Advice on how to handle unhappy client

[Dermit]

So I offer on-line sales of my images, both prints and digital download files. Of the digital downloads I offer two sizes. One size is 800 pixels on the long side and I inform clients that these files are good for web, email, facebook, etc. but no good for print. My other size is 2100 pixels on the long side and I inform them this is good for prints of 5x7 or smaller.

So I had a client order a lot of the larger digital downloads last week. Today I get an email from her stating that she is trying to email these images to friends and family (which I am fine with) but that she can't because the files are too big. She also indicated that between my prices being too high and her not being able to email the files that she is very frustrated.

There are many things I could do from here. I am leaning toward directly emailing her smaller versions of the files so she can in turn forward them to where she wants to try and keep a happy client. But what I don't get is why the frustration at me? Because my files are too big and expensive?

[drumsfield]

Be nice and make her happy

[sapearl]

Well, it's on her for not paying attention to what she is doing, or shopping around more, or a number of things. But obviously she chose you for a (good) reason and I always prefer to keep the client the happy. They are more likely to praise your service level then, although there is no guarantee of this.

Explain that you're sorry she was not happy with the file sizes and go ahead and furnish her with the lower rez images at no extra charge to her. And make sure that she realizes she won't be billed for your extra effort.

But I would NOT under any circumstances offer any sort of price reduction - if that is what she is angling towards - just the additional service. - Stu

[LiberationFrequency]

Just email her the smaller image? Say you give out the large size image for print work, and that you would have no problems sending her the smaller image for email use. Email attachment size can vary between providers of email services and you would gladly help her out.

Dont be a dick, just genuinely say, there can be different file size limits and that you have no problem sending her the smaller one. She already bought a higher tier, and if her figuring out how to resize an image takes an hour, your 30 seconds of re-sizing and another 30 seconds of emailing is probably just the one thing you can do to thank a paying customer.

[sigma pi]

If they buy the big image why not give them the small too?

What kind of email service is she using? can she send one at a time?

[Dermit]

Yes, I am planning on doing the 'right' thing and keep her happy by emailing her downsized images at no cost. I guess my natural instinct is to also try and explain how this was not my fault as well as explain that my prices are at or below most pro photography services in the area, but I think i will just bite my tongue on that one. I just take frustration toward me too personal I guess but am learning more often to just bend over backwards to help the client to keep the business on a positive note as much as possible.

[TopHatMoments]

People will never take the blame for there own misguiding's.
Send her an email that you understand her frustration ( lack of common since ),
explain that those files are ment for printing as they are larger files.
-Have her send you a list of her chosen lg files and make her a web size file.

Wish her a Merry Christmas.
She's probaly been bragin about her photographs and frustrated she can't send them. Add to that she can not figure it out, the people on the other end are beating her with a dead fish saying, where's the pic's?? Kids screaming, or boss nagging, life smacked her with bills Saturday ....

[Dermit]

People will never take the blame for there own misguiding's.
Send her an email that you understand her frustration ( lack of common since ),
explain that those files are ment for printing as they are larger files.
-Have her send you a list of her chosen lg files and make her a web size file.

Wish her a Merry Christmas.
She's probaly been bragin about her photographs and frustrated she can't send them. Add to that she can not figure it out, the people on the other end are beating her with a dead fish saying, where's the pic's?? Kids screaming, or boss nagging, life smacked her with bills Saturday ....

+1 - Good advice. Understood, and will do exactly that.

[tim]

First off i'd tell her the files she purchased are for her personal use, and to buy them then email them to anyone else is a breach of copyright. People don't understand copyright or licenses, and they'll probably argue or think you're unreasonable for this. Tough.

Second i'd tell her that the files are for printing, not emailing, and if she wants to email them she'll need to reduce the size. I'd probably offer to send her email sized images which are ok to share.

[casp3r]

I work in IT and the user is never wrong - it's always the computer, the software, the network, somebody else, but never the user (sarcasism implied :) ). We normally call it an ID10T (ID-Ten-T) because that's what most of them are.

As mentioned earlier service providers have different attachment sizes. It's possible that she's trying to email them all in one go. Probably the best solution is to sent her the resized versions but also to advise her to only send 1 or 2 per email.

[RDKirk]

So I offer on-line sales of my images, both prints and digital download files. Of the digital downloads I offer two sizes. One size is 800 pixels on the long side and I inform clients that these files are good for web, email, facebook, etc. but no good for print. My other size is 2100 pixels on the long side and I inform them this is good for prints of 5x7 or smaller.



I'm going to presume that if you sell images for the client to reproduce by printing, that includes reproduction by email. IMO you should include as a standard service web-sized images along with the print-sized images.

I put them in two different folders on my CDs using long, fully descriptive filenames:

Images for Printing
Images for Email and Facebook

[thecackster]

Gotta Love the ID10T haha.

As for your issue, I'd just shoot her the small ones and explain to her what her problem is. Tim's advice is pretty solid IMO

[Crocodile101]

you can have her install zoomfoot for emailing large files, it;s free.

[Dermit]

I emailed her downsized images and she was grateful. Happy client.

I guess that since I deal with images everyday that I don't think twice about re-sizing them all the time. So it is easy for me to forget that there are many people out there that have no idea about how to go about doing this. So it makes sense to provide this downsize conversion. It takes me seconds to do. Issue resolved.

[Daedalus34r]

would it make sense to include the smaller web-friendly size with each purchase of the largest size? You can price it as such so that the client feels they are getting a good deal by getting both instead of choosing just one or the other.

[RDKirk]

would it make sense to include the smaller web-friendly size with each purchase of the largest size? You can price it as such so that the client feels they are getting a good deal by getting both instead of choosing just one or the other.

Yes, that's what I do.

[Bumgardnern]

Be nice. Your client does not sound unreasonable yet just ill informed. I would tell her about services like yousendit, and dropbox. Empower your customer to be a better customer in the future.

[Bilsen]

Can't help with the business side but I can suggest that if you use any other color profile for print that you convert it to sRGB before you send her the web images.

I shoot in aRGB and convert to sRGB so that most browsers handle them correctly.

Best of luck with this PITA client.

[cdifoto]

you can have her install zoomfoot for emailing large files, it;s free.

Be nice. Your client does not sound unreasonable yet just ill informed. I would tell her about services like yousendit, and dropbox. Empower your customer to be a better customer in the future.
You recommend complicating something even further for someone who doesn't even realize that full resolution files are too big for traditional attachment?

Horrible move in customer service, IMHO. Keep it simple. I know personally that when I email someone an attachment, I want it to be drag & drop easy. I don't want to have to install another service or go to another website...and I am technically minded.

[cdifoto]

Can't help with the business side

Obviously (see below).

Best of luck with this PITA client.

[Dermit]

You recommend complicating something even further for someone who doesn't even realize that full resolution files are too big for traditional attachment?

Horrible move in customer service, IMHO. Keep it simple. I know personally that when I email someone an attachment, I want it to be drag & drop easy. I don't want to have to install another service or go to another website...and I am technically minded.


My thoughts exactly. Emailing her small versions of all her files worked perfectly. She is happy, I am happy.

[imahawki]

Help the client. There are a lot of hard line people on here whom I certainly would ever want to be a customer of. Her issue is that she probably thought she wanted the large resolution files but now wants to share them (I assume this is allowed since you clearly sell "email ready" files). If I were your customer I would be able to email them because I'm more technically savvy. Your problem isn't that your customer is trying to pull a fast one or is trying to be unreasonable, she simply isn't tech savvy. You might even consider offering a package in the future where a person buying high-res files can purchase the "email ready" files a steep discount. You would increase your overall sales and eliminate this kind of problem.

[TopHatMoments]

To many decisions On size of files will only confuse most clients.

Add 20% to the cost of the large files & add the web size automatically with each.
They will think they are getting two for one, already a windfall for them.

With each file you purchase, until New Years 2012 I'll include web size files as a bonus.

[Chippy569]

Tell her to download irfanview and resize them herself. Hell even Paint can do that.

[Andrushka]

it is easy for me to forget that there are many people out there that have no idea about how to go about doing this

this is the crux of the matter... average consumer is not a tech savvy individual, its just fact.

Similarly If someone assumed that as a 27 year old male who has been driving motor vehicles since age 15 that I should know how to fix cars, they would be misguided as I haven't the first idea, its just not my thing.

Just because someone has a computer doesnt mean they understand or comprehend the minute details of how to use it... or print with correct color or email attachments or use the camera they just spent $1000 + for, etc... gear head photo nerds (as those of us are who congregate here) are a small percentage of the population...

[u_loco_local]

What about something like pix-resizer?

Seems like a simple program for even the not-so-web-savvy consumers.

[Andrushka]

personally I would never get involved in advising clients to download specific software or programs... you will become tech support!! (heck, this goes for friends, family... once it becomes your idea, you will be setting up/installing/maintaining for the foreseeable future!)

[cdifoto]

What about something like pix-resizer?

Seems like a simple program for even the not-so-web-savvy consumers.

You can batch resize, sharpen, and save optimized 10,000 photos in the time it takes to teach a tech-illiterate customer how to download, open, install, run, set, and resize 1. Make it 100,000 if there are any hiccups along the way.

Time management, folks.

[TopHatMoments]

Sherif Taylor never could trust Barney with 1 bullet, less he shoot himself in the foot.

Barney would take out his .38 and wave it around but, he never did get the hang of it.

[CallumPhoto]

I'm suprised they would be to big to email, doesn't hotmail have a 25mb limit now? Anyway glad to hear it worked out well.

[chakalakasp]

You can batch resize, sharpen, and save optimized 10,000 photos in the time it takes to teach a tech-illiterate customer how to download, open, install, run, set, and resize 1. Make it 100,000 if there are any hiccups along the way.

Time management, folks.

This also seems like a great opportunity to capitalize on something that customers want. If you are including digital files of your shoot, offer all clients the option to throw in a second DVD full of monitor resolution photos for a fixed price. It kills two birds with one stone, as tech-savvy clients will roll their eyes at paying again for a second CD of lower-res images, whereas the bulk of people who know nothing about resolution or computers will perceive getting value from the low-res disk and will pay for it -- and neither are likely to call you in the future asking how to send an email. :)

It's true though, most people have no idea how to run a computer. It blows my mind how many people come into the local photo lab and are willing to pay $4 per CD to have their digital photos from their digital camera burned to a disc for them. Each CD holds around 700MB, and the Fuji software cuts that in half by writing the file twice to the disk for some reason, so people end up paying $20 or more to have their images put to disc. A DVD-R costs around 20 cents if you buy them in bulk and all new versions of windows will write to them (and will even walk you through how the moment you pop the disc in the tray). But that's way over the heads of a lot of people and they're willing to pay 100 times more over and over again to avoid learning! Heck, you'd be surprised how many people don't realize their CF cards can be erased and written to again -- they just keep buying new cards whenever they fill up!