How Search Results are Organized in FTD Florist Link

From FloristWiki

This information applies to FTD Mercury X2 Fall and later versions, Mercury Connect, or Mercury Direct 5.0 or later versions.

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When you perform a search in Florist Link, you may wonder why the results are organized the way they are. There are several factors that go into organizing the results list, including:

• Also serve by florist vs. resident florist
• Preferred Status (set by you)
• Ad size in the printed FTD Florist Directory
• ZIP/postal code being searched
• Special listings
• Red ink
• Book order

Resident Florist vs. Also Serve By Florist

Resident florists are sorted above Also Serve By florists within the results list. However, if you mark an Also Serve By florist as a First Choice florist for a city, they are grouped with the resident florists for the city.

Preferred Status

You can set the preferred status for a florist to one of four values:

• First Choice
• Preferred
• Normal
• Do Not Use

You control the preferred status of each florist, so if you always want a florist to appear at the top of the results list for a city, you should mark them as First Choice. You can set multiple florists as First Choice, and you can set Also Serve By florists as First Choice to move them to the top of the list (other preferred status values are not moved out of the Also Serve By grouping at the bottom of the list).

After Do Not Use Florists, the closest cities display by mileage and number of FTD florists.

Secondary Results Ordering

After florists have been organized into groups by preferred status, other factors are taken into account in results ordering. These are handled in the following order:

1. Ad size in the printed FTD Florist Directory - All florists in the city are organized within their preferred status group by ad size first. This means that all florists that have purchased a full-page ad will appear before florists who have purchased a half-page ad, who will appear before those who purchased a 9-inch ad, and so on.
2. ZIP/postal code being searched - Florists who have the same ZIP/postal code in the city that you have entered in the search criteria are higher within result groups than those who are in the city but do not have a matching ZIP/postal code. Florists who match the ZIP/postal code used in search have their ZIP/postal codes displayed in blue.
3. Special listings & red ink - Florists who have purchased both a special listing and red ink are listed higher within result groups than those who have not purchased both of these items.
4. Special listings - Florists who have purchased a special listing (but not red ink) are higher within result groups than those who have not purchased one.
5. Red ink - Florist who have purchased red ink (but not a special listing) are higher within result groups than those who have not purchased red ink.
6. Book order - If all things are equal, the final sort criteria is the order in which the florists appear in the printed FTD Florist Directory.