How can wedding photographers create an unforgettable client experience
As a business owner, you usually learn about useful things through books, articles, podcasts and other similar sources of knowledge. But from time to time, you get a business lesson from your day-to-day life. And these can be super fun as well.
One of the things I firmly believe in as a business owner is that every person can be an expert in one field only. When you do that, focus on that one thing, repeating it every single day, working on it and learning about it, you get to be better and better, and eventually, you leave behind everyone else. That was one of the main reasons why I decided to focus on working as a Pinterest manager for wedding photographers. Not a "general" Pinterest manager working with all the different kinds of businesses, not a social media manager that also covers platforms such as Instagram or Facebook. No, I wanted to niche down as much as possible.
At the same time, I want to provide the readers of this blog as much valuable information as possible. Content that brings them value and helps them tackle all the different kinds of challenges they are facing in their wedding photography business. To do that, I will be hosting guest blog posts from different kind of business owners, each providing helpful advice from their field.
The first guest is Kristi Monte, a serial entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant, podcaster, musician and much more. I've been lucky enough to know (and work with) Kristi for over a year now and witness first-hand how she grew her business. She started her VA business as a way for her to make rent, but less than two years later, she is now working for Jasmine Star, helping other entrepreneurs create & streamline an amazing client experience and is even teaching others how to start their own VA business with her mentorship program.
What is client experience?
Client (or customer) experience represents all the interactions a (potential) client has with your business. It is not only about how a client feels when working with you but also everything else that happened before and after that. What was the experience like for them when they came across a post on your Instagram or one of your Facebook ads? How did they feel like when browsing through your website or talking to you on the phone? What about your emails? Did you respond quickly or did they have to send you more than one inquiry? All of this (and more) is a part of your client experience.
Why should I care about my client experience?
The reason for this is simple. As Kristi puts it, your client experience can help you "turn your passive customers into raving fans".
Imagine this scenario: a potential client (let's call her Gemma) discovers you online, loves your style and wants to hire you. She goes to your website to learn more about you and your process. What happens next? Your website loads slowly because of all the large image files that are on it. Gemma gets just a tiny bit frustrated about it, but that doesn't turn her away. She starts looking for your prices, but instead, she only finds a contact form. Somewhat disappointed, Gemma fills out the form and waits to hear back from you. You spend the weekend getting ready and shooting a wedding, so you reply to Gemma on Monday afternoon - 4 days later. You send her your pricing guide and ask her if she'd be interested in talking to you over the phone.
The day after Gemma filled out your contact form and still hasn't heard back from you, she goes back online and starts researching wedding photographers once again. She finds another one she likes and repeats the same steps she did with you. She goes to their website, finds their "starting at" prices quickly and realizes that the photographer is within her price range. Excited about it, Gemma fills out their contact form and within minutes, she receives a more detailed guide to her email, alongside a pdf with useful information for brides-to-be. Not only that, the same email includes a link that takes Gemma to the "book your appointment" scheduler. She finds a free opening that works best for her and on Monday morning, she is already talking to that wedding photographer about her big day - before you even reply back to her.
What do you think, which one of the photographers Gemma is more likely to hire? The one that she waited to hear back from or the one where everything ran smoothly?
How to improve client experience as a wedding photographer
To create an amazing customer experience for your wedding photography clients, you need to know the steps they will go through. This then leads to the workflow.
As Kristi points out, "workflow is the sequence that gets somebody from point A to point B. Point A being somebody hearing your name as a photographer they could potentially hire and point B being 1 year later when you send your bride an anniversary card. That's the workflow: everything in between."
To get your wheels turning, Kristi provides a list of questions to ask yourself that will help you craft your client experience.
How do you want clients to get in touch with you?
What do you need to know about them right away, before you book a phone call... And what do they need to know about you?
What kinds of questions have past clients asked that you can include in your workflow to anticipate them?
Are there any personal touches you can include to add more value to your package
How often would you like to follow up with them after they have received their gallery?
For example, if you want every potential client to get in touch with you through a contact form on your website, you can. That means that every single time someone sends you an Instagram DM about a session, all you need to do is have a perfectly written out note in your phone that you copy and paste. The note can say something like: "Hi, thank you so much for reaching out. Would you mind going to this link and fill out the form there because I can ensure the best customer service that way."
There are so many ways people can contact you (on Facebook, Instagram, via email, through a contact form), so if you want everyone to use the same method, you need to tell them that.
Where should I start?
I encourage you to click on the image on the right and download Kristi’s free 13-page guide on how to create a client experience.
Also, go take a look at the video above and find a very detailed sample wedding photography client experience. That will surely get you started on the right track.
Lastly, if all of this seems too much for you, Kristi can help you out. Check out her services here and let yourself be amazed by her expertise.