The word “photography” sounds a lot like “psychology” doesn’t it? :-)
To help market their business, a photographer is often told to be different from other photographers. But most photographers misunderstand what this means.
It’s not about the photographer being different but rather it’s about the customer being different. This is to say that a photographer might be considered different if they can make the customer feel different (i.e. more satisfied).
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s Peak-End Theory says that we judge an experience not on the overall experience but rather on our memory of the peak moment(s) of that experience and how the experience ended.
This suggests that a potentially negative experience can be minimized by having a positive peak and a positive end. Making a good first impression is important but customers will better remember a good last impression.
Remember that “positive” and “negative” are defined from the customer’s point of view, not the photographer’s.
The Photography Experience
A customer’s photography experience might be separated into three basic steps:
1) Contacting a photographer and getting a quote:
For this to be a positive peak for the customer, the photographer should have a very low price. Otherwise, this is probably a negative moment since a photographer’s price is almost always higher than what the customer was expecting. To counteract this negative moment, a photographer needs to enhance the rest of the photo experience.
2) The photographer shooting the pictures:
A photographer who shows up late, is unorganized or obnoxious, or somehow produces a less than satisfactory service, will fail. This will create a negative moment for the customer.
The photographer has to be professional and do at least a good job. There could be other things a photographer can do to enhance the experience depending on the assignment.
3) Finished photos are delivered:
Delivering the pictures is always an important moment. It’s the end of the photo experience and it should end on a high note.
Hopefully the pictures exceed the customer’s expectations. Maybe the photos are delivered sooner than expected. Perhaps the pictures are delivered in ready-to-use sizes and formats. There might be other factors to make a customer happy.
Positive memories are more likely to create a happy customer, even if there were a few negative moments along the way. It’s not the overall experience the customer remembers but rather memories of the peak moments and the end.
A photographer’s high price at the beginning of the photo experience won’t be as memorable if the photographer can make the rest of the experience a positive memory for the customer.
There’s no reason for a photographer to be afraid of their higher price because that can be counteracted with good customer service right to the end.
