Candid Letter to Squarespace From a Professional Photographer

While many of us have grown to love the services offered by the web giant Squarespace, their e-commerce options have been seriously lacking one important feature needed for professional photographers. In this candid letter to Squarespace, I pose a couple of questions that I feel the company may not be listening to.

Dearest Squarespace,

The last several years have been special. We’ve shared some great moments and you’ve helped me to be a better person (or so it may seem online). You’ve helped me to appear more professional and you’ve never let me down. That is until recently.

My fondest Squarespace, I must admit to you that I’ve been using another service. One that I know you’re familiar with (I’ve seen it referenced in your support section many times). You see, while you’ve helped my business appear more professional and streamline, there’s been something missing from day one; something huge to me as a professional photographer and I admit that I’ve been getting it from another service that's been costing me significantly.

You may be wondering what it is that’s been missing by now, but I’m afraid you already know. Your e-commerce options are pretty great, but they’re lacking some of the basic tools that I as a professional photographer need, such as an acceptable client proofing gallery option.

Combing through your support section over the years has led me to believe that you’re aware of this need. Squarespace, it hurts my feelers when you don’t listen to what I’m we are saying. During my busiest time of year, I find myself paying an additional $30 per month so my clients can view their images in a third-party proof gallery instead of on my own website that I speak so highly of.

With all of that said, I pose a few questions for you to chew on.

Would it be so hard to improve the image galleries for your most common templates for photographers in a way that allows our clients to select their favorite images from said gallery instead of linking to some other third-party service?

Would it be impossible to update your e-commerce options so they’re more appropriate for the photographers you advertise to? By this I mean hooking up with some of the major print labs to offer an option for clients to purchase prints from the above mentioned gallery?

While maybe it’s me (us) and not you, I feel that we could both benefit in many ways if you listened to the requests made in this letter and explored options that lead to making it happen while wasting no time exploring excuses supporting why you don’t.

Love always,

Professional Photographer

There are many client proofing options out there. My personal experience with three or four of the most popular options has led me to utilize Pixieset in recent years. While Pixieset offers client proofing galleries and e-commerce options that are nearly exactly what I’m looking for, there’s something lacking in terms of design features — features which are abundant with Squarespace. Plus, the whole process of linking to another services is cumbersome. 

It is my hope that eventually Squarespace will offer some of those same options for professional photographers that sites like Pixieset do (I'd happily pay for this). Until that time, I'll continue to jump through the hoops required to make the process a little bit easier for my clients to make purchases.

How do you create and share client proof galleries, and are you happy with the process?