If you’re considering giving your photographer a review somewhere online, how you felt about the service is clearly going to be central to what you write. Also worth considering is the effect you want your review to have. There is the star rating (usually out of 5) and an area for a written review. Both are important to potential future customers and to the photographer.
The star rating
Urgh:
Meh:
What about if there wasn’t anything in particular you were dissatisfied with but you were simply left with an experience or images you’re underwhelmed with?
Again, by bring this up with your photographer first, there may be something they can do to improve your satisfaction, leading to a better review for them. Sometimes there’s an easy fix, if for example it’s a question of post processing taste. Ideally they’ll check with you during the shoot how you’re feeling and that you’re getting the images you want, but if for some reason that doesn’t happen (even after image retouching), do they have a satisfaction guarantee, where if you don’t get the images you need from a shoot, they will do another one for you free of charge or issue a refund? Taking advantage of such an offer could work out better for everyone.
Yay!:
Finally, what if you were actually very pleased with your experience and images and would like to help their business by encouraging other potential customers with a good review? For that aim to be achieved it’s important to realize what counts as a helpful review – and that depends on the competition. So if most of the top competing options have practically 100% 5 star ratings, leaving a 4 star rating (even if you explain you really enjoyed the experience) might not be very helpful. That’s because potential customers will see a lower rating and tend to think therefore the service isn’t as good as the competition. A helpful rating will be at least as high as the competition, preferably higher (which is probably going to mean giving 5 stars, in most cases).
In a nutshell, if you think other people would enjoy their service and want to help the photographer with a review, first consider the reviews and star ratings of the competition. In most places photography is a highly competitive business, and having an average rating above or below the competition makes a real difference.
What you write
Whatever star rating you give, it and your review will have more credibility if it contains some written description of your experience and impressions with the photographer’s service.
Some things to consider including in your written review are:
- How were your expectations were met (or otherwise)?
- Did you feel set at ease, where they friendly and professional in their service?
- Where any questions or concerns you had about your photo session answered to your satisfaction?
- Did they make any unexpected or extra special effort to make sure you were happy?
- What did you think of the images?
- If you’ve tried other photographers in the past, how did the one you’re reviewing now compare?
- Also worth mentioning is the type of photography you had done. E.g. family photos, headshots, an engagement photo shoot, boudoir, pet portraits, etc.
If you’re not big on writing or don’t have the time, even just a sentence or two can make a review much more worthwhile to anyone reading it and to the photographer you’re reviewing.
