Valentine’s Day may be all about celebrating romance, but if you want to avoid an awkward date night with your significant other and instead enjoy the holiday with your best friends, family members, or co-workers, it’s much more fun to send flowers to their office than to sit across from them at a fancy restaurant. We took some of the stress out of choosing the perfect Valentine’s gift by testing out 8 popular online flower delivery services and writing up our favorite reviews in this article on how to choose the best online flower delivery service. Check it out!
Test #1: Customer Service
In this review, we will be testing the customer service of various online flower delivery services. We have graded them on a scale from 1-5 with 5 being the best. Customers are given five minutes to call and discuss their experience with one representative. For each question, they answer they receive a point. Answering correctly before time up earns an additional point. There are eight questions in total:
- What is your preferred method of payment? (1 point) • How would you like your flowers delivered? (1 point) • Do you need same-day delivery? (1 point) • What size is the vase? (1 point) • Do you want the stem length cut off before delivery?
Test #2: Website Design
Flowers say a lot about who we are and what we love. They’re there to share our appreciation and affection with friends, family, and loved ones. The best online flower delivery services have the most beautiful bouquets, and flawless customer service, and make it possible to reach more people than ever before by making their deliveries available anywhere in the world—all on your schedule. While some may still prefer to send flowers in person as a special surprise, ordering from one of these sites is never a bad idea.
Test #3: Value of what you get
For this test, we evaluated how much you get for your money. Each service offered a different selection of flowers, products, and gifts—making it difficult to determine who provides the best value. One thing was certain: the flowers were always fresh! That said, not all flower delivery services are created equal and what is good value may depend on who you are buying for. In some cases, if you’re trying to wow that special someone with exotic blooms, these sites might not have them in stock; also if a service doesn’t allow custom orders then they might be more expensive than expected because you’re stuck with preset packages instead of being able to create your own arrangement.
Test #4: Flowers, prices, and where they come from
Best Online Flower Delivery Service
For us, the two factors most important to consider when choosing a flower delivery service are how fast they deliver, and whether or not they come from local farms. Many of the companies we ordered from offered on-demand next-day delivery (as in, you order today and your flowers will arrive tomorrow). Others were more traditional where your order is processed on the weekend and delivered on Monday or Tuesday. Lastly, some flowers are grown near your recipient’s doorstep while others are flown in from afar. The latter means that they may come with a hefty price tag, but the upside is that they can be delivered as soon as 24 hours after ordering them.
Test #5: Occasion availability
It is important to know what occasion you’re ordering for before choosing a flower delivery service. There are tons of different events that people order flowers for including weddings, births, funerals, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day. The next thing you need to think about is whether or not the website offers same-day delivery. We found two sites that offered a delivery within one hour: 100Flowers and Proflowers. It takes most of the other companies at least 24 hours to make the flowers available in their warehouse after they’re ordered. Which might not be a big deal if it was only going to take a day or two but during Valentine’s week? That can make a huge difference!
Test #6: Free delivery options
Free delivery options. It sounds great, doesn’t it? But is it too good to be true? In many cases, no. Some of the best online flower delivery services offer free shipping on certain orders and flowers, such as orders over $75 or orders with free deliveries to your recipient’s address.
Test #7: Voucher codes, discount codes, and promotion codes
Online flower delivery services can get complicated, so we wanted to test this one aspect of it: if voucher codes, discount codes, and promotion codes actually work. The idea is that you order your flowers using a promo code and the company will knock some money off your purchase or even add free delivery. But as with everything in life, there are pros and cons to every solution. As far as online flower deliveries go though, voucher codes just might be the way to go!
Test #8: Trustworthiness
At the end of the day, you want to know that whoever you send flowers to on V-Day is going to appreciate them. And who can appreciate them more than a florist? That’s why we think floral delivery services like FTD and ProFlowers are great options, as they work with local florists in every town and allow you to pick up your order in person. Sure, their deliveries take longer than other sites – but what have you got to lose when the guy (or girl) you love will get flowers straight from an expert?
