A simple way to increase your average pet photography sales
Backstory
I’ve just returned home after a quick visit to Australia visiting family. As with each trip back, I booked a few past client shoots. What I particularly love about these shoots is the opportunity to test some theories I have, and this time, was no different.
Like last year, I opted to charge a high booking fee. I have very limited time to dedicate to work during these trips back and so I want just a few high paying clients. This trip, I set the fee at $2250 to book a shoot with me as that was the minimum I was happy making for spending the time away from my grandma.
For $2250 my clients got:
The photoshoot
10 digital files
$750 artwork credit
For perspective, my cheapest artwork is $790.
Bonus tip- I always make my included artwork credit just slightly less than my products as that way my clients aren’t ever thinning “and I get a 12”x18” print”, but instead they’re thinking “and I get $750 off my order”, so they’re already in the mindset of spending.
The clients did not have to use that credit. But since they felt like they’d paid for it, they all did.
The upsell
At the end of one of the shoots, I walked around the new home of the client discussing their options and quickly realised that she would not be spending above the pre-paid $2250. The canvas size she wanted to match a series she already has from previous shoots, is $790 but I’d told her she could have it for $750 (it’s her third shoot). She doesn’t have any space in her new home for extra artwork and she didn’t want an album this time so it was just the files for her. She was interested in additional files, but couldn’t quite justify the price ($250 each) given she wanted them purely for her phone background etc.
I left her home determined to find a way to get her to spend more, and, to give her what she wants. Yes I was fine with $2250, but she wasn’t fine with not having all the photos.
I decided to trial a social media package and added this to the email with the gallery link (oh yeah, I also trialled online galleries for these shoots since they are past clients.. more about that another time):
SOCIAL MEDIA FILES
If you're after extra photos purely for social media/phone backgrounds etc, they can be added to your order for $500 for the entire gallery (all 47 images). This does not include any additional edits. Should you wish the images to be retouched further, please refer to the prices above.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work. I didn’t want to edit anything without proper payment, but I did want this client to have the photos in some form- plus I wanted to increase my average sale.
It worked! She upgraded her package by $500.
The offer was too good for her to pass up! I mean, last time we spoke I’d told her that EACH image was $250. Now she could get 47, for the price of two! For her it was fabulous. And for me it was great too because I knew she’d never have added even one extra image at $250 each.
I gave the same offer to my other clients. So far half have taken me up on it and my average for these shoots is now sitting at $3852 (some ordered extra wall art).
Moving forward
I’m going to implement this for my clients here in Italy now too. I will keep it as a “back pocket offer” though as I don’t want clients not to choose an album which is the best way to have all their photos, because they can get them all as low-res digitals for a fraction of the price. For those clients, I gif them the low res files anyway!
If you’re looking to increase your average sale but you don’t feel like you can increase your prices right now, what can you add to your offering that would be too good to pass up? What price point would be a great deal for them, but also a bit of extra for you without doing more work?
Author
Kirstie McConnell |
Founder
The Pet Photographers Club
When Kirstie launched her pet photography business in Australia in 2012, the genre was barely a thing. She spent the next years at the forefront of this niche, marketing not just her own business, but the concept of pet photography. Each year she photographed around 100 dogs, cats and horses per year to create wall art and albums for pet-parents.
Now based in Italy, she continues to offer pet photography to her clients back in Australia on return trips, but otherwise spends her energy helping other pet photographers build a business which will allow them to follow their dreams.
Internationally recognized as a leader in the industry, she hosts the podcast, workshops, courses and business events for The Pet Photographers Club which she co-founded.
Pin to Pinterest!