We used to do packages but now do everything ala carte. When we did packages we had 4. 1 with just coverage and 3 with albums. 75% of brides got the coverage only and 25% got one with an album. Out of the 75%, only 50% came back for an album.
Since going to ala carte, we get more people getting albums and more and more people want the big premier albums. Maybe later this week I will do a post about how we switched from packages to ala carte and how it helped our biz. In a big way. Whats nice is we get people that want only 3-4 hours and a cd for a sunday wedding. So we make $2k for 3-4 hours of our time and they win and we win. I think of it as an overpaid engagement shoot Then a month or two after the wedding they call for an album. We make more money and they are happy.
All my packages have at least one album. The base package has 20 page sides and is 10x10 and done with the same top album company as my other packages which have larger albums and more page sides. Top end packages include purse size albums as well and that is why I go to square albums as they are easy to shrink to a 5"x5" or 6"x6" size for these small albums.
The album is for me the "product" that I am selling the couple. Everything I do is directed at getting the shots I will be using for the album. The very last thing I want to do is photograph a wedding and then hand the couple a DVD. It is the post processing that is important as well as the page layouts and my research on top notch album companies and it all comes together in the albums that they receive at the end of the process.
Handing a couple a DVD is also terrible for marketing purposes. Brides and their family members and their friends will all see the album and the work you have done. With a DVD a bride may move images to her iPod or iPhone which is not a great way to showcase your work.
I take this to the next level by creating an engagement album that is printed as a photo-book and used for the guests to write a note to the B&G at the reception. This puts my work in front of all the guests at the wedding.
Mark_L wrote:
How many people that don't offer an album in the base package have had the couple come back to you x time after the wedding for an album?
I don't. I think it's bonkers to force people to have an album if they don't want it. I'd love everyone to want an album and I make a point of trying to explain to them the importance of an album, but I'd prefer their business rather than losing clients because they feel like they're forced to have something they don't want.
We had album inclusive packages only for 3 years but dropped the idea last year when things started to get really bad here in our part of the UK with the economy.
We found that many of our 'target couples' who in previous years would have booked us without blinking, just weren't prepared to invest in a package with a high quality Jorgensen or storybook album included. We lost bookings and had a bad year as a result.
So we changed back to the system we had when we first started, charging separately for the photography and the albums. End result...things have picked up in the last 12 months and we're just as busy as we ever were.
Also, most of the couples we are now booking (90%) are still booking album packages. Bookings are up for this year and 2013, and in the odd case where we supply a package without an album, at least we know that there's a high profit margin for us.
For us supplying an album isn't really about making more profit for our business, it's more about how we want our work to be viewed by others, as we feel it always looks its best when in book form, rather than being shared via face-book as a poorly compressed digital image.
Then a month or two after the wedding they call for an album. We make more money and they are happy.