Customer Retention

Have you ever visited a retail store where the employees went the extra mile to ensure your needs were met? Such an experience leaves a lasting impression and often compels you to share it with friends and family, doesn’t it? Have you ever wondered how these stores manage to keep customer retention?

While our ultimate goal is to provide a product, our industry revolves around the customer experience. Delivering exceptional customer service is the most effective means of building a stellar reputation in the community and rapidly expanding your business.

So, how can you exceed expectations for our clients? Here are a few suggestions:

Under promise, over deliver.

We place great emphasis on managing client expectations throughout the booking process. Ensuring that they have a clear understanding of when they will receive their images or products helps prevent disappointment or frustration. It’s essential to educate your clients about your editing turnaround time, gallery delivery schedule, and the duration it takes for ordered products to arrive. It is advisable to outline these details in your contract, email reminders, and any accompanying PDFs.

When determining your turnaround time, it’s wise to err on the side of caution and provide a generous estimate. This allows for unforeseen circumstances or busy periods in your life. For instance, if you state that it will take four weeks to deliver the images but manage to complete them in two. You will appear as the hero to your clients, surpassing their expectations.

Get personal.

How often do you receive handwritten cards? It rarely happens anymore. Taking the time to send one on a client’s anniversary, birthday, or even after a session will show how much you care about them. Especially since it’s not about making a sale and more about building a relationship with your client.

You can easily keep track of those special dates in Iris, and even make it part of your workflow as a reminder!

Be thoughtful with gifts.

Build enough profit into what you charge so that you can occasionally send gifts to clients that you really connect with and love. You can throw an extra canvas in as a gift if they order one or add additional pages to an album. We all love getting something extra from time to time!

Around the holidays, why not send out something small? It could be an ornament with an image from their session, a calendar with their photos for the new year, etc. It can even be a gift that doesn’t have to do with their photos!

Educate your clients.

Educating your clients can go a long way in making them feel comfortable and that you are invested in them. Give them tools for a successful session! It’s nerve wracking to be photographed, and getting tips on how to have a great session will ensure that they have a great time too. Send a What to Wear guide or even a PDF full of tips.  You can attach it to an email template in Iris Works and it can be set to automatically send  before their session.

These simple ways of going above and beyond for our clients will help ensure that you have a loyal customer for life who will love sending referrals your way. What are some ways that you love going the extra mile for your clients and keep customer retention?

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