If you own a beauty business and offer non-invasive treatments you will undoubtedly want to take compelling before and after pictures so that you can show these results off to potential new customers. The key is to take high-quality photos that clearly and accurately illustrate the effects of the treatment so that you can share them across your various marketing channels like blog posts, your website, email campaigns, and of course, social media platforms.
In a day and age where images often hold their weight more than words, it is important to know how to take quality photos. Online reviews are a driver for certain demographics, but in a recent survey, RealSelf found that 83% of consumers wouldn’t even consider an aesthetic clinic or treatment provider if they did not show before and after pictures online, which is an important metric when you are looking at conversion.
This post is dedicated to sharing some tips to ensure that your before and after pictures taken of your clients come across looking professional—this way any potential clients who are curious about one of the non-invasive treatments you offer are compelled to want to make a consultation appointment and hopefully book the service.
In a day and age where images often hold their weight more than words, it is important to know how to take quality photos. Online reviews are a driver for certain demographics, but in a recent survey, RealSelf found that 83% of consumers wouldn’t even consider an aesthetic clinic or treatment provider if they did not show before and after pictures online, which is an important metric when you are looking at conversion.
This post is dedicated to sharing some tips to ensure that your before and after pictures taken of your clients come across looking professional—this way any potential clients who are curious about one of the non-invasive treatments you offer are compelled to want to make a consultation appointment and hopefully book the service.
Always Ask For Permission
Before you even attempt to take any before and after pictures of your clients and their results, make sure you have permission to use these images for marketing purposes. Not every client will be ok with their photos being used in this manner and that is their choice, which you will have to respect. If you really want to cross your proverbial “t’s” and dot your “i’s”, you may want to consult an attorney to have a quick and easy release or consent agreement drawn up that includes how you intend to use the imagery for various marketing efforts and for how long.
Quality Is Always Better Than Quantity
While it is important to regularly post before and after pictures of your clients, quality far outweighs how often you post content with imagery. This means using photos that aren’t blurry. Aesthetic beauty consumers are savvy and do their research before they make a consultation appointment. They also know a good photo versus a bad one and can sniff out anything that whiffs of fakery, including editing that was used to alter results. Never try to oversell the results. Let the high-quality pictures do the talking.
Be Consistent
Not only should you regularly post before and after images on your social feeds, but you should also be consistent with how you take the photo each time. Create an internal system for how you take these types of photos and stick with it. Since the photos from a camera phone versus a traditional camera will yield different results—even for the same shot, this logic also applies to the device.
Consistency also applies to photo backgrounds. Perhaps create a specific area where these photos are taken. Before and after pictures should also be taken with the same lighting and at the same angles and proximity to the client to avoid distorting the results. Lastly, make sure to get multiple angles including the front, and both the left and right sides.
Consistency also applies to photo backgrounds. Perhaps create a specific area where these photos are taken. Before and after pictures should also be taken with the same lighting and at the same angles and proximity to the client to avoid distorting the results. Lastly, make sure to get multiple angles including the front, and both the left and right sides.
Keep It Simple
It’s best to keep before and after pictures simple. This means the background for the photos should be a solid, non-obtrusive color (like white, or gray). Clients should also remove all make-up, jewelry, and accessories for both rounds of photos. When it comes to capturing the results of facial treatments specifically, you will want your clients to have their hair pulled back in the same way for each set of photos. In instances where results are being captured for body treatments, make sure the client is wearing the same undergarments (if they are not wearing the disposable paper ones) each time.
For practices who want to lean on technology to take the guesswork out of creating professional-looking photos, we suggest https://rxphoto.com/, an app that simplifies the photo process and helps you get it right. The only downside is that the app doesn’t come cheap.
For practices who want to lean on technology to take the guesswork out of creating professional-looking photos, we suggest https://rxphoto.com/, an app that simplifies the photo process and helps you get it right. The only downside is that the app doesn’t come cheap.
Create A System To Categorize The Photos
Since you will be taking a lot of before and after images of your beauty location’s clients, you will want to categorize them so that you and your team can easily locate them as needed for various marketing efforts. By collecting information like the name of the person, gender, age, goal (acne, fat reduction, etc.), number of treatments, frequency of treatments (ex. 2 of 12 treatments), and the results, it will be easy to label your photos so you can easily find them. Make sure your labeling system is understood by all of your beauty location’s employees to ensure embarrassing mistakes don’t occur (like using the wrong ones).
Since people remember stories, it is also wise to get the backstory of why your client has come to your beauty location. Your customer’s journey can help you create a blog post for your website or be used for a targeted email campaign to promote a specific treatment since it helps illustrate how an aesthetic problem can be addressed with a non-invasive treatment solution.
Since people remember stories, it is also wise to get the backstory of why your client has come to your beauty location. Your customer’s journey can help you create a blog post for your website or be used for a targeted email campaign to promote a specific treatment since it helps illustrate how an aesthetic problem can be addressed with a non-invasive treatment solution.
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