Optimizing Client Management with Scheduling Software for Photographers

Be it personal or commercial events, photography services have become essential to capture and present memories in retainable and cherishable form. In the US, photography is counted among the most profitable industries and accounts for 12.1% of the industry revenues. The cherry on the cake, the global market for photography services have already experienced steep growth in the past few years. In 2020, $32.92 billion was surpassed by $36.42 billion in 2021 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6% from 2020 to 2021.  

Since the advent of Covid, the world has been gracefully rearranging itself around its impact and so have the service industries, including photography. The stride experienced by the Photography industry was massive during the restrictive phase which made the importance of online platforms more evident. The need for services and the limitations of Covid made it crucial for the industry to connect, communicate and conduct through online platforms and software. 

What are Appointment scheduling Softwares?

To plan, develop and create attractive and retainable versions of memories, to create creative shots with skillful editing it is important to connect, communicate and understand the client's needs. To make that happen despite limitations on movement and geographical hindrances, the photography industry felt the push to move online. The primary and plausible move in this course was the adoption of automated scheduling software for photographers.

These tools help you to accept, schedule, and manage your appointments. They allow your client to book a slot of your day as per their convenience and discuss all their needs and expectations interruption-free. This software also confirms the customers on your behalf of the slot booked, allows them to reschedule or cancel, and sends reminders of impending meetings too. You need not be a coder or programmer to deal with this software. These are easy to integrate with your professional service website and even sync with your calendar to keep you updated about your next appointments.

Benefits of using automated scheduling tools by photographers

Online scheduling tools facilitate professional photographers with a truckload of automation features that manage your day, your meeting schedules, and the photoshoot dates. Even if you are new to the online scheduling system you can easily operate it with its optimized UI and detailed dashboard.

Here are the promising advantages of the scheduling tools that provide digital flexibility:

1. Empowers & Simplifies - It could be tough to crack the right slot that fits perfectly in your and your client’s schedule. This usually involves a lot of calls and emails back and forth. With automated applications, they can book an appointment online without any hassle, as per their convenience from the available time slots of your day.
2. Reschedule, cancel and reduce no-shows- The client can reschedule the appointment or cancel it based on their change of plans from the application itself. This helps to reduce the time wasted due to no-shows as you get to know the change of plans ahead of time and can use the time somewhere fruitful, optimizing your work productivity.
3. No manual intervention- Hiring a person to manage and align your everyday schedule eats a part of your profit. Plus, manual errors, mismanagement, and overlapped scheduling are common. These apps are all-in-one and manage all your client appointments like a pro; sync with your work calendar, send reminders to both parties for upcoming meetings, and allow bookings only for slots that are available as per your pre-set guidelines.
4. Balance control with autonomy - The clients can choose from the available dates, times, and packages. So, the customer indeed feels like a king. But, you control what they get to choose from, what hours of the day, what days, and what intervals in between slots are maintained are all pre-set by the admin; by you. So, your clients physically visit or stand in queues to book an appointment but they also do not get to schedule it at any hour of the day. Your day, your control!

Why do professional photographers need appointment scheduling applications?

To deliver the best output, a photographer needs to have the right inputs from the client, and discuss it back and forth to create the best version of their work, to make a brand stand out from the rest.

• As a professional photographer, you need to manage your schedule very efficiently and cannot compromise on the quality.
• Managing everything from booking schedules, rescheduling, traveling to the location, editing the picture, getting client confirmation, and sending notifications can involve a lot of calls, and back and forth emails to crack the right schedule.
• Putting the client scheduling process into auto-pilot is the only way to focus on work and have your day in control. 

Several online tools on Shopify can provide a seamless and holistic solution to all your scheduling and calendar management concerns.  

3 Scheduling applications for photographers

Here are 3 top scheduling applications that can help you with client management so you can put schedule management on auto-pilot and concentrate on your work.

 1. Appointo - Appointment Booking App

If you are looking for a tool that can offer you a seamless working experience in terms of scheduling, then Appointo is the one for you. You can use the tool directly in Shopify admin and allow the customers to book your slots from anywhere, any hour irrespective of their location.

The tool offers multiple other facilities making it one of a kind. It allows you to customize your booking norms, emails, or text messages to add a personalized touch and the booking form. The tools help execute smooth client interactions and also request them to provide feedback.

• Sends automated reminder emails and email confirmations for successful booking, rescheduling, and cancellations.
• Allows to add buffer days or remove any date from the list to restrict bookings on public holidays or holidays.
• Allows you to set busy days, opening and closing hours, and add events to the calendar.
• Multiple clients can access the booking system simultaneously and do not even need to register.
• Can be synced with Google and Outlook calendars to block your availability during a pre-booked slot.
• The actionable dashboard helps manage the entire team, and you can export the bookings report and other analytics.
• The tool comes with an automated Zoom integration feature where you get to generate links and manage the services.

If you are working through one product, then grab the free plan. But, the unlimited product management, go for the Pro plan that starts at $15 per month.

2. Tipo Appointment Booking

If you want to grant flexibility to the client during the course of booking, then this application is rightfully the best. It offers 24-hour booking availability and improves the conversion rate.

The tool comes with an automated email notification system for clients and employees. 

You can easily sync it with Google Calendar and Apple Calendar. The application claims to make a difference in the E-commerce industry by reducing the cost of employing a manual workforce. 

• The UI is developed to be extremely user-friendly to offer an easy-to-access interface.
• Allows listing of services, products, locations, and time durations for clients to choose from.
• The analytical dashboard interprets and presents data in the most actionable form.
• Allows customization of the booking fields by choosing dropdown, radio button, multiple texts, etc.
• It provides the feature to block certain dates, such as public holidays
• The tool comes with easy translation and a variety of email templates.

You can avail of a 7-day free trial service or go for the basic package that starts at $8.90 per month.

3. Storeify Appointment Booking

If you look forward to enhancing the client-customer relationship, then Storeify can help you take the lead. The application is developed with the latest themes to offer a flexible and agile appointment scheduling facility. 

The client can choose any time slot online and make a booking. They receive instant notifications about booking confirmations, modifications, or cancellations in appointment scheduling. The entire process is automated, and you do not need to input manual effort.

The application has a multilanguage facility to translate the application language to any language of preference.

• You, as an admin, can curate the booking norms from the scratch.
• You get the upper hand to create or edit or delete any appointment dates based on your preference.
• It also offers the flexibility to redirect the page after completion of the booking.
• Customers can easily choose between dates, slots, location, etc.
• The inference is intuitive, and as a customer, one gets to view the entire appointment synopsis of a successful booking.

The tool is free, and you can manage your team without hassle.

Conclusion

These online tools add to your marketing strengths and help to retain customers. Everyone loves organized services, ones that have fewer hassles and deliver more results. Thus, don’t hesitate to add leverage to your proficiency by adding an automated appointment scheduling application to your website. Even though today’s smartphones come with high-end camera qualities, the need for professional photography services is never going to die. So, get the best scheduling tool based on your requirement and rock the game of *click*.