News

Effective Client Communication Tips For Wedding Photographers 

1. Stick With A Tone

By the time you start booking weddings and building your clientele, we’d suggest that you find a tone for your brand. Finding a voice for your brand is one of the essential steps you take when you establish your brand identity, which includes setting a tone for your brand as well. Along with finalizing the visuals that represent your brand, finding a tone that you can use for all communications, including client communications is also important. Whether you choose a formal tone or lean more toward being informal, the choice is yours. But we would highly recommend that you use the same tone for all your clients. For effective communication with clients, a blend of formal and informal could work well. But in the end, aim to strike a balance. 

2. Improve Your Response Rate

The key to client communication is also fast responses. So don’t keep your clients waiting and for effective communication, try to ensure that the communication isn’t just quick but clear too. In today’s world, a late response could cost you a client and turn them away to another wedding photographer. Responding quickly to potential clients is certainly important, but try to keep the same pace once they hire you as their wedding photographer. We understand that as a business owner you have a thousand things to do, but in order to keep your response rate up, you could also automate the replies using various client management software. 

Suggested Read: Wedding Photography Email Templates To Save Time + Speed Up Workflow

3. Empathize

Being empathetic is a trait that can help you in multiple situations, not just for effective communication. If there’s a problem or there’s an unhappy customer or your clients are trying to negotiate prices, take some time to consider how to reply in a way that doesn’t seem harsh but results in a decision that is good for both parties. Sometimes, you might have to deal with certain uncomfortable situations as a business owner. But, when you find yourself in that situation, try to think about communication strategies that could save you from a potentially worse situation that might even result in you incurring a loss. Try to place yourself in your client’s shoes, and then think of how you would handle the situation and come up with your response accordingly. 

Suggested Read: Traits Brides Look For In A Wedding Photographer

4. Set Expectations

Setting expectations right from the start of your journey with each couple is important to ensure a smooth working relationship. As a wedding photographer, the last thing you’d want to deal with is dissatisfied customers – for the sake of your brand’s reputation and yourself. But if you manage to strike the right balance between what your clients are expecting from your wedding photography services and what you ultimately offer, then adding happy customers (who refer you to other potential customers) to your list could be an easy task. And that can be done by setting the right expectations right from the start. While your job is to serve your clients, if the demands are unachievable, then try to communicate that right at the beginning. 

Related Read: Managing Client Expectations: Wedding Photography Tips

5. Listen With Intent

Like with all your other relationships, effective communication is incomplete without being a good listener. Your clients are trusting you to document one of the biggest days of their lives, and that’s a pretty big responsibility, so it makes sense for them to ask questions or voice their concerns or perhaps even share ideas that they’d like to see reflected in their wedding photos. And when that happens, instead of instantly replying to them (we know this may seem a bit ironic), try to actively listen first. Instead of simply saying, “This idea isn’t possible because the venue won’t allow it”, you could say, “So we can’t do it in this exact way. But what we could do is (share alternative), which is pretty close to what you want. What do you think?” Basically, hear them out, and if there’s a problem, try to find a solution. 

Suggested Read: Common Wedding Client Problems & How To Handle Them

Keep Communication Personal

A wedding photography experience is all about the personalized experience, and that’s something you could also include in your communication strategies as well. Even if you do go with a client management software to speed up your responses, try to ensure that your replies feel personal. It’s important to keep that human touch in your communication. Effective communication with clients is a process that will always be a work in progress, so stick with a tone people can connect to your brand, don’t keep clients waiting for a response, and listen with intent – whether it’s to solve problems or answer questions. Client communication might sometimes get tiring, but with the right strategies, it can be smooth and easy.

Further Read: How To Ensure Excellent Customer Service: A Wedding Photographer’s Guide

At ShootDotEdit, we are passionate about helping you grow your wedding photography business. We also help to free up your time by lessening your post-production workload with our professional photo editing services. To learn more about how we can help your business, check out our pricing plans.