Pros: How to Sell Cards to your clients

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Comments

  • fotomichellefotomichelle Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
    edited November 12, 2009
    Well that was my question, there is no photo number or caption displayed. . for them to specify. I think some of my clients wouldn't know how to copy paste url. Can we turn captions on or filenames on? Thanks so much!
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited November 12, 2009
    Well that was my question, there is no photo number or caption displayed. . for them to specify. I think some of my clients wouldn't know how to copy paste url. Can we turn captions on or filenames on? Thanks so much!
    As I said, Anne will be doing this, for sure. Thanks!
  • mrcoonsmrcoons Registered Users Posts: 653 Major grins
    edited November 13, 2009
    When I wrote this up I just told them to tell me what number it was in the gallery and showed them where to look.

    http://www.4shared.com/file/151018956/4e18da23/Instructions_for_ordering_a_custom_greeting_card.htmlf

    But a more visible name would be great.
  • JDEORTAJDEORTA Registered Users Posts: 144 Major grins
    edited November 13, 2009
    thaKing wrote:
    ok, so you're saying you want the Xmas cards and not the Holiday Cards (or in addition too, whichever)?

    what i did was take the cards from http://cards.smugmug.com and put them in a gallery on my site...then used the code on page 1 of this thread (with slight modification to point to my correct gallery) and voila! i have Xmas cards in a slideshow....

    thank you!thumb.gif
    Jose D.
    Canon 40D
    EF 28-135 IS USM
    Speedlight 580EX II

    www.deortaphotography.com
  • AnneMcBeanAnneMcBean Registered Users Posts: 503 Major grins
    edited November 23, 2009
    Sorry for the delay in responding to the issues you all raised. I really appreciate the feedback!

    I fixed the broken link reported to the bottom inside of one card:
    http://cards.smugmug.com/photos/709970235_rtYtg-O.jpg

    I'll gladly add more artwork details when I can. I'm happy to hear they're helpful!

    I do NOT recommend relying on a design's position in a gallery for identification because the galleries absolutely change as we add new designs.

    I had envisioned customers using the "Share" button to either send an email to their photographer or use the Get a Link feature to copy a link to the design they like best. However, it does sound like a unique identifier in the caption would be best. I worry about pros being able to quickly find the card the customer is referring to, however, so the identifier will need to be search-friendly.

    I'll play with this more and hopefully have something late tonight that will be a significant improvement. thumb.gif

    -Anne
  • leiftvleiftv Registered Users Posts: 219 Major grins
    edited November 23, 2009
    confused on where to paste all the code
    Where do I paste the code after I create the gallery?
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2009
    ok, i've asked this about a half dozen times and have not gotten a response...i'll try once more before i through in the hat and just be done with it (very disappointed, but done nonetheless)...

    i've added the code as instructed at the beginning (did that before this card upgrade process)..but doesn't that only show the "Holiday" cards? i used that code and it gave me 4x8 and 5x7 Holiday cards..i had to create a gallery on my own to get 4x8 Christmas cards...what i did was save all the cards from the SM link, and uploaded those to my gallery...that gave me the Xmas cards...

    now, since i followed the code above, i picked up the original Holiday cards...can i assume this code will also pick up the new Holiday cards too? is there anything i can do in regards to Xmas cards, and the others? or am i left to do what i mentioned above - save all the images from the smug link, create my own gallery with them, and if new ones are ever added go back and repeat this process to incorporate them?

    if this is the only way, this to me this is poor...if there is code for one type of card then why isn't there code for ALL cards?

    or am i missing something here? headscratch.gif
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2009
    leiftv wrote:
    Where do I paste the code after I create the gallery?
    to quote Andy's first post:
    How to?
    1. Make a new gallery.
    2. Put this in the gallery description:
    go to the gallery and there is a link (if you're logged in) for the description...click on it to edit it and paste that code in...
  • ColoradoSkierColoradoSkier Registered Users Posts: 267 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2009
    I posted this as a comment to the blog post, but clearly there is way more traffic here...

    My gripe is that the images of the (5x7) cards (the method we are expected to sell them by) are way confusing to me. I mean, I get it. 4 sides of a card, etc etc. Except that the consumers don’t think that way. And the picture that is supposed to sell the card is small and upside down. Here’s how I would hope to improve this:

    1) Just show the cover image, and definitely not upside down.
    2) Allow the customer to choose text they want inside
    3) At the same time allowing the pro to indicate which blocks consumers can add/ edit text to (I don’t want them to edit my slogan on the back of the card for example)

    For such a big thing, I would have expected better execution.
    Chester Bullock
    Lakewood, Colorado, USA
    My Pictures | My blog
    Facebook | Twitter
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 24, 2009
    one more bump...
    thaKing wrote:
    ok, i've asked this about a half dozen times and have not gotten a response...i'll try once more before i through in the hat and just be done with it (very disappointed, but done nonetheless)...

    i've added the code as instructed at the beginning (did that before this card upgrade process)..but doesn't that only show the "Holiday" cards? i used that code and it gave me 4x8 and 5x7 Holiday cards..i had to create a gallery on my own to get 4x8 Christmas cards...what i did was save all the cards from the SM link, and uploaded those to my gallery...that gave me the Xmas cards...

    now, since i followed the code above, i picked up the original Holiday cards...can i assume this code will also pick up the new Holiday cards too? is there anything i can do in regards to Xmas cards, and the others? or am i left to do what i mentioned above - save all the images from the smug link, create my own gallery with them, and if new ones are ever added go back and repeat this process to incorporate them?

    if this is the only way, this to me this is poor...if there is code for one type of card then why isn't there code for ALL cards?

    or am i missing something here? headscratch.gif
  • AnneMcBeanAnneMcBean Registered Users Posts: 503 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    thaKing wrote:
    one more bump...

    Hi,

    So sorry to keep you waiting on this. I didn't want to lead you astray and was not very familiar with Andy's suggested workaround.

    However, I think I understand the situation now. It's easy to make a feed from a certain keyword, but I'm not sure there's a keyword that's a perfect fit currently. "5x7 folded" will get all the 5x7 cards, but it includes some that may not apply like graduation announcements. "4x8 flat" will get all 4x8 cards. "Winter Holiday" will pull up all Christmas, Hannukah, and generic holiday cards but it tags both 4x8 and 5x7 designs so you'll end up with a gallery that has both.

    It's possible I could rekeyword to be format AND occasion specific in a single keyword. However, we are working on a *much* better solution and to be honest I feel like my time is better spent working to get that out the door, rather than making the current workarounds marginally more useful. I hope that seems reasonable.

    If you do want to use a different keyword feed URL, you can click Share > Get a Link > Feed Links . Then choose "Keyword", type in "Winter Holiday" or "5x7 folded" and choose the image size.

    The URL it generates can be substituted into the embed code Andy provided. Make sense?

    -Anne
  • AnneMcBeanAnneMcBean Registered Users Posts: 503 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    My gripe is that the images of the (5x7) cards (the method we are expected to sell them by) are way confusing to me.

    Thanks for the feedback. I absolutely agree, but the image the lab needs to print the cards properly is exactly what you see generated and stored in the gallery. Currently we store it like any other image on SmugMug, so it would require a major change to display one thing in a gallery and send something else entirely to the lab. I'm not saying it's not possible we'll do that, but just that it's a much bigger change than it may appear at first glance.

    We'll definitely try and be sensitive to the end user's view of the card if/when we allow guests to create cards. Thanks again!

    -Anne
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    AnneMcBean wrote:
    Hi,

    So sorry to keep you waiting on this. I didn't want to lead you astray and was not very familiar with Andy's suggested workaround.

    However, I think I understand the situation now. It's easy to make a feed from a certain keyword, but I'm not sure there's a keyword that's a perfect fit currently. "5x7 folded" will get all the 5x7 cards, but it includes some that may not apply like graduation announcements. "4x8 flat" will get all 4x8 cards. "Winter Holiday" will pull up all Christmas, Hannukah, and generic holiday cards but it tags both 4x8 and 5x7 designs so you'll end up with a gallery that has both.

    It's possible I could rekeyword to be format AND occasion specific in a single keyword. However, we are working on a *much* better solution and to be honest I feel like my time is better spent working to get that out the door, rather than making the current workarounds marginally more useful. I hope that seems reasonable.

    If you do want to use a different keyword feed URL, you can click Share > Get a Link > Feed Links . Then choose "Keyword", type in "Winter Holiday" or "5x7 folded" and choose the image size.

    The URL it generates can be substituted into the embed code Andy provided. Make sense?

    -Anne
    Anne, thanks for the response...if there is a "better" version coming down the line then i'd rather not mess with anything now...that will work...i know you folks don't like giving dates, but is that something we can expect in the next week or less? or will that have to wait until the next holiday season?
  • ColoradoSkierColoradoSkier Registered Users Posts: 267 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    AnneMcBean wrote:
    Thanks for the feedback. I absolutely agree, but the image the lab needs to print the cards properly is exactly what you see generated and stored in the gallery. Currently we store it like any other image on SmugMug, so it would require a major change to display one thing in a gallery and send something else entirely to the lab. I'm not saying it's not possible we'll do that, but just that it's a much bigger change than it may appear at first glance.

    We'll definitely try and be sensitive to the end user's view of the card if/when we allow guests to create cards. Thanks again!

    -Anne

    At the risk of sounding hypercritical, I'd say this implementation is a flop, although you have learned a lot from it. I think I am going to take holiday cards off the table until you guys get it right.
    Chester Bullock
    Lakewood, Colorado, USA
    My Pictures | My blog
    Facebook | Twitter
  • dudsduds Registered Users Posts: 176 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    So, once I've created a card, and a client has proofed it and requested a change, is there a way to edit the card? Or do I need to start from scratch all over again? ne_nau.gif
    Matt Dudley
    Matt Dudley Photography
    Nashville child photographer
    Twitter: @mattdudleyphoto
    Facebook: facebook.com/mattdudleyphotography
  • ColoradoSkierColoradoSkier Registered Users Posts: 267 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    duds wrote:
    So, once I've created a card, and a client has proofed it and requested a change, is there a way to edit the card? Or do I need to start from scratch all over again? ne_nau.gif

    The creation process results in an image, it's not a db of stored data. So you would need to re-create it.
    Chester Bullock
    Lakewood, Colorado, USA
    My Pictures | My blog
    Facebook | Twitter
  • AnneMcBeanAnneMcBean Registered Users Posts: 503 Major grins
    edited November 25, 2009
    thaKing wrote:
    Anne, thanks for the response...if there is a "better" version coming down the line then i'd rather not mess with anything now...that will work...i know you folks don't like giving dates, but is that something we can expect in the next week or less? or will that have to wait until the next holiday season?

    We don't like to give dates, in general. However, I can certainly see why you'd have an interest in knowing specifics in this case! Unfortunately, we're at a place where we actually don't know when the feature will be ready. It could be as soon as a week, but I could also see it taking a month or more.

    I would say it's probably worth your time to make the workaround functional on your site, but I wouldn't bother fine-tuning it or trying to smooth out all the rough edges. How's that for helpful? Sorry I can't do better than that at this point. ne_nau.gif

    -Anne
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 26, 2009
    thanks Anne, appreciate the response...hope it's soon, but understand that these things take time...can't wait for the fix though!
  • dudsduds Registered Users Posts: 176 Major grins
    edited November 28, 2009
    The creation process results in an image, it's not a db of stored data. So you would need to re-create it.

    Wow. I gotta be honest, this card-selling process is about as un-friendly as can be for Pros. I can see how it would be a fairly nice feature if I were trying to create cards for myself. But trying to create a product for a client is a nightmare.

    The entire process - from client card selection (they still have no way to identify the cards), to card creation (we can't zoom in? we can't change the font?), to card revision (we have to re-create the card from scratch every time the client wants us to change anything..) - is absolutely terrible, and not worth the time, nor the effort, nor the minimal profit to be made.

    I love you, SmugMug. Truly. And I really don't like to complain on these boards about features that don't meet my needs. But this one is really half-baked for Pros. Maybe it's not a priority, and that's cool.. but let's not pretend. The ability to price cards for sale to clients was a nice addition this year, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. The rest of the workflow needs some serious attention if selling cards to clients is ever going to be a really valuable SmugMug feature.
    Matt Dudley
    Matt Dudley Photography
    Nashville child photographer
    Twitter: @mattdudleyphoto
    Facebook: facebook.com/mattdudleyphotography
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited November 28, 2009
    duds wrote:
    Wow. I gotta be honest, this card-selling process is about as un-friendly as can be for Pros. I can see how it would be a fairly nice feature if I were trying to create cards for myself. But trying to create a product for a client is a nightmare.

    The entire process - from client card selection (they still have no way to identify the cards), to card creation (we can't zoom in? we can't change the font?), to card revision (we have to re-create the card from scratch every time the client wants us to change anything..) - is absolutely terrible, and not worth the time, nor the effort, nor the minimal profit to be made.

    I love you, SmugMug. Truly. And I really don't like to complain on these boards about features that don't meet my needs. But this one is really half-baked for Pros. Maybe it's not a priority, and that's cool.. but let's not pretend. The ability to price cards for sale to clients was a nice addition this year, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. The rest of the workflow needs some serious attention if selling cards to clients is ever going to be a really valuable SmugMug feature.
    I love the feedback - we'll all read it, and we'll improve the process.
    Thanks for your passionate post - please don't ever stop.
  • dudsduds Registered Users Posts: 176 Major grins
    edited November 28, 2009
    Andy wrote:
    I love the feedback - we'll all read it, and we'll improve the process.
    Thanks for your passionate post - please don't ever stop.

    Deal.

    Thanks.
    Matt Dudley
    Matt Dudley Photography
    Nashville child photographer
    Twitter: @mattdudleyphoto
    Facebook: facebook.com/mattdudleyphotography
  • SheafSheaf Registered Users, SmugMug Product Team Posts: 775 SmugMug Employee
    edited December 11, 2009
    This has now been improved greatly. Logged out visitors can create and purchase their own cards if you have set custom prices on the portfolio or gallery level. It was a surprisingly complicated and difficult thing to do, but we believe this is a vast improvement for many of you.

    We'll have more details soon on our Release Notes blog.
    SmugMug Product Manager
  • dudsduds Registered Users Posts: 176 Major grins
    edited December 11, 2009
    Sounds exciting!!clap.gif
    Matt Dudley
    Matt Dudley Photography
    Nashville child photographer
    Twitter: @mattdudleyphoto
    Facebook: facebook.com/mattdudleyphotography
  • JustMeAndreJustMeAndre Registered Users Posts: 71 Big grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Only 1 pic
    Sheaf wrote:
    This has now been improved greatly. Logged out visitors can create and purchase their own cards if you have set custom prices on the portfolio or gallery level. It was a surprisingly complicated and difficult thing to do, but we believe this is a vast improvement for many of you.

    We'll have more details soon on our Release Notes blog.

    Thanks for this new feature. I tried it just now, and only the last picture that was previewed shows up in the card creation page.
    I received the notification through release notes, and this is what #2 had -

    2. When they click the Photos Tab in the card creator, they will only see photos from the gallery they were viewing when they chose Create a Card.[/FONT]
    The word "Photos" is used and I thought it would be cool if it brings up more than one photo in the card viewer. Just my thought.[/FONT]

    André
    "No More Lost Memories"
  • JustMeAndreJustMeAndre Registered Users Posts: 71 Big grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Thanks for this new feature. I tried it just now, and only the last picture that was previewed shows up in the card creation page.
    I received the notification through release notes, and this is what #2 had -

    2. When they click the Photos Tab in the card creator, they will only see photos from the gallery they were viewing when they chose Create a Card.[/font]
    The word "Photos" is used and I thought it would be cool if it brings up more than one photo in the card viewer. Just my thought.[/font]

    André

    Sorry about this, I didnt see what was coming -
    Ok, I didn't go as far as creating the card - where you can actually click on photos, and it will bring up the other photos in the gallery.
    I will go and wash my face now, and maybe I will catch a wake up (-:

    Well done with this feature Smugs - this helps a LOT!!
    "No More Lost Memories"
  • RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Question....
    This may have already been asked in the previous 15+ pages of commentary on this "Card" process but I couldn't find it. To me the process would seem fairly straight forward:

    1) I take pictures of the client and put them in a secure gallery for my client to review and purchase prints.
    2) The client goes through and chooses a picture(s) that they want to put on a Card (be it Holiday or any other rendition) and they click "Create Card"
    3) The client goes through the process of choosing a template using their image(s) and creates the card and buys it through the same venue they buy their other prints from.

    Why has it become so darn frustratingly complicated where we can't have the feature of letting our clients choose, create and buy a dang card right from the dang gallery? This is probably one of the most frustrating issues I have had in 2 years with SM aside from the previous major outages. Please, Please, PLEASE tell me this will be rectified soon.
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
  • BaldyBaldy Registered Users, Super Moderators Posts: 2,853 moderator
    edited December 12, 2009
    RBrogen wrote:
    Why has it become so darn frustratingly complicated where we can't have the feature of letting our clients choose, create and buy a dang card right from the dang gallery? This is probably one of the most frustrating issues I have had in 2 years with SM aside from the previous major outages. Please, Please, PLEASE tell me this will be rectified soon.
    Hi Randy,

    I dunno if you saw the release notes from last night, but in case not:

    http://blogs.smugmug.com/release-notes/2009/12/11/card-keyword-upgrades-direct-deposit/

    Once you've priced cards for a gallery, your customer can just go to the gallery and choose both a card design and photos to go with using the card creator. Here's one of my galleries, where I priced 5x7 cards, to try it:

    http://cmac.smugmug.com/Family/Nov-Dec-09/10392403_tR2CT#721417257_RrtKo

    Since you're not logged in as me, you'll have the same experience as your customers would on your galleries.

    I hope this helps!

    Thanks,
    Chris
  • RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Baldy wrote:
    Hi Randy,

    I dunno if you saw the release notes from last night, but in case not:

    http://blogs.smugmug.com/release-notes/2009/12/11/card-keyword-upgrades-direct-deposit/

    Once you've priced cards for a gallery, your customer can just go to the gallery and choose both a card design and photos to go with using the card creator. Here's one of my galleries, where I priced 5x7 cards, to try it:

    http://cmac.smugmug.com/Family/Nov-Dec-09/10392403_tR2CT#721417257_RrtKo

    Since you're not logged in as me, you'll have the same experience as your customers would on your galleries.

    I hope this helps!

    Thanks,
    Chris

    Hi Chris,

    Thank you very much. I did not see those notes. I'll test it now.
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
  • RBrogenRBrogen Registered Users Posts: 1,518 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Baldy wrote:
    Hi Randy,

    I dunno if you saw the release notes from last night, but in case not:

    http://blogs.smugmug.com/release-notes/2009/12/11/card-keyword-upgrades-direct-deposit/

    Once you've priced cards for a gallery, your customer can just go to the gallery and choose both a card design and photos to go with using the card creator. Here's one of my galleries, where I priced 5x7 cards, to try it:

    http://cmac.smugmug.com/Family/Nov-Dec-09/10392403_tR2CT#721417257_RrtKo

    Since you're not logged in as me, you'll have the same experience as your customers would on your galleries.

    I hope this helps!

    Thanks,
    Chris

    Hey Chris,

    As a client, you select "Create A Card" from the Buy menu, the gallery from which you launched the Create A Card option from does not default as the availble image pool. The second time I went in it had a Photo tab with the option for public or private and then it displayed all of my galleries. It would seem that there may be a bug. I think that the photos from within the gallery you are in should be the ones that are available to the visitor for selection and no more than that.

    EDIT: It seems that if you select a public gallery the photos appear instantly but when selecting a private gallery they do not load at all. Does this not work at all for private galleries? That would be a bummer since all of my clients use the private gallery.

    Thanks kindly,
    Randy
    Randy Brogen, CPP
    www.brogen.com

    Member: PPA , PPANE, PPAM & NAPP
  • AnneMcBeanAnneMcBean Registered Users Posts: 503 Major grins
    edited December 12, 2009
    Sorry folks, we're chasing a bug that prevents photos from loading for guests creating a card from a password-protected gallery.

    All non-passworded galleries should work fine, so if you see anything out of the ordinary, please let us know!

    -Anne
    SmugMug Support Hero
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