The Smart Albums workflow that’s so tight, you won’t even need to open Smart Albums
When someone orders an album, what is your instinctive reaction? For me, the initial elation of making a sale was swallowed by the pending doom of now having to design an album and work through revisions. Smart Albums have made this process as simple as possible, but it got to a point where I was so busy, that any album sale was actually bad news. I considered removing them entirely as something I offered… but then I started working with a VA.
Thanks to Smart Albums being so intuitive, this was one of the easiest tasks for me to outsource. I trained my VA on how I designed albums by using screen recording software and verbalising my thought process behind each decision. I also gave them a list of my personal design rules to follow. Such as not mixing black and whites with colour images, not having the seam run through faces, starting each scene with an establishing shot etc.
Once the training is complete, it means I have it there ready to train any future VA in case my current one moves on. It means I never have to design another album!
So here’s my complete current workflow that I use with my VA.
1. The Album Sale
My couples have two main opportunities to order an album. Either at the beginning when they are choosing their package and receive a 20% discount on an album, or during any number of the automated sales I run once their gallery is complete. The highest converting of these is the Early Bird promotion that runs for two weeks with a 20% discount as a part of the Rolling Publish automation on Pic-Time. I pair this with a $150 print credit to get them in the store and visualise which products they want in their home.
If you’re interested in having us set up your Pic-Time Sales Automations, click here:
2. Image Selection
Since my VA monitors my inbox, they will see the sale come through. They will now:
Go into my Pic-Time account > Approve the order > Enter the Couple’s Gallery > Go to Workflow > Client Selection > Enter the number of photos for your couple to select > Send
I use this message to accompany the request for photo selection:
Hi {userfirstname}!
I hope you are loving your full gallery and have had some time to get familiar with it.
I can not wait to start designing your album!!
If you could please choose up to 150 photos, then hit ‘send to photographer’ I can start on the design for your review 🤗
Thank you so much!!
Rick
3. Album Design
Once the couple finishes their selection of images, they’ll hit ‘Send to Photographer’ and I receive an email saying their selection is complete. My VA sees this and then downloads the selection in High Res from my gallery. They then open up Smart Albums, select the correct album size that the couple ordered, import the images and begin designing the album according to my personal preferences outlined in my SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).
4. Design Proof Review
Once my VA has designed the album, they’ll send me the design proof for me to review before they send it on to the couple. I don’t need to open up Smart Albums for this, I just need to click a link and screen record myself reviewing the album design. You can see an example of this review process here:
That’s 5min of your life you’ll never get back so no need to watch it all, but note that it’s not just what I would change, but also praise and encouragement where it’s due.
5. Design Revisions
Once the couple submits their revisions through Smart Albums Proofing system, my VA can handle these completely on their own without my input. They will make the changes and resend to the couple as many times as necessary until the couple approves the design. The VA will then send me the album spreads for me to order the album and email the couple for their album preferences with links to select their cover design and material.
6. Order the Album
I still like to do the actual ordering of the album myself. If someone is going to stuff up an album by entering the wrong name or date, I’d rather it be me. I’m someone who operates on risk and return, and it only takes a couple of minutes to order an album, so I don’t mind spending that time because the risk of getting it wrong means I could be $1000 out of pocket and weeks of delay, along with a terrible client experience. Trust me, I’ve been there, don’t rush the ordering!
That’s how I outsource my Album Design with Smart Albums!
There you have it, my Smart Albums workflow which only requires less than 10 minutes of my time to review the initial design and to order the album.
If you earn $500 on an album sale, that’s an hourly rate of $3,000 p/hr 🤯
Once you’ve removed the pain of album sales, you can focus on getting more of them, raising the amount you earn per wedding and making sure your images are getting into the hearts and homes of your couples.
More album sales are also a great way for your VA to pay for themselves.
If you’d like to see what other tasks a VA can do for you, check out our free task guide at https://weddingworkflows.com/virtual-assistants/
