Album Pricing
Determining your wedding album pricing is like looking at a menu in a five star restaurant and having no idea what you want. At least that is how I felt when I first started my in person sales (IPS) journey. There are so many options that the list seems to be never ending. Because it felt so overwhelming at first, I only offered one type of album and one size. I thought by keeping it simple it would be easier on me and my clients, but I was so wrong. A “one size fits all” model does not allow for any individualization and your clients want to feel special.
Pick Your Album Company
Often, photographers will jump right into packages and their pricing models but, we do things a little differently with our album pricing. First, you have to make sure the album company fits your brand. This is part of your story. One of the album companies we use, hand makes the entire album which fits with our value for handcrafted heirlooms. Now, this may not be your brand. Say you are more on the edgier side and want a modern look. This company may not be the best for you and your brand.
The other factor to consider is how the album is made. We made a huge mistake early on and picked a cheaper album company that made a sub-standard product. The album had horrible binding, cheap adhesive, and sub standard printing. At the time, we didn’t notice these issues and were looking for whatever the cheapest option out there was. We finally noticed these issues when our clients started to call us with album defects like pages coming apart and album covers warping. This was our wake up call and we ended our relationship with that album company IMMEDIATELY. More importantly, we took care of our clients with quality albums even at our own expense.
List Album Options
Originally we limited our album pricing options to one type and size. Then we thought, if we offer all album options this will give the client variety and make them happy. Unfortunately, the more options we offered, the more confused the client became and the less money they wanted to spend. Only offer options you know the client will want. Focus on album covers, album sizes, and page options (like thickness or material).
Keeping the options limited makes it easier on you. Make sure the options you choose are in tiers (low, middle, high). Start with album covers that are the least high end to options that are the most high end. Then move on to album sizes, and page options. Make sure these options are in tiers as well. Lastly, make sure your options make sense with your brand. If you are a joyful and classic themed photographer, offering an edgy acrylic album cover may not make sense. If you want our complete guide to selecting your products, click here.
Choosing Album Packages
Start by choosing a base album. Think of your base album in terms of a car. All car manufacturers have a base model vehicle that is considered a reliable car with no frills. Look at your album the same way. Look at the list of options you created before and pick the ones that will “get the job done”. The least high end cover, page material, and minimal amount of pages. This is still a good album, and is reliable but has lots of room to upgrade. The base album also serves as an anchor point for your other higher end albums (Don’t worry about price at this point). Now pick two other options for your middle and highest end album. We recommend that with each album tier you upgrade two areas like size and cover, or amount of pages and cover. A good example is if your base album has a leather cover, is an 8×8 size, and has 10 spreads. Your next tier could then be a leather cover 10×10 album with 15 spreads. In this example we upgraded the size and spread count.
Stay tuned for the last part in this series where we get into the nitty gritty of pricing your wedding albums.
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Final Thoughts
Wedding album pricing can really be a chore and so confusing. Breaking it down to easy steps and make sure to stick with an album company that best represents you is one of the first steps. After this, pick album options that will complement a full tiered system approach from a base album to a high end album. I know this is a lot to take in but if you complete this series in your business, you will be successful. So…
What kind of Albums do You Offer? Let me know in the comments
