What is a dead email inquiry? Have you ever had a wedding inquiry that you responded to and you went back and forth several times through email. You thought for sure you had it in the bag, only to not hear back from her for almost 2 weeks? This is a dead email inquiry. The lines of communication are no longer open and you think that the bride has booked someone else.
What do you do when this happens? You don’t just want to email them and be like, “Hi…So…about that wedding photography…” That would be awkward. Here are some tips to open the lines of communication and pull back in that dead lead without it getting awkward.
Do a feature on their wedding venue and send over a link to your lead. This is a great way to contact your bride without having to make it seem desperate. It is also an awesome networking opportunity. Run a featured blog post about the venue and give them a shout out on your social media sites. Then send your bride a message that says: “Hey! I just wanted to drop a note to let you know we just featured {venue name} on our blog. I know you are hosting your wedding there and I thought you might want to take a look and see some beautiful shots that we took there and to learn even more about their company. Your wedding is going to look spectacular here!”
This makes it seem like you are just giving her information. However, you’re also getting back on her radar. Maybe she hasn’t booked another photographer yet, but has been so busy planning that she forgot to email you back or missed your last email entirely. Sending her another email, no matter what the content, is going to get her thinking about you again. And, if you’re sending her useful information, along with gorgeous photos that you’ve taken of her wedding venue, she’s going to be more apt to book with you over someone else.
Send over your vendor page. If you don’t have a vendor page on your website, step one is to make a vendor page. Link up all of the vendors you’ve worked with or would like to work with all in one page on your blog. Then send the bride an email that says something like: “Hey there! We just updated our featured vendors page on our site. We’ve added coordinators, DJs, florists, bridal shops, a ton of other fabulous vendors. We wanted to send them out to all the brides we know so you all can have one easy place to locate some awesome vendors throughout your planning process.” If they are vendors you’ve personally worked with, send them a link to blog posts of the weddings where you’ve worked with them on. Then they can see those blog posts so they can see your work by looking at their services or products of these other vendors.
Send them a survey. Send out a customer survey to all of your dead leads (and past and current clients) to find out how to improve your company. Send them an email that says, “We’d like to know how to make your experience better.” Ask a couple of questions to find out what your clients like and don’t like about your business. So, even if they don’t book you, this will help you find out why they decided not to go with your company. One of the questions you should ask is: Have you chosen your wedding photographer? This is an opportunity to see if they are really a dead lead. If they are, it will also help you find out why they chose someone else. We’ve included an free download of a survey for you below.
If they have not yet booked their photographer, give them a special incentive to book with you – free print or something.
Ask for the booking. This may seem obvious, but half the time photographers forget to directly ask for the booking. You can say something like…”I know it’s been a few days since we’ve chatted, so I just wanted to check in to make sure you don’t have any additional questions or if you’re ready to reserve your date.”
For those of you who do discounts, here are few more options:
Offer a special deal. This can be on engagement sessions or one of your packages. Let them know that this week only you have a special deal going on and how they can book to redeem this offer.
Offer custom packages. Maybe the bride isn’t booking because you don’t have a package that fits her specific needs. If you’re okay with customizing your packages, send over an email that says something like, “Hey there! I just wanted to let you know that we are now offering custom packages! If you need more time on your big day or less time or another product or service added on, just let me know and we can work out a new package just for you!”
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We ❤ your feedback! Share your thoughts/questions in the comment box below. Have more tips? We’d love to hear your ideas!
