Photographers, this one’s for you!! I know soooo many of you who have struggled in the past to come up with ways to WOW your clients. It can be super hard to find ways to create a unique client experience that tailors to your clients + is easy enough for you to stay consistent with. We’ve all tried creating giant custom gift boxes for every single client and ended up giving up because we didn’t have time, right?!
Soooo I wanted to write a quick blog post with 3 EASY ways to uplevel your client experience, no matter what kind of photographer you are!! These are simple, inexpensive ways to leave that extra lasting impression on your clients so that they 1) are AMAZED by their experience with you and 2) will want to share about you to their friends! Get ready to provide the most bomb experience to every client who hires you - they’ll thank you for it!
3 Easy Ways to Uplevel Your Client Experience
1. Value-packed client guides
I have to start with CLIENT GUIDES, because I truly believe they are one of the BEST ways to provide every single client with an incredible experience right from the moment they book with you!!
Client guides are simply informational guides you send over to your clients once they sign their contract + pay their retainer. They’re likely putting down a pretty significant chunk of money when they book with you, so you want to find a way to immediately WOW them, build trust with them, and assure them they made the right decision in hiring you. Instant gratification + decision validation are some of the best marketing strategies to guarantee super happy clients!
These guides can be whatever you want them to be. If you’re an elopement photographer, you can create an elopement guide filled to the brim with helpful information for your couples: location ideas, your favorite vendors, elopement planning tips, elopement packing list tips, you name it. You can also have a session-specific guide that goes into outfit tips, prop/accessory ideas, and your fave locations for sessions!
There are soooo many ways you could go with guides - if you shoot in multiple main locations (e.g. WA & OR), you could create a WA elopement guide + an OR elopement guide so that your couples get information that’s super specific to their elopement location!
Basically the goal of client guides is to provide your expertise, show them right away that you’re there to guide them, and to answer their questions before they even ASK them. These guides are also a great way to have consistent info you give to each of your clients, whether it’s a session planning guide, a full-blown elopement guide, or even a concise pricing guide.
These guides are also BOMB to have because they’ll streamline your workflow sooo much! When a client books you, you probably have a list of details + info you send their way in an email. And maybe in the past, you’ve sent check-in emails every few months leading up to their elopement, with planning tips and to make sure they’ve got everything they need!
Client guides are the perfect way to wrap alllll the info you give your clients into ONE big guide, so that you don’t have to re-write the same emails over and over again to every client. Plus, your clients will LOVE receiving such a huge packet of information that’s customized to them + will help guide them every step of the way!
Client Guide Templates
The only hard part about client guides is the actual process of MAKING them. It can take a while to create & design a beautiful guide, plusss write copy and insert it into the guide.
That’s exactly why my gal Maggie & I just created client guide TEMPLATES for you photogs!! We wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to give your clients amazing, thoughtful, in-depth guides, without days worth of work on your end.
We created a few different templates: wedding & elopement guides, a session planning guide, a location guide, & an album guide. So literally everything you could need!
The wedding & elopement guide bundle is (you guessed it!) for your wedding & elopement photogs, and I highly recommend getting the session guide too, for all your engagement + couples sessions.
The pricing guide is a gorgeousss guide for you to send to clients when they inquire, with your pricing & info laid out clearly for them to go through.
The location guide is an amazing add-on to the wedding & elopement guide if you want an ENTIRE guide dedicated to locations!! Locations can take up a ton of space in a client guide, so we wanted to give you a whole separate guide option for your in-depth location deets to send along with your overall wedding/elopement/session guide.
And finally, the album guide is a resource for you to send to clients to walk them through the album buying process! It’s meant to help your clients know exactly how to buy the custom album of their dreams, AND to help you sell MORE albums!!
Buy the Guide Bundle
If you JUST can’t decide, and want to get alllll the guide templates, you can grab the Full Client Guide Bundle, which is cheaper than if you were to buy all the guides separately!
And we took it a step even FURTHER, & created THREE different styles of guides for you, so that every guide you create matches your brand. Whether you vibe with a more boho style or something more clean & modern, we’ve got sooo many stunning options for you!!
2. Taking + gifting Polaroids
Wedding day Polaroids are such a game changer y’all!!
My bestie did this for my own wedding, and I’ve forever done this for the weddings I get to photograph since then.
A super-easy way to level up your client experience is with Polaroid photos or Instax camera prints!! Capture details throughout the day with an instant camera, and then at the end of the day, you can gift the Polaroids as tangible sneak peeks to your clients. It’s seriously such an amazing (and EASY) way to deliver beautiful sneak peeks to your clients ASAP, in a way that they can touch & cherish forever!
The camera I personally use is the Instax SQ1 - it’s great in most lighting conditions, and is a great size!
Bonus Tip: before you give the Polaroids to your client at the end of the day, use the Notes app in your iPhone to scan the photos! This way you can use them for IG posts/blogs, like this!! To do that, go into your Notes app and at the bottom, click the camera button, and select “scan documents.” It’s super easy!
3. Personalized slideshows
The final idea I’ve got for you is personalized slideshows!! Giving your client a slideshow of their sneak peeks & full gallery can FULLY change their experience with you.
Instead of just sending clients their photos in an online gallery, go the extra mile and create a beautiful slideshow that they can watch together + with their loved ones!! Put some sweet music over it, and pick out the highlights of the day (or the sneaks you give them) and put the photos in order. Slideshows are such an easy and beautiful way to tell the story of their day, and it provides such a cool way for your clients to experience receiving their photos!!
You can do this within Pic-Time (get a free month with the code “S4B66M”!), or if you use another gallery sharing site, SmartSlides is a great option too!
The Ultimate Client Experience Course
I hope you’re feeling SO excited now to give your clients a totally incredible experience with you!! If you’re looking for even MORE tips and ideas to uplevel your client experience further, check out my Ultimate Client Experience Course - it’s a totally self-paced video course full of ways you can step up the experience you give your clients!
More Elopement Photography Education
Are you a photog who’s looking to dive deeper into elopement photography education? I’ve got SO many options for you, whether you’re looking for presets to create killer photos, or you’re needing a coach to guide you through creating your dream biz!!