It is a problem that you simply have to deal with if you are a wedding or event photographer. How to collect guest emails so that you can notify them when the event images are finished.
In many wedding cases, this duty may fall to the bride and groom, but why pass the buck onto them? They should be busy spending time together, not worrying about emailing all of their family and friends when your images are ready to be seen.
The better option is to take care of this yourself, by notifying guests via email when the images are ready (after the bride and groom approve of course). The problem is, and has always been, how to collect those emails and make sure they are sent when the online gallery is ready.
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There are two simple ways that have always worked well in the past, having a signup sheet or some sort of digital signup via form on a laptop or something. These are both effective ways of getting the information, but it still adds quite a bit of work for you to notify these guests in when the event gallery is ready.
In the case of the paper signup form, you have to deal with bad handwriting and having to manually digitize the emails. This takes time and can lead to important people not getting notified if you can’t read their handwriting. Similarly, the problem with a digital signup form, like a Google Drive form that inputs the info into a spreadsheet, is that the information still needs to be moved around when it is time to notify the guests.
Until recently, these have pretty much been your only options for collecting this information, and they have worked. But now there is a better way, at least in my opinion.
iPad Event Emails App
My friends over at ShootProof just released their new iPad Event Emails App, which basically makes this all so easy that you will never have to worry about guests not getting emails again.
You download the app to your iPad and then, before you head out to your wedding or event you connect the app to an “event” that you have created. Then while you are at the event guests can sign up to get emailed when the images are ready right from your cool iPad app. The best part is that no Internet connection is required, the app simply collects the email addresses and then the next time the app is connected to the Internet, it automatically updates your ShootProof event.
Then after the event, when the images are ready, all you need to do is log into your ShootProof account and press a button to notify the pre-registered guests that the images are ready. Simple, Efficient, and Effective.
It is that simple. No having to manually type in email addresses, No having to manually create an email list with guest information that you collected via a web signup form. Just press a button and you are good to go.
You can even customize the app to match your brand, and in the case of a wedding event you can have the image displayed be from an engagement shoot to catch the guests attention.
This does not have to be used just for weddings either! If you shoot events, maybe a high school prom or family reunion, this could be an invaluable tool to get your images in front of the eyes that matter. Not only from a print ordering perspective, but also from a lead generation perspective.
Don’t have an iPad, you can get one fairly inexpensively! The latest iPad Air with Retina is roughly $500 for the WiFi Only model on B&H. But, and I know this from experience, if you want to purchase the 4G LTE model from Verizon you can make low monthly payments of like $30 a month and get $100 off the normal price. Not a bad deal if you want to be able to do this and don’t already have an iPad.
I could never go back to using a paper signup form or a laptop and webpage. This iPad app really makes things too easy. It is just another reason why I love ShootProof, they are constantly evolving and adding new and exciting features. You can learn more about this iPad app here, or signup to try ShootProof for free here.
**And no, they don’t pay me to say this stuff. I actually do use them and I love their product!**
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