business relationships. Be sure to post the social media icons on your website to encourage them to follow, friend and link with you.

Speaking of rewarding loyalty

To thank you for being a loyal subscriber I’ve set up a special 48 hour sale of my special report, Prescription for a Successful Gift Basket Website. This report will save you money and time by avoiding the mistakes I made in the early days. It will also point you to tips, strategies and advice I gained from my experiences and those of other successful businesses.

In addition to my 96-page special report, you will also receive as a bonus a report by marketing expert Marcia Yudkin, Charge More and Get It where she gives actionable advice on pricing your products and services. You will be able to download both reports as soon as you place your order.

Follow this link to download this 90-page special report and the free bonus report. Remember this sale only lasts 48 hours and will end promptly at midnight on Thursday, October 1, 2009

Are you getting all the business you want from your website?

I didn’t think so.

That’s because your website sucks in a number of ways.

Here is the #1 reason: Your website makes me nervous so I don’t feel at ease ordering from you.

Why?

• Your home page doesn’t tell me the major benefit of choosing your gift basket service.
• You don’t have a privacy policy reassures me that you won’t be sharing my personal information with others.
• You don’t even have terms and conditions telling me what I can expect when I use your service.
• Your About Us page gives me general information, but you don’t give me history of your company, your mission and a photo.
• You don’t have an icon confirming that placing my credit card information on your site is safe.
• Wait! You don’t even accept credit cards? I have to call you to place an order. What century are you in?
• On your Contact Us page you have a box where I can leave a question, but you don’t list your street address, city, zip, state and phone number. Are you a real company?

To learn more about fixing the problems with your website, get our free e-course, “How to Dramatically Improve Your Gift Basket Website.” Sign up below.

When visitors come to your website this spring they will be searching for solutions to their gift-giving problems. The easier and more convenient their search, the more likely they will choose to buy from you.  There are three ways your website must be set up to entice visitors to buy your spring gift baskets.

1. Catch their attention

Gift baskets are a very visual product, so a photo of a single gift basket or several will draw the eye of your visitors.  Give each design a name that appeals to its use. The gardening basket pictured above, for example,  is Stop and Smell the Flowers and it immediately makes you think of spring.

2. Anticipate their questions and offer suggestions for popular occasions.

Think of the spring holidays and occasions. During spring families look forward to warmer weather and begin to plan outdoor activities.  Gardening, picnics, outdoor sports, and vacations are just a few of the popular spring activities. 

In addition, there are popular celebrations such as Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras, Oscar Awards, Black History Month.

Of course every season has birthdays, thank you, congratulations, bon voyage, and graduation occasions.

You don’t have to post a photo for every design for every occasion, but you can offer suggested gift basket ideas.

3. Spell out all the details.

Customers need details to help them decide on a purchase, so be sure your website provides these:

• contents of the design
• size of the finished design
• price of design
• shipping and handling costs
• expected delivery time
• payment options
• a quick and easy order proces
• confirmation immediately following an order
• tracking options
• contact information if they have questions
• option of adding a personal message
• option of customizing, if available

The more details you offer the easier it is for your customer to discover that your website is the place to shop. Be sure the ordering process is simple and thorough. Put customers at ease by providing secure shopping with a