Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of the Business Journey podcast. I'm Rebecca and I'm really excited to be here with you today. We're talking about, again, one of my favorite topics. I feel like I say this every week, but it's true is we're diving into four key emails to send mini sessions clients. If you've noticed, we're talking a lot about mini sessions lately because we're really headed into prime time for you to start planning your mini sessions. And so I really hope that you take a listen binge. The episodes we've been doing lately, we have more coming just because this is like the best time for you to be preparing for fall mini session season. So in today's episode, we're going to dive into these four key emails to send many sessions, clients that are really going to level up your client experience. Now, before we get too far, I want to mention a freebie that I put together just for you guys. This is an answer to a lot of questions that I get about many sessions, specifically about what kind of themes or like types of minis that book the best. And so people always ask me, Rebecca, what kind of mini should I be planning to do for the fall or Christmas, for example? And so I put together this freebie that walks through my twelve best proven theme ideas for mini sessions that I will explain, you know, what the different themes are and when you should start advertising them and when you should book them and all the things. It's super, super helpful, especially as we're in like planning mode right now. So go check out that freebie is super easy to download. You can grab it at Rebeccaricephoto.comdotcom/12ideas. That's Rebeccaricephoto.com/12ideas. One word. So go snag that today and then I know that it will be helpful for you. So let's dive in to emails to send your mini sessions clients. I think there's a misconception that mini sessions, because they're short, it's almost as if the client experience gets stunted. Photographers talk to me. They're like, oh well, I could never serve my clients well doing mini sessions like that's not enough time to be able to, you know, love on them and serve them well. Well, I beg to differ. In my opinion. You can absolutely serve mini session clients well, but the key is that you serve them well leading up to your session. Of course you serve them well during the session, but that fifteen minutes goes by so fast that the way that you can serve them the best is how you interact with them leading up to the session. So these four emails that I'm going to talk about today are not to like add more to your plate. In fact, these four emails are all automated in my workflow. So I use Dubsado for my client management system and dubsado automation's are amazing. Maybe you use something like Honey Book, who has similar automation's that you can do to send these emails as part of your workflow? If you're like curious for how I set up my workflow, or maybe you want to have the step by step set up instructions for a workflow I have in my shop. I think it's labeled a dubsado workflow. Go check out my shop back. Rebeccaricephoto.com/store. Go check out my dubsado workflow. It also translates to honeybook. So if you're like I'm not a Dubsado user, but you are a honey book user, it will still apply. And I walk through how I set up these emails and boxes to check the things, to type all the things that comes with email templates, everything. So go check that out. Let's dive into these four key emails that just play a huge role in client experience. OK, the first email that is a really big deal is my client questionnaire. So I send a simple questionnaire to every single mini session client. Now this questionnaire helps me to get to know them better and, you know, help me serve them the best that I can leading up to our session. So in this questionnaire, I ask very specific and intentional questions that help me to be able to serve them. So, for example, I ask them, you know, the names and the ages of the people that are going to be involved in the session, you know, the ages of the kids. I don't really care how old mom and dad are, but it helps to know the ages of the kids. I ask if they have ever gotten professional photos done before and how their experience was. I ask, are there any special needs that I need to know about? So this helps me if maybe there's a child on the spectrum. And I know that I'm going to have to interact with him a little bit differently to get them to be able to, you know, smile for the camera and things like that. So this questionnaire, the questions are designed to help me make the most of our 15 minute session and serve this family the best. So I send this email as soon as they book. That way, I can get this information in my hands. I actually link their questionnaire because it's like it has a useful link to it. So I link their questionnaire in my calendar event. So when I'm at the session or like, you know, about to shoot them, I can glance over the questionnaire one more time and have a refresher super easily. So this questionnaire, the email goes out as soon as they book and my clients love it. It adds a level of professionalism and just elevates their experience to know that their photographer cares enough to ask these questions. So if you want to check out my questionnaire, it's in my shop. You can go to Rebeccaricephoto.com/questionnaire and you'll be able to find it there. It's super awesome. I think you're going to like it. The second major email that I send my clients again, it's automated is I send them my client experience guide. Now, this is a PDF guide that I created. It's kind of my version of a style guide, but it also has other things in there. For example, I include what to expect before, during and after their session to hopefully answer their questions. My goal is to answer any questions that they may have before they have to ask it. So this client experience guide answers what to expect before, during and after the session. It gives styling tips for the whole family. I give tips for selecting a location. If you know we haven't already picked the location, I tell them, you know, it's a little bit of client education. What I look for in a location, something that matches my shooting style, things like that. I also include tips for getting their kids to cooperate during the session. I want to be able to serve them well and have them feel prepared going into their session. So this client experience guide, my clients rave about it, they love it and it's packed with info. It answers any question that they may have before they have to ask it. So that helps minimize the need for back and forth communication also, because if you've ever worked with clients, you know that there are some clients that just have a lot of questions and it's really time consuming to go back and forth with them. And so my goal is to not have to do that, that I can have this email automated in the workflow that it goes out two weeks before our session, or however, I think we have it set up for three weeks before their session. Give them enough time to get outfits and plan accordingly and all the things. So that client experience guide is a really, really great resource. Again, that one's linked in my shop too, if you want to check it out. It's designed specifically for families. I know there are some awesome style guides out there, but they are not specific to families. They're more for weddings and so or, you know, engagement sessions. So this one is geared directly towards families. And I think that you'll find it really helpful. It's editable and it's a canva template. So it canvas free. You don't have to have any extra, you know, design or any kind of other system. You can just use canva for free, pop your own images and you can use my wording. Just add your own branding and it's so easy to use. So that is the client experience guide email. The next email that I send is my famous final info email. If you've been around a little while, you've heard me talk about this final info email because it goes over everything my clients need to know leading up to their session. This email goes out one week before their session. You know, it's designed to literally answer all the things. It gives them reminders. It gives them specific directions to their location. It reminds them of the time slot that they have everything. It's so funny because I had a client one time. So in my final info email, one thing that I say is I remind them not to show up matchy matchy, like don't dress matchy matchy. It's best you only have at most to people like wearing the same thing if you have to match. But it's best to coordinate colors, things like that. So I show up to a location that is very, very popular in our area, that people do sessions all the time. And so, of course, there are other photographers there with their families. So as I'm walking up, I was going to do an extended family session. So I knew there were like probably close to fifteen people that I was looking for. Massive groups like that are, you know, they're not hard to find. So as I'm there, we had our spot to meet at. I'm looking. around for my clients, and I glanced over and I see a massive family and this family is wearing all they're all wearing the same thing, blue jeans and buffalo plaid shirts. And I just like, oh, my gosh, was shuddering inside. I'm like, oh, please tell me my clients, please don't be my clients. Somebody did not read my final email. And so as I'm approaching them, you know, I'm really hoping that they're not mine. And like I it's like it was in slow motion. I was on my way to this family and then I got intercepted by this other man and he said, Hey, are you Rebecca? I was like, yes, yes, I am. And he goes, Oh, good. OK, our family is over here. Where your next, you know, family, whatever, come meet us over here, whatever. So I go over there and thank goodness they are dressed amazingly, perfectly coordinated, not matchy matchy. And as we're on our way over, this guy goes, he like glanced over to the other family that was all in Buffalo plaid. He goes, well, somebody didn't read your final info email. And I was dying. Laughing The fact that this man read my final info email and like, actually applied it and remembered that it said not to be matchy matchy. So it was great. My clients love this email. It's one thing that really sets me apart from other people because it's just so detailed and clients always tell me they're like, Rebecca, your communication is amazing. You just overcommunicate everything. I feel so prepared. And that is super intentional in part because of this final info email. And I think it's worth mentioning, I've got to tell you, all of these emails, if you're wondering like what exactly I send, I have an email template pack that's available for you that has all these emails and more in there, like any possible email that I sent my clients is in that email template pack. That's Rebeccaricephoto.com/email-templates. I will link it in the show notes so that you can grab those. It's literally like a copy and paste template so you can use those if you want. My last email that I send to every mini session client that is so, so important and I think one that often gets skipped. And I highly suggest incorporating this into your workflow if it's not already. This is their request for a review. So after your session, after you've delivered your gallery, one of the best things that you can do is ask your clients for a testimonial, because I'm just a huge believer that the world runs on social proof. Right. Nobody buys something without first reading the reviews. Or you shouldn't you shouldn't buy things unless you read their reviews first. So I know, like, we just moved into our house a few months ago. And of course, we have to go through the process of buying all new furniture. And while our in things to just fill the space, we have a lot more space in this house than we did in the previous house. So naturally, we're doing a lot more shopping, trying to get things set up and feel homey. So my husband actually is really good with interior design stuff. Just naturally, his mom was an interior designer, so he has a really good eye for things like that. So he'll have a lot of times, you know, search Wayfair and find something and show it to me. But we never purchase anything without looking at the reviews, especially online, because it's one thing to be able to go into the store, you know, put your hands on something, sit on it, see how it feels, you know, test it out. But in the age of online shopping, reviews are so important because they really give a true representation of like what you're going to be getting. So a specific example, I just got a really cute chair for my office. It's a light pink chair. It's so cute. It fits perfectly. It's awesome. Well, I kept going back and forth on it of, like, whether I wanted to buy it or not because I couldn't quite tell the size of it, like in the scope of a room. Of course it gave the dimensions, but still, you know, and then the color. I wasn't quite sure if it would be true to color of what was like listed in the website, because when we bought our couch, we thought it was going to be like a creamy white and arrived and it was gray. We're like, well, I mean, we still like it, but it wasn't what we were expecting. And so, you know, and we had checked the reviews and nobody said that it was a gray couch like, well, oh, well. And so I was a little nervous going into buying this chair just because I wanted the color to be just right. If it was too dark, it wasn't going to work. I wanted this like light pink chair. So the first place I went to was the review section. And thankfully, there were tons of people that were really. Reassuring of the quality of the chair, the color of the chair, like everything that I had questions about, they were addressing in the testimonials, and so that helped me to pull the trigger. I bought the chair and it came in and I love it. So that was great. I should probably leave the room with you. But the same goes for family sessions or, you know, specifically hiring a photographer. People tend to have reservations when it comes to paying for services, and they want to know that the product that they're going to get is what is being promised. And so asking your clients that have a really great experience with you to write a review is such an important part of the process because it's going to help you for future potential clients that they can go read the reviews and see that you're a nice person and that you actually deliver your images on time and that you communicate with your clients and you're not going to go to them. Like I've had so many clients that had horror stories with photographers and they come to me and they're very skeptical and they're like, how do I know that you're going to show up ? Because the last photographer I had, you know, we were there for two hours and they never came or whatever. That's an exaggeration. But you know what I'm saying? That they just got ghosted and then never heard anything, or they did the session and paid for it. And then their clients, their photographer never gave them their images. Like, that's scary. And that can be kind of traumatizing for a family that any experience after that, they're going to be very skeptical. And so by having those reviews, it just gives them peace of mind to be able to book with you knowing that you're a solid person and that you follow through with your word. So this is a key email that I highly suggest anybody to include in your client experience is ask for those reviews, make it easy, link your Facebook page, link your Google page, whatever, and ask them to write a review. It helps to sort of give some prompts of like, here's the kind of thing you want to say. Ask questions. How did you feel during your session ? What did you think of the photos? How was the experience, things like that, to sort of get their minds going with what to write? This is a key email and this is also included in my email templates for like I don't even know how to word this. I've got you. It's in there. This request for review is very, very important. So just a little recap. The four emails that I highly suggest sending to every many sessions client is number one, a client questionnaire number to your client experience guide. And if you don't have one, you can snag mine in my shop. Number three, your final info email again, included in my email templates and number for a request for review. These are not hard to put together and they will level up your client experience in so many ways. So I highly encourage you take this time.We're in a slower season right now, implement these things, create a workflow, automate it so that when busy season hits, these things are already in place. It will save you so much time in the long run, so much headache if you set it up now and have it ready for busy season. So hope this is helpful for you. Just a little peek inside the Rebecca Rice photography brain of like how we operate as a business and hopefully you can take some of these things and apply them to your business today. That's all I got. So we will go ahead and close out and I will see you at this time next week. Bye, guys.
Episode Transcript
