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"Once you have glimpsed the world as it might be, it is impossible to live anymore complacent in the world as it is."- Anonymous

PhotoDay’s Capture App continues to shape the future of the volume photography workflow —and we just upped the game for the entire photographic industry. The Capture App uses FaceFind, PhotoDay’s shockingly accurate facial recognition technology (even with masks and sunglasses!), to match and group photos together faster than you can say “picture day.”

Marrying data and images has never been more fun. That’s right, fun! Putting Capture to the test and watching FaceFind work its magic is curiously satisfying.

The innovative and not yet emulated PhotoDay Capture App also paves the way for photographers to create more images without the worry of tethering equipment, focusing on QR codes, scanning barcodes, or jotting down image numbers. Capture doesn’t need cellular data or a wifi connection on picture day, and adding additional users (like for assistants on larger event days) is not only easy-peasy, but it’s also totally free. The data for each person is completely agile—it can be added or manipulated before, during, and after picture day with ease and directly from your mobile device.

A workflow that allows photographers to focus on the subject, rather than getting bogged down by tethers and codes, allows for an improved and satisfying experience for customers, organizations, and photographers alike.

‍Sign up, dive in, and start using Capture today!

Download the PhotoDay Capture app for use on any mobile device—phones or tablets.

Download on the Apple App Store

Download on the Google Play Store

Going 100% online is exciting! But it might also feel like there are many unknowns —what will sales look like? It can be daunting to completely change your sales method, then sit and wait for orders to roll in. As you add more jobs to PhotoDay, the scarier this all becomes, but soon enough orders are flowing in consistently, and parents are happier than ever. You even have more time on your hands!

Then it hits you—you start digging into the Job Insights and your job performance. You start thinking of ways to reach more customers and wondering why every single image is not yet purchased.

To help you better understand when to expect orders, we did some research and prepared the data for you. Keep in mind that each studio uses a different marketing strategy, but the key factors include the following:

‍Communication: Getting the word out about picture day is a necessity. We make it easy with email marketing flyers and automatic texts, but it’s important to communicate your information clearly and concisely with multiple points of contact.

‍Gallery Opt-ins: By connecting your customers to the gallery before and during picture day, you can take advantage of PhotoDay’s automatic text marketing that drives sales sooner.

‍Buyer Qualification: AdvancePay is the only way to qualify your potential buyers. Customers who purchase an AdvancePay gift card have committed to purchasing photos when they are ready to view.

‍Incentives + Offers: By rewarding customers for purchasing before a specific date, you can better control your sales cycle and keep customers happy.  

‍Expiring Galleries: While this is an option within PhotoDay, we don’t recommend it as your first call to action. Instead, try expiring your packages (create a price sheet of individual items only, with no package savings) and letting customers know that they can purchase by a specific date to get the best price + package savings.

So what can you expect? We’ve broken it down for you:

These galleries are still on sale. AdvancePay credit purchases will be higher than order sales when sold at a high dollar amount and have not all been redeemed

At PhotoDay, we want to help your business run efficiently and effectively so you can focus on what you do best—take photos, be creative, and create happy customers! We understand moving to online selling can be new and scary, but we’re here to help you have a smooth transition, set up your jobs, make sense of your reports, and communicate clearly with your customers.

Interested in making the jump? Check out PhotoDay here—it’s free to get started!

Ready to read some more tips and sales advice? Our blog has it all.

A frictionless workflow for photographers that enables more poses, faster turnaround time, and brings picture day right to customer’s mobile devices.

Winter Park, Florida (6-30-21): Today, PhotoDay, a platform revolutionizing volume photography, announced Capture 2.0 App. The app is one of many components that updates and modernizes the picture day process for preschools, elementary schools, and underclass in the United States. Capture uses FaceFind—advanced facial recognition technology—to identify students quickly and group photos together, like sibling, friend, and class photos. Robin Janson of Sock Monkey Photography says, “Using QR codes allows a lot of room for error, whereas FaceFind is foolproof with its facial recognition; 99.9% of the images match.”

The process also simplifies digital data collection and requires no additional equipment for photographers, saving both time and costs. Families connect to their private gallery using text marketing (shortcode 90738), and the gallery automatically notifies them when photos are ready to view and purchase—sending customers directly to the mobile-friendly site or Galleries app.

Meanwhile, the photographer captures multiple poses without any creative limits. Families now have more options, can purchase their favorites, mix and match packages, and ship orders directly to their doorsteps—all from their mobile phones. There is also a wider variety of products from which to choose since orders ship directly to the customer and no longer need to be sent home in a student’s backpack.

Photographers using PhotoDay spend more time engaging with their customers and less time behind their desks. Trailblazer Zeke Moreno of Chalkboard Photography says, “Being a business owner, one of the main things we value is time—time with family, at the schools, and in the office. And if I can save time by eliminating tedious tasks, then I’m all for it. And that’s PhotoDay. It’s for the everyday user, the high-volume user, the user with multiple jobs, and the user wearing many hats.”

The results are premium images and an optimal experience for all. The numbers speak for themselves: PhotoDay has a 72% Net Promoter Score, over 700,000 families served, 4.1 million texts sent YTD in 2021, and tens of millions of photos requested. See Capture 2.0 and PhotoDay in action here or watch the event replay.

‍About PhotoDayPhotoDay is a forward-thinking platform that simplifies the image management process for photographers, enhances the image searching and purchasing capabilities for consumers, and streamlines the direct to print gateway for photo labs. PhotoDay was established in 2018 and is headquartered in Winter Park, FL. For more information, visit www.photoday.com

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‍Lisa Mallis

PhotoDay

407-543-1986

‍lisa@photoday.io

Meet the Jansons

Robin and Jennifer Janson started Sock Monkey Photography in 2006. Jennifer had just left her corporate job in software sales and decided to be a stay-at-home mom; but while her kids were having their preschool pictures taken, she thought, “I can do this!” Although she didn’t have any photography experience, the difference between Jennifer and every other parent that may think this phrase is that she put in the work and made it happen! At the time, they had young kids, a small Kodak digital camera, and didn’t know the first thing about settings: “Best Buy told us to get a better SD card to ‘freeze the action,’ and we listened!” They’ve come a long way since those early days.

Learning & Growing

Robin is also a DJ with a successful company called Rockin’ Robin, so he connected Jennifer to a few wedding photographer friends who helped her learn the basics. She caught on quickly, kept practicing, started going to Texas School, and Sock Monkey Photography was born. At the height of Robin’s business, he and his employees were doing 15 events a week, but as he got more involved with Jennifer in 2007, he naturally started downsizing Rockin’ Robin. By then, their daughter was out of preschool and playing volleyball, so Robin focused on building the sports side of Sock Monkey.

With the mantra of working smarter, not harder, they decided to keep things simple without adding any employees. Always striving to keep learning, Robin and Jennifer both continued going to Texas School to be “as trained and knowledgeable as possible” with their new business. At the time, there wasn’t a course for volume photographers, so they were able to learn all about lighting, posing, and shooting, but had to come up with all of their own processes—“I wish we had PhotoDay then!” In true trailblazer fashion, Robin was one of the first photographers to get his Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) credential based on volume photography. They both went on to get more involved, volunteer, and serve on various boards and committees for PPA, SPAC, and Texas School.

"PhotoDay: Saving Relationships"

They first heard about PhotoDay when Robin was on the committee and Lisa was a speaker at Imaging USA. “I was originally anti-PhotoDay,” he remembers, with reasons from “it’s hard to get data from preschools” to “I don’t need anyone’s assistance” to “why would we want to change a system that’s working for us?” Then COVID hit and going paperless was a necessity. The workflow change immediately improved the quality of their relationship, too. They laugh, “It should be called PhotoDay: Saving relationships...or at least minimizing the arguments.”

We asked them to name a few more ways PhotoDay has helped their business:

       
• When COVID happened, they tried to modify their system, but it presented new problems such as privacy concerns and how difficult it was for customers to search for their students. “We decided to shop around, but didn’t have to look long—it was an easy choice, and PhotoDay just felt right.”
       
• Not only is picture day communication easier with the marketing flyers and automatic texting, but PhotoDay’s fast, friendly support for both studios and customers is a game-changer: “We love the bubble people!”
       
• The marketing promos are quick and easy to activate for prior jobs, resulting in residual, passive income.
       
• Everything is “lightning-fast now.” No more passing out proofs (hoping they even make it out of the student’s backpack), waiting to have order forms filled out, gathering them, processing them, and delivering the products. The post-production turnaround time went down from weeks to days.

The Results

So how has PhotoDay helped their sales? Averages have gone up even more, their buy rate is higher, and the whole process is significantly faster. Robin and Jennifer have their process so streamlined that they capture photos, knock them out, build composites, crop with aspect ratios in mind, and have the images uploaded for parents to view the very same day as the shoot. Then all that’s left is “listening for the cha-ching!”

Words of Wisdom to Other Users

       
• “Add yourself to the data, opt-in to the gallery, and experience it as a parent does...How can you support a customer if you don’t know how it works for them?”
       
• If the organization is hesitant to send you all of the data requested for private galleries, at least try to get a roster. “Then you can still send the organization all of the codes and flyers easily.”
       
• “If you hit a wall while pitching to one particular school director, try to get the business of an associated school.” Word will spread about how fast and easy the process was, “and if we can make their jobs easier, they’ll keep us around.”
       
• Try targeting schools that have a particularly high parent-spend. When they were first getting started, they picked an area of town and focused on where they wanted to be shooting. “Then we made cold calls, took marketing pictures, and created pamphlets and flyers.”
       
• “Using QR codes allows a lot of room for error, whereas FaceFind is more foolproof with its facial recognition. 99.9% of images match.” One time they had a couple of silly teenagers pose for their reference photos with their hands over the bottom half of their faces, and it still matched correctly. It’s also worked surprisingly well with identical twin babies and class pictures of infants and toddlers.

Advice to Anyone on the Fence

“I’ve heard people say ‘Why would I want to pay this or pay that when I could just hire somebody to do it?’ but dealing with employees” isn’t always ideal. “We’ve found it to be well worth what PhotoDay is charging due to the quality of life difference. We photograph a school, it’s up the same day, and we’ve blown the minds of our schools and parents. So the next day, they’re coming in, dropping off their kids, and talking all about their kids’ pictures.” Robin and Jennifer are also taking a lot more pictures, and it doesn’t take much more time to add those extra poses to the gallery, unlike when you’re proofing with paper forms. From smiles to goofy faces, “if they’re candid and they’re cute, the parents are going to spend more.”

Robin & Jennifer Janson were also featured in the article 18 Side Hustles That Still Make Money in 2022, According To People Who Do Them Every Day by TIME partner, NextAdvisor. “Through PhotoDay, our sales have gone up, our buy rate is higher, and our workflow is streamlined,” Robin says. “No one ever expects their side hustle to become a career. It’s pretty awesome.”

Innovators, game-changers, movers, shakers… trailblazers. Meet more trailblazing photographers who have embraced PhotoDay and are seeing results.

From T2i to Trailblazer

Cane Sampson of CL Photoz has always gone “all in,” and photography was no different. It all started in 2012 when Cane and Lauren moved to Norfolk; Lauren was training to be a firefighter at the time, and Cane left a tiring 12-hour-day job to go with her. He bought his first camera—the classic Canon Rebel t2i—and started making music videos. And he didn’t stop for two years, even when they moved back to McDowell. Inspired by the works of Howie McCormick and Joshua Hanna, Cane knew he wanted to be a full-time photographer. So in 2018 he took a leap and made his first trip to SYNC, where he met Lisa and learned all about PhotoDay.

What Fuels CL Photoz

Having always been a hustler, Cane decided he wanted something to call his own. Something he could pass on to their kids. Something that impacts people for the better. So they entered the world of volume photography and CL Photoz was created. What makes everything worth it are the reactions from subjects and parents when they see their photos and composites. “Maybe a kid that never even got in the game can now feel like an all-star.” CL Photoz exists for the kids and families they photograph—to give them something exciting, fresh, and new—simply put, to make others happy.

It’s not just the families that are rewarded, though! Cane’s passion for the job makes a difference: “Every day I wake up, I wanna learn something new or try a new approach...When you’re passionate about something, it’s different.”

How PhotoDay Changed Things

When Cane came back from SYNC and shared the benefits of PhotoDay, Lauren was sold—“I don’t have to do any of this data?” It seemed too good to be true, but they went all in and it’s saved them from late nights that when into early mornings of processing order forms and juggling data.

3 ways PhotoDay has helped:

       
• Saved the marriage from tiring arguments and freed up more time to spend together and with their kids.
       
• More spare time to pursue other leagues, prospect new clients, and maintain a 48-hour turnaround for every shoot.
       
• “I want every order to be a PD100.” More poses. Green screen. Black and white. The options are limitless, and the parents are happier with more choices.

Results

As soon as they started using PhotoDay, they instantly booked more new leagues with the pitch of “Y’all don’t have to do anything!” Time after time, the league would say they’d call back in a few days, but as soon as Cane walked out of the room, his phone would ring. By live demoing how parents can access, view, and order their photos, PhotoDay made it possible for CL Photoz to compete with the bigger studios.

Advice

There’s a learning curve, but Cane suggests jumping right in, and not just trying it out with an experimental league. The first time Cane used PhotoDay for a job, the shoot was 3 hours away, no parents were present, the kids were shuttled in, and there was a complete communication breakdown. “It would have failed even if we’d been using paper order forms. Don’t test it on a league you already don’t have high hopes for.”

We asked Cane if he had any advice to those on the fence about PhotoDay:“Jump your ass over the fence,” he laughed, “Don’t balk at the fees. The amount of time it saves allows you not to hire someone else to do all of your work. Work smarter not harder.”

Innovators, game-changers, movers, shakers… trailblazers. Meet more trailblazing photographers who have embraced PhotoDay and are seeing results.

How Text Messaging Works with PhotoDay

SMS SHORT CODE VS. SMS LONG CODE

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PhotoDay uses a short code for all texts

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How it works

Get permission and ask customers to opt-in

Gallery Types

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Gallery Status

Draft

• Customers will be notified when the gallery is published or updated to AdvancePay

AdvancePay

• Customers are prompted to make a credit purchase and are made aware of any special offers you’ve attached to AdvancePay
• AdvancePay Expiration – if your gallery has an expiration date set, PhotoDay will remind them a total of 3 times 7 days prior to expiration to use their credits
• Unused AdvancePay Credits – if there is no expiration date – PhotoDay will remind customers they have a credit to redeem 30, 60, and 90 days past publish date of that gallery

Published

• Customers are notified photos are ready to view and purchase instantly when published
• Customers are reminded via SMS again on days 3, 5, 7, 14, and 30 – or until they make a purchase (then the texts stop!)

Expired

• AdvancePay purchasers are the only customers who receive reminders the gallery is expiring at this time
• If a customer opts into an expired gallery – they will be prompted to contact their photographer.

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But wait - there’s more!

Once a customer places an order – They get another series of messages:

And once the lab ships their order:

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Implement one of our strategies with our Custom SMS feature!

A Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer experience and predicts business growth. This proven metric transformed the business world and now provides the core measurement for customer experience management around the world, giving your customers a voice and providing you with insight into how your business is performing.

How we measure

We begin by asking a simple question:On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend {Studio Name} and PhotoDay to a friend?

       
• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and referring others, fueling growth. The experience and product went beyond all expectations.
       
• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied, but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings. The product and service received met their expectations but did not exceed them.
       
• Detractors (score 0-6) reluctantly made their purchase and had a poor experience overall.

Then we subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters and arrive at the Net Promoter Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a promoter).

With PhotoDay, there are a few variables involved that help determine what the next steps are and if action should be taken.

Cost vs. Value (Studio)

In PhotoDay, your customer views the image first, prior to purchasing products. Most of the detractors will happen due to asking too much for photo quality that is easily reproduced with a smartphone. Also, be mindful of your package description. There is no need to add the contents of the packages, because that happens automatically with PhotoDay. If you type a description, then add the incorrect products to the package, the customer will not receive the right products, causing frustration.

Passives are typically due to a limited product offering, not enough variety of images to choose from, or even packages and pricing starting too high or not making sense for the type of event.

Promoters have fallen in love with the complete experience. From brand to image to final products—it all fits beautifully together and creates customer happiness.

UX/UI (PhotoDay)

Detractors happen due to a confusing interface. Maybe they needed additional support along the way, or maybe they just aren’t tech-savvy and have limited e-commerce experience. PhotoDay uses this data to improve checkout and education, ensuring each and every customer is successful and satisfied.

Passives may have had a good experience, but wish it had been much easier. It was just “meh,” and although they are not unhappy, they aren’t singing praises from the rooftops.

Promoters are head over heels with what they just experienced and can’t wait to tell the world about it.

Shipping / Delivery (Lab)

When shipments are delayed, missing, or damaged, the customer is unhappy. This is the main reason for detractors when it comes to lab fulfillment. PhotoDay uses this data to work with our lab partners and continuously improve the packaging and delivery options made available to customers.

Passives happen because maybe everything was just ok. The shipping didn’t blow their mind, and the products were the quality they expected them to be.

Promoters received their orders lightning fast and the packaging and products went beyond their expectations.

How do we collect this data and what do we do with it?

Well NPS is a brand-spankin’ new feature of PhotoDay, and we are excited about what this means for our users and partners. Roughly 10 days after the order is placed within PhotoDay, your customer is prompted with a simple text message:

On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend {Studio Name} and PhotoDay to a friend?

Once they answer, we ask another question:

Thanks. Can you please tell us why you gave this score?

The final message they receive is:

Thank you for your feedback. Can we reach out to you for more information?

In this early phase of NPS rollout, PhotoDay is collecting data and preparing for the next steps. In the future, we would like to display your very own personal NPS score within the dashboard, along with visible feedback from your customers to take action on. The data we collect and use is for the sole purpose of improving the Picture Day experience for customers. It gives customers a voice and provides us all with insight into the future to help fuel inspiration and promote innovation within our industry. What would you like to see next? Drop us a comment!

11/8/2021 Update

As of November 8, 2021, all PhotoDay users are able to view their Net Promoter Score and responses from their studio panel dashboard.

We are super excited to announce our new Dashboard App (iOS & Android)! You’ve given us your trust and faith in the system, and we wanted to give back.

We want you to be free. Not just from tethers, paper order forms, and data entry, but also from feeling tied to your desk. We know that once you hit publish on a job, you’re constantly refreshing your mobile browser watching those sales stream into your PhotoDay account. With our new Dashboard app, you can step away from your computer and let us tell you when you’ve made a new sale...

On your phone:

And on your Apple Watch:

Now you can feel free to go about your day knowing every sale can be a push notification on your phone. No more refreshing the studio panel a million times searching for the latest sales. Instead, you can step away when you’re on the go while staying constantly connected to your studio.We didn’t stop there! We also made it beyond easy to share your #PD100 sales (or any others you’re excited about) directly to the PhotoDay Facebook Users Group! We love cheering each other on and sharing our successes. Multiple poses and looks are a major contributor to large order values, so this is the perfect way to share among the PhotoDay community and get inspired!

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Download on the Apple App Store

Download on the Google Play App Store

What exactly is a landmark feature? They are the big, exciting features that stand out and can transform both workflow and overall sales with PhotoDay. They change the way you think. They disrupt the current mindset and inspire new ideas. Not all of PhotoDay’s features are considered landmarks, but here are a few we’ve been working on over the past few years—and our vision of how they will change the world of volume photography for pro labs, studios, and customers alike.

Backgrounds

Yes, green screen has been around for a while now, but if you follow PhotoDay, you know we don’t do things the same ol’ way. Our backgrounds feature enables studios to upload multiple collections of custom backgrounds, allowing customers to mix and match poses and backgrounds for packages and products with a simple swipe and preview. Studios can also upload a combination of JPG images and PNG images to the same gallery. This encourages multi-pose purchases, higher AOVs, and overall happy, creative customers.

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Live Preview

Customers expect to see a preview of their products before purchasing, especially for products like memory mates, buttons, and other various themed items. These previews display any theming options, background choices, photos, and text and crops selected during the customer’s customization process. Live preview offers peace of mind for customers and fewer reprints for labs and studios.

Custom Themes

Speaking of memory mates…It’s pretty neat to sell products branded specifically to the organization you’re photographing. You can do just that with custom memory mate themes. While PhotoDay provides our own collection of beautiful custom theme options, studios are also able to create and upload their own designs. This is a great addition to woo and wow both customers and organizations alike.

Knockouts

Looking for extractions? PhotoDay’s knockouts service has you covered. We already know image is king when it comes to selling online, and offering a variety of images matters when it comes to keeping consumers happy. You won’t have to pick and choose which poses to knock out and offer to your customers. Let them choose the ones they love, instead!

Retouching

Retouching is a feature that magically softens skin, reduces acne, unwanted blemishes, and more. Studios can add retouching to any price sheet, and it will show up during the checkout process for customers to add on to any or all of the photos in their cart.

Bulk Shipping

Ahh, a little bit of familiarity with a twist to meet today’s customer’s expectations. Long have photographers batched orders all together and delivered them back to the organization. While PhotoDay offers direct-to-customer drop shipping for all of our gallery types, we also offer a bulk shipping option for private galleries. Studios can now offer free overnight bulk shipping (which ships all orders directly to one chosen address) or let the customer choose how they would like to receive their orders via drop shipping (which ships as fast as they want to their own address). Bulk shipping is currently available exclusively for private gallery jobs through Miller’s Lab.

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Not a PhotoDay user? Sign up today. It’s totally FREE to get started.

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