If a person is faced with too much choice it will paralyze them and more likely than not they will simply prefer to not make the decision at all. What does this mean for offering albums? If you’re giving your clients 5 different album types with 10 different cover materials and 3 different shape - they are going to feel overwhelmed and likely walk away from choosing one at all. So the biggest favour you can do for your clients is to limit the amount of decisions they need to make and in result, they’ll be more invested in learning about your products and getting emotionally connected to the process.
WHEN YOU ARE DECIDING HOW MANY ALBUMS TO OFFER, MY ADVICE IS ALWAYS TO SIMPLIFY.
If, at this point, you are still feeling like, “well, Ryanne, I don’t want to limit my client’s options because I want them to have the perfect album”. I hear you, I felt like that when I first offered albums too. I figured everyone has their own style and will want to see all the options that are out there to make sure they’re making the right choice. This is NOT the reality! Let’s step back and get a bit of perspective on the situation.
Let’s use ordering a pizza as an example. When I go to my favourite gourmet pizzeria there are 5-7 pizzas that the chef at the restaurant has decided to put on the menu. I’m able to clearly see the differences between each kind and quickly make a decision about which one will fill my craving. I order my pizza almost immediately and head home happy.
On the flip side, if I’m ordering from a chain pizza place, I always feel inclined to create my own pizza because there are just so many options. I proceed to sit there for a LONG TIME (usually on my couch at home) debating if I’ll get a white or red pizza, what toppings I should choose, and the type of crust I should go with. I’ll find myself wasting a lot of time by overthinking how to create the best build-your-own pizza and by the time I place my order I feel a little frustrated that I took so long to make up my mind.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ALBUMS?
I think it’s a fairly self-explanatory example, but this same theory applies to how you present and offer your albums to your clients. If you apply the same strategy as the gourmet pizzeria, simplifying the offerings and tailoring them to your clientele, your clients will have an easier time making their decision and will actually have a more positive all around experience when they walk away with your product. If you treat your albums like a build-your-own pizza place, the process can become agonizing for your clients. Decision fatigue will eventually set in from contemplating all the different options you’ve presented them. If they end up choosing anything at all, the experience will be tainted by the exhaustion of having to make so many small decisions.
SIMPLIFYING OFFERINGS AND TAILORING THEM TO YOUR CLIENTELE WILL MAKE IT EASY FOR YOUR CLIENTS TO MAKE A DECISION AND COMMIT TO AN ALBUM.
Let’s make it easy for our clients, we have the opportunity to guide them towards a product they will love while enjoying the process of creating it with you. What we want to do is CURATE the choices for our clients. If you think about it, your clients are clearly drawn to your style, they love your photography, and by extension of that you can infer that they trust your taste and judgement on aesthetic choices. So when you are looking through all of the album options out there, notice which options YOU are gravitating towards and which ones fit seamlessly with your brand and aesthetic. After all, you’re an artist as well as a business person, so trust your artistic judgement and really lean into what’s inspiring during the decision making process.
SO HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO CURATE YOUR ALBUM OFFERINGS FOR YOUR CLIENTS:
1. SELECT 1-3 ALBUM OPTIONS THAT REALLY ALIGN WITH YOUR BRAND
Select 1-3 album options that really align with your brand (having two options is a real sweet spot if you’re just starting out). With all the incredible suppliers out there you can find albums that suite all kinds of styles. There is everything from velvet to leather materials, pastels to deep rich cover colours, square to landscape orientation, ultra-thick to ultra-thin pages, etc. It’s all out there.
If you’re just getting started, a few great supplies you can look into are: QT Albums (USA & Europe), Queensberry Albums (New Zealand), Red Tree Albums (USA), GTA Imaging (Canada), and Dekora (Canada).
2. CUT DOWN THE CHOICES
Limit the choices for EACH album in terms of all the specifications they can have. Each album you offer should have a predetermined size, spread count, paper type, and cover option. I even suggest limiting the colour options to avoid overwhelming your clients.
3. PRESENT OPTIONS IN A CONCISE FORMAT
Present the options that they do have in a concise format that allows easy decision making. Whether you are using a product guide or showcasing your albums in person, point out the defining features of each album that matter most to your clients. Donald Miller (a marketing expert in clarifying your message) said if you confuse, you lose. So keep in mind, your client doesn’t need to know the full explanation of why you offer the specific albums that you do, they just want to know what aspects will benefit them and ultimately make them the happiest.
We all know decision-making is difficult and the last thing we want to do for our clients is create added stress when they’re working on putting together something as important as a wedding album. The whole philosophy of preserving photographs is meant to evoke positive feelings and it’s important to remind ourselves of that throughout the entire album process and experience. It can be especially hard for clients to make small decisions (for example: paper thickness) because they haven’t gotten to experience all the different options for themselves. On top of that, if we are giving out clients a lot of decisions to make, we are actually making it harder for them to commit to getting an album. At that point, we are doing both our clients and ourselves a disservice.
So when you carefully curate the album options for your clients it significantly decreases the amount of decision making they have to do, which in turn alleviates a lot of that stress they may otherwise would’ve experienced. This actually transforms the album decision process into one where your clients feel like you have helped them commit to a product that is in their best interest and gives them fulfilment.
BONUS TIP: I’ll always recommend getting sample albums of all the options you offer so your clients can understand the differences and make an easy and informed decision.
READY TO LEARN HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY SELL AND DESIGN ALBUMS?
I know that as a photographer you may not inherently have the skills to sell and design albums, that's why I created the Album Workshop.
It's a self-paced, online course that teaches you the skills you need to CONFIDENTLY sell albums to EVERY SINGLE CLIENT and DESIGN BEAUTIFUL LAYOUTS that your clients will be proud to pass down for GENERATIONS.
Albums can be the key to a sustainable business and to providing your clients with the ultimate experience.
In the course I guide you through all the ins and outs of offering albums to help you avoid COSTLY MISTAKES and learn to sell albums in a GENUINE WAY that isn’t off-putting to your clients.
I’ll teach you my method that only adds ONE HOUR to your work week so that albums can be used to make more money, without needing more bookings.
Invest in yourself and the growth of your business, there’s no better time then now.
