"What i personally would like to see is, an option for orders to be sent directly to a photographer. Ex.: Customer picked up shots, dropped into shopping card with desired products, sizes, whatnot, he/she clicks a button (perhaps a separate option?) to send order directly to the photographer,"
The two photographers above mentioned this and yes, having this functionality (which is similar to PhotoCART or PickPic); in addition to the pro lab choice (WHCC, Millers, Bay Lab or even ProDPI)
"What i personally would like to see is, an option for orders to be sent directly to a photographer. Ex.: Customer picked up shots, dropped into shopping card with desired products, sizes, whatnot, he/she clicks a button (perhaps a separate option?) to send order directly to the photographer,"
The two photographers above mentioned this and yes, having this functionality (which is similar to PhotoCART or PickPic); in addition to the pro lab choice (WHCC, Millers, Bay Lab or even ProDPI)
Multiple people have now requested this, but I find it hard to believe that SmugMug would ever really consider it, since some of their business is getting a share of your business while they do the printing.
They wouldn't be making any money if they pass the order on to you...
"What i personally would like to see is, an option for orders to be sent directly to a photographer. Ex.: Customer picked up shots, dropped into shopping card with desired products, sizes, whatnot, he/she clicks a button (perhaps a separate option?) to send order directly to the photographer,"
The two photographers above mentioned this and yes, having this functionality (which is similar to PhotoCART or PickPic); in addition to the pro lab choice (WHCC, Millers, Bay Lab or even ProDPI)
Thanks for the suggestions, we love 'em Keep 'em coming!
"I want specific pro products my customers can't get themselves, so they get something special from me. I want special gift packaging."
This is absolutely huge to me! I would willingly and gladly pay more for "boutique" or gift wrapping services from you. I recently just chose a new album design company for this reason alone. I work with 3 excellent album companies but only one of them delivers the album is a super high quality, super sharp, heavy duty album box (velvet lined wooden box, wrapped in a black linen semigloss material - its gorgeous). The actual album is wrapped in black velvet with a silk bow. That is the kind of product I want to deliver to my customers. My customers melt when they see it. I would love this kind of option for prints as well.
The other companies I deal with make beautiful albums but the boxes are chinsy black card board boxes that don't even fit the album properly.
Having a slick presentation of your products is what often sets a pro apart from the hack.
Multiple people have now requested this, but I find it hard to believe that SmugMug would ever really consider it, since some of their business is getting a share of your business while they do the printing. They wouldn't be making any money if they pass the order on to you...
Why not? If a customer "purchases" a photo through SM but the photog has opted for self fulfillment it would be a simple matter for SM to ding that photog's outstanding unpaid profit for the customary 15%. If there is no profit to ding then they hit your credit card for the charges (possibly holding off until you hit some threshold to avoid lots of small charges).
Arguably the charge should be lower (10% or so) in the case of self fulfillment since SM no longer carries the burden of 100% satisfaction with the finished product. 15% off the top in a self fulfillment situation would actually end up costing the photog more more money.
Sell a 4x6 print for $1.00 (for example)
SM fulfillment
1.00 - 0.21 (lustre finish 4x6) - 0.12 (SM 15% Profit, 0.15*0.79) = $0.67 profit for the photog.
Self fulfillment
1.00 - 0.15 (SM 15% profit) - 0.21 (assuming print cost is the same) = $0.64 profit for the photog.
I too would like that option where the customer could send the print directly to the photographer, as was the case for me recently.
I actually managed to sell my first print, but my customer had to get the print shipped to her, then I had to arrange to meet up with her on an already busy schedule just so I could see how the print came out and to then sign the print.
So now for me, I have to order 5 more prints and get those shipped directly to me, Just so I can sign my prints in one batch and then send those out to each of my customers.
this is a good example of why an option like this would be good.
We say in our confirm emails: "the deliveryman cometh" and other cool things. You probably know by now, we're no ordinary company. If you're looking for a stuffy shopping cart that wears a suit and tie, it won't be at SmugMug, I'm sorry
We're gonna have wording in the cart that is consistent with our style as a Company. And "Who's getting the goods" and "Who's Paying" fit right in, IMO.
FEATURE REQUEST: It would sure be nice to allow photographers paying for the Professional Account to customize the shopping cart wording for branding purposes. I don't find any of Smugmug's "cool things" wording objectionable, but I would like to customize it for my particular clients, who aren't photography geeks and have probably never heard of Ansel Adams or the Scheimpflug Rule (gasp!).
If I sign up for the base $40 account, I'm accepting the branding and wording choices you believe "fit right in" with YOUR company and YOUR clients. But if I upgrade to a Professional Account so I can set my own prices and brand it for my own photography business, I want wording that will "fit right in, IMO" with MY company and MY clients. Perhaps for Power User Accounts, allowing choice of the exact wording my be too high a technical leap, but providing a couple of canned choices ranging from "cool" to "stuffy" ("playful" to "professional") would not be so incredibly difficult.
The gallery is where Smugmug is positioned in between me and my customer's heart and vision. Allowing me to customize the site's look & feel says Smugmug is willing to step back out of the frame and allow me to be closer to my customer.
The shopping cart and purchase experience is where Smugmug is between me and my customer's wallet. It's not the time or place in my relationship with my customer where I need Smugmug screaming "look at how cool we think Smugmug is!!". Yes, Smugmug is a cool company, and I'm sure I would enjoy hanging with you at parties, but please fade into the background when I'm closing a sale. You provide the technical infrastructure, I'll provide the customer relationship.
Your wording is fine for hip advanced amateurs selling to friends and family. It may not be the best fit for professional photographers selling to clients who might range from cowboys to corporate executives.
Thanks for listening. I hope my suggestions are considered in future shopping cart versions.
FEATURE REQUEST: It would sure be nice to allow photographers paying for the Professional Account to customize the shopping cart wording for branding purposes. I don't find any of Smugmug's "cool things" wording objectionable, but I would like to customize it for my particular clients, who aren't photography geeks and have probably never heard of Ansel Adams or the Scheimpflug Rule (gasp!).
If I sign up for the base $40 account, I'm accepting the branding and wording choices you believe "fit right in" with YOUR company and YOUR clients. But if I upgrade to a Professional Account so I can set my own prices and brand it for my own photography business, I want wording that will "fit right in, IMO" with MY company and MY clients. Even if allowing me to choose the exact wording for my shopping cart is too high a technical leap, providing a couple of canned choices ranging from "cool" to "stuffy" ("playful" to "professional") would not be so incredibly difficult.
The gallery is where Smugmug is positioned in between me and my customer's heart and vision. Allowing me to customize the site's look & feel says Smugmug is willing to step back out of the frame and allow me to be closer to my customer.
The shopping cart and purchase experience is where Smugmug is between me and my customer's wallet. It's not the time or place in my relationship with my customer where I need Smugmug screaming "look at how cool we think Smugmug is!!". Yes, Smugmug is a cool company, and I'm sure I would enjoy hanging with you at parties, but please fade into the background when I'm closing a sale. You provide the technical infrastructure, I'll provide the customer relationship.
Your wording is fine for advanced amateurs selling to friends and family. It may not be the best fit for professional photographers selling to clients who might range from cowboys to business executives.
Thanks for listening. I hope my suggestions are considered in future shopping cart versions.
Kevyn
I heartily agree. I've been saying this for quite a while. I'm just glad someone else said it. Now I don't feel like I'm all alone on this. Any other pros care to chime in on this???
I heartily agree. I've been saying this for quite a while. I'm just glad someone else said it. Now I don't feel like I'm all alone on this. Any other pros care to chime in on this???
You're not alone, we've said all along that we'd *love* to have some mild branding in the cart for pros. Not sure if it's possible but Lou, we've heard you and others, loud and clear
You're not alone, we've said all along that we'd *love* to have some mild branding in the cart for pros. Not sure if it's possible but Lou, we've heard you and others, loud and clear
Thanks Andy. As a pro, I'm sure you understand. But it's nice to get a reply like yours that says very clearly that you here us. Thanks for listening.
And just so you know, I think SM is the best service of its kind. I refer tons of people to your service. Yeah it ain't perfect but what service is??? So again, thanks for hearing us out.
fair point, jlw. i also tell people "i don't mess with those home-printer-craps; i have all my prints done professionally thru a company called smugmug."
in the ~300 or so prints i've done in the last year or so, i've only had ONE that wasn't up to par according to the customer (i never saw it). i suddenly had to become the liason (for lack of better words) and within a week, i was suddenly went from a photographer to a super good guy with excellent customer service since i'd contacted smugmug and a new print that the customer was extremely happy with arrived.
i don't want to be blamed for any printing errors either... and as far as i'm concerned, when someone is browsing thru my smugmug site (which has a giant header of my URLs), they kinda know who's cart they're going to be ordering from, methinks...
On the pro labs feature, I think it would be cool if there was a choice for many. I.e. the pro lab gets the API or whatever from SM if they want to begin to offer pro lab services through SM. Obviously they cut some coin to SM on the orders or something along those lines.
In this case, the labs would/could begin to market SM as an easy way for their existing clients to order through them.
I too would love a pro lab interface with (Miller's etc) I am a pro and my customers like black and white images. I'm sorry to say that SM doesn't offer true black and white so we get "purply" prints. I need to find another solution for this. Any suggestions?
thanks.
I'm glad for the first steps. We need some great black and white prints and there are some other labs that offer true black and white (Miller's and Mpix). That is an important feature for us pros who have been offering black and white. Sorry SM but the black and white images printed on color paper is not as desirable. Keep working on the interface and let us know. And could you get it done by next week? snap, snap.
thanks
You're not alone, we've said all along that we'd *love* to have some mild branding in the cart for pros. Not sure if it's possible but Lou, we've heard you and others, loud and clear
Thanks for your response, Andy. I've yet to sign up for Smugmug, but your willingness to listen puts me closer to that committment. There are other good services like yours out there, some of them free. Being willing to listen to and actively respond to customer needs is what will set you apart from your competitors.
You know... I think sometimes I dream about things that aren't real. What's even more amazing is that I am dreaming about smugmug... Please disregard my previous post. I'm going to bed now.
I too would like that option where the customer could send the print directly to the photographer, as was the case for me recently.
I actually managed to sell my first print, but my customer had to get the print shipped to her, then I had to arrange to meet up with her on an already busy schedule just so I could see how the print came out and to then sign the print.
Sounds like you should look into incorporating a service like google checkout (or whatever they call it) or refer people to a product list and your email. At least in the interim…
Personally, I'd think some pro's would like to see the ultra-high-end prints that are essentially cardboard/foamboard prints (my customers probably wouldn't care, but I imagine some other pro's customers would). They are so nice (and I imagine very expensive). A foil/depressed signature in the bottom right corner makes the photo both look and feel magical.
Please don't mistake my blunt, pointed posts as my being "angry," "short," or "rude."
Hey Andy, don't have the time to go through this whole topic, but I thought I'd drop a line and say that I'd like to see the crop outline and crop warning / edit crop links etc. to be RED again, like they were back in the day. Much more noticeable!
(See my current thread in Pro Sales...) And this link to my "old" printing help page:
I know many of youz would love advanced notice for things that your customers will see that change their experience. This is a big one. I've posted some screen shots before but long ago and now it's possible that we're within a week of shipping.
Disclaimer 1: These are taken from our test server so the prices you see have no bearing on the prices you'll see when it goes live.
Disclaimer 2: Not all the text is as it will be.
Disclaimer 3: It isn't out of test yet so more bugs could be found to hold up the release.
Disclaimer 4: I wish we could put it on the beta server too like we did with the ajaxed galleries, but in the case of a secure shopping cart where products come out, it would be hard.
Disclaimer 5: We'd love to hear feedback and feature requests, but new features at this stage would make significant delays. Coupons, interfacing to a pro lab, etc., all depend on the cart so we'd have to trade off feature requests that would delay the cart + features that depend on the cart against something that would start the testing cycle all over again.
Unless it's a showstopper, our inclination is to hold the implementation of feature requests until release 1.1 or whatever.
Disclaimer 5 mentions coupons: I would love to be able to give discounts or free items out as promotions. Like a raffle or prize at an event. Is there now a coupon capability?
Thanks
Mac
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
Disclaimer 5 mentions coupons: I would love to be able to give discounts or free items out as promotions. Like a raffle or prize at an event. Is there now a coupon capability?
Thanks
Mac
The plan was to do coupons right after shipping the cart, but we had to make a shuffle to integrate with a pro print lab to offer more and higher-end products. It isn't that the priority was higher, but that we had to beat the 4th quarter with the lab because they get too busy.
Hey Andy, don't have the time to go through this whole topic, but I thought I'd drop a line and say that I'd like to see the crop outline and crop warning / edit crop links etc. to be RED again, like they were back in the day. Much more noticeable!
(See my current thread in Pro Sales...) And this link to my "old" printing help page:
I just love how hard-to-miss all that red warning stuff is! It really helped people to NOT crop their kid's face in half, ya know?
=Matt=
Hey Matt,
Honestly, we'd be open to going back and would thank you for the suggestion, but our customers found the new croplines to be much more noticeable than the red ones. We even had to change our interface because they were so much more noticeable. The behavior used to be you'd click on the thumb to go back to your gallery, but once people started noticing the croplines, they had us change the interface so clicking on them took you to the crop tool.
The plan was to do coupons right after shipping the cart, but we had to make a shuffle to integrate with a pro print lab to offer more and higher-end products. It isn't that the priority was higher, but that we had to beat the 4th quarter with the lab because they get too busy.
Sorry about the switcheroo.
Thanks for the update. About when can we expect coupons? Will they show up this year?
Thanks for the update. About when can we expect coupons? Will they show up this year?
We won't give an exact timeframe, Ben - sorry
But they're hugely important too us. As Baldy mentioned, we have another thing to get done, first - then we'll move back to the coupons
Comments
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
The two photographers above mentioned this and yes, having this functionality (which is similar to PhotoCART or PickPic); in addition to the pro lab choice (WHCC, Millers, Bay Lab or even ProDPI)
Mommy & Me Photography
They wouldn't be making any money if they pass the order on to you...
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
This is absolutely huge to me! I would willingly and gladly pay more for "boutique" or gift wrapping services from you. I recently just chose a new album design company for this reason alone. I work with 3 excellent album companies but only one of them delivers the album is a super high quality, super sharp, heavy duty album box (velvet lined wooden box, wrapped in a black linen semigloss material - its gorgeous). The actual album is wrapped in black velvet with a silk bow. That is the kind of product I want to deliver to my customers. My customers melt when they see it. I would love this kind of option for prints as well.
The other companies I deal with make beautiful albums but the boxes are chinsy black card board boxes that don't even fit the album properly.
Having a slick presentation of your products is what often sets a pro apart from the hack.
PLEASE????
http://www.fernandogonzalez.net
Arguably the charge should be lower (10% or so) in the case of self fulfillment since SM no longer carries the burden of 100% satisfaction with the finished product. 15% off the top in a self fulfillment situation would actually end up costing the photog more more money.
Sell a 4x6 print for $1.00 (for example)
SM fulfillment
1.00 - 0.21 (lustre finish 4x6) - 0.12 (SM 15% Profit, 0.15*0.79) = $0.67 profit for the photog.
Self fulfillment
1.00 - 0.15 (SM 15% profit) - 0.21 (assuming print cost is the same) = $0.64 profit for the photog.
I actually managed to sell my first print, but my customer had to get the print shipped to her, then I had to arrange to meet up with her on an already busy schedule just so I could see how the print came out and to then sign the print.
So now for me, I have to order 5 more prints and get those shipped directly to me, Just so I can sign my prints in one batch and then send those out to each of my customers.
this is a good example of why an option like this would be good.
www.allanmorrisphotography.smugmug.com
FEATURE REQUEST: It would sure be nice to allow photographers paying for the Professional Account to customize the shopping cart wording for branding purposes. I don't find any of Smugmug's "cool things" wording objectionable, but I would like to customize it for my particular clients, who aren't photography geeks and have probably never heard of Ansel Adams or the Scheimpflug Rule (gasp!).
If I sign up for the base $40 account, I'm accepting the branding and wording choices you believe "fit right in" with YOUR company and YOUR clients. But if I upgrade to a Professional Account so I can set my own prices and brand it for my own photography business, I want wording that will "fit right in, IMO" with MY company and MY clients. Perhaps for Power User Accounts, allowing choice of the exact wording my be too high a technical leap, but providing a couple of canned choices ranging from "cool" to "stuffy" ("playful" to "professional") would not be so incredibly difficult.
The gallery is where Smugmug is positioned in between me and my customer's heart and vision. Allowing me to customize the site's look & feel says Smugmug is willing to step back out of the frame and allow me to be closer to my customer.
The shopping cart and purchase experience is where Smugmug is between me and my customer's wallet. It's not the time or place in my relationship with my customer where I need Smugmug screaming "look at how cool we think Smugmug is!!". Yes, Smugmug is a cool company, and I'm sure I would enjoy hanging with you at parties, but please fade into the background when I'm closing a sale. You provide the technical infrastructure, I'll provide the customer relationship.
Your wording is fine for hip advanced amateurs selling to friends and family. It may not be the best fit for professional photographers selling to clients who might range from cowboys to corporate executives.
Thanks for listening. I hope my suggestions are considered in future shopping cart versions.
Kevyn
I heartily agree. I've been saying this for quite a while. I'm just glad someone else said it. Now I don't feel like I'm all alone on this. Any other pros care to chime in on this???
http://www.fernandogonzalez.net
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Thanks Andy. As a pro, I'm sure you understand. But it's nice to get a reply like yours that says very clearly that you here us. Thanks for listening.
And just so you know, I think SM is the best service of its kind. I refer tons of people to your service. Yeah it ain't perfect but what service is??? So again, thanks for hearing us out.
http://www.fernandogonzalez.net
in the ~300 or so prints i've done in the last year or so, i've only had ONE that wasn't up to par according to the customer (i never saw it). i suddenly had to become the liason (for lack of better words) and within a week, i was suddenly went from a photographer to a super good guy with excellent customer service since i'd contacted smugmug and a new print that the customer was extremely happy with arrived.
i don't want to be blamed for any printing errors either... and as far as i'm concerned, when someone is browsing thru my smugmug site (which has a giant header of my URLs), they kinda know who's cart they're going to be ordering from, methinks...
I too would love a pro lab interface with (Miller's etc) I am a pro and my customers like black and white images. I'm sorry to say that SM doesn't offer true black and white so we get "purply" prints. I need to find another solution for this. Any suggestions?
thanks.
I'm glad for the first steps. We need some great black and white prints and there are some other labs that offer true black and white (Miller's and Mpix). That is an important feature for us pros who have been offering black and white. Sorry SM but the black and white images printed on color paper is not as desirable. Keep working on the interface and let us know. And could you get it done by next week? snap, snap.
thanks
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Thanks for your response, Andy. I've yet to sign up for Smugmug, but your willingness to listen puts me closer to that committment. There are other good services like yours out there, some of them free. Being willing to listen to and actively respond to customer needs is what will set you apart from your competitors.
Kevyn
This is a lot nicer & customers will like it a lot better.
Keep up the good work!
Later
Mark
DManning Photography
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
DManning Photography
Sounds like you should look into incorporating a service like google checkout (or whatever they call it) or refer people to a product list and your email. At least in the interim…
Personally, I'd think some pro's would like to see the ultra-high-end prints that are essentially cardboard/foamboard prints (my customers probably wouldn't care, but I imagine some other pro's customers would). They are so nice (and I imagine very expensive). A foil/depressed signature in the bottom right corner makes the photo both look and feel magical.
I'm generally happy, tall, and fuzzy on the inside.www.NickensPhotography.com
Hey Andy, don't have the time to go through this whole topic, but I thought I'd drop a line and say that I'd like to see the crop outline and crop warning / edit crop links etc. to be RED again, like they were back in the day. Much more noticeable!
(See my current thread in Pro Sales...) And this link to my "old" printing help page:
http://matthewsaville.smugmug.com/gallery/1355660
I just love how hard-to-miss all that red warning stuff is! It really helped people to NOT crop their kid's face in half, ya know?
=Matt=
My SmugMug Portfolio • My Astro-Landscape Photo Blog • Dgrin Weddings Forum
Disclaimer 5 mentions coupons: I would love to be able to give discounts or free items out as promotions. Like a raffle or prize at an event. Is there now a coupon capability?
Thanks
Mac
Sorry about the switcheroo.
Honestly, we'd be open to going back and would thank you for the suggestion, but our customers found the new croplines to be much more noticeable than the red ones. We even had to change our interface because they were so much more noticeable. The behavior used to be you'd click on the thumb to go back to your gallery, but once people started noticing the croplines, they had us change the interface so clicking on them took you to the crop tool.
Thanks for the update. About when can we expect coupons? Will they show up this year?
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But they're hugely important too us. As Baldy mentioned, we have another thing to get done, first - then we'll move back to the coupons
This year? I hope
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Hi,
Is there any way to change the default shopping cart tab from 'Prints' to Downloads' ?
Thanks
Udi