The curious thing about becoming a professional photographer is discovering how little time pro photographers actually spend taking photos. Instead, newly-turned pros find themselves heavily occupied with business-related tasks like managing leads, consulting with clients, sending contracts, scheduling sessions, collecting payments, delivering galleries, ordering prints, and the list goes on. All of this is in addition to capturing and editing photos. When getting started, it’s cost-prohibitive to hire a team, so most photographers work solo. The key to making this work without burning out is finding and using efficient tools that help streamline the overall workflow. One such tool that can take a lot of the heavy lifting off of your hands is Pixieset, and specifically their Studio Manager and newly released Mobile App. Pixieset is a cost-effective solution that can manage all of the above (sans capturing and editing photos) and more.
In this review, we’ll do a basic breakdown of the app’s different features to show you what it can do and help you determine if it’s a good fit for managing your photography business.
Let’s get into it.
What Is the Pixieset Studio Manager Mobile App?
Pixieset’s Studio Manager Mobile App is an on-the-go tool that allows photographers to access all of the features that make Pixieset’s Studio Manager one of the leading CRM (customer relationship management) apps on the market. In the photography industry, Pixieset has already made a name for itself with its Client Gallery, Website Builder, Studio Manager, and Store. Now, with the Studio Manager Mobile App, you can conveniently manage your bookings, documents, payments and client emails, all from your mobile device.
Pixieset Studio Manager Mobile App Features
As noted above, Pixieset has loaded the app with features, which we’ll explore in more detail below. We’ve organized the features into an outline that reflects how we use the app ourselves to help manage clients and run our actual business.
It’s worth pointing out that all of the basic features are free, and advanced features are available for purchase through paid plans. We’ll distinguish which are which as we work through them.
Here’s a closer look at its core features:
Booking & Scheduling
The Pixieset Studio Manager simplifies booking and scheduling with a fully customizable online booking site – one of our favorite features – that syncs directly with your Google Calendar, and you can now access this tool from using the app on your mobile device. This integration ensures your availability is always up-to-date and makes it easy to schedule photography sessions, video calls (integrated with Zoom and Google Meet), and other appointments.
Pixieset also empowers photographers to streamline the client intake process by allowing contracts, invoices, and questionnaires to be completed during booking. All you have to do is turn on these features in Studio Manager.
Additionally, in the event that you’re running a special or perhaps a discount for booking that day, the booking coupon feature lets photographers offer discounts or promotions to entice new clients or reward loyal ones.
Invoices & Payments
The mobile app’s invoicing system is impressively comprehensive yet simple to use. Photographers can create digital invoices that include payment schedules, discounts, taxes, and even tips. With support for online payment methods like credit cards, digital wallets, and PayPal, as well as the ability to track offline payments, it pretty much covers all payment scenarios for your clients’ convenience.
Another time-saving addition is the ability to save your own invoice templates, which is perfect for those who frequently work with standard pricing structures. Whether you’re working with one-time clients or recurring customers, this feature ensures your invoicing process is fast and consistent, and you can still customize the invoice as needed.
Contracts
Thanks to convenient tools like the Pixieset Studio Manager and its mobile app, we no longer have to chase clients for signed contracts. You can set automatic reminders so clients get follow-up emails at intervals that you determine in advance. The app includes a fully digital contract system with eSignatures, making it easy to send, sign, and store legal documents.
Studio Manager offers free contract samples that are specifically tailored for photographers, ensuring that even those without prior legal documentation experience can get started immediately. Being able to create and save templates is another great way that Pixieset helps you save time.
Let’s take a quick look at how to send out a contract for a new project using the Pixieset Studio Manager Mobile App.
- Click on the “+” in the top right corner of the app and select “Document”
- Choose the “Contract” option
- Add your client’s email and assign the contract to a project if you want to
- Alternatively, you can select an existing contract template to get started
- Edit the contract and fill in any missing variables, such as the date, time, and location if needed – the app will let you know if variables are missing, and they’ll need to be filled out before you can send the contract
- Set reminders and send the contract
Questionnaires
A standout feature for photographers is the app’s questionnaire builder, which lets you collect important information from clients before the shoot. From preferences to must-have shot lists, as well as follow-up surveys after the session is complete, you can customize questionnaires to suit your needs. Pixieset also offers free sample templates to help you get started and allows you to save your own questionnaires for future use.
Like we did above, let’s take another quick walk through the app, this time to see how to send a questionnaire or survey.
- Click on the “+” in the top right corner of the app and select “Document”
- Choose the “Questionnaire” option
- Add your client’s email and assign the document to a project if you want to
- Select an existing questionnaire template, or choose “Blank Questionnaire” to create a new one
- Review the questions, make any necessary changes, and then send it off to your client – it will send via email to the address on file
Once the client completes the questionnaire, you’ll get a notification via email as well as within the app.
Project Tracking
The customizable project board is a powerful tool for keeping track of every client interaction and task. Photographers can assign documents, sessions, payments, and client details to specific projects, making it easy to monitor progress from start to finish. Whether you’re juggling multiple shoots or a large-scale event, this feature ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
More Features
The Studio Manager mobile app doesn’t stop there—it provides additional tools to enhance client communication and business management, including:
- Client emailing and instant notifications for timely communication.
- Contact list management to organize and store client information.
- Lead generation contact forms to capture potential clients effortlessly.
- Automatic reminders for payments, contracts, and sessions, ensuring clients stay on track.
- Digital price quotes to make it easy for potential clients to evaluate and commit to your services.
For photographers already using Pixieset for gallery delivery, the integration with Studio Manager and other Pixieset tools is seamless. Everything, from bookings, communications, documents, payments, galleries, to even print orders is interconnected. As cliche as it may sound, Pixieset provides a one-stop solution for managing your business, and the new Studio Manager mobile app allows you to run your entire business from your phone.
Related Reading: Pixieset Website Builder Review and Overview
Free Plan
To use the Studio Manager mobile app, you’ll need to have an account on pixieset.com. As we mentioned above, anyone can get started for free, and then upgrade to get access to more advanced features when they are ready. Considering the wide range of features covered in the free plan, there’s absolute value here in that the Studio Manager mobile app (as an extension of Pixieset’s lineup of tools) will help run a number of important elements of your business at zero cost. At the end of the day, the paid plans are fairly priced compared to other options on the market, so there’s no real downside to the investment required to take advantage of the advanced features.
What Makes the Pixieset Studio Manager Different from Competitors?
Pixieset stands apart from its competitors with its minimalist and clean design, intuitive and easy-to-use tools. A lot of brands tout their products as being easy to use, but when you jump in, the reality is quite different, which you’ll quickly learn as you attempt to navigate product features. Pixieset is one of the easiest tools/platforms to learn, and we’ve reviewed plenty on this site. Their Studio Manager is no exception. It was designed to help photographers stay organized, run pro-level businesses, and manage complex tasks in an easier way, and that’s what it does. The user interface is intuitive, so any photographer, regardless of their experience, can get started in a few steps and invoice clients, create contracts, and manage everything from their computer and phone without having to work through a steep learning curve.
Additionally, and this is sort of a big deal, all Pixieset tools integrate between each other. This way, in Studio Manager, a photographer can track everything related to their clients, including payments, sessions, communication and delivered photo galleries. You won’t find this with many of their competitors.
Conclusion
The Pixieset Studio Manager Mobile App is an incredibly helpful tool for photographers who value efficiency and convenience. In many ways, the mobile app mirrors the functionality of the Studio Manager itself. It brings together all the essential features needed to run a successful photography business (managing bookings, tracking projects, or keeping up with payments, etc.) in one user-friendly platform. Because it’s a ‘“mobile” app, however, you get the added convenience of portability. That is really its strongest selling point.
If you follow this link to check out Pixieset’s Studio Manager, you can get a $20 discount when you sign up and upgrade to any paid plan. The mobile app is available on App Store and Google Play Store.
