I recently sat down with the CEO of Pass Galleries to talk about their gallery platform, sales campaigns and print products. It was amazing to be so valued as a customer and to have a chance to speak on what features I loved and wanted to see added to Pass.
Through our conversation I learned a shocking statistic though. I could not believe my ears when he told me that only 3% of their registered photographers implement sales automations!!! Gasp! Why?
What are you guys doing out there?! You’re missing out and you don’t need to be.
Did you know that every photographer who uses sales automations makes an average of $40 just for clicking a button? It doesn’t sound like much, but read that again…”just for clicking a button”. You can literally increase and supplement your income throughout the year with sales campaigns and AUTOMATING those campaigns means you’re also saving time.
I currently have three automated campaigns set up and between them I’ve brought in over $12k in print sales.
Add that to the Sales Campaigns that I run randomly for holidays and special events and we are talking over $20k in sales.
About half of that goes to lab fees, but the other half goes straight to my bank account. I can’t imagine that anyone out there reading this would say no to an extra $10k in their pocket, am I right?
How To Use Automations to Boost Your Photography Sales
The season for sales is year round depending on your market and specific photography niche. I’m giving you some tips on how to use sales automations in your photography business to boost sales and further serve your amazing clients!
What are sales automations?
First thing’s first, what are sales automations? These are sales features that can be turned on to automatically promote a sale or discount in your client galleries. The automation will utilize useful tools such as banners on your website and email blasts to get the word out to your clients so you don’t have to stop what you’re doing and whip something together!
Most gallery hosting platforms, such as Pixiset, PASS or Zenfolio, should have these features. If you’re unsure how to set yours up, a quick chat with a customer service rep or google search should be able to help.
If you’re a PASS user, I’d be happy to help you create a great sales campaign. Just email me, Gabby, at info@gabbychapin.com!
How can automations boost your sales?
You’ve already done the heavy lifting by shooting, editing, and sharing your beautifully finished images with your clients. Most clients want prints but if you don’t make it EASY and convenient for them to purchase, they’ll either go somewhere else or worse…never print their images!
Promoting a discount and sending a code with your client’s gallery makes it very easy and enticing for your client to order. This is a great way to increase your revenue AND offer your client a fantastic rate they won’t want to pass up – that’s a win!
Sales automation campaigns you can use
The most successful campaigns for me have been:
Early Bird Special – code goes live as soon as a gallery goes online and only lasts for two weeks.
Abandoned Cart – code gets sent to the client a few days after they load items into their cart but don’t complete the purchase.
Holiday Print Sales – I send these in the Fall and the discount runs for a set amount of time. Fall is always a great time of year to entice clients to order prints for Christmas.
Anniversary Specials – These can be set up to automatically run at certain intervals in accordance with a wedding date, so you don’t even have to remember them 1, 5, 10 years down the line!
Pro tip: Make sure you set your sales campaigns for shorter durations of time. This discourages procrastination and helps your clients get their products faster. I suggest a duration of 3-14 days at most.
Don’t forget to set up your email blasts and reminders in accordance with the promotion schedule so you’re giving clients more opportunities to buy. You’re busy. Your clients are busy. They’ll be thankful for the discount and the reminders so they don’t miss out!
I hope you found these tips helpful!
-Gabby
