As a company that values innovation, we work hard to continually update our products, incorporating the latest advancements in software and technology. Why? It’s not that we’re just a bunch of geeks! We truly believe that providing you with the best solution for your business involves constant innovation. That’s why we encourage you to keep your software up-to-date, including your operating system. Windows 10 has proven to be a solid operating system with some great new tools, such as Cortana and Edge.

Here are a couple links you might find helpful:

• Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to Windows 10 (YouTube video)
• How to Upgrade to Windows 10 (Microsoft website)

Q: How do I get the booking page to appear right on my website?

Use the iframe option in your Online Booking Preferences and copy the code to your clipboard. It looks something like this:

<iframe src=”http://thestudioinc.mystratus.com/onlinebooking.aspx” scrolling=”no” frameBorder=”0″ width=”100%” style=”min-width:300px; min-height:3000px”>>Browser not compatible.</iframe>

To embed the booking page into your website, this iframe code needs to be inserted into the HTML code of your site. This isn’t difficult, but if you don’t know what HTML code is, you should probably have a web designer help you! If you know how to find/change the code, the first step is to decide where the booking iframe should go. We recommend creating a new page just for online booking. Then, make sure you’re editing the code and press Ctrl+V to paste it in.

Here’s what it looks like on my online booking test page using Dreamweaver.

Some more examples…

We’ve taken a quick peek at a couple common website providers to see how you would go about inserting the iframe code.

Note: We can’t guarantee the information in this section, but thought it might be helpful to get you started! Also, our tech support staff won’t be able to assist you with this part. Sorry! Use the links for more information or talk with your website provider’s support team if you need help.

SquareSpace

You’ll use a Code Block to contain the iframe. First, choose the page where you’d like online booking to appear or create a new page. Then open the page editor. Click an insert point and choose Code from the Block menu. Paste the iframe code into the code box and click Apply. https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206543167-Using-the-Code-Block

Zenfolio

You’ll use the Embed tool to insert the iframe code. Click Embed on the editing toolbar and then use Ctrl+V to paste the code. We’re not Zenfolio experts, but it looks like you should be able to embed the iframe code on a custom page (http://www.zenfolio.com/z/help/support-center#/customer/portal/articles/1460120), in a blog post, as part of a custom header or footer, or in your blog welcome or sidebar.

WordPress

You cannot embed an iframe on a WordPress.com hosted website. The code will be stripped out for security reasons. Use the Link option for your online booking page instead. Any WordPress.org site should be compatible with the iframe option.

Q: Do you have a “Book Now” button?

Here’s a simple button you can use for your link. Just right-click on the image and save it to your computer.

Q: Can I send an email confirmation to the client?

Yes! That’s exactly what triggers are for! Here are a few triggers we recommend setting up to streamline your online booking process:

• Email clients to confirm booked sessions. Use a Session Type Trigger based on the “Session Create Date” or a Session Status Trigger based on “Change to this Status.” Automatically attach a session confirmation PDF to these emails.
• Email the photographer to let them know when a session is booked. Again, use a Session Type Trigger based on the “Session Create Date” or a Session Status Trigger based on “Change to this Status.” Automatically attach a photographer confirmation PDF to these emails.
• Create tasks to take care of any necessary follow-up, such as contacting the client for payment, verifying client information, checking for duplicates, and so on. Assign the tasks to a specific person or a department.

If you don’t have triggers, try setting up a filter for Online Sessions Booked Today (or this week) and then regularly use the Communication Wizard to send the emails.

Q: How will I know when someone books a session?

The best way to be notified is by using triggers to email, text, and/or create tasks for you and your staff! Email the photographer, create a task for the scheduling department to verify information and check for new or duplicate clients, create a task for someone to follow up on an invoice requiring payment, and more. The most helpful triggers to consider would be Session Type, Session Status, and Invoice Status Triggers.

Don’t have triggers? There are several other ways to see when someone books a session.

• Calendar – Booked sessions will automatically replace available time slots on the calendar.
• Sessions Hub – These fields can help you track sessions booked online:
• Online Booked – Will have a check mark if the session was booked online.
• Online Booking Number – Only online booking sessions will have a booking number.
• Booked By – This field is handy if the assigned default booker (chosen in your Online Booking Preferences) is responsible for following up on online bookings.
• Invoices Hub – There are several invoice defaults in your Online Booking Preferences. If you create invoices during the online booking process, using some online-specific defaults will help you a lot! Depending on how you set things up, the following fields may be useful:
• Invoice Description – Invoices created online are immediately recognizable if the description is something like “Booked Online.”
• Invoice Status – Depending on what default status is assigned, this field could help sort and follow up on online invoices.
• Invoice Classification – Use a unique classification, such as “OB Invoice,” and then create a filter to easily find these invoices.
• Default Sales Rep – This field is handy if the assigned default sales rep is responsible for following up on these invoices.
• Clients Hub – When someone creates a new online account, a new client is created in your database. Depending on the client defaults set up in your Online Booking Preferences, the following fields may be useful:
• Client Status – Use an “Online Prospect” status for these clients. Have a staff member regularly check for these clients. They can verify the client information, look for duplicates, and update the status when done.
• Client Lead Source – Use “Online Booking” as the default lead source.

Q: How can I let my clients know how to login?

Create a form letter or HTML email and include the client Online User Name and Online Password merge fields. Take this opportunity to create a special promotion and include a link to your booking page (along with the client’s login credentials). You’ll be surprised how many people will book online instead of picking up the phone!

Q: What are some ideas for creating and managing our time slots?

Here are some ways you can easily and effectively manage your time slots. First, go to Maintenance > Session > Scheduling Time Slots to open your time slot list. Now try these ideas:

• Create one week of time slots that reflects a typical week at your studio. Don’t worry about days off right now.
• Don’t fill the days too full. You don’t want your clients to think you’re not busy!
• Decide how far into the future you will allow clients to book. Keep it short!
• Use the Copy feature to copy your sample week forward to the next several weeks (or whatever time period you decided about future bookings).
• Create a recurring appointment for one of your staff that reminds them to use the same tool to regularly create more time slots. For example, every Friday a staff member could add another week of time slots.
• Once the slots have been created, you can go back and edit them. Add additional time slots or remove some on a day you’re taking off. You can edit, add, or remove time slots in the time slot list or right on the calendar.
• Feel free to edit on the fly! If you have a day that fills up, you can always create a few more time slots to open up additional opportunities for online booking. The easiest way is right from the calendar!

That’s it for now! Remember, we love hearing from you. If you have suggestions for improving the Online Booking feature, please email us!

In the last week, how much time have you (or your staff) spent making calls or sending emails to your clients? Reminding them of a session, letting them know their order is ready, sending them a link to their online gallery, verifying a yearbook pose…the list goes on and on!

And another…

How many times has an inquiry or client follow-up been neglected, either because someone forgot to do it or you simply ran out of time?

It’s time to let your software help you out! How? Start using triggers (in the Professional editions of Spectra and myStratus) to do this stuff for you! That way you can spend your time doing what only you can do…create beautiful images. We’ve got great tutorials to help you get started. Start with this training video.

FAQs

Q: I’ve heard about triggers but haven’t had time to figure them out. Aren’t they complicated?

A:  They’re not complicated, but it will take a little time to set them up. Why don’t you start with just one? Set up a session type trigger to send a “Thank You” email to clients that have booked a session. Click here to learn how.

Q: Doesn’t sending an automated message seem cold and impersonal?

A: Sure it could, but it doesn’t have to! Use the Form Letter Builder in the software to create emails and text messages that are warm and personal, including the client’s name and other information related to their session or order with merge fields. Click here to learn how to create form letters.

Need more help? Give us a call!

Well, the training staff has been busy too! I want to take a minute to let you know about some of the changes we’ve made to the help and training resources we supply with our software.

• Spectra Help – Spectra 2014 has a brand new help system! The entire user guide has been moved to an online system. That means the user guides and HTML help will no longer be installed on your local system – they’re all online. When you click any of the help buttons in Spectra, the help page will open in your browser. Keeping the content online means we can continually update the documentation, providing you with the most up-to-date information possible. (It also saves you a bunch of hard-drive space!) Another bonus is that the process of recreating the help system gave us the chance to reorganize and rewrite a lot of the content. Our goal is to give you more easy-to-find “How To” material. Check out the new Spectra Online Help and let us know what you think!
• Help Menu – Several new links have been added to the Help menu in Spectra 2014, making it easy to find the “Getting Started Checklist” and other training resources.

  

• Stratus Help – Because Stratus includes three unique apps (Web, Mobile, and Desktop), presenting help and training resources becomes a bit more complex! Here’s where to find help with Stratus:
• Stratus Web has it’s own unique online help – Stratus Online Help.
• The Stratus Mobile app has it’s own chapter in the Stratus Online Help.
• Stratus Desktop is a bit different – it shares the Spectra documentation. Because Stratus Desktop and Spectra are essentially the same software (the database is just stored in a different location), instructions for Spectra also apply to Stratus. So currently, when you click a help button in Stratus Desktop, you’ll be taken to the appropriate page in the Spectra Online Help. To be honest, we’re not sure this will be our final solution. We’d love to know how it works for you!
• Submit a Suggestion/Feedback – Finally we encourage you to give us comments, suggestions, and feedback on all aspects of what we do. Use the Help menu in Spectra or Stratus to submit feature requests and suggestions. You can also leave comments at the bottom of any of our help pages, letting us know how we can better help you use the software.

• Have you been wondering how to use Triggers? Here are two new videos that’ll give you a great start: Setting up Triggers and Trigger Examples.
• How about the End of Day Wizard? There’s a new video for that too!
• Just started using Merchant Warehouse? Make sure you are doing it right with this video.
• Do you have a Google Calendar account? Learn how to sync it with your Spectra calendar by watching this video.

These are just a few of the videos that have been updated recently. Check out the whole list here. You’ll also want to subscribe to this Learning Blog so you’ll be notified whenever a new video or knowledge base article is released – just click Subscribe on the left.

I almost forgot, not only are we updating our Spectra training videos, we’ve also revamped our training checklist. Use it to find just what you should be reading or watching as you learn about certain features, especially when you’re just getting started.

It’s time to take full advantage of Spectra!

Promotions or Special Offers

• “Hi Kim! Congratulations! You won the drawing for a complimentary photo shoot at The Studio. Call me at 555-555-5555 to book it. Thanks, Todd.”
• “Hi Jessica! Just checking to see if you would like to use the photo session voucher you received when you picked up your new car at the BMW dealership.”
• “Hi Tom! We’re offering 50% off Christmas photo shoots this month at The Studio. If interested, give me a call at 555-555-5555. Thanks, Mary”

Confirmations and Reminders

• “Hi Sarah. Your photo shoot has been booked for 10:00 am, May 15th at The Studio! See you soon!”
• “Hi Kate. Just one more day to your photo shoot on 12/7/2013 at 10:00 am at The Studio! See you soon.”

Thanks You’s

• “Hi Karla. Thanks for coming in for your photo shoot today. Your images look AMAZING! We’ll let you know when they’re ready for you to see.”

Order Followup

• “Hi John. Your order is ready for pickup at The Studio. Your pics look great! Call us at 555-555-5555 to schedule a time to come in.”
• “Hi Judy. We hope you love your new pictures! If you like us on Facebook, we’ll enter your name for a free 8X10.”

Announcements

• “Hi Tammy, it’s Tina at The Studio. We posted your images online so you can share them with your family and friends! Check your email for your login details.”

Ambassador Programs

• “Hi Marissa! Just a reminder that we need your ambassador lists in by this Friday. You’ve almost earned your free Elite Session!”

Surveys

• “Hi Nicole, it’s Amanda at The Studio. I’m thinking of doing some sessions at the old Marley Farm this spring. Would you be interested in something like that?”

In order to build successful relationships with your clients and prospects, you need to engage them where they spend the most time – on their smart phones. You can get started with just a few easy steps.

1. Sign up for a StudioPlus SMS text messaging plan to use with either Spectra or Stratus. Text messaging plans can be adjusted when necessary and canceled at any time.
2. If you’re using Stratus, that’s it! When you sign up for a messaging plan, we automatically enable your texting features in Stratus and you’re ready to go.
3. For Spectra users, there are a couple more steps. You’ll need to:
• Enter your account name and password in your Spectra Studio Preferences.
• Enable the SMS Text Inbox Processor job in the Spectra Control Center.
4. Then, with either Spectra or Stratus, you can create SMS templates that can be used over and over!

Here are a few more resources you may find helpful:

+ Setting up SMS Text Messaging (Spectra)
+ Getting Started with SMS Text Messaging (Spectra)
+ Setting up SMS Text Messaging (Stratus)
+ SMS Text Messaging video (Stratus)

We recommend using a program like High Impact Email 5 from Template Zone to create your HTML emails. Available for under $100, this program contains hundreds of professionally designed templates that you can customize for your studio – changing the colors, text, pictures, logos, links, and more. You also get free web space (ReadyShare) where the images you use in your emails can be hosted. You just import the HTML code into Spectra, insert merge fields if you’d like, and save! You can easily build a collection of great looking HTML emails and use Spectra to send them one-at-a-time to individual clients or to a whole batch of clients at once using the Communication Wizard. You can even use Spectra’s triggers to send your HTML emails automatically.

Let me show you how easy it is…

Here is a senior email I’ve begun to create in High Impact Email 5 using one of the included templates. In just a few minutes, I replaced the four images in the template with my own and started to change the wording.

Here you can see the actual HTML code (the programming) of the email – already done!

When I’m done changing the text, inserting links, and adjusting the photos, I will save the new template (in case I want to make changes later) and export the template to an HTML file. Exporting will save a copy of the HTML code on my computer AND upload any images I’ve used in the email to my free ReadyShare space on the web. (That’s so my clients won’t see that annoying red “X” or blank box where my beautiful photos are supposed to be!)

In Spectra, I just open the HTML Email Builder and add a new HTML email by importing the HTML code that I exported from High Impact. Here’s my email in Spectra!

I can also see the HTML code in Spectra. This is where I can add merge fields from my Spectra database.

Save it and that’s it! Now I can start using Spectra to send out my email to individual clients, client groups, organizations, etc., easily keeping track of who I’ve sent emails to and when!

Read more:
-  Spectra HTML Email Builder
-  Spectra Communication Wizard
-  High Impact Email 5 by Template Zone

• How do I manage my high school senior workflow?
• Can Spectra help me track the costs of an invoice?
• How do I export a list of names and email addresses?
• How do I print a client statement?
• What are my ISP’s email limitations?
• How do I discount or donate a gift certificate or gift card?

Check them out by visiting the Knowledge Base page on our website. To see all the Spectra articles, just click View all in the Spectra section.

As you read the articles, make sure to give us your feedback. We want to know if the information we’re providing is helpful to you. If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve added feedback links all over the place – on each article, on the video pages, and in the user guide. Use the feedback link to make suggestions for new articles, too. We’d love to hear your ideas.

Check back often. We have dozens more articles in the pipeline. Oh, and “Happy Spring!”

Many of you already know Stephanie Lesser, our Senior Product Specialist, who is on the phone constantly helping all of you become successful with the StudioPlus family of products.  Together, Stephanie and I are excited to provide you with our blog dedicated to helping you maximize your investment in our products and services.  If you’re a user of one of our products or services, then please subscribe.

Here, at StudioPlus, we are constantly developing new training materials like videos, tutorials, FAQs, and other articles.  As we develop new materials, we’ll be sure to notify you through our new blog.  In addition, as we gather great ideas, tips, or tricks from other clients that are maximizing StudioPlus products, we think this blog will be a great tool to communicate those ideas with you.

As we were building our new website, we spent a LOT of hours updating our existing support material.  The existing StudioPlus Spectra User Manual and Getting Started Guide have been re-written.  We’re in the process of re-recording ALL the online training videos.  And we’re writing new knowledge base articles and tutorials every day.  We encourage you to check back often – every week you’ll see something new online in the new Learning Center.

Let the new StudioPlus website and Training Blog be a wealth of information and ideas for you to build a successful business. We’re here to serve and help you in any way that we can.  Come back soon!