No one wants to buy boring products. Here’s how to build a beautiful ShootProof shopping cart that will sell more photos and entice more clients!
Browse through Twig & Olive Photography’s website, and you’ll be entranced by their creative compositions and masterful post-production. Who better to sell prints and products online than a photography team with this kind of skill?
But the Twig & Olive team knows: even the most skilled photographers can sell more photos if they’ll show their shopping cart a little bit of love.
A ShootProof gallery of Twig & Olive’s marketing images for sharing with press and other vendors.
“We took the time to photograph and add product image samples into our ShootProof price sheets,” explains Bobbi, Twig & Olive co-founder. “We also include a little image that demonstrates the different print sizes. This helps our clients visualize how their printed products will look in their homes.”
And as you’ll see below, their approach is working.
Here’s exactly how the Twig & Olive crew entices their clients to shop online for products that last a lifetime:
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with Super-Short Shopping Cart Trick
Sell More Photos When You Show More Products
The Twig & Olive team’s hectic shooting and travel schedule make in-person sales nearly impossible, so they rely heavily on online sales to sell more photos and boost their income. Without an in-hand, tangible product experience to lean on, the Wisconsin-based photographers found a clever way to show off their products through their website and ShootProof galleries.
“So many people, they’re like, ‘I’ll go really big, I’ll go with an 8 x 10,’ ” laughs Bobbi, “and it’s like, well, an 8×10 is not really that big.”
She continues: “Since implementing this ShootProof feature and adding high-end product imagery, about 20% of our income is from online print and product sales!”
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this Quick Trick in ShootProof
Just How Big is an 8×10 Anyway?
To lend perspective to the online buying experience, Twig & Olive added renderings of each photo size within their ShootProof price sheets. When a client selects an 8×10, they see how a 8×10 would look on their wall. Alternately, when a client selects a 24×36, they see how that size would look. Invariably, Twig & Olive can sell more photos at the larger size because their clients see the difference.
Photography: Twig & Olive | Top: virtual print size comparisons | Bottom: beautifully-photographed canvases, framed prints, and albums
Use Your Words & Sell More Photos
In addition to prints, Twig & Olive also sells canvases, albums, and framed prints through their ShootProof galleries. Like their prints, the items are also accompanied by photographs of each product, as well as a detailed description of the item.
PRO TIP: Descriptions Benefit Everyone
Product descriptions are not merely helpful to the clients; they also serve as a bit of backup should your client later claim that they didn’t get what they thought they were getting. After all, no one can claim ignorance when they’ve seen photos and been handed a thorough description.
Photography: Twig & Olive | Detailed photographs and a thoughtful description help Twig & Olive sell more photos and albums.
Sell More Photos with a Product Guide
In addition to their product images and descriptions in ShootProof, Twig & Olive also provides each client with their very own product guide – a virtual catalog of their photography products in warm, lifestyle settings that blend beautifully with the Twig & Olive brand.
Photography: Twig & Olive | These barn wood frames are a top seller, in large part because of the exquisitely-crafted product images.
Fine-Tune Your Price Sheet
It’s tempting to sell everything under the sun when you’re setting up your ShootProof price sheet. But Twig & Olive found a more limited shopping cart to be more successful. They turn to Millers Lab to source their beautiful on-brand products, but they carefully curate.
“Just because Millers Lab offers 17 different print textures doesn’t mean you have to offer all 17 textures to your client,” Bobbi reassures. “At times, we’ve had a few product offerings that just weren’t selling. But if we haven’t sold a certain type of frame in three years, for example, we drop the frame.”
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
By focusing on high-quality and tried-and-true best sellers, the Twig & Olive team ensures happy clients and consistent deliverables.
“We now have a great core set of products, I think,” acknowledges Bobbi. “And it’s stuff that we sell a lot of.”
PRO TIP: Track your best-selling products in ShootProof!
Simply visit Reports > Items in your ShootProof workspace to see which products you sell most!
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
Twig & Olive’s Best-Selling Products
Here’s what Twig & Olive’s clients love most:
family and newborn clients love: Lustre Prints
wedding clients love: Lustre Prints and Barnwood Frames
Are you surprised? Their top sellers are two simple products: their lustre prints (the only print type they offer), and their beautiful barnwood frames (their only frame option.) The only products remaining are their canvases and albums, ensuring a straightforward fulfillment process, and a product line that defines their brand for every client.
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
Get Started Selling
If you aren’t yet doing much (or anything!) in the way of print and product sales, Bobbi recommends choosing three cornerstone products to photograph and market.
“Start with a canvas, a lustre print, and maybe a wood print or a frame,” she suggests. “Then spend a day where you just take stock images of those different prints and products.”
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
Twig & Olive’s product images serve multiple purposes, and do much more than live in ShootProof and in their product guide.
“We constantly add our product images to our website, to our blog, to Instagram, or we’ll put them on a Facebook story,” Bobbi explains. “You can use those images so often. Just photograph all angles, all sides, all conditions, and get a good variety of pictures of your core products.”
Finally, Bobbi recommends selling products that you, yourself, are attracted to. She references the success of many senior photographers with metal print sales; but the Twig & Olive brand doesn’t offer this popular print type. “That’s not our style,” says Bobbi. And that’s 100% okay.
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
Package for a Lasting Impression to Sell More Photos
The final step in Twig & Olive’s product process is getting the deliverables to their client.
“We self-fulfill our products and have everything shipped to our studio for repackaging and shipping,” shares Bobbi. “We write a thank-you note and package the products with our branded packaging.”
Photography: Twig & Olive | Sell More Photos with this 1 Quick ShootProof Feature
Whether you’re a high-end boutique brand, or a budget brand focused on volume, there’s something to learn from Twig & Olive’s approach. Most of all, be true to your brand goals, and keep your clients front of mind.
By focusing on what you do best and what your clients love most, you’re practically guaranteed a successful season of selling!
Written by ANNE SIMONE | Featuring TWIG & OLIVE PHOTOGRAPHY
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