Your shiny new toy arrives, you can’t wait to take it out of the box and play with it. Everyone relates to that experience. But what happens when the toy takes a few steps to set up? Uh-oh. It might sit in its box, partly assembled or gathering dust for a few weeks until you’re ready to take time to put it together. That’s the experience some photographers have when they get started with ShootQ. It’s a powerful tool but it requires some setup to get fully dialed into your business. Since it’s worth it, the training team at Pictage decided to create a helpful, step-by-step guide that will get photographers setup faster – it’s as easy as opening a box and clicking a few parts into place!
We sat down with the training team to get the backstory of the new ShootQ Setup Guide. Here’s the scoop for you:
Q. What makes the new ShootQ Setup Guide so user-friendly?
A. It’s a lot more “automatic,” whereas the old one was very “manual.” In the old guide, you were taken to a page deep within ShootQ and expected to figure out how to accomplish the task. When you were done, you had to find your way back to the Dashboard, re-open the Guide, and manually mark the step complete. It was a hassle! The new guide “follows” you down to the settings pages, provides clear instructions for every step, and lets you easily mark a step “complete” & return to the Guide with one click. It flows very smoothly!
Q. What were the team’s goals when creating the new ShootQ Setup Guide?
A. We know that two main things were frustrating users:
- The setup process was very long
- The guide was clunky and hard to use
We wanted to overcome these frustrations by splitting the process into “Basic” & “Advanced” steps, offering clearer instructions, and designing a Guide that was smooth & intuitive.
Q. How did your team choose the top 5 “setup steps” that would help members get ShootQ dialed into their studios?
A. The five “Basic” setup steps are the bare minimum a photographer needs to do in order to start booking shoots (or inputting leads & shoots that they have already booked). If you have a contract, an hourly rate, and a method of collecting payments, that’s enough to get started! We strongly recommend that users complete the “Advanced” setup, so they can fully customize ShootQ to their specifications. But we understand some people want to jump in & start using ShootQ right away, so we wanted to give them that option.
Q. What’s your favorite – or most interesting – step to setting up ShootQ?
A. My favorite step is definitely “Services, Products & Packages.” I like the flexibility of building different packages for different types of events or clients. It allows photographers to provide a great customer experience for all types of shoots.
Q. Which aspects of ShootQ Setup are made simpler using this new guide?
Although the individual steps aren’t necessarily “simpler,” photographers will find better instructions on how to complete them, and a smoother experience for going through each step. It makes the entire process of getting started with ShootQ much more efficient and painless.
About the Author
A Denver, Colorado native, Katie started her love affair with photography in second grade. With her first camera in hand, she began to view the world as a series of connections, with relationships at the center. Beginning with her relationship to the world and extending to personal relationships, Katie yearned to capture these relationships through her lens.
Katie honed her photography skills in college and graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado in 1999. In January 2000, she started Van Buren Photographyand used her relationship-building skills to grow it into a successful studio.
Katie parlayed her experience as a photographer into a valuable role as a Pictage Pro Consultant. During her time at Pictage, Katie helped photographers streamline their workflow, maximize their sales and apply best business practices. The skills and insights she accumulated have given her the edge to be a Photographer Training Specialist for ShootQ and Pictage.