We believe that client experience is of utmost importance in business, and that’s why we’ve been consistently working on bettering our client experience over the past several years. We’re constantly reassessing our client experience to find new ways to improve it, because as wedding photographers, we have begun to realize more and more that we are entrusted with one of the most precious seasons of our clients’ entire lives. To take that fact lightly would literally be detrimental to our clients’ experience with us, which is why we believe it deserves so much attention!
We’ve also realized that we have fallen in love with business because, at the core, we really love serving people. That’s why we love wedding photography. In no other field could we get to love on people in the tangible, intimate, fragile way that we get to during the engagement season and wedding day of their lives. We see it all… other wedding photographers KNOW that weddings bring out the best, the good, the bad, and the ugly. 😉 Yet the best, the good, the bad, and the ugly are all places where we have an opportunity, friends… an opportunity to reach out and to touch these girls, these guys, these friends, and families deeply and allow them to feel Jesus, even just for a second. If our brides feel Jesus because of us, even for a moment, during the celebration, the happy tears, the stress, and the awkward moments and are left wondering what “that” was and how they can get more of it, we have done our job and we can walk away content- regardless of if our images ever are featured on a national wedding blog or printed in the pages of a magazine.
THIS is why client experience matters, friends… and today, we want to share a few of the top ways we seek to deliver an amazing client experience every single day! Some of these things might seem to be obvious, but that does not mean they are any less important. 🙂 Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Go above and beyond.
One of our favorite philosophies for life and for business is this: Under promise and over deliver. If we tell our clients they’ll receive their images in two weeks, we make sure that they receive them in one week. If we promise to have a file sent over by the end of the day, it’s sitting in their inbox by lunch time. We set reasonable expectations for our clients and deliver beyond those expectations every chance we get.
Proactively look for ways to serve.
We try hard to notice things that we can do to serve our clients that have nothing to do with photography at all. A lot of this has to do with simply slowing down enough to pay attention, guys! We love keeping up with our clients’ lives and knowing what is going on with them. From little things like knowing about a new puppy to bigger things like knowing about new jobs, a death in their family, or the fact that they bought their first house or started an Etsy shop, we’ve found that paying attention to life events in our clients’ lives both before and after their weddings opens up ways we can serve and support our clients in special and more meaingful ways.
Commit to having a quick response time.
This mostly has to do with email respond time, which we blogged about right HERE earlier this year!! We are huge believers that one of the biggest ways we can serve our clients through our client experience is to get back to them very quickly when they reach out to us! Of course, sometimes life happens and an email or two will sit in our inbox for a few hours, but we have committed to having a very quick response time on email. We can’t tell you guys how often we receive an email that starts with, “Wow, thank you SO much for getting back to me so quickly!” or “I can’t believe how quickly you responded to us… thank you!” This is a commitment truly worth making for your business, and we can 100% say that it’s elevated our client experience.
Be kind.
Oh, friends… when did we all forget to just be KIND to other people? This matters so much, yet it’s easy to forget that. Yes, there are frustrating situations that we deal with on wedding days. Yes, there are guests at weddings with a camera and a zoom lens who stand in our shot during the first dances. (True story… we know other photographers can relate to that one, ha!!) But being kind is a simple and vital way to improve your client experience… this should happen always, no questions asked- even when it’s hard.
Build relationships instead of making transactions.
We want our couples to feel like we care as much about their relationship and their wedding as we do the fact that we’re making money from them… because we do. That sounds so tacky, but it’s true… never do we ever want our couples to feel like just a dollar sign for us!! We approach every single wedding day like it’s our own, because we remember how it feels to be the giddy girl in the big white dress and the guy who can’t wait to see her. This keeps our perspective where it needs to be, and it forces us to approach the wedding day with a relationship mindset. Building relationships is vital in creating an incredible client experience and building a foundation of trust with our clients, so that’s what we choose to center our experience around.
Focus on the groom, too!
Have you noticed how much of the wedding photography industry is focused on the bride and ignores the groom?! We, of course, understand that it is most typically the bride who is doing the vast majority of wedding planning, decision making, and researching all the girly details… and most guys are completely okay with that. 😉 However, we have sought to ensure that our client experience places enough focus on the groom, too! It takes some creativity to involve the guys in a wedding photographer’s client experience, but trust us… it is so worth it.
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What are some of the ways you strive to serve your clients through an amazing client experience?! We want to hear all about it in the comments below! Let’s renew our focus on crafting an incredible client experience for the sweet couples who invest in us and our businesses, friends… that’s what this is all about! ????
