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Candy's September Recap: New Features from Last Month!📸🎉

Candy's September Recap: New Features from Last Month!📸🎉
Hello, wonderful photographers!

Candy here, bringing you the first edition of our Recap series! 🌟

This blog post will cover alllllll of September's new features and changes worth mentioning! But going forward, we will be doing Weekly Recaps to keep you in the loop even faster.

We've been busy bees these past few weeks, and I can't wait to share all the fantastic new features and improvements we've made to help you shine even brighter. ✨

Psst... since this is our inaugural recap, we're covering updates from all of September, so grab a comfy seat—it's a bit longer than usual! Going forward, these recaps will be weekly and shorter, but just as sweet. 😉

1. Manual Gallery Assignment & Participant Creation 🛠️

We're thrilled to announce that manual gallery assignment and participant creation are now live! This means you can:

  • ○ Assign images to someone's personal gallery manually—perfect for those shots where the subject wasn't facing the camera, and face recognition didn't pick them up.
  • ○ Create participants manually, either one at a time or by uploading a spreadsheet.
  • ○ Instantly trigger marketing campaigns to individuals when you assign images to them, ensuring they receive their photos promptly.

We believe this will greatly enhance your workflow and support needs. Let us know how it helps you during your next event!

2. Tweaks to the Retail Site for a Smoother Experience 🛍️

We've made several improvements to our retail site to enhance the shopping experience for your clients:

  • ○ "Tap image to get started" text now shimmers on the initial gallery screen to guide users who aren't sure what to do next.
  • ○ Package creation improvements make it more intuitive for customers to customize their packages and select photos.
  • ○ Product renders in the cart: The view cart screen now displays product images next to every item, including items within multi-item packages, for increased clarity.
  • ○ Updated header and footer: Clear guidance on when to contact our retail support or reach out to you, the photographer, for assistance.

These tweaks aim to make the purchasing process as seamless and enjoyable as possible for your clients!

Theme: Liquorice - Watermarking: Default

3. Default Price Levels Are Back! 💰

Great news! The Default Price Levels from our previous NowCandid system are back and better than ever.

While you can still create custom offers, these ready-made Price Levels are optimized to help you maximize sales in various situations.

  • ○ Optimized for success: Designed to boost your sales potential.
  • ○ Versatile options: Suitable for a wide range of events and client needs.
  • ○ Easy to access: Gives you good Offer options in a pinch or when entering a new market.

For a detailed breakdown, click here.

4. New Image Notifications for Previous Purchasers 🛎️

We've improved our marketing system to better serve your clients and help keep those sales up:

  • ○ If someone purchases on Day 1 and is photographed again on Day 2, they will now receive a notification about the new images added to their gallery.
  • ○ Enhances customer engagement: Keeps clients informed and encourages additional purchases.
  • ○ Prevents missed opportunities: Even early buyers stay in the loop for new content.

This ensures your clients never miss out on their special moments!

5. Google Pay Added to Express Checkout Options 💳

We're excited to introduce Google Pay as a new express checkout option!

Our available payment methods now include:

  • ○ Traditional credit/debit card checkout
  • ○ Apple Pay
  • ○ Google Pay
  • ○ PayPal (and PayPal Pay Later)
  • ○ Venmo

And guess what? We have one more express checkout option coming soon! Stay tuned. 📢

Theme: Liquorice - Watermarking: Default

6. Capture App Version 4.4 for iOS & Windows 📱💻

The latest Capture App Version 4.4 is now available for both iOS and Windows, featuring:

  • ○ Keyboard support for Windows: Windows laptop users can now input phone numbers using the keyboard when using the Tap-A-Face Workflow.
  • ○ Performance improvements: Smoother and faster app experience.
  • ○ sRGB color checking: The app now ensures images are in sRGB format, preventing issues caused by Adobe RGB images.
  • ○ Event Selfie Check-In QR code display: Access the QR code directly from your device when needed.

Upgrade now to enjoy these enhancements!

7. Enhanced Folders Report 📊

Our Folders Report (which you can find using the Graph button on an Event's Management Page) just got more powerful:

  • ○ Sortable columns: Organize by images, participants, sales, and more.
  • ○ Real-time insights: Works live during events, allowing you to identify your best-performing photographers, mid-event.
  • ○ Actionable data: Mid-event reporting helps you provide immediate feedback to your team to boost performance.
  • ○ Download button: This report is now downloadable via the green button in the screenshot below as well!

Optimize your event management like never before!

8. Bulk Visibility Control for Image Folders 📁

We've added a handy button in the Manage Images page, when you have a folder selected:

  • ○ Mark entire folders as visible or invisible with one click.
  • ○ Use cases: Quickly hide a batch of images that need reworking, such as a blurry set.
  • ○ Saves time: Streamlines the process of managing large numbers of images.

Sometimes, mistakes happen! Now you can use this button to quickly hide images in bulk as you work to correct issues.

9. Customize "All Event Images" Gallery Settings 🖼️

You now have more control over the All Event Images gallery:

  • ○ Override default settings at the Offer level.
  • ○ Options:
    • Turn off the All Event Images gallery for Face Matching Events.
    • Turn on the All Event Images gallery for Positive ID Events.
  • ○ Recommendation: We suggest sticking with the defaults, but if you'd like to explore the pros and cons, click here to schedule a chat with us!

Tailor the gallery experience to suit any event's needs!

10. Simplified Selfie Check-In 📲

We've made the Selfie Check-In process even more user-friendly:

  • ○ Only requires a cell number OR email address.
  • ○ Encourages participation: Even though neither field says "optional," most people still provide both.
  • ○ Addresses Fringe Issues: Every now and then, someone doesn't have (or refuses to provide) a cell or email address. This change will account for those individuals!

Enhances guest engagement and reduces fringe support issues, with no changes on your part!

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11. New Unsubscribe Keyword: "NOPE"! 🚫

We've introduced a new, fun way for clients to manage their marketing preferences:

  • "NOPE": Clients can reply with this word to opt out of marketing for a specific event.
  • Future communications: They will still receive messages for future events unless they opt out again.
  • Accidental "STOP" replies: If someone replies "STOP" though, they'll need to send "START" to our marketing number to resume receiving texts.

This gives your clients more control while still keeping communication lines open for future events.

12. Seasonal Retail Themes: Apple Crumble & Candy Corn 🍂🎃

Get into the festive spirit with our new retail site themes:

  • Apple Crumble:
    • Autumn colors: Warm and inviting hues.
    • Falling leaves: Adorable "leaves falling" animation upon gallery arrival, check-in completion, and after checkout.
  • Candy Corn:
    • Halloween vibes: Shades of black and bright orange.
    • Candy corn confetti: Fun "candy corn toss" animation to celebrate the spooky season upon gallery arrival, check-in completion, and after checkout.
    • Haunted Retail Site: A few ghosts frequently fly across your customer's screens as they shop!

Delight your clients with these charming themes!

Note: the Leaves & Candy Corn only fall across the screen upon gallery arrival, check-in completion, and after checkout - these GIFs are simply showing it in a loop :)

Theme: Apple Crumble - Watermarking: Off

Theme: Candy Corn - Watermarking: Off

We hope these updates make your experience with NowCandid even more enjoyable and efficient.

Your success is our top priority, and we're always here to support you. 💖

As always, if you have any questions or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out. We're all ears! 👂

Until next week, keep capturing those amazing moments!

Cheers and sparkles,

Candy 🍬

Related articles

NowCandid Weekly Recap: Offer-Level Backgrounds, Jersey Filters & Pop Rocks Theme 🎆
Feature Updates
July 3, 2025

NowCandid Weekly Recap: Offer-Level Backgrounds, Jersey Filters & Pop Rocks Theme 🎆

4
 minutes read
Hey friends! It’s Candy, back again with updates on all things NowCandid.

This week? We’re talking backgrounds, jersey-spotting magic, and some serious product glow-ups. Let’s dig in! 🍬✨

🎨 Offer-Level Background Customization Is Here!

Now, you can set custom backgrounds at the Offer level!

  • • Pick from hundreds of preloaded background options
  • • Or upload your own (yep, your own!)
  • • Drag and drop to arrange their order just how you like
  • • Choose between 20 and 32 backgrounds to match your event’s vibe
  • • This background selection will set the choices for dynamic BGR images in Events using that Offer

Find it under "Image Backgrounds" when editing one of your custom offers!

🏀 JerseyJotter™ Got Even Smarter

Multiple jersey numbers at once? Don’t mind if I do! 🎯

Retail customers can now filter by more than one jersey number while browsing galleries—so if they’re hunting down that epic shot of #1 handing off to #23, they can actually find it. The more, the merrier!

JerseyJotter™ in action! Now able to filter down even more. Theme: Liquorice

✨ New & Improved Product Renders!

Our non-rendering products got a visual upgrade! Depending on the program or market, you’ll now see better sample graphics in the product gallery for:

  • • Spirit Noggins
  • • Spirit Sticks
  • • Canvas Wraps
  • • Wall Clings
  • • ...and even statuettes and acrylic magnets when using standard images.

Graduations? Sports? Social vibes? We’ve got you covered with graphics that actually match the moment. Love that for us. 💅

Here are two examples of what we're talking about:

✨ Improving Live-Rendering for Statuettes

📸 Statuettes now render in the product gallery with a transparent acrylic base (ooh, classy) and an updated plate design.


🎯 And just in case you missed it: Acrylic Magnets and Statuettes now live-render when customers are viewing the product gallery for a background-removed image.

Theme: Pop Rocks - Watermarking: Off

🎆 In Case You Missed It: Pop Rocks Theme!

We dropped a new “Pop Rocks” retail theme right before the 4th of July—complete with fireworks, dark mode, and party vibes galore.


Use it for summer celebrations, school events, or whenever you feel like turning up the wow.

🛠️ Misc Fixes & Tweaks!

🖼️ Quic-Event Tweak: When not selling a Digital Download product in your Quic-Events, the free download will now be much higher resolution!

🤳 Selfie Check-In™: A sneaky bug was messing with Selfie Check-In™ on some phones, but I waved my magic wand and poof—fixed.

📅 Report Date Picker: You can now select dates earlier than July 2023 when setting date ranges for reports. A little overdue... but better late than never, right? 😅

That’s all for this week!

Until next week,
– Candy 🍭✨

Smarter, Not Bigger: How One Photographer Increased Graduation Sales with Fewer Participants Using NowCandid™
Success Stories
June 30, 2025

Smarter, Not Bigger: How One Photographer Increased Graduation Sales with Fewer Participants Using NowCandid™

6
 minutes read

When a long-time graduation photography business, which has asked to remain anonymous, decided to switch an event they’d covered for years to NowCandid’s platform, the results were impressive.

Despite a significant drop in graduates at this ceremony, this studio has outperformed last year’s total sales, thanks to smarter systems, easier check-ins, and a smoother experience for families.

🎓 The Challenge

Capturing a graduation is always a high-volume, high-pressure operation. For years, this photography business relied on pre-registration lists and manual image matching. But getting enough students to register ahead of time was always a hurdle—and every missed check-in meant lost revenue.

With parents and schools expecting a faster, more polished experience, the team knew they needed a better way to deliver.

✅ The Solution

This year, they went all in with NowCandid’s smart, automated workflow:

  • • Selfie Check-In™ for faster, more flexible student identification
  • • Automated galleries and image matching, cutting down post-event sorting time
  • • Mobile-optimized customer galleries with tiered pricing offers
  • • Real-time reporting and clearer communication with the school

And the big win? Selfie Check-In™ now gives graduates up to 60 days after the event to register their photo—capturing stragglers who might otherwise never see their images.

📊 The Results

Here’s how the numbers stack up compared to last year:

  • • NUMBER OF GRADUATES:  -10%
  • • SALES PER PARTICIPANT:  +39%
  • • ORDER AVERAGE:  +29%

The graduation's 2025 sales over the past 45 days has already exceeded their 2024 sales over 365 days by 26%.

Meaning, their total sales are up 26% with plenty of time to increase going forward.

By giving families more time and an easier path to find their photos, the studio saw higher average order values, better sales per participant, and less manual work for their team—even with fewer students overall.

💬 What the Studio Noticed

  • • Time savings: Fewer employees needed to manage sign-ups on site.
  • • Lower labor costs: Less time chasing registrations, more focus on shooting.
  • • Less customer service: Fewer retail support calls, because NowCandid helps with those!
  • • Happier schools: Schools loved the modern process and the extra contact info for staying connected with new grads.

🎯 Their Biggest Wins

When asked what they’d tell another studio thinking about making the switch, the owner put it simply:

“What are you waiting for? We increased sales, lowered our labor costs, and made the process easier for everyone.”

They added that the extended Selfie Check-In™ window alone made a huge difference:

“Being able to register students up to 60 days after the event helped us capture sales we would have missed.”

Would they use this workflow again?

“100%.”

🚀 Wrap-Up

This photo business proves that growth isn’t always about shooting more photos or booking bigger crowds. Sometimes, it’s about working smarter—using tools that connect families with their memories faster and easier than ever.

👉 Ready to see what NowCandid™ can do for your next graduation event? Start here »

Weekly Recap: Retail Refinements, Product Pricing, and BGR Upgrades
Feature Updates
June 27, 2025

Weekly Recap: Retail Refinements, Product Pricing, and BGR Upgrades

6
 minutes read
Hey there, it’s Candy!

This week’s update brings smoother retail experiences, friendlier pricing on customer favorites like statuettes, and a full refresh of how background-removed images (BGR) work across the site.

Let’s dive into what’s new!

🖼️ BGR x Retail: A More Intuitive, Sellable Experience

Big changes have landed to make Background Removed (BGR) images shine where it matters... in your customers’ galleries and carts.

Here’s what changed:

  • BGR Renders in Personal Gallery Downloads: Pre-rendered BGR images are now included in the downloadable gallery, making products more attractive and support calls less frequent.
  • 🔄 Smarter Image Order in Retail Gallery:
    1. Background 1 pre-renders
    2. Cutouts with "Select a Background" labels
    3. Original Images
    4. Backgrounds 2–4 Pre-Rendered
    5. Group Photos / PhotoTagged images
  • 🛍️ Smarter Package Image Selection:
    • Pre-rendered BGR images now appear during image selection for packages.
    • Ordering of images follows the same flow as above, bringing consistency across the experience.
  • 📱 Mobile Background Step Skipped:
    • Pre-renders act more like real images now, with background selection skipped on Mobile devices to reduce confusion.
    • Background selection still available on Desktop
  • 💡 Visual Cue for BGRs:
    • BGR images now feature a subtle “Select a Background” overlay to help guide customer expectations and improve product engagement.

Theme: Liquorice

🏷️ Product Pricing Updates (Including Lower Statuette Costs!)

We've made changes to product pricing and shipping rates, with statuettes dropping over 40% in product cost!

Some costs have gone up slightly, but others went down—here’s a rundown of the biggest changes:

🧾 Highlights:

  • 📉 5×7 Statuette: $12.24 → $6.97 (↓ 43.06%)
  • 📉 8×10 Statuette: $17.21 → $9.97 (↓ 42.05%)
  • 📈 Travel Mug: $11.09 → $12.19 (↑ 9.92%)
  • 📈 16×20 Hanging Metal Print: $66.42 → $71.83 (↑ 8.15%)
  • 📉 11×14 Group Print (Shipping): $7.25 → $7.00 (↓ 3.45%)

More detailed breakdown at the end of the post!

🧍‍♂️ Live Statuette Previews with Cutout Images

When a customer selects a BGR image, statuettes & acrylic cutout magnets will now render in real time using their PNG cutout—just like our other dynamically-rendering products!

No more generic preview. What they see is what they’ll get. 👌

Theme: Liquorice

🎆 New Retail Theme: Pop Rocks (Just in Time for the 4th of July!)

Get ready to light up your storefront! Our brand-new Pop Rocks retail theme has officially launched—a bold, dark mode layout featuring an eye-catching fireworks background.

It’s the perfect festive look for Independence Day events, summer festivals, or any celebration that deserves some extra sparkle.

This theme brings:

  • 🌌 A sleek dark interface that makes photos pop
  • 🎇 A dynamic fireworks background for an instant party vibe
  • 🛍️ The same easy shopping experience with a more celebratory feel

Photographers can enable Pop Rocks from the Custom Offer Creator under Theme Settings—just in time to make your July events feel a little more explosive. 💥

Found via a Custom Offer's Editor

📚 Resources Page Reimagined

The Resources section has been split into five focused pages to remove clutter and confusion:

  • Every button is now better labeled with detailed descriptions so you know exactly what it does and why it matters.

Better clarity = better confidence!

🖼️ New Product Render Creator Tool

Found under Marketing Materials (in the new Resources section), this lets you:

  • Upload a sample image
  • Generate live product previews
  • Download and use those previews for your own promotional content

Perfect for flyers, social posts, or emails. 📣

Upload your own pics, and click the products to download them!

👥 Contact Stats Now More Accurate

Going forward, the system now tracks Participants vs Additional Contacts more accurately in new events. While this doesn’t retroactively change old events, future reports will give you a clearer picture of who engaged with your Event and how.

📝 Full List of Pricing Changes

Here’s the full breakdown of this week’s product/shipping adjustments:

That’s everything for this week!

The BGR improvements and new marketing tools are sure to make your Events feel sharper, simpler, and more sellable than ever.

Until next time,

📣 Candy

Let’s get in touch

If you’re a photographer looking to add NowCandid services to your wheelhouse – set up a call by clicking the button below.

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text

How to customize formatting for each rich text
How to customize formatting for each rich text

What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

  • List One
  • List Two
  • List Three
  • List Four
  • List Five

This is a link

This is bold text