The credit from three summers ago
Your middle package includes an album credit. You delivered the gallery with a note asking the couple to pick their favourites for the album. They said they would. Two years later, they have a baby, a house move and no album. When they finally get in touch, the album range has changed and your lab's prices have gone up.
You look at your records and realise there are quite a few couples like this, each with a credit they have paid for and not used.
Choosing is the hard part
Couples want the album. The problem is the task you have asked them to do: pick a set number of images from a large gallery, agree between two people and send you the list.
- The gallery is large and the selection feels final.
- Both partners must agree, and they choose at different times.
- The favourites tool in the gallery does not say how many they should choose.
- After the first reminder, nothing else prompts them.
- You do not have a list of which couples have unused credits.
What unused credits cost
An unused credit is a promise you still owe, often at future prices. It also means a couple without the finished product that tends to prompt the strongest word of mouth: an album on the coffee table that friends pick up and look through.
It is also lost upgrade opportunity. Couples who design an album often add pages or parent copies, but only if they start.
How we build a way to turn credits into albums
- Every couple with an album or print credit is listed with the date of delivery and the credit details.
- When the gallery is delivered, the couple are sent a favourites picker that shows how many images they need and how many they have chosen.
- The picker suggests a starting selection from your own starred images, covering the story of the day, so the couple edit a draft rather than starting from nothing.
- Both partners can add and remove favourites, and the picker shows where they disagree.
- Reminders go at points you choose after delivery, each short and friendly, and each mentions the upgrades available only if you want them to.
- When the selection is complete, it goes straight into your album design queue.
| Point after gallery delivery | Example message |
|---|---|
| With the gallery | Here is your picker and a suggested starting selection |
| A few weeks later | Gentle nudge, with how many images are left to choose |
| A few months later | A friendly reminder that the credit is still waiting |
| If the credit has an expiry in your terms | A note well before it applies |
What happens to a credit that is never used is set by your own terms. The system reminds couples of what you have agreed; it does not decide it.
Your list of credits afterwards
You can see every unused credit, how old it is and how far each couple are with their selection. Most couples who start with a suggested selection finish, because trimming a draft is much easier than building one. Album designs start sooner after the wedding, while the lab's range and your prices are still the ones in their package.
The couples who are truly stuck are obvious, and a personal message from you can be aimed at them.
The list is also useful for planning. Knowing how many albums are likely to start in the coming months helps you plan design time around the wedding season, rather than having a pile of selections arrive at once in the middle of it.
Is this sitting on your books?
- Several couples have album credits from past seasons still unused.
- Your only prompt is a note in the gallery delivery email.
- Couples tell you choosing images is the hard part.
- You do not have a single list of outstanding credits.
- Album upgrades are rarely taken up.