Conversational Support

This article is extending further on the recent webinar:

Customer Success through Better & Faster Support

We’re all used to the process of searching for a support number online or sending an email into the ether in the hope that someone will receive it and respond with a fix-all solution to our query. But what if this process was different? What if you could send off a quick message to support just like you’d send a text to a friend? 

We’ve been pioneering a new way of handling support for the last few years, and I’d love to share some details with you.

Deli Counter Support 

Let’s be honest; no one really enjoys it when they need to contact support. It typically means something isn’t working as expected, and now you’re left frustrated and needing help. Unfortunately, a standard support model we like to call “deli-counter” support has formed. This type of support model requires you to “take a ticket” and wait in some kind of queue until you are called upon and your issue or question can be addressed. The timeframe for a resolution in this scenario is not usually speedy. And while this type of model can be effective for certain situations, we’ve discovered that it is not the best solution. So we decided to make it better. 

A New Way to Support 

Customer happiness is one of our top priorities. We want you to feel your needs are being addressed efficiently. This is why we’ve made the process of submitting a support request as easy as messaging a friend by using Slack, and as a bonus, you may even get a few laughs in return, you know, like a random photo of a wizard because that’s just how our support rolls. In addition, this conversational approach to our support structure has provided more transparency between you and our support team, allowing us to build and maintain more meaningful relationships.

 

“A lot of support chats are automated, so the automated responses send you to a knowledge base article, and sometimes there’s an infinite loop. When you eventually get to a human, it’s just infuriating.” – Tearah (07:14-07:39)

We don’t think you should have to message an automated system to reach our support team like Tearah mentions above because it further delays your problem being resolved or your question being answered. We know your time is valuable, and getting stuck in an infinite loop isn’t our idea of fun either. With our new approach, you can easily message our support team, and we can quickly identify the problem and provide more frequent updates while working towards a solution. Doing this has alleviated many of the delays with the more traditional support model.

 

“We don’t require that same traditional email escalation model. So often, the person who’s let you know, I’ve seen you, is the person who comes back and finishes it.” – Tearah (09:08-09:21)

 

As difficult as it is for you to wade through multiple emails, it is just as difficult for us to remain up to date on how a request is proceeding and what steps have already been taken when relying solely on email communication. Reviewing previous messages in a single area has reduced the potential for errors when providing status updates and allowed us to respond in a more timely manner. We can also quickly bring in other support team members to help expedite those trickier problems that can sometimes arise. But we can do so without the headache of missing email trails or confusing email chains that even that wizard couldn’t decipher.

 

“We’re very invested in knowing the challenges of the industry and of a studio because that’s how we push our products, platforms, and our support to be better.” – Tearah (25:06-25:15)

 

Most importantly, Fotomerchant is built on the things you wanted, and our conversational support model has given us a better opportunity for advancements in product development. You can send us your spur-of-the-moment ideas anytime. Whereas, before, we likely wouldn’t have received those ideas because submitting an email or official request via a ticketing system is much more time-consuming, especially when these ideas don’t typically surface during the traditional 9-to-5. Making it convenient for you to get your ideas to us has allowed us to make many of the updates you are enjoying right now.

 

Moving Forward

Completely restructuring our support to accommodate a faster way to communicate with you has boosted our rapport and helped us create unique business relationships and friendships. But we’re not done yet. While we’ve seen significant improvements, we are always looking to make things better and faster. So keep those wizard hats on and send us your brilliant ideas anytime. They’re always welcome in our mind palace, and we’re always here.

 

 

Using Capture to open new revenue streams

There are two types of events happening during your low periods that you can capitalize on as a school/sports photographer. While you might shy away from it because it takes a lot of work to deliver a good experience for your customers, we have better, faster ways for you to do it.

Awards Nights/Graduations/Convocations along with Proms/Formals/Dances are excellent revenue-increasing opportunities for your business. Using Fotomerchant’s Capture solution opens up new workflow automations that can streamline your process, improve your customer’s experience, and add a wow factor to your business. You already have a relationship with the school/university/sports club, so why not use your Capture device in the off-season to generate some new income streams for your studio? 

First, let me tell you about a personal experience I had not long ago (and remember that this is the most common way of delivering photos for these events). My wife won a Dean’s award at her university, so she and I were invited to an awards ceremony where a hired photographer took our photo. It took weeks before we saw the pictures, and it took me over an hour to scroll through all the images to find the ones I actually wanted. I intensely disliked that experience, and now I want to rid the world of this type of terrible customer experience.

So how can it be done better and faster?

Fotomerchant’s Capture solution uploads photos in real-time via a dedicated cellular connection (wifi also available). Once the images are in our cloud platform, Fotomerchant automatically sorts out personal galleries for event guests. These personal galleries are immediately accessible on the guest’s smartphone and can be customized to include branding, image watermarks, messages, and a shopping cart. No more waiting to view photos days later once the excitement has worn off, and no more sorting through other people’s photos; your customers will be taken directly to their images with no other distractions. The best part for you? When the event is over, so is your work. All of your post-processing work has already been done using AI and automations.

No two events are the same, so you’ll be glad to know that we have a plethora of customization options and features. Let’s use a prom night and an awards ceremony as examples to show how you can achieve a better, faster result using some of the various options available with Fotomerchant’s Capture solution: 

Pre-Paid Prom Night Using Facial Recognition

For this event, the school has paid you upfront to photograph the event and then provide photos back to the school and the attendees as soon as possible.

Using the same Capture device that you’ve been using for school photo days, you can roam the event as much as you like (you’re not tethered to a laptop), taking photos. Each photo you take will be uploaded in real-time, automatically enhanced using AI, and sorted into personalized galleries for each person who registers. Then, within seconds, that person will receive a text message with a link to view their personal photo gallery in any web browser. The school will also receive a Dropbox folder which includes a copy of all photos taken that night. 

Here’s how easy it is to do all that:

  1. Create an ‘Event’ via our handy web console and select what features you want turned on. For this one, we’ll choose Photo First Mode, Customisable Registration Form, Facial Recognition, SMS messaging, Auto Image Enhancement, and Dropbox integration.
  2. Allow attendees to register their selfie to be used for automatic matching of their photos to their personal gallery.
  3. Roam the party taking photos and enjoy seeing the attendees’ faces light up when they get their pictures in their gallery in real-time!
 

Awards Night with Speculative Sales & No Attendee Information

You’ve been permitted to take photos for this event, but you aren’t being paid to be there. You are relying on sales to cover your costs and make a profit. The university has not provided you with any class lists or personal information about the students (and to keep things different from the other example, we won’t use facial recognition or our registration form).

For events where you don’t have any personal information but want to give event attendees access to their own personal gallery of photos in real-time, you can create your own “Gallery Cards.” Gallery Cards look like branded business cards with a unique QR code on the back. They can be scanned by a Capture device to add images to a gallery and then scanned by a customer for instant access to their gallery from the privacy of their device. Gallery Cards are designed to be an all-purpose solution for many situations.

Using the same Capture device you’ve been using for school photo days, you can run a photo studio or roam the event as much as you like (you’re not tethered to a laptop). Each photo you take will be uploaded in real-time, protected with a watermark, and sorted into personalized galleries for each Gallery Card. Then, within seconds, images will be available for purchase in Fotomerchant’s fully featured Commerce online shopping cart.

After completing a mini photo session with an attendee (or group of attendees), you’d simply scan their Gallery Card/s or give them a new card. They can scan the QR code and instantly view and purchase digitals and prints from the Fotomerchant Commerce shopping cart on their phone. They can also return to you later during the event to get more photos which you can easily scan onto their original gallery card so all their images will appear in the same place and be ready for purchase while the event is still fresh and exciting!

Here’s how easy it is to do all that:

  1. Order your custom branded Gallery Cards in advance via our handy web console. While you’re there, create an ‘Event’ and select what features you want turned on. For this one, we’ll choose Photo First Mode and Fotomerchant Commerce Integration.
  2. Allocate images to personal Gallery Cards in real-time by scanning a new or existing Gallery Card after each batch of pictures you take. 
  3. Enjoy hearing the exclamations of joy from the attendees’ when they get their photos in their own personal gallery in real-time, and your outburst of delight when you start seeing the sales revenue flowing in via Stripe!

As you can see, with a few clicks inside the Capture Console, you can set up your Events to use Fotomerchant Capture and its powerful automation to take the work out of these workflows. 

Contact us today to spare your customers from the lousy experience I had with my wife’s award ceremony photos and start using the powerful features available with Fotomerchant Capture.