When a customer makes an order, can I?

femsista

My brother just purchased some photos of his daughter playing softball from a shoot I did for her team. He was actually one of my first sales and bought from my site to show his support for my business.

He forwarded me the message from smugmug he got saying his order had been shipped.

He was actually a little upset because he felt like there should be a way for an email message to come from me as the photographer thanking my customer for their order and letting them know it has been shipped. He didn't like being thanked by Smugmug and their owners because he ordered from "my" site.

So seeing his point and wanting to be able to thank my photographers and keep that personalized feel, is there a way to have a more personal email sent to my customers when their order is shipped? Or does it have to be the generic smugmug message?

After reading that message, it does sound to my customer as if I have passed their order off to someone else and that as the photographer I am not getting the funds for it.

I would hate to have to explain this to the extent I did for my brother who was just watching out for me as his sister.

Any suggestions or ideas or ways to customize that email that my customers receive?

Thanks!

catspaw

Do you have a proof delay on your prints? I use that as much for proofing and fixing images as to do 2 things customer service wise:

1. thank them for the order and let them know I'm working on improving the images so they are the best for printing

2. let them know when done and images are sent to the printers and when to expect them (depending which printer and which coast the client lives on).

This gives that personal interaction and there might even be some questions about the suggested cropping the customer did and the cropping you do on their image that warrants a conversation to see what they want vs. what might work best.

That way they know what YOUR part in this is and that the printers (whom you can sell up as FABULOUS people, well above walmart, etc) will hand correct (if pro labs, etc) and print and if ANY ISSUES AT ALL WITH PRINTS, to let you know since SM has a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Keep yourself in there and it works really well.

Andy

femsista wrote:

is there a way to have a more personal email sent to my customers when their order is shipped?

Sure. In the prosales page, you can see your customers name, address, and even email address. Send them a personal note

femsista

Thanks

And Andy, I just finished adding the emails and contact info to my email account to do just that: send them a personal note. I realized this was possible after I looked around on the forums.

Thanks for yall's help!

81dollar

femsista wrote:

... is there a way to have a more personal email sent to my customers when their order is shipped? Or does it have to be the generic smugmug message?

I'm sorry about the thread hijacking, but I wanted to expand on this topic a bit more... I would also like to know if there is a way to change the default SM message for when orders are placed and shipped.

I know SM provides me with the email address of my customers, and I know I can send an additional email- but I would very much like the ability to edit/change the default SM messages.

Is this an option that will be offered in the future? Is this topic up for discussion? I'm sure I can't be the only one that would like to configure the order and shipment messages? If I should be asking this question elsewhere, let me know... Thanks.

catspaw

You and SM are two different companies -- why would you tell another company how to change how they do their business?

81dollar

catspaw wrote:

You and SM are two different companies -- why would you tell another company how to change how they do their business?

Not sure if the above post is directed at me, but if it is; you need to re-read my post before jumping down my throat.

I never told anyone how to run their business. I simply stated my desire to be able to modify/edit the emails that are sent to our mutual customers. I asked if this was an option that was being considered, or if it was even open for debate/discussion.

Believe it or not, I pay an annual fee plus service fees to SM because they are a service provider to my business (and countless others). Like all service providers (Photogize/ Graphx, Capri Album, Google Checkout, Go Daddy, etc.), Smugmug offers a certain level of customization to my storefront. Because of this, I knew that asking about the email messages was not out of place or uncalled for.

Again to the OP- sorry for the thread hijacking.

Andy

81dollar wrote:

Is this topic up for discussion?

Everything is

One thing we plan on doing one day (soon I hope, but can't guarantee when!) is to have a pro thank-you print included with your orders. It'd be an image of your choosing with your message on board

Montec

Andy wrote:

Everything is

One thing we plan on doing one day (soon I hope, but can't guarantee when!) is to have a pro thank-you print included with your orders. It'd be an image of your choosing with your message on board

This is a fantastic idea. I would gladly pay for the print!

flyingpoint

Thank You Notes
For what it's worth, I use a little mac program called "postcard" to email a note to my customers. It's fairly straightforward -- I just drag the replacement image for their image off my desktop into the template and then tweak the copy. If nothing else, it's a quick reminder that they're supporting a really worthwhile charity.

But I look forward to the day when this can be done through smugmug.






femsista

I would love to have the option as well to edit and customize the generic SM message that is sent out. That is the basic idea my original post was getting at.

My customer who happened to be my brother was just shocked to see a message from SM thanking him for his order when as a customer he was under the assumption he was ordering from me and my business. So for our customers who don't know or understand that our site is powered by SM, it is alarming and odd when they get an email from SM.

I would love the option to collaborate with SM and be able to customize a message that is emailed to my customer after they place and order and once their order is shipped--one that allows SM and myself to thank the customer all in one email.