Simplifying Higher Ed Photography Ordering
Like most universities, our photographers are out every day taking photos. These photos go into our photo library to be used for publications, web, press releases, etc. Unfortunately, the numerous people in the photos never get to see them.
If one wanted a printed photo, they had to request the photo from the photography department it would be printed in-house and mailed out. This process was time consuming for the customer and the photo staff.
The ordering process broke down like this:
- Figure out the phone number to the photography department.
- Describe yourself to them and get an email with a bunch of photos to review.
- Select photos and wait for photography to make the prints in-house.
- Wait for the photos to be arrive in the mail.
We decided to change this process. We looked at various options from building our own photo ordering system to a full service, fully managed system.
We decided on a system that allows us to manage which photos to publish, choose which printing packages to offer, what vendors to use for printing (local vendors preferred) and choose our prices. This gives us the most flexibility without having to manage the actual system ourselves.
The new process:
- Photography passes out cards at the event referring to the photo ordering site.
- Customer reviews photos, selecting the ones they want to order.
- Checkout, entering their credit card information and preferred shipping method.
This allows our photography department to upload the photos and forget about them. It also allows the customer to view photos in a friendly format and pay by credit card (something that was not possible before). The photos are printed and shipped within a day.
The company which offers this software is called PhotoReflect.
The Wayne State photo ordering site can be view at: http://waynestate.photoreflect.com
