There are a couple of things that all tour and activity operators want to achieve. They want to enhance the guest experience and drive new bookings for their business, all while improving their own internal efficiencies and saving money.
Did you know that you can do all of these things through the implementation of a photo sharing platform?
While there are a huge number of photo marketing benefits that come with sending photo memories to your customers (such as an improved guest experience, more referral leads and higher quality online reviews), there are also a range of advantages that your tour or activity business can gain internally by doing this through an innovative photo sharing platform.
With that in mind, in this blog we take a look at what photo sharing software actually is, and why it’s a more efficient and profitable way to distribute customer photos when compared with traditional methods such as USB sticks or email.
What is photo sharing software for tour and activity operators?
A photo sharing platform is essentially a piece of software that centralizes and automates the distribution of photos and videos to your customers, making it easy for tour and activity operators to upload photos and videos to the platform and send them on to their customers.
It’s a move away from manual methods of sharing photos and videos with customers, such as providing them with a USB stick, attaching photos to emails or using time-consuming websites like social media or Google drive to send photos and videos.
With photo sharing software, your guides simply upload photos and videos of customers and then send those directly to them via a custom-branded photo page.
This saves your guides, and other team members, huge amounts of time and also provides your business with amazing marketing benefits, allowing customers to share photos or videos directly from the photo page to their social media platforms.
Why photo sharing software is more efficient, and profitable, than USB sticks
Now you know what a photo sharing platform is, let’s take a look at a few key ways investing in this software will bring ROI to your business.
#1 - You’ll save money
Purchasing USBs is expensive. Not only do you have to pay a significant amount of money to provide every single customer with a USB stick, they are one of the worst ways to distribute photos to your guests. They frequently get lost, and that can seriously damage the guest experience that customers have with your brand.
With a photo sharing platform, you can mitigate all of those issues. The monthly fee for photo sharing software is more cost-effective than providing them with USBs, and customers will never lose their photos because they’ll always have access to the files you provide them.
#2 - Automation will make your team more efficient
Providing photos to your customers can be incredibly time-consuming for your guides. They need to take the photos on a phone or camera, upload the photos to a computer, take time choosing the photos and then use inefficient means of distributing them - whether that be sending them over email, providing them on social media or giving customers a USB stick.
Photo sharing automates this entire process. Simply take the photos and upload them to the platform, and then all the following steps can be automated. No more fragmented systems and complicated processes. Your guides can do everything they need in one platform, saving them huge amounts of time.
#3 - You can remarket to past customers through memory marketing
One of the most important reasons to provide your customers with photo memories is so that your brand can remarket to them in the future. In the current social media world, this can help your business drive repeat bookings and gain new referral leads.
A photo sharing platform makes this easy. You can use personalized photo memories to remarket to your past customers, re-sending them photos of their experience on the custom-branded page that you created for them. When customers are reminded of an amazing experience, they’re far more likely to either share those photos with their friends and family or make repeat bookings.
#4 - Build a more frictionless guest experience
There’s one thing that’s just as important as the actual activity that you’re offering your customers, and that’s the entire guest experience. An excellent guest experience leads to higher quality online reviews, more chances that a customer will share their experience with their peers, and a higher likelihood of repeat business.
Photo memories are an important part of the guest experience. Customers want photos of their experience with your brand, and they want them to be easy to access. Photo sharing software helps you to achieve a seamless guest experience when it comes to delivering customer photos and videos.
#5 - Give your guides the focus they need to deliver customer satisfaction
Your guides are crucial to satisfied guests. They need to build strong relationships with customers, deliver an amazing experience and ensure customer safety. Distractions will only impact your guides’ performance.
Photos should always be an important aspect of an amazing experience for your guest, but it should never be so difficult that it distracts your guides from what truly matters. Photo sharing software can make photo taking and sharing easy for guests, so they can focus on driving true value to your customers.
Interested in learning more about photo sharing software? Fotaflo has developed an innovative photo marketing platform for the tour and activity industry. We’d love to give you a demo of how it works.
