By: Ian Siegel, VP Product Management
I thought it would be fun to share the results of a survey we just ran to brides searching the new Pictage Photographer Directory.
The goal of the survey was to get a better idea of what drives a bride’s booking decision. First we asked for some general information.
Of the brides searching the Pictage Directory;
- 75% have already booked their venue
- 75% plan to talk to three or more photographers before booking
- 1 in 3 expect to book a photographer they found on the Pictage Directory
Now came the fun part. We asked the brides to rank the most important criteria in choosing their wedding photographer. Here is what we got back:
1) Style and quality of the photographer’s images
2) Price
3) Digital delivery of images on disc after the event
4) A near tie between Experience and Personality
5) Recommendations from past customers/vendors/venues
6) Products offered (prints, coffee table books, albums, etc…)
A couple of these results jumped out at us. The first was that brides REALLY want that disc. The second was that a less seasoned photographer with a great personality has a good chance of taking business away from established pros because “personality” was more important than “recommendations/reviews” and it nearly tied with “experience.” This particular bit of feedback took us by surprise.
Some key takeaways we can all benefit from:
- If you haven’t already, it’s a great idea to list all the venues you’ve shot on your portfolio website and include venue images and features/shout-outs on your blog. A lot of brides are likely to find you that way (great SEO value).
- Find ways to show-off your experience AND your personality online in order to increase your bookings.
We’ve seen many Pictage photographers with sites that showcase their personality or cater to potential clients. Justin and Mary Marantz and Dane Sanders, for example include video clips and personal stories. Jules Bianchi organizes and displayes her portfolio by venue.
Pictage will definitely be looking at ways to incorporate these learnings into the Pictage Directory. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on these survey results? What are you hearing from your brides? How do you express your personality online (video on your website? personal bios?) Do you publish a list of venues on your website? What techniques are working for your business? Please share your thoughts in the comments, and feel free to post links.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I’m not at all surprised by the responses, especially the top 3. That is pretty consistent with what I see from my couples. Especially with younger couples, I think it is important to have the digital images. Everyone wants to post their photos on their Facebook, Myspace or blog.
March 12th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Thanks for the comment Gwendolyn. Regarding digital images, you mention Facebook, Myspace and blogs — do you typically only provide web-resolution versions, with high res as an add-on option?
March 12th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
really good post with even better practical application at the end. muchas gracias!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Thanks a lot for all this data, it’s very useful!
“”75% have already booked their venue”" this is what I call “the great advantage” and it’s how 70% of my booked jobs happen for me. The bride knows where she’s getting married and when it’s time to look for a photographer she goes online but she doesn’t want to see generic pictures, she wants to see photos of her venue so she includes the name of the venue in the search term, if I shot there my website/blog will show up and voila!
It’s ‘the great advantage’ of how our potential clients look for our services.
Thanks again!
March 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
This is a great post – thank you for sharing this information. I have to say I’m really surprised that “recommendations/reviews” wasn’t near the top because one thing I keep hearing over and over again from other photographers is that 90% of their business comes from referrals. Very conflicting – brides say one thing, photographers are saying another.
I’m definitely with you on blogging about venues – putting the name and location of the wedding venue in the title of your blog post is crucial for SEO. I also have links to the local venues I shoot at in the “Links” categories on my blog.
One thing I get asked alot from brides is if my DVD of High-Resolution Files includes all my enhancements/artistic finishing or are they SOOC. This seems very important to them that the High-Res Files are NOT SOOC.
On a side note, I still get brides asking me why they would want the High-Res Files – they don’t understand why these could possibly be so valuable.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
That’s phenomenal! This may seem like a VERY silly question but how exactly does your website/blog show up when they are searching those key words for a venue? Have you somehow “tagged” your photo before you post it on your blog or site? Is writing about it on your blog enough or have you linked it back to the venues site etc? This is such a great idea and I would love to know what you’ve done. Thanks!
March 16th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Very interesting. What was your sample number?
March 20th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Great info! Thanks for posting it.
I agree that brides want to see photos at the venue they have selected, it seems that we tend to draw brides for the locations we display on our site: LaDolceVitaPhoto.com.
One way we deal with getting the client the disc of images without taking a big hit on print sales is giving it to them on their first anniversary and/or allowing them to purchase it prior. This doesn’t work in all cases. Som of the time it’s a deal-breaker for the brides looking to save on prints by going to a consumer lab.
I would be curious to know HOW brides use pricing as a factor in their decision making. For example, are the brides using pricing as a deciding factor doing so because they are budget conscious or using it as a quality differentiator… how many believe higher prices mean a better quality experience, higher quality products or images, etc.
Thanks again!
April 13th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Awesome post Ian! Thanks for sharing.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
A pleasure to come to your site. Thnks very much!
June 20th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Not that I’m impressed a lot, but this is a lot more than I expected for when I stumpled upon a link on Digg telling that the info here is awesome. Thanks.
p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I came across this article when searching google for wedding photography information for a blog article that I’m writing and although it’s not exactly what I was looking for, I found your article interesting and I feel that this article gives a real insight to the way a bride works in trying to create her dream day for herself but also a rememorable day for all involved! Thanks Janey xx
August 15th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Yeah! I came across this article too and found it very useful!
good work!
September 17th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
A solid article about practical topics in our industry. It would be great to see
how the bride percieves price vs quality. Is she ok with unprocessed, un-white balanced
images for $500.00? Or, does she see no difference in a professional, fully post-processed quailty package @ $2,000.00 because she just wants the disk? Perhaps more detailed
information could be shared at partner con in New Orleans?
October 17th, 2009 at 5:56 am
I would have to disagree with a bit of this. I think brides are actually hiring PRIMARILY on personality. I think they are actually fully realizing this fact within themselves. I find that often when I meet with them, they are barely looking at the photographs, but are waiting for emotional content within the photographer. I actually practiced this, and started ‘acting’ trying to be all overly bubbly, and guess what? Near 100% sales when I put on an emotional show. I have now been actually interviewing brides at the meeting, seeing what they say they primarily want in a photographer. I ask how important the photographs are, and they say ’sure, photographs are important’ and they say say in a fairly flat voice. When I ask about personality, they come alive “Oh yes, that is so important, I want someone to be lively and fun, because we are fun social people’ and then the continue to elaborate on personality. This is becoming a problem personally, because I am a fairly quiet laid back guy, who also shoots award winning published images, but that, in my 17 years experience, is about 35% to 40% of the actual equation. I am tinkering with hiring an actor to do the sales pitch.