Yay for sales coming in! But I have had a bunch of people order stuff individual that I've setup as a package. Yes I'm making more money. But I think in the long run I would sell more packages. My issue is that people don't really see that a package is available.
Many if not most people either refuse to or are incapable of reading simple directions. I cannot tell you how many orders I've gotten that would have qualified for the coupons I've detailed on my site, but people simply blow it off. Like I have coupons for $10 off an order of $34 or more, $15 off $50 or more, etc. I'll get orders for like $48 and no coupon was used. That's double stupid. They should have either entered the $10 coupon, or they should have spent 2 more bones and used the $15 coupon. Hello?
-Jack
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Many if not most people either refuse to or are incapable of reading simple directions. I cannot tell you how many orders I've gotten that would have qualified for the coupons I've detailed on my site, but people simply blow it off. Like I have coupons for $10 off an order of $34 or more, $15 off $50 or more, etc. I'll get orders for like $48 and no coupon was used. That's double stupid. They should have either entered the $10 coupon, or they should have spent 2 more bones and used the $15 coupon. Hello?
But you have already told and/or given your customers a coupon code. So if they don't use it then they just forgot/stupid. My issue is making awareness to the fact that a package is available. They select "BUY", first instinct is THIS Photo... cause that's what I want.... I want THIS photo.
I don't know I have a package option. All I see is "Package from this Pro". Well OF COURSE it's from THIS pro. What other pro are they going to buy from?? Why not BUY > 'Photo Package' ??
People that are using packages... how do you make sure your customers find the packages?
Shouldn't Packages awareness also be available on the "Buy This Photo" dialog box
But you have already told and/or given your customers a coupon code. So if they don't use it then they just forgot/stupid. My issue is making awareness to the fact that a package is available. They select "BUY", first instinct is THIS Photo... cause that's what I want.... I want THIS photo.
I don't know I have a package option. All I see is "Package from this Pro". Well OF COURSE it's from THIS pro. What other pro are they going to buy from?? Why not BUY > 'Photo Package' ??
People that are using packages... how do you make sure your customers find the packages?
Shouldn't Packages awareness also be available on the "Buy This Photo" dialog box
Customization #25 on this page will let you change "Package from this pro" to whatever you want. I agree that's dumb wording, especially for a branded site.
Customization #25 on this page will let you change "Package from this pro" to whatever you want. I agree that's dumb wording, especially for a branded site.
But you have already told and/or given your customers a coupon code. So if they don't use it then they just forgot/stupid. My issue is making awareness to the fact that a package is available. They select "BUY", first instinct is THIS Photo... cause that's what I want.... I want THIS photo.
My point was that no amount of instructions will make everyone aware. A surprising and dismaying number of people simply will not read them, and take the path of least resistance.
-Jack
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
First, off packages are awesome! The interface for setup is sweet and very easy. One request (which I haven't been able to find) is the ability to assign a package to a category and/or sub-category (e.g. Weddings or Portraits). I will have standard packages that pertain to only a certain group (or groups) of my business (not only a gallery or two) and I simply cannot take the time to select all the galleries in these categories or remember to come back and assign new galleries added to these categories to make sure they are included in the packages.
It would be great (in the packages interface) to be able to assign packages to categories and have an option to automatically assign those packages to any new galleries added to the category in the future.
Is there a way to have a package that includes one copy of every image in a gallery (at a size I select)? So I can have a user select a "Buy them all at 5x7"?
Is there a way to have a package that includes one copy of every image in a gallery (at a size I select)? So I can have a user select a "Buy them all at 5x7"?
One request (which I haven't been able to find) is the ability to assign a package to a category and/or sub-category (e.g. Weddings or Portraits). I will have standard packages that pertain to only a certain group (or groups) of my business (not only a gallery or two) and I simply cannot take the time to select all the galleries in these categories or remember to come back and assign new galleries added to these categories to make sure they are included in the packages.
It would be great (in the packages interface) to be able to assign packages to categories and have an option to automatically assign those packages to any new galleries added to the category in the future.
We have been bouncing ideas around on how to accomplish this technically. We'll keep working on it, but it may be a while before we have it worked out.
Allow Packages Order to Be Rearranged
I have this posted on uservoice, but not many votes. I would love it if my package order could be rearranged. I created some, but don't like the order they're in. I'd like to move them around a bit.
Yes, this is absolutely planned. It got left on the cutting room floor for now, in order to expedite shipping the feature. It will be added in a future revision in the not-so-distant future.
The above was in reply to adding digital DL's to packages and it's availability.
Packages are a fantastic addition to the Pro service; you guys are listening! I'm wondering if it's possible to send my customers a link showing my packages? The "Manage Packages" screen looks cool and with a few minor format changes, would work well as a marketing tool. Ideally, I could send a link via email or even embed it in my bog or web site. Any thoughts? Same is true for coupons, it would be great to allow the coupon graphic to be linked (I recently needed to send a customer a coupon and had to snag it from the screen and create a jpg).
I too like packages a lot. However, I have a bit different request. I take a pictures of kids softball, soccer, jr football, basketball, and just for the heck of it...landscape and scenery. Darned if I know how those last two suck in there.. . Anyhow...my clients often participate in multiple activities, and I may well have pictures of them in several different things, and I'd love to be able to set up packages that will easily allow them to choose among various galleries. Now...I recognize that I can set it up to do that, and right now I have the packages set up for all galleries. Was much easier than going through and setting it up for say 95% of my galleries. However, here is the problem...I would LOVE to be able to set my packages up for ALL galleries, and then to go back and REMOVE packages or set up DIFFERENT packages for the 5 landscape/scenery galleries that I have.
Hopefully this makes some sense. Just a simple "Remove Packages from this gallery" button in gallery settings would do me just fine...:)
Hi Boballo, Thanks for posting such a great, detailed feature request. If you don't mind, we'd love it if you would put your feature requests here: http://feedback.smugmug.com
We have been bouncing ideas around on how to accomplish this technically. We'll keep working on it, but it may be a while before we have it worked out.
Wanted to add my +1 here as well as cast my vote on this UserVoice request as well.
Came back to Smugmug after a year hiatus because they added packages and coupons. Now it seems I'm having a hard time using packages the way I envisioned (and requested for years).
For example: I want to use them as team and individual photo packages for sports teams. Each team would be in a seperate gallery, and a "team photo" will be specified as part of at least some of the packages. I was able to do this easily with Exposure Manager, but it seems that Smugmug lets customers choose any photos they like to add to the package. For parents that have been used to buying "team photo packages" for years, I can already tell this is going to cause confusion (expecially since it seems that the way a customer chooses what photos they want in their package is from the tinly little thumbnails that scroll across the bottom of the screen. If I've taken a few of each kid with the expectation that they will choose their favorite, they will find it hard to pick which one they like from the very tiny sample).
Am I missing something here? Surely there's a better way to do this.
This is also a great request, and should be added to user voice. One way that I have seen this handled is in conjunction with the personal delivery option. In that case, the photog had the customers orders delivered to them, added in the team/class photo and then delivered the full package to the customer. Would that work for you?
Came back to Smugmug after a year hiatus because they added packages and coupons. Now it seems I'm having a hard time using packages the way I envisioned (and requested for years).
For example: I want to use them as team and individual photo packages for sports teams. Each team would be in a seperate gallery, and a "team photo" will be specified as part of at least some of the packages. I was able to do this easily with Exposure Manager, but it seems that Smugmug lets customers choose any photos they like to add to the package. For parents that have been used to buying "team photo packages" for years, I can already tell this is going to cause confusion (expecially since it seems that the way a customer chooses what photos they want in their package is from the tinly little thumbnails that scroll across the bottom of the screen. If I've taken a few of each kid with the expectation that they will choose their favorite, they will find it hard to pick which one they like from the very tiny sample).
Am I missing something here? Surely there's a better way to do this.
Came back to Smugmug after a year hiatus because they added packages and coupons. Now it seems I'm having a hard time using packages the way I envisioned (and requested for years).
For example: I want to use them as team and individual photo packages for sports teams. Each team would be in a seperate gallery, and a "team photo" will be specified as part of at least some of the packages. I was able to do this easily with Exposure Manager, but it seems that Smugmug lets customers choose any photos they like to add to the package. For parents that have been used to buying "team photo packages" for years, I can already tell this is going to cause confusion (expecially since it seems that the way a customer chooses what photos they want in their package is from the tinly little thumbnails that scroll across the bottom of the screen. If I've taken a few of each kid with the expectation that they will choose their favorite, they will find it hard to pick which one they like from the very tiny sample).
Am I missing something here? Surely there's a better way to do this.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
We'll take this as a feature request - I don't know how hard this'd be Tom but it sure makes sense. I like Ann's suggestion, but it is a bit cumbersome
One way that I have seen this handled is in conjunction with the personal delivery option. In that case, the photog had the customers orders delivered to them, added in the team/class photo and then delivered the full package to the customer. Would that work for you?
ann
It would work, but is not practical. The whole reason I host on Smugmug in the first place is for fullfillment--they get the stuff to the customer without me worrying about it. That's what I pay them the commission for. If I was going to go thru all that, I'd just print them at Costco like I used to, get the prints cheaper, save all of the commision, and make more margin.
I hand deliver all of the fine art and portrait stuff and use a (IMHO) better vendor to print it (WHCC). But high volume/low margin stuff like football action shots and team photos? Not so much.
We'll take this as a feature request - I don't know how hard this'd be Tom but it sure makes sense.:(
Thanks for the reply, and happy new year Andy.
I'll expect it sometime around 2014 then?
I mean--really--doesn't SM do competitive research? If not, I'll be happy to show them how it's done elsewhere--I really mean that; it's not meant as a snide remark. This is an offering that other companies that charge less have had for quite a while. Pros, including myself, were asking for it years ago--I was even promised a phone call from Baldy about it, but that never happened. So out come packages missing the one thing a lot of us wanted them for in the first place--the ability to sell team photos.
I know that it seems like I always come here sounding bitter, but more than anything else, I'm dumbfounded that it takes so much pleading to get stuff done that enables pros to make more money--and when we make more money, SM makes more money. Right?
I know, I know. So once again, for good measure:
I'm sorry to say (I mean that sincerely) I'll have to reopen my Exposure Manager account if I can't find a workaround by the end of the week. :cry
I wish it was simply a matter of how it looks and functions from the customer's end. It never is and it certainly isn't here, unfortunately.
We cannot simply go look at how CompanyC does it and build it for tomorrow. We have a different back-end, different data structures, different package structures, different package interface, etc. And we also have a million items on our To-Do list.
We are constantly analyzing our priorities, reorganizing them according to impact, usefulness, time-to-build, and available resources (design, engineering, testing, etc.). This is a feature we would love to build and certainly will build, but quite frankly it's not at the top of our list yet and will not be finished by the end of this week.
I'm wondering if it's possible to send my customers a link showing my packages?
I also would like to be able to have an HTML link to get people directly to my package page. {Packages already require you to select a picture anyway.}
There needs to be an option to allow packages for ALL GALLERIES. The Only two options are For PUBLIC Galleries and SELECT Individual Galleries. Thats annoying. I use packages for Private galleries, and to have to select galleries individually across different categories and everytime I create a new gallery is N00b!
Comments
Many if not most people either refuse to or are incapable of reading simple directions. I cannot tell you how many orders I've gotten that would have qualified for the coupons I've detailed on my site, but people simply blow it off. Like I have coupons for $10 off an order of $34 or more, $15 off $50 or more, etc. I'll get orders for like $48 and no coupon was used. That's double stupid. They should have either entered the $10 coupon, or they should have spent 2 more bones and used the $15 coupon. Hello?
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
But you have already told and/or given your customers a coupon code. So if they don't use it then they just forgot/stupid. My issue is making awareness to the fact that a package is available. They select "BUY", first instinct is THIS Photo... cause that's what I want.... I want THIS photo.
I don't know I have a package option. All I see is "Package from this Pro". Well OF COURSE it's from THIS pro. What other pro are they going to buy from??
People that are using packages... how do you make sure your customers find the packages?
Shouldn't Packages awareness also be available on the "Buy This Photo" dialog box
Also: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=169627
Sorry two different thought streams caused me to cross post.
:dgrin
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Thank you!
My point was that no amount of instructions will make everyone aware. A surprising and dismaying number of people simply will not read them, and take the path of least resistance.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Andy-
First, off packages are awesome! The interface for setup is sweet and very easy. One request (which I haven't been able to find) is the ability to assign a package to a category and/or sub-category (e.g. Weddings or Portraits). I will have standard packages that pertain to only a certain group (or groups) of my business (not only a gallery or two) and I simply cannot take the time to select all the galleries in these categories or remember to come back and assign new galleries added to these categories to make sure they are included in the packages.
It would be great (in the packages interface) to be able to assign packages to categories and have an option to automatically assign those packages to any new galleries added to the category in the future.
Thanks for all your hard work!
Thanks-ANDY
No, sorry.
We have been bouncing ideas around on how to accomplish this technically. We'll keep working on it, but it may be a while before we have it worked out.
I have this posted on uservoice, but not many votes. I would love it if my package order could be rearranged. I created some, but don't like the order they're in. I'd like to move them around a bit.
Doesn't that sound like a good idea?:D
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The above was in reply to adding digital DL's to packages and it's availability.
Any update to a time frame on this?
Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
I too would like to know if this is going to be put in place soon.
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Thanks in advance
Hopefully this makes some sense. Just a simple "Remove Packages from this gallery" button in gallery settings would do me just fine...:)
Bob
Thanks!
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Keith Tharp.com - Champion Photo
Wanted to add my +1 here as well as cast my vote on this UserVoice request as well.
-Danny
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For example: I want to use them as team and individual photo packages for sports teams. Each team would be in a seperate gallery, and a "team photo" will be specified as part of at least some of the packages. I was able to do this easily with Exposure Manager, but it seems that Smugmug lets customers choose any photos they like to add to the package. For parents that have been used to buying "team photo packages" for years, I can already tell this is going to cause confusion (expecially since it seems that the way a customer chooses what photos they want in their package is from the tinly little thumbnails that scroll across the bottom of the screen. If I've taken a few of each kid with the expectation that they will choose their favorite, they will find it hard to pick which one they like from the very tiny sample).
Am I missing something here? Surely there's a better way to do this.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!
This is also a great request, and should be added to user voice. One way that I have seen this handled is in conjunction with the personal delivery option. In that case, the photog had the customers orders delivered to them, added in the team/class photo and then delivered the full package to the customer. Would that work for you?
ann
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It would work, but is not practical. The whole reason I host on Smugmug in the first place is for fullfillment--they get the stuff to the customer without me worrying about it. That's what I pay them the commission for. If I was going to go thru all that, I'd just print them at Costco like I used to, get the prints cheaper, save all of the commision, and make more margin.
I hand deliver all of the fine art and portrait stuff and use a (IMHO) better vendor to print it (WHCC). But high volume/low margin stuff like football action shots and team photos? Not so much.
Thanks for the reply, and happy new year Andy.
I'll expect it sometime around 2014 then?
I mean--really--doesn't SM do competitive research? If not, I'll be happy to show them how it's done elsewhere--I really mean that; it's not meant as a snide remark. This is an offering that other companies that charge less have had for quite a while. Pros, including myself, were asking for it years ago--I was even promised a phone call from Baldy about it, but that never happened. So out come packages missing the one thing a lot of us wanted them for in the first place--the ability to sell team photos.
I know that it seems like I always come here sounding bitter, but more than anything else, I'm dumbfounded that it takes so much pleading to get stuff done that enables pros to make more money--and when we make more money, SM makes more money. Right?
I know, I know. So once again, for good measure:
I'm sorry to say (I mean that sincerely) I'll have to reopen my Exposure Manager account if I can't find a workaround by the end of the week. :cry
Thanks for the help to those that offered.
We cannot simply go look at how CompanyC does it and build it for tomorrow. We have a different back-end, different data structures, different package structures, different package interface, etc. And we also have a million items on our To-Do list.
We are constantly analyzing our priorities, reorganizing them according to impact, usefulness, time-to-build, and available resources (design, engineering, testing, etc.). This is a feature we would love to build and certainly will build, but quite frankly it's not at the top of our list yet and will not be finished by the end of this week.
Sorry.
I also would like to be able to have an HTML link to get people directly to my package page. {Packages already require you to select a picture anyway.}
Vote here:
http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug/suggestions/1380039-link-directly-to-package-deals
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