Making the purchase easy isn't good enough...

[klynam]

Last Friday I shot 96 student photos for our homeschool coop program. Lights, background, 5D, 85mmf/1.8, the works. I also sent a couple of pre-shoot informational sheets to all the parents with prices, instructions, and where-for's and how-to's. Everything would be put online for them to order and receive their photos in a matter of days. I even retouched each and every image for color, contrast, curves, and bad hair/skin.

I could not have made this ANY easier on everyone. No up front payment, no envelopes and forms, everything clean and easy online. So far, I have 6 orders - and 6% conversion rate is pretty darn low in my experience.

Now I know why those cattle-call setups go through the hassle of printing forms and envelopes and collecting the money upfront and all that. If they don't, no one orders anything!

Hard lesson learned...

[SuzyView]

Yes, unfortunately. People will often think you did an okay job, they could do just as well. If you pre-order, then you know they will pay beforehand and maybe need to do retakes if the pictures are not satisfactory. That doesn't happen too often, at least I've never in the years my children have taken class pictures ever done a retake for any of them. Too much trouble. Good luck next time. I do portraits for free for students at events, at teachers and parents' requests. It is a labor of love as I also pp every one of the shots.

[klynam]

labor of love

Me too. That why I agreed to do it in the first place. No upfront costs to anyone, just did it to help the coop. I also teach graphic design there, and will teach "Introduction to Digital Photography" next semester. :-)

[SuzyView]

I get comments all the time how great my shots are, but if I asked people to pay for a print, they just pass. Weird, but real.

[Borderfox]

Would it help if you printed on site? just wondering because most of these things are impulse buys and coming from event photography thats what makes the world go around.

[PhotosGuy]

Maybe it's time to offer that Xmas 10% discount?

[klynam]

I couldn't print on-site as in this particular case most parents weren't there.

I'm all over the 10% Christmas discount Frank. I'm going to give it another week, one more "reminder" email, and then start with the discounts. :-)

[Gary_Evans]

I'm going to give it another week, one more "reminder" email, and then start with the discounts. :-)

You cant start discounting now, its a poor business practice that penalises the few customers you have had which will give you a bad reputation, and next time (if you do it next time) no-one will order as they all wait for the discount.

I dont see why you couldnt print onsite because the parents werent there. Because they could pay and then student didnt have to? They had to choose the image? Another reason?

I havent looked at your website, but is it easy to use? Can an individual find their photo quickly? As in 3 clicks and less than 6 seconds. If not you are driving potential customers away regardless of how good your work is.

fwiw, All images on our student website are "as shot". Zero post processing until money is paid. Most of our clients order at an event, and even if they want to see online first, they pay a nominal fee at the time of being photographed so as not to completely waste the photographers time.

Students are renowned the world over for wanting to look and not buy, and you have to keep one step ahead of them.

[klynam]

Gary - great points...

1. "cant start discounting now" - Yep I thought about that. What about offering a higher (20%) discount for additional orders to the 6 people who have already purchased? Or sending them a free print . Other thoughts to ease the pain?

2. Also couldn't print onsite becuase I wanted to check, adjust and retouch the photos until I was happy with them. I see your student photos are as shot. Unfortunately, I'm not that good yet...lol

3. Site easy to use? Yes, 3 clicks to the grade gallery, then find the student. Should be no problem to get to the child in less than 10 seconds, even for a newcommer. ("should" being the key word there)

4. One step ahead...Learning that now! :-)

Thanks for the geat input!

[rhys]

From my experience, people don't buy prints. You have to sell the service. They mostly want to print themselves so charge a sitting fee and then let them do what they want with the JPEG files.

[bwolford]

Pre-sales make the difference. I've found web based post sales to be 5-10% of on site sales AT BEST. The photo farms plow the field that way for a reason.

Good lesson learned.

Oh, and no discounting. Why piss off the people who supported you in the first place? Also if you try to discount for them, they'll learn to wait next time to get the better price...

[Floriantrojer.com]

You know how they did it at my school?!? Ridiculously smart actually ;)

They let the students sign up a list they pass through classes if they want to have their photos taken. They take the candids of every student, got all the names and addresses from the school and sent their packages readily done to EVERY home address together with their price list.

It was either pay them or send them back if you don't like / want them. Now... I don't have to tell you how lazy people can be...guess they sold the majority of all.

[Jon, The Elder]

You cant start discounting now, its a poor business practice that penalizes the few customers you have had which will give you a bad reputation, and next time (if you do it next time) no-one will order as they all wait for the discount.

I agree with Gary here. The very idea of 'discounting' a photograph, really cheapens your work effort. From that point on, people think of your pricing as a negotiable figure.

[Dermit]

Instead of giving a discount it's always better to throw in extras instead. But they are right, you don't want to punish the people who ordered early so you got to carefully choose how you do things.

[bwolford]

You know how they did it at my school?!? Ridiculously smart actually ;)

They let the students sign up a list they pass through classes if they want to have their photos taken. They take the candids of every student, got all the names and addresses from the school and sent their packages readily done to EVERY home address together with their price list.

It was either pay them or send them back if you don't like / want them. Now... I don't have to tell you how lazy people can be...guess they sold the majority of all.

I'd check the state law, but if they sent something to your home you didn't order, you could keep it and pay nothing. I'm not sure I would do this at all.

[klynam]

I'd check the state law, but if they sent something to your home you didn't order, you could keep it and pay nothing. I'm not sure I would do this at all.

Yeah, I'd be afraid people would just keep it and not pay. Law or no law, the burden would be on me to collect or get it back. :(

[MJPhotos24]

Pre-sales make the difference. I've found web based post sales to be 5-10% of on site sales AT BEST. The photo farms plow the field that way for a reason.

Good lesson learned.

Oh, and no discounting. Why piss off the people who supported you in the first place? Also if you try to discount for them, they'll learn to wait next time to get the better price...

Same here - order forms for portrait type photos are the ONLY way to go. It's a lot more back end work but it's worth it $$$ wise. Around here not many buy online afraid of ID theft or they just want to write a check. On-site is so much better (taking orders on site, not printing).

I've only given a discount once, and it was 30 days after the photos were posted. Most orders were already completed (these were game action shots of baseball players overseas so mom/dad weren't there to take there own). It helped in reprint sales - parents buying more for family, but initial sales just doesn't work because you will tick them off and the next time they will wait - and longer they wait, the more chance they forget.

[MJPhotos24]

Yeah, I'd be afraid people would just keep it and not pay. Law or no law, the burden would be on me to collect or get it back. :(

You can guarantee they wouldn't pay...why would someone? All you can do is ask for them back, can't demand them. Not like selling a car and you give the photos a test run in the frames - or a test scan to print your own!

[New Hobby]

I think its a fed law that if someone sends something via mail without you ordering it they do not have to pay or send it back.

[richpease]

It was either pay them or send them back if you don't like / want them. Now... I don't have to tell you how lazy people can be...guess they sold the majority of all.

They did that last year for my kids, this year they did it through pre-order. In both cases, I preferred mine. :lol: