I know it, picking the right print for your album can be a difficult task. There is only so much research you can do and information you can give to your clients without presenting them with real physical prints to look at.
When I was younger, prints and albums were everything. My album is full of printed images, which is not something I can say about my sister, who was already born in the digital era. Perhaps had the photographer at the time provided some sample prints, the family would have ordered more.
One genre of photography we rarely talk about is school photography. You know those guys who shot every single class in every school in your area? Yeah, they are the ones who send out sample prints and make double the invoice just from selling prints. Proof prints are there to inspire your clients to purchase a physical copy of the work, as they show how great it would look if they choose to invest in a physical print.
In this article I’ll discuss Zno. I’ve tested proof prints from many labs, but I’ve found that Zno’s proofing options are almost perfect for my needs.
Proof Prints
A proof print should not be a gallery-quality work of art. It should serve the purpose of upselling the client on more products. Therefore, proof prints should be quite cheap to purchase for the photographer and have no minimum order quantity. After all, if you are trying to upsell a dozen clients by giving each of them a print, you should not be forced to buy more. Fortunately, Zno offers just that. With no minimum order quantity, you can purchase sample prints at 25 cents per 4x6 print. With shipping starting at $4, this is a fantastic, easy way to create more incentive for your clients to purchase more prints.
Printed on ZNO's luster photo paper, you are sure to get great quality, alongside amazingly accurate skin tones. After all, one of the most popular papers for portrait photographers is just that: Lustre. Moreover, you can customize your proof prints by adding borders of various sizes, as well as changing the border colors, and adding a stroke to the print itself. Frankly, this is almost too much customization for something that is meant to be a proof print rather than a final product. However, it is better to have more options than fewer when it comes to presenting your clients with a new way to spend their money.
Lastly, because it is a proof print, you want to make sure that it is clearly visible on the product itself. Therefore, Zno is able to add a watermark, filename, and studio/photographer name to the print. You can pick any combination of these to be included. If I were doing sample prints for individual clients, I would definitely add a watermark, as well as a filename. This way, it is easy to find the image the client wants, and for you to ensure that the samples are not being used as finals. After all, it is hard to remove a physical watermark slapped right in the middle of a print.
Upsell Albums!
One way to do such sales would be to ship every client a sample print and supplement that with a client gallery like Zno Gallery. In such a gallery the client can pick and choose which prints in the size, texture, and material they want to order. This is a tactic very commonly used by wedding and school photographers. Taking this one step further, you could try upselling an album. This is exactly where Zno Designer comes in handy. I’ve talked about it in the past and want to mention it again, as it’s really a great album design software. It allows you to easily create stunning professional albums that your clients will want to buy and show their friends and family. Simply choose a template based on the event type and drag and drop the images into it. This takes much less time than designing an album from scratch. Once you’re done, you can even send an album proof to the client before it gets printed. It's a great service that is bound to boost your sales. Sometimes, I wish I did senior photography, as it’s a much more profitable business model than the first decade of fashion photography.
