Since the Great Recession, many new businesses have started up in all fields, even in the already crowded field of professional photography. With so much competition, customer satisfaction is no longer enough and will not guarantee you repeat customers. There is a new standard that the best companies are beginning to try to measure up to that will ensure not only repeat customers but customers that can find value in multiple aspects of your photography offering.
What is Customer Success? –
Customer success is a higher standard than simple customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer can walk away from your company after their wedding, happy with the photos that they can share with their family and friends for a lifetime. That same customer, though, may have had hurdles to climb to set an appointment with you on your calendar program or get information about your style and see samples of your photos on your website. That same customer may have no idea of the other photography services you provide that their family or friends might want to enlist today. That same customer might not know how to get a discount on their next portrait appointment.
So, CS is a higher yardstick of customer service that helps customers have an easy time getting around your website, working with you in person, knowing what other services and types of appointments you offer and examining your work.
What Types of CS Strategies Work for Professional Photography? –
Narrow Your Advertising –
One important CS idea is that your business will not be what every single person needs or wants. You need to find the customers who will derive the most success from your offering. An example would be people on really limited budgets that are heavily in debt. They are better served taking their own photos. As Entrepreneur stated, you have to consider who is that ideal customer who will get great value from what you offer and advertise to them. This helps narrow your advertising, and likely its costs, to those who can truly benefit from your services.
Make Your Website and Calendar Seamless –
Another key CS idea is to make every interaction that you have with your customer, even online, pleasant and stress-free. Your website needs to make it easy to set appointments. You need to have software that will coach users when they get stuck on your website and that will coach them about other services you provide.
For example, your wedding couple can find out about your on-location, fall mini-shoots you are offering in October. Even if they are not interested, family members just might be. According to Forbes, it costs five times more to get a new customer, on average, than it does to sell another item or the same product to a repeat customer.
There needs to be a quick means of seeing samples of each of the types of work you do and looking into pricing. Also, according to Fstoppers, pricing should not be complicated. Keep it simple.
You Need a Means of Surveying Your Customers –
Whether online or in person, you need to find a means of surveying customers to determine your different demographic groups that are using your services and determining what they like and dislike about your website and current offerings. Some of this can be done with online surveys and exit surveys. You can also elicit this type of information on your social media site. Don’t be afraid to ask about other types of shoots that customers desire. This will help you improve your offering, which will drive more repeat and word-of-mouth business your way.
Target Emails to Different Customer Demographics With New Offers –
If you have a spring shoot that you would like to offer at a beautiful location with flowers in full bloom, you can email the users whose demographics fit that type of shoot with some sample photos of the location and a coupon for the shoot.
In the crowded photography market, the companies who will thrive will be the ones who go beyond customer satisfaction and adopt a culture of customer success that helps every customer derive every drop of value out of your company with ease