ExposureManager News & Tips

Add Contact Info to Add Sales!

Would you think of opening up a store and keeping it a secret?  Of course not!  So why would you open up your web site, and not let people know how to get a hold of you?

In our recent experiments with our new online "Live Chat" feature, one of the things that we have discovered is that many potential customers who visit your sites ask us questions about things on your sites that would result in additional sales.  The things they ask about often can include:

• Other products you might offer that are not currently for sale...
• Other services you might provide to them...
• How they can customize something you offer...
• Questions on how to order something...

In most of these cases, the most direct way to handle this would be for there be to have the "Contact Photographer" link enabled.  By having such a link available to the viewer, it lends credibility to you, the photographer.  It gives the potential customer more confidence in wanting to do business with the site. 

How do we know this?  Its because we notice a jump in sales whenever we make the "Live Chat" banner available in the cart!

How do you enable this feature?  It's already in your administrative interface.   Log in.  On the menu, go to:  "Account > Contact Information"

There are a number of options in using it:

1. Show just my contact information
2. Show just a contact form
3. Show both a contact form and contact information
4. Link to an existing web address

In addition to all the usual fields for your contact info, there is a "Contact Instructions" field that allows for a large amount of text that you can enter.

Give your customers the confidence to order - let them have a way to reach you!  Don't "leave anything on the table!"  Give them a way to ask questions and order more!

See our KnowledgeBase article here.

Feedback at:  http://www.facebook.com/exposuremanager

Product Pop-up Info is Here!

We've heard it for some time now... "Is there a way we can give customers some product information in our sites so we can make it easier to sell more?"

That feature is now here!  You may have noticed over the past few weeks, those of you who use the popular "sales" and "sales modern" layouts, have seen product info pop up for pro-lab products.  The info is the standard product info for any of the pro-lab products we offer.  These occur when you point the cursor over the product listing in the gallery display.

But WAIT!  They just got better!

We now enabled them to be customized by you, the photographer!  So now, you can create your own custom product info pop up on ANY of your products - including self-fulfilled products.

So, if you have a special product description, or specific ordering instructions, those instructions can go in the product "pop up bubble!"

Entering the custom info is easy.  Simply go to the product listing you created in your pricesheet.  In the right side columns, look for that product's "edit link, and click open the product screen.  The field to enter the text is in there!

See more how to set it up here in the Knowledgebase:  Click here

 (Above... an example of a "product pop-up")

For comments / discussion:  http://www.facebook.com/exposuremanager

The Live Help experiment – helping you convert more customers!

When it comes to online sales, two things are very important. Confidence and trust.

Although buying online has become mainstream over the last couple of years, buying photos online from a professional photographer is still a first for many customers. It brings back old fears about whether a site can be trusted, as well as questions about the products and delivery.

When an online customer has a question about the product, they tend not to purchase in the end. It is not that they are not interested, it is just too much hassle to send an email or pick up the phone. On top of that, we know that for many of you, photography is a second job. That means calls and emails go unanswered, with the end result being a missed sale.

At EM we decided to put a stop to this, and are now offering Live Help for customers during their shopping experience. Since last week, we’ve been testing this by adding help buttons on the individual photo pages as well as in the shopping cart. We’ll be continuing this test during the busy season and at the end of the year will evaluate whether it is worthwhile or not.

So far, the results indicate that it absolutely is! During the past week we’ve been able to answer  lots of customers with very quick answers, which resulted in immediate sales. A quick, one-minute chat can give a customer the confidence he or she needs to complete the order! This by itself is great! But there have also been a few other, pleasant, side effects.

For one, it gives us a great view into the buying behavior and see where customers get confused. We’ve already made several small improvements based on this. For example, in the cart, ‘add products’ became ‘add or change’. We also added the ability to add your own product descriptions to products (more on that in a separate blog post).

Secondly, and the best surprise, is that it significantly increased our conversion rate. This makes sense! If a customer is unsure about ordering, but they see that there’s a live help available, this gives a site, and thus you, a lot of credibility. Having this option available really helps with establishing that critical amount of trust.

The Live Help option is available on weekdays whenever one of our support staff is online. When we are offline, the buttons and links do not show. It is important to keep in mind that the chat is only for questions about placing an order. It is NOT for technical support. We are currently not setup for that. We may at some point experiment with that, but to keep things manageable during this season, we decided to start with offering it to end customers first. By the way, in the rare event that we cannot answer a question from a customer, we will take their enquiry and details and email it to you for further follow-up.

We are very excited about this functionality, and look forward to using it to further develop ExposureManager as the sales platform for photographers!

If you have questions or comments regarding this new functionality, comment on this article on our Facebook page.

Reminder - Customized Photo Cards / Trading Cards

Do you have customized products offered in your galleries?  If so... read on!

'Tis the season for customers to be ordering trading cards at the end of the Fall sports season, as well as holiday photo cards.

We have just the thing with our online "customized" products:

• Sports Trading Cards
• Sports Magazine Covers
• Holiday Photo Cards (4x6, 5x7, 4x8s)

Just to be sure, we want to remind everyone offering these items to double check their set up.  We have found that many photographers have offered these customized items, but have neglected to enable the templates for their product setups created from within their pricesheets!

If you forget to enable the templates, you'll end up with customers ordering these items, but they won't be able to choose from among the many professionally prepared graphical templates.  Additionally, they won't get asked for all their information during the checkout process.

Orders will get delayed because there will be no template info, nor any customized text added from the customer.

Want to be sure you have your "customized" products set up correctly?  Read more about it here in our Knowledgebase:

How to set up your customized products.

Higher Sales with Volume Discounts

Buy now!  Save now!  While it lasts!  Hurry before its too late!  While prices last!

These are all sales / action phrases that cause emotions to stir and get potential buyers to act.  We've seen them used in a variety of settings and in lots of advertising.

Have you been leaving one of your best sales tools in the "shed?"

Using an effectively implemented volume discount is a way to get your viewers to act!

• Creates interest in purchasing NOW!
• Causes potential buyers to act before a deadline.
• Generates a sense of urgency.
• Makes a case for purchasing more than they normally would have.
• Creates higher revenues for you!

Our volume discounts are the easiest and quickest way to implement an effective promotion.  You can promote the "deal" right along with your retail pricelist.

Some of the features that our volume discounts offer:

• Create your own "promotional text" to be displayed.
• Set the starting and ending dates to the promotion.
• Give a dollar amount discount or percentage discount.
• Trigger the discounts based on dollar amounts purchased or product quantities purchased.
• Offer discount "levels"... the more you buy, the higher the discount.
• Select which products the discount applies to.
• Select the gallery(s) the discount applies in.

To be most effective... you have to give the discount, and then be prepared to take it away!  Set an ending date and stick to it!  This is what creates the sense of urgency.

Offer really great discounts on higher quantity purchases and watch your sales volume increase right along with it!

Remember, give them a reason to buy NOW!  And what better time to offer a sales promotion but right before the holidays?

Learn more about volume discounts here in our Knowledgebase.

Volume Discount Ideas:

• A "buy now" incentive...
  Promote Line:  "Order by [date] and save 20%!"
  Set up:  Set up to end a couple days after the [date] deadline.  Trigger amount "0".  Percentage Discount of 20%.  Products - all.  Galleries - you choose.
  
  
• A "buy more, sell more" incentive...
  Promote Line:  "Order $30 or more and save 10% - 30% ! "
  Set up:  Multiple trigger levels.  Trigger $30 - 10% discount.  Trigger $60 - 20% discount.  Trigger $100 - 30% discount.  Products - all.  Galleries - you choose. 
  

These are just some BASIC ideas to help get you started.  They are all designed to help get viewers acting to buy now, and also to get larger orders.

(Reminder... if you have multiple discounts in place, only the higher one will prevail.)

Free order analysis to help set your download price

Pricing products is always a tough job. When it comes to downloads, an argument that is often heard is that it will lead to a reduction in reprint orders. After all, once a customer has the digital file, there's no need to order it again for a larger print. Often, the solution that is chosen is to price the digital file at a price that basically discourages a buyer to purchase a digital file.

As outlined in our earlier blog post, we think you are hurting your sales significantly if you take that approach. The reason being that there is a large set of customers that are not interested in 4x6 or 5x7 prints but are interested in having the high res digital file, at a reasonable price of course.

Still, we understand that in these times you don't want to change your pricing and end up with less revenue. Therefore we are offering a free order analysis on our Facebook page until the end of the week. We'll take a look at all your EM orders and tell you how often customers have come back to order the same photo again. We'll also tell you how many repeat customers you have. Based on that data, we can give you a good recommendation on your download price. 

All you have to do is become a fan of ExposureManager and request an order analysis on our wall. Don't forget to include your account name! We'll respond to it within one day.

This offer will be valid until Friday, November 6th, 2009. We look forward to hearing from you!

Holiday Shipping Schedule 2009

Here is our suggested holiday shipping schedule with the appropriate deadlines for uploading of orders for standard prints:

Please note:  We are asking that these deadlines be used based on when you upload your fulfillment files for the order.  (If using a display-only workflow.)  Obviously, any print-ready files will be forwarded to the lab and should be considered uploaded immediately.

Also keep in mind the processing time required for different items.  This is figured from the point your order is uploaded / fulfilled.  As a review:

• Standard size prints (4x6, 5x7, 8x10, etc)  -  1-2 Days
• Photo cards (4x6, 5x7, 4x8, etc)  -  1-2 Days
• Enlargements, special sizes, all metallic prints  -  2-3 Days
• Gift Items - 2-3 Days
• Canvas Wraps - 5-6 Days
• Folded Cards - 3-4 Days

The above dates are based on the turnaround time of standard prints and should be adjusted accordingly to allow for processing time of specialty items.  (See above) 

Please allow for ample time.  Remember that there is no "tracking" of any orders sent via US Postal Service.  Priority Mail does allow for a delivery receipt. 

If you have any questions, please contact Support.

Set Up Photo Cards

With the season upon us, we though this would be a great time to review how to set things up to sell photo cards!

How to set up PHOTO CARDS Summary

Online Customizable photo cards: These are added to your Pricesheet like any other product: Edit the product from the pricesheet Enable the templates Select the templates you want to offer (There are many for holiday selection so we recommend you select only a handful to keep it simple for the customer...) Save the settings Repeat for other customized products offered Save the Pricesheet Remember - important!  If you don't enable the templates in the "edit product" screen, your customer won't be able to add their text, nor will they be able to choose a graphic layout.  You will then be responsible for creating the card yourself. Photo cards (you design): These are the equivalent of you offering the cards (above) only with no templates.  You create it all.  You can use Product Questionnaires to obtain the text info from the customer. Folded Cards: These require exact cropping to match the front page photo aspect ratio for optimal results and we strongly suggest that you review the instructions. Knowledgebase: We strong suggest you review all the detail documentation here for all photo cards and folded cards products: Review Knowledgebase here for photo cards set up

The time to offer Holiday Cards!

OFFER YOUR CUSTOMERS PHOTO CARDS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

Lets review what you can offer your customers:

You may be aware of the many types of photo cards we offer.  In order to best position yourself with your customers as their "go to" source of holiday image products, lets review exactly what the choices are:

• Online Customizable photo cards:
  These are flat, one-sided photographic prints that are set up to be "customized" online by your customer.  They choose from a number of professional pre-formatted templates, and at checkout, they enter the text to be used.  They come in 2 sizes:
• • 4x6 w/envelopes (25 per pkg)
  • 5x7 w/envelopes (25 per pkg)
  • 4x8 w/envelopes
    (quantities of 10, 20, 25, 40, 50)
• Photo cards (you design):
  These are also flat, one-sided photographic prints. They require the photographer to create the image and graphics combined into the overall print.  Sizes available are the same as the customizable photo cards. (from above)
• Folded Cards:
  These are high quality folded note cards on a medium-heavy card stock that are offered in different quantities.  There is no text printed on the inside, although the photographer's logo can be printed on the rear of the card.  Print is in a beautiful semi-gloss finish. Sizes are:
      3.5 x 5"  (pkgs of 12, 12)
      5 x 7"  (pkgs of 1, 10, 25)

We offer complete online documentation to get your photo card offerings set up.  For those of you who want to create your own designs, you can still offer customizable text by incorporating the use of our Product Questionnaires!

Give your customers what they want for their holiday sending...  Photo cards!

Spark your SALES and your PROFITS now!

Shooting Fall/Winter T&I? Save $500 on EM Photo Day!

For many of you, we know that your photo business is your 'second job'; the one you want to do when you aren't doing your 'real job'. Photo Days can be quite profitable but at what cost? Turn those Photo Days into true hassle-free profit and save the overtime for your 'real job' and the play time for you! ExposureManager has the answer to all of your troubles - EM Photo Day. Use EM Photo Day for your 2009-2010 Fall/Winter photo days and we'll waive the $500 account setup fee!

Start saying 'yes' to more leagues!

You started by taking pictures of your child's entire soccer league and it had to be right so you did it yourself; after all, these people know you!  Now you have opportunities for other leagues but how?

We all know the actual Photo Day isn't the issue; it's the dreaded 'next step' ... the editing and selection and printing and packaging and delivery and the calls from parents? Too often we've heard photographers tell us that they are positive that the Photo Days are the way to go but maybe just too much work and trouble. Let us help you limit the amount of work you put into a Photo Day to just that...the day - after all, it's not a 'photo week'.

What would you think about knowing all you had to do was pick the best shots and send the entire project away to that magical place that somehow just makes it all 'happen'? EM Photo Day is that place.

Want to know more? Send us a quick note or give us a call at 310.209.8223 x706 and we'll get back to you as quickly as possible.

How do I get started?
We know that you have already been 'pulling off' the Photo Days somehow,
somewhere. We make every effort to make the conversion process as easy and comfortable as we can.  We try to be as flexible as possible allowing YOU to: 

• Choose YOUR own Packages and Products
• Select the Paper Type YOU like
• Choose YOUR preferred delivery type
• Create and use YOUR graphics for your projects

This is your business and these are your decisions. In typical ExposureManager style, we listen to what you want and we make every effort to put systems into place for what you need.

 
To get started, we need to:

• Send in your order form (so we can see what you're up to)
  
• Address all questions and concerns
• Send in your first batch of orders
• Exhale!

Email or give us a call today at 310.209.8223 x706. And remember, we'll waive the $500 account setup fee if you use EM Photo Day for any photo days in 2009 so act today!

These are tough times and it's time to start making better decisions for you and your business. It doesn't have to be that toilsome to grow a business while still trying to live your 'regular life'. We understand and we are with you every step of the way. Let us help!