Answer. Guide. Connect.

Next week, I’ll be joining garden center owners, growers and industry partners at The Fall Event in Cleveland. During a brief presentation, I’ll share three practical ways independent garden centers can improve the customer experience in 2027.

The idea is simple: Answer. Guide. Connect.

Each word represents a familiar customer need.

Customers want answers when questions arise. They want help turning an idea into a workable garden project. And they need an easy way to stay connected with the garden center before, during and after a visit.

A chatbot helps answer the customer’s questions. A Garden Coach helps develop the project. The mobile app keeps the customer connected and places those services within easy reach.

Together, they create a more complete journey from the customer’s first question to a confident purchase and an ongoing relationship with the garden center.

Answer: Give customers access to your expertise

The word “chatbot” may sound impersonal or overly technical. A better way to think about it is as a digital extension of the garden center’s sales counter.

Customers already arrive with questions:

• What will grow in this shady area?
• Which shrubs are deer resistant?
• Is this plant safe around pets?
• What should I plant for fall color?
• When are you open, and do you deliver?

Today, many customers begin looking for those answers online. If they cannot find them quickly on the garden center’s website, they may leave the site, search elsewhere or postpone the project.

A well-trained chatbot changes that experience. Customers ask questions in their own words and receive immediate guidance based on the garden center’s website, frequently asked questions, policies and plant information.

For the garden centers whose websites we manage, Sunrise also helps build the information behind the answers. We continually develop seasonal articles, plant features, service information and frequently asked questions based on what customers are likely to be searching for.

That content improves the website while expanding the knowledge available to the chatbot. The more useful and garden-center-specific information we create, the more helpful the answers can become. Rather than installing a chatbot and leaving it to work from a limited website, we continue building the knowledge base that supports it.

Trusted resources such as the Proven Winners plant database add even greater depth. Product and availability information available through programs such as the OrderEase E-Commerce Connect Program and Pride’s Corner Farm Direct Ship Program can further expand that knowledge base and help connect a customer’s question with plants that can be purchased.

This is not a generic chatbot trying to replace a knowledgeable employee. It makes the garden center’s own information, products and expertise easier to access, even when the store is closed or the staff is busy.

Guide: Help customers see the possibilities

Answering a question may help someone choose a plant. A larger project often requires more guidance.

Customers may have an empty foundation bed, an outdated entrance or a backyard area they want to improve. They can describe what they want, but they may have difficulty imagining how the finished space could look.

The Garden Coach program, powered by Neighborbrite, combines the garden center’s human expertise with visualization technology.

The customer schedules and pays for a consultation, shares a photograph of the actual space and meets with a Garden Coach from the garden center. The coach asks questions, recommends an appropriate direction and uses Neighborbrite to help visualize the possibilities.

The technology makes the idea visible. The Garden Coach provides the local knowledge, plant experience and personal guidance needed to make the project practical.

Rather than handing the customer a finished design with little explanation, the coach and customer develop the project together. They can discuss style, conditions, plant choices and priorities while looking at a visual representation of the proposed transformation.

The process is straightforward: Book the expert. Visualize the project. Buy the project.

That clearer path can move a customer from uncertainty to a confident purchase while positioning the garden center as the trusted source behind the project.

Connect: Put everything within easy reach

The mobile app brings the experience together.

It gives customers a convenient place to access the chatbot when they have a question and connect with the Garden Coach when they need more personalized help. Instead of expecting customers to remember different website pages or search for individual services, the app provides a direct path to the garden center’s expanding digital resources.

The strength of the platform extends beyond access. The app also supports push notifications, seasonal content, offers, rewards, events and videos. It gives the garden center a direct communication channel that it controls rather than relying entirely on social media algorithms to reach customers.

The content Sunrise creates can also be shared through the app. An article developed for the website can become an app post, support a chatbot answer and provide the subject for a timely notification. Each piece of content works harder because it becomes part of a connected platform rather than a single website update.

A customer might receive a notification about fall planting, open the app to read an article, ask the chatbot which plants will work in a particular location and then schedule a Garden Coach consultation for the larger project.

The app becomes the customer’s ongoing connection to the garden center. It makes the website content, chatbot and Garden Coach more visible, useful and accessible while providing reasons for the customer to return throughout the season.

Bringing it all together

Answer. Guide. Connect. is more than a list of three digital services.

It is a coordinated approach to helping customers move forward.

The content and frequently asked questions Sunrise develops give the chatbot a stronger foundation for answering questions. Trusted plant and product resources broaden its knowledge. The Garden Coach combines personal expertise with Neighborbrite’s visualization technology to help customers understand what their project could become. The mobile app gives customers an easy way to access those services and keeps the relationship active through timely communication and useful content.

The technology works best when each part supports the others. A question can lead to helpful content. Helpful content can lead to a Garden Coach consultation. A completed project can lead to future visits, additional purchases and a stronger relationship with the garden center.

The real opportunity for 2027 is not simply adding more technology. It is creating a more helpful path through the entire customer experience.

Answer the question. Guide the project. Continue the relationship.

That is the connected garden center experience Sunrise is building.