BookMe helped a family find and book a photographer instantly for their newborn photo session.
October 26th, 2021
Katie Van Buren has been a professional photographer in the Denver, Colorado area for over two decades. In that time, she has experienced numerous changes in camera and editing technology, as well as her genre expertise. Katie graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado and began her career photographing weddings and families. Her emphasis on establishing long-term relationships with clients paved the way to a career shift as her clients started growing their families and having children.
Now, Katie specializes in photographing newborns, children and families. Her business practices also evolved with her adoption of BookMe by Zenfolio. BookMe enabled Katie to automate booking, scheduling and payments so she can grow her business while she focuses on camera time with her client’s growing families.
What do you think of the new BookMe tool and how has it helped you streamline and save time?
I love it! It’s an easy all-in-one booking tool that I can place directly on my website. BookMe has been a big time saver for me and for my clients by reducing the back and forth correspondence of trying to pin down a date and time for the session. My clients can view my availability when it is convenient for them and book what works best for their schedule.
Have you been booked by more new clients…or returning clients? Has it helped you fill up your schedule?
BookMe has made it much easier for new clients to book a session with me. They find me through an online search or through word-of-mouth and then find all of the information they need right there in BookMe on my website. And they move forward with booking me.
A new client newborn wasn’t waiting long to book a photography session.
Katie related a story about a new client finding her thanks to BookMe. The optimal window for the best newborn photos is fairly tight. BookMe made it easy for both the new clients and for Katie to get the session scheduled quickly. Here’s her client’s story…
Tell us about your process of finding and booking a photographer for your newborn. How much manual searching did you do before discovering booking Katie online?
We were in the hospital with our third child just being born and I was looking for a photographer after realizing the hospital no longer offered in-hospital pictures due to Covid. I reached out to a half-dozen photographers trying to get pricing and information. Katie was the only one with online booking and transparent pricing, so that made it an easy choice!
Tell us why you picked Katie and about your instant booking experience on her website.
We decided to go with Katie because of her transparent pricing and availability. No other photographer offered either, and many took several days to get back to us. Newborn photos only have a couple of days so Katie came to the rescue!
From your client point-of-view and experience, what would you tell other photographers about offering instant bookings online?
Nobody wants to call for an appointment. Instant booking makes sense for every service professional, including photographers. It made it painless for my wife and I, and we were assured we would capture this important moment without worrying about a call back!
Shift your photography business into high gear like Katie with BookMe.
BookMe automates your scheduling, booking and payments and will save you 40 hours a month so you can spend more time behind your camera. Do less and make more this year with BookMe.
