Behind the scenes: Implementing a packages feature into Photography Orders

25. Apr, 2010 0 Comments

SIDE NOTE: For those that don’t know, Photography Orders is one of vec3t’s software products.

Feature requests

Feature requests come in all different ways.

Some are from existing customers that want to be able to do something that they currently can’t.

Some come from in my head. I recently bought some photos for my graduation, and the system that photographer used to sell photos was crap. (Paper/mail based). I was going to try sell Photography Orders to them, but then before I picked up the phone, I realised that I have no chance because Photography Orders lacks a feature that they would definitely need.

Some, and more often for Photography Orders, feature requests come in the form of pre-sales questions.

The most common one we get for Photography Orders is the ability to have packages. It’s been a common request from the start, and it’s been one that’s been very hard for me to figure out how to tackle.

Need to do research

It’s taken me a long time to figure out how I’m going to implement this feature. It’s a hard feature to add because every photographer uses packages differently. It took me lots of feedback, and an experience buying photos myself for me to figure out how to do it well.

Some photographers (especially wedding photographers) presell a package to their client. The package might include 5 * 10 x 8 prints, 2 * 15 x 20 prints, and a CD. The customer pays upfront (or at least a deposit), the photographer takes the photos, then all the customers have to do is choose their photos.

The other way photographers use packages became clearly apparent to me recently when I was in the process of buying photos for my graduation. The way that photographer works is that you pay a sitting fee up front, then they send you out proofs with a price list. On the price list, you can order some packages. For example, order 3 * 10×8 prints and get $10 off.

It sounds like a straight forward feature, but actually it’s not.

In scenario one, the order has already been taken, and the customer just needs to choose photos. The sale has been made already. The best functionality for Photography Orders is to show what sizes still need to be chosen for their chosen package. Basically, it needs to have some sort of restrictions or guide on the cart.

In scenario two, packages are an up-sell. The idea is that people will buy more because they get better value. The best functionality for Photography Orders is to show what discounts are available if they purchase x more. Multiple packages need to be shown instead of one package being preselected as in the scenario above.

These conflicting goals are also made tougher by situations like, what if in scenario one, the customer wants to buy some extras. Or, how do you handle the customer buying multiple packages in scenario 2. Or, should the packages be at the client level or gallery level (a client can have many galleries). Well it sounds like packages should be at the client level, but that prices should still be on gallery level. If that’s the case, what if two galleries have different packages, and they conflict? It takes some severe modifications to the cart to be able to handle that sort of stuff.

The way many other photo order software places do it is to have it so customers can browse packages, add a package to their cart. Then they add photos to their package. I don’t want to go that way for a couple of reasons.

For scenario 1, adding a package to their cart initially is counter-intuitive
It complicates the interface and options for customers. I was checking out some competing software the other day, and I didn’t even understand how to work packages. If I can’t understand it, and I’m writing competing software, I don’t like the chances for someone without familiarity of the process.
Once a package is added to a cart, there becomes an option for each photo to either “Add to Cart” or “Add to package”. It clutters everything up, it’s messy for the user and it’s messy to display. Also, it’s not intuitive. I can easily see situations where customers are confused about whether they should add something to their cart or their package.

You can’t please everyone

A system that pleases everyone is broken for everyone. You end up with a settings page with options like “Require the number of images be selected?”. Settings which, for new users, make absolutely no sense as to what they actually do. That’s something we definitely DON’T want in Photography Orders.

However, to have software without lots of settings, some photographers aren’t going to be able to do what they want to be able to do. To give an example, here’s how Photography Orders will handle packages.

Admin view:

Packages will have a new tab in the admin section (I was thinking about putting them in the prices tab)
Packages will be assigned to clients (not galleries)
When creating a client, photographers will be able to tick what packages a client gets access to
When creating a client, photographers will be able to preselect a package
When creating a package, the photographer selects the sizes, quantities, and discount amount of the package

Customer view:

If packages are enabled, there’ll be a bar on the top of the content panel that they can expand to view all packages
If a package is selected, there’ll be an indicator above the cart as to what still needs to be chosen to fill up the package
When choosing a photo, sizes that are still needed in the package will be highlighted

Tradeoffs:

Customers can only purchase one package at a time. If a customer wants multiple packages, they’re going to have to submit multiple orders
Customers can purchase photos above and beyond their package (I can’t see photographers complaining about this, but other photo carts have this option so who knows?)
Any other options apart from size/qty/discount
Different prices in different price lists don’t affect the discount of the package

Hopefully it will give enough flexibility to photographers, while still making it easy (minimal settings) for the photographer, and intuitive for their customers.