For the last 20 years, people have been using MorePhotos to show and sell their images online. (Yes, it has been 20 years, and yes, it has worked out great for the last two decades.) In today’s new world though, we now need to address two new issues. These issues are significant when it comes to online sales!
1. People are getting way more web savvy – which means they are getting better at stealing your images even if they just have to use their phones to take a picture of their screens.
2. People are into self-gratification more than ever. So once they see the photo, they are satisfied.
Here at MorePhotos, we have been thinking about this for quite a while and we believe we have the answer.
Make The Customer Pay BEFORE They Can View The Images
This idea addresses the first issue by requiring at least a minimum fee to even see the images. If you couple this with a gift certificate to use for the same amount, you are encouraging them to buy instead of stealing the images. Once they start the buying process, with the MorePhotos WYSIWYG product builder, they can even see what the finished product will look like before they purchase it. Keep in mind that when the customer is involved in the creation process, they are even more likely to purchase.
This idea also addresses the second issue because if all they want to do is see the photos, you as the photographer at least gets paid before they can view the images.
MorePhotos has now addressed this with what we call the “Pay to Enter” event type
When using the “Pay to Enter” event type, the photos will still be posted online on the photographer’s website for selling. There will still be a link for the customer to click on. The only difference will be that when this event type is used, the customer will have to pay to enter the event and see the photos.
Mike, the owner of MorePhotos, says “The thing that bugs me the most about this new approach is that before testing, I did not think it would work. I almost didn’t even test the idea. But one of our photographers wanted to try it, and I remembered that my partner would always say “Michael, we can build the best photography shopping cart on the planet, but if our photographers don’t know how to use it to their benefit, it does not help them. This means WE must do the testing for them. They are generally a one to three person company and they are usually way too busy to test. That is our job! ”
And so the testing began:
The first test we did on this new idea was in conjunction with the above mentioned “Cap and Gown” photographer. The photographer set the event up so that his customers had to pay $10 upfront to view the photos. Once the customer entered the event though, the photographer had set it up so that our system gave them another $10 (for a total of $20) in credit and only three days to complete the order. During the four-year test, the photographer tripled his orders. (The original testing began manually before we had the “Pay to Enter” event type fully implemented)
One of our school photographers tried it next. At first, there was a little resistance from the parents, but when he explained how much more protected the images were due to this method’s extra step, the school loved it. They realized that the chances of someone wanting to see images of children that were not their own would be greatly reduced if they had to pay to see them and their credit card would then be on file.
That Was Enough To Implement The Concept And Make It A Reality
Now, school photographers, who have always had pre-paid, do not have to worry about getting that order form home with the kids. They can simply post the images once they are taken. The parents of these students can go to their website, pay the price of the smallest package to view the photos in order to gain entry, and then proceed with shopping like normal. They may have the full amount of the entry or more as a credit to use during the final checkout process. Remember also that MorePhotos WYSIWYG type cart encourages parents to spend more by creating the products they want. When they actually see the product and what options are available, this very often generates more sales. When you add in the time you save by not messing around with the pre-pay forms, you can see the potential here.
Sports photographers shooting events such as basketball, soccer, baseball, swim teams, or any other sport can use this as well. Maybe you only charge $5 to enter and give no credit, or you charge $20 and have one digital image that costs $20 so you give the viewer that as a credit. This at least forces a sale and gets an email address for future marketing as well.
Photography is good business when done right, and we at MorePhotos want to make sure you know the best practices.
After all of this, do we feel the results of all our testing, where the next generation of customers will not get to see any event images without paying first, warrant the original question about free online viewing being over?
Only time will tell, but it looks very possible and MorePhotos is ready for it.
MorePhotos offers online solutions that include professional websites and a powerful e-commerce shopping cart. With our friendly and knowledgeable staff, we can assist you in creating an online presence that will attract traffic to your photography website.
