The word “photography” sounds a lot like “psychology” doesn’t it? :-)
To help market their business, a photographer is always told to be different from other photographers. But most photographers misunderstand what this means.
It’s not so much about the photographer being different but rather it’s about the customer being different. That is to say that a photographer might be considered different if they can make the customer feel different (i.e. more satisfied) compared to another photographer.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman’s Peak-End Theory says that we judge a past 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 means that a potentially negative experience can be minimized by having a positive peak and a positive end. Also, even though making a good first impression is important, 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.
At it’s most basic, a customer’s “photography experience” might be separated into three general 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 cheap 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 part of the photo experience, a photographer needs to enhance the other parts.
2) The photographer shooting the pictures:
If the photographer shows up late for an assignment, is unorganized or obnoxious, or somehow produces a less than satisfactory service, then they will fail. This will create a negative peak for the customer.
The photographer has to be professional and do at least a good job. Depending on the assignment, there could be a number of things a photographer can do that will enhance the photo experience for the customer.
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.
Maybe the pictures exceed the customer’s expectations, maybe the photos are delivered sooner than expected, perhaps the pictures are delivered in an easy-to-use format and in a nice package, or anything else that might make the customer happy.
A customer who has positive memories will more likely be 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.
This means that a photographer’s high price at the beginning of the photo experience won’t be as memorable to the customer if the photographer can make the rest of the experience a positive memory for the customer.
To rephrase it, there’s no reason for a photographer to be afraid of their prices because a high price can be counteracted with good customer service right to the end.
But you already knew that, right?
