June 25, 2024 • 42 mins
đź’¬ Show Notes
Welcome to another episode of Funktastic Chats Podcast! Today, we're chatting with Kate Furst from Zola, the fastest-growing women-led wedding planning platform. Kate shares her incredible journey in the events industry, celebrating nearly 11 years at Zola. She provides an inside look at how Zola has transformed from an e-commerce registry to a comprehensive wedding planning tool that serves both couples and vendors.
Kate dives into Zola’s innovative features designed to support wedding professionals, including free listings, dedicated account managers, and flexible pricing plans. She explains how Zola’s unique credit system allows vendors to connect with couples without the burden of expensive subscriptions. Kate also highlights the importance of community in the wedding industry, emphasizing Zola’s tools for vendor collaboration and peer reviews.
Whether you're a seasoned wedding pro or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable insights on leveraging Zola to grow your business. Learn how to create compelling listings, utilize Zola’s “Say Hello” feature, and navigate the platform’s robust matching algorithms to connect with the right couples.
Don’t miss out on tips for personalizing your outreach, responding swiftly to inquiries, and maintaining authentic connections. Plus, discover how Zola’s new vendor dashboard and resource center can help you continuously improve your profile and attract more qualified leads.
🎙️ Create a FREE Zola Listing
Connect with the right couples and own your brand with a free listing tailored to your industry.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today we're chatting with Kate First from Zola, the
fastest-growing women-ledwedding planning platform.
Kate shares her incrediblejourney in the events industry,
celebrating nearly 11 years atZola.
She provides an inside look athow Zola has transformed from an
e-commerce registry to acomprehensive wedding planning
tool that serves both couplesand vendors.
(00:21):
Zola's unique credit systemallows vendors to connect with
couples without the burden ofexpensive subscriptions.
Kate also highlights theimportance of community in the
wedding industry, emphasizingZola's tools for vendor
collaboration and peer reviews.
So, whether you're a seasonedwedding pro or just starting out
, this episode is packed withvaluable insights when it comes
to leveraging Zola to grow yourwedding business and navigating
(00:44):
the platform's robust matchingalgorithms to connect you with
the right couples.
This is the Funkatastic Chatspodcast.
It's all coming up next withKate Burst.
You are special girl.
You are extraordinary.
You are special girl, all right.
(01:19):
So today we're here with KateFirst.
Kate, welcome to the podcast.
It's so great to have you ontoday.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I'd love to turn it over to you, Kate.
How did you get started in theevents industry?
What is your role at Zola?
I'd love to hear all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh sure, I could go on and on.
I am almost celebrating my 11thyear at Zola, so it has been a
long time that I've been a partof this company and the wedding
industry and I've had a chanceto wear a bunch of different
hats at the company, which is areal privilege.
I started off in operationsbefore we launched, so creating
(01:58):
all the supply chain operations,all the customer support
operations and really, as weinitially started, primarily as
an e-commerce company, so I wasable to focus on that, really
learn.
The couple side of theexperience ultimately took over
the e-commerce side with ourregistry business and our paper
(02:18):
offering for invitations, savethe dates, all that fun stuff.
And then I have nowtransitioned to the Zola for
Vendors product, which has beenamazing because I now get to get
a taste for what the vendorside of the experience is and
match that with the couple sideof the experience that I do feel
like I know pretty well.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
For those who might not be familiar with Zola or
haven't explored the platformyet, can you explain what Zola
is all about?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, I feel like a Zola evangelist, so I would be
thrilled to do that.
So Zola is the fastest growingwomen-led wedding planning
platform that has millions ofcouples who come to us and love
and trust us.
And Zola was really born out ofthe desire to make the wedding
(03:08):
planning experience better forcouples and we're really proud
that now over 2 million coupleshave chosen to plan their
weddings with us, which isreally incredible.
And Zola started, as I said, asthat e-commerce experience.
It was like 11 years ago, therewas a reality that the registry
experience just didn't reallymatch the kind of it was this
(03:31):
afterthought, so it started offreally trying to create a
transformative experience thereand that brought us to this
place where we realized we couldreally solve problems for
couples.
And then we've just continued toevolve the experience to add
more problem solving elements tothe platform.
So, like I said, we added paper, we added free wedding websites
(03:52):
, we added albums and then weadded the ability for our vendor
marketplace to launch, whichhappened in 2020.
And we now have grown that toover 40,000 vendors who share
our commitment to inclusivity,tolerance and respect, and we've
now provided those vendors withover 19 million leads, which is
(04:14):
just a lot of leads and thatallows us to bring together that
thoughtfulness that we bring tocouples, also to our vendors,
and we've taken tons of feedbackfrom both communities to really
understand how to build anexperience that helps them grow,
solves their problems in a waythat just feels right and
(04:35):
authentic to both of thosegroups.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So this whole side of Zola that's catered towards
wedding pros.
This is a newer thing for Zola.
Zola has not had this vendorside since the beginning.
What does your role entail onthe vendor side?
Now for Zola.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We've continued to add more components to the
platform as we've evolved,continue to solve those problems
.
So for us now, what we kept onhearing from couples was that
when they started their weddingplanning process they were just
totally overwhelmed.
And what we also heard theywanted to find their wedding
team but they just didn't reallyknow where to start.
It was a really overwhelmingexperience.
(05:12):
But we also heard the samething for vendors that they felt
like they were struggling tofigure out how to get good
connections to couples and theirleads.
So for us, that meant that wehad this two communities that
were struggling, that we feltlike we could come together and
connect them and do it in areally different way.
But you have to do it in a waythat isn't just putting volume
(05:37):
in front of everybody, becausethat doesn't feel good.
Couples come to us because theyknow that we're going to
provide that level of curationand quality and vendors want to
come to us because they knowthat we're going to provide that
level of curation quality andvendors want to come to us
because we have that level ofquality in our couples.
So we had to really figure outhow we bring that quality to
both audiences and doing it in away that you can also scale,
because you need to cover theentire country and that's a lot
(06:01):
of couples and that is a lot ofvendors.
So figuring out how to bring onthat vendor community and put
it in front of couples in a waythat made sense for both has
just been a really interestingopportunity for Zola to get to
solve those problems on bothsides.
And what we do now is for everyvendor, we give them the chance
(06:21):
to come on Zola, create a freelisting.
We give you a dedicated accountmanager to support you through
that process.
We'll build the listing withyou, we'll help you optimize it
and that's let us make theseinroads into this community of
vendors.
That is just a whole new worldfor us.
And you don't want to put thelocal pizzeria up there because
(06:43):
they're willing to pay.
You want to put the place thatthe couples feel really excited
about, and so that both the newvenues and the new vendors that
we put up get to see the Zolaaudience and that audience also
gets to see this kind of curatedcommunity of vendors.
So that has been amazing.
I mean we also differentiateourselves to both those
(07:04):
audiences by making theinformation that the couples and
the vendors share between themreally meaningful.
So we ask both couples andvendors to share what they're
looking for, what they offer, sothat pricing, availability,
style all those things can beused as criteria for to match
(07:24):
those two different audiencesand ensure that you're talking
to the right people.
You're not just having anexperience where we connect you
with someone and you're likethis isn't anywhere near what I
was looking for.
Couples want to find somethingthat makes sense for them and
vendors want to find somethingthat makes sense for them, and
it's frustrating if those leadsare mismatched on both sides.
So we work really hard to makesure that we are authentic about
(07:47):
the criteria that bothaudiences put forward to connect
to each other.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, I mean just as my experience as a vendor so far
on Zola.
I feel like I'm not beingsaturated with unqualified
inquiries, but I'm reallyfocused on having the right
conversations, not just as manyconversations as I can.
I mean, there's so many thingsI want to ask you here, but
before we even go on to anythingI would listing or anything
(08:17):
like that, I would kind of wantto start with Zola's credits
feature for Wedding Pros,because I didn't want somebody
listening to this being like ohGod, I'm already paying
thousands of dollars a year forthis and this service and this.
It doesn't have to be like thatat Zola, right, right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, I think that is one of the things that, when we
were researching how we couldsolve, how we could help the
vendor community, we what wefound was that it is a crazy
world out there for how theyhave to manage all these
different costs and platforms inorder to manage and grow their
business, and what we found isthat you don't really need to.
(08:54):
We don't want to force anybodyto do anything right.
So the way that Zola comes outis that we worked to create this
thoughtful group of packagesthat are super affordable and
allow for vendors to invest whatthey want and can budget in
order to connect with couples.
There's no locked in contracts.
(09:14):
It's totally flexible to yourbusiness, and in doing so, we
were able to create kind ofthese multi.
We have these differentpackages that you can just have
credit so that you pay as you gowhen you connect with leads and
you don't have to even pay tobe on the platform.
So let's say you're aphotographer and you're in
Boston and you're on theplatform when you get leads.
(09:38):
You would then get a messagethat says, like Sally and Peter
are interested in connectingwith you and they're getting
married in December.
This is their budget, this iswhat they're looking for, and
you could evaluate certaincomponents of that lead to say,
does this make sense for me ornot?
And if it does, then you canbuy credits to connect with that
lead, which is amazing.
(09:59):
It's totally different thanwhat other platforms offer,
because it doesn't.
It's not a subscription modelthat makes you pay in advance
and potentially get no value outof it.
And but we also could say wealso have this offering where we
have unlimited plans that yousay I want to pay monthly and
connect to as many leads as comein, so I don't have to play
that mental math on is what?
(10:21):
How many leads have I connectedwith amongst my budget?
And?
And so we offer both of thesedifferent types of plans to
really give that flexibility toour vendors to make sense with
whatever type of business theyhave.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
For those who are really looking to manage their
cashflow.
Vendors don't have to pay toconnect with inquiries for dates
they aren't available for.
They don't have to pay for aninquiry where they know the
venue is just too far away, orfor more experienced wedding
pros.
You could go on one of thosehigher packages.
I'm wondering, kate, if you'vebeen having conversations with
wedding pros who are brand newto the business and if this
(10:57):
model is just giving them a legup in the business, because it's
not a huge financial commitmentrelative to other subscriptions
out there.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah Well, the other thing that I wanted to mention
is that we offer you a freetrial for anybody who signs up.
So you come in the door andyou're like I heard really great
things about Zola, but like Ineed to learn for myself, I'm
not going to sign up for a year.
That feels totally overwhelming.
We don't expect that from you.
So we give you a certain amountof credits, depending on, like,
what type of business you are,and so then you just get to try
(11:31):
it out.
So that often does.
It's like magical marketing,because it's just us giving you
a chance to have the experienceand connect for free with leads
and see how, what kind of leadswe offer, how amazing these
couples are.
In a way that takes away thenthat fear of like, what have I
committed to?
And we do hear from vendorsjust how much they appreciate
(11:55):
the fact that we do give themthat flexibility.
But not only that.
I think one of the other thingsthat we find is that if you
reach out to a couple and forwhatever reason, you use your
credits and you reach out tothem and they don't connect with
you, we have this program whereyou can reach out to us and say
hey, that couple didn't respondwithin the 14 days after I
reached out and we'll give youyour credits back.
(12:16):
So it's, the risk is nothingthere's.
We're just giving you a way ofconnecting with this audience
that we already built, thatwe've spent 10 years nurturing
and growing, and now we're justproviding an amazing way for our
vendors to grow their businessby having access to this
audience in a way that really isrisk-free.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
This is such a little thing, but I noticed it right
away.
I love the green checkmark onmy profile that says how many
Zola couples have booked us.
It says 35 couples have bookedus.
I don't know if that's a lot ora little, but it just adds
another level of credibility.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
When I say that, what I mean is we have had 10 years
of couples getting married usingour wedding websites, using our
different functionalities, andso we know who they're using, we
(13:09):
know where they're gettingmarried, we know the
photographers they're using, andso it's this amazing ability to
give that kind of social proofto couples and to vendors so
that they can see that they'reworking with someone who a lot
of different couples have hadamazing experiences with whether
it's the check about a numberof book couples or reviews that
(13:30):
kind of ability for us to giveyou a trusted vendor team, I
think is one of the things thatcouples and vendors really
appreciate team I think is oneof the things that couples and
vendors really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, this is also why I was just asking about if
new wedding pros who areentirely new to the wedding
industry have reached out to youover the years because the Zola
listing just looks so beautiful.
I mean, this is the first timeI've ever referred someone to a
listing page instead of mywebsite, to be honest, thank you
.
With all these features thevideos, the services, FAQ these
(14:08):
new wedding pros that are comingon the market here you're
really giving them guidanceabout how to build their
businesses.
You know, have you guysconnected with new owners in
that way?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, I think what has been so motivating to me as
I've come into this new side ofZola for Vendors, after being at
Zola for a long time, is beingable to hear what the new and
existing vendors have to sayabout the experience.
I think they are just sograteful that their businesses
are growing, especially becauseit is a bit of a challenging
year out there for the weddingvendor community, given that
(14:38):
COVID impacted the number ofpeople dating, which just feels
like a wild thing to even haveto think about.
But for us to be able to saywe're here to support you and
we're going to make yourbusiness beautiful and we're
going to help you differentiateyourself.
Vendors are so grateful and Ithink one of the things the
listings are beautiful, but oneof the other things that vendors
are so amazed by is thisprospecting tool that we have
(15:00):
and we call it our say hellotool, and what it does is it
doesn't.
You, as a vendor, don't have tosit back and wait for couples to
inquire with you.
We give vendors this match,match list of couples that are
searching for basicallysearching for things like you in
your area, for basicallysearching for things like you in
your area, and so you get thislist and it says, hey, these are
(15:28):
10 couples who have beensearching.
Do you want to reach out tothem and say that you're willing
to connect and you're eager topotentially have a conversation?
And so it puts vendors in thedriver's seat, which is so hard
and there's so few places wherevendors can basically drive
their own business, and so thishas been an incredible feature
for our vendors to be able touse our say hello feature, and
couples love it, because so manyof them are intimidated by
(15:52):
boiling the ocean of sorts tofind their wedding team, and so
for vendors to get to reach outare.
The new and existing vendors onthe platform are just blown
away by this ability to growtheir business and put it in
their hands.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
It's amazing to me that we don't always have to
wait for couples to reach outfirst to us to start the
conversation.
And there's a way to get theseideal couples, quote unquote in
front of us by what Kate saidthe saying hello feature.
What are some best practicesfor vendors to turn these
(16:26):
initial prospect interactionsand in the meaningful
conversations on Zola?
Is there a difference whenyou're reaching out to a couple
saying hello versus respondingback to a couple?
Is the communication differentthere versus responding?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
back to a couple.
Is the communication differentthere?
I think it's so.
When you reach out with our sayhello feature, you can put a
little note and I think what wehave found is that the more
personalized you make thatmessage, the higher the
connection rate is, and thisobviously seems so obvious, but
it is something that we reallytell vendors like be personal,
(17:03):
like lean into who you are.
You do not have to be themasses, you be your authentic
self and that person, showinterest in the couple's vision
for the wedding, Remember howimportant that day is for them
and show empathy and excitementto potentially work with them.
I think that is reallyimportant.
The other thing I would say isrespond quickly and whether it's
(17:26):
declining politely because it'snot going to be the right match
for you, or responding to themwhen it is potentially the right
match, making couples wait thelonger they wait, the less
likely they are to continue thatconversation, and we all know
it sucks to be ghosted.
And so if you're using thefeature whether it's the say
hello feature or just gettinginquiries being swift in your
(17:49):
response goes a really long way.
And then there are other littlethings, like, I would say,
addressing the couple by bothnames.
That, I think, is important.
We at Zola really want it to bea dual planning process, not
just weighted in one side of thecouple's hands.
So it can be pretty frustratingfor couples when vendors only
(18:10):
assume one of them is engaged inthe planning process.
So your inclusivity goes a longway and when in doubt, keep it
short and sweet.
Try not to overwhelm coupleswith too much information, but
definitely just keep checkingfor new leads and don't be
afraid to reach out first andkeep the conversation going.
(18:31):
Vendors this is their bread andbutter and for couples this is
a totally new side of theiruniverse Most likely they've
never planned a wedding before.
New side of their universe.
Most likely they've neverplanned a wedding before.
And so being thoughtful in yourfollow-up really will go a long
way, because I think a lot oftimes couples need a little mini
break to just process what's infront of them, but that doesn't
(18:51):
mean they're not still in theplanning process.
So being thoughtful in yourfollow-up, I think definitely
also is something that we'veseen really provide important
return to our vendors.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yes, and the listing makes the messaging a little bit
easier, because I think onemessage that always frustrates
vendors is hey, could you pleasesend pricing and packages?
And they don't know what elseto ask.
They're not trying to just getit out of you, they just don't
know what else to ask and that'sjust the logical thing to ask.
And I think between thestarting prices at the top of
(19:22):
the Zola listing the packages,it takes some of the friction
out of the process when you'recommunicating with the couples
and I really appreciate that asa vendor because then I'm
focused on selling results, I'mnot focused on selling price and
I think that it's so great thatZola kind of takes that pricing
and packages friction out ofthe initial messages a little
(19:46):
bit Right.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think when couples are, it's all about who you want
to work with on both sides.
Like you might be the mostaffordable caterer in the
universe, but if you're not warmand friendly, there's a chance
that a couple is going to befearful about what it's like to
partner with you on that day,and the same goes for a vendor.
(20:07):
If you reach out to a coupleand they're not necessarily
giving you the warm and fuzzies,it's all about that partnership
and I think our hope is that weput forward great options for
both couples and their vendorsand they connect and see what
that vibe is like and then theycan get into the details and
we'll make that swift for them.
(20:28):
But our whole goal in askingvendors to give us more
information about their businessis so that the couples that
come to them have already seen alot of those details, and so
it's not wasting the vendor'stime by saying, hi, my budget's
too low or your dates areunavailable.
Hopefully we've done some ofthat weeding out for them so
that when the couple comes tothem, it's really about whether
(20:50):
or not that's the rightconnection.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Zola is the only listing sites where other
vendors are encouraged to leavereviews, and not just past
clients.
Kate, how have you seen Zola'sreview section for vendors stand
out unique compared to otherplatforms like Google Reviews?
Because, with me, I justnoticed that the few reviews
I've gotten from other vendors,the reviews are just so
(21:16):
different Talking about what itwas like working with us leading
up to the big day, thelogistics, the things that the
couple doesn't see.
Have you noticed the types ofreviews vendors are leaving?
Just the way that the reviewswidget looks is just so
different to other platforms outthere.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, I think when we first started this, we were
like reviews are obviously superimportant.
Started this, we were likereviews are obviously super
important.
But why wouldn't we let vendorsalso be part of the review
experience, not just couples?
Because it's a different levelof education, it's a different
exposure and education rightLike couples are like.
This is what it was like tostart this process and do and
(21:56):
have this experience and whatthe end result was.
And this is my vision as a.
This is what my experience wasas a couple.
But giving vendors the abilityto say I love working with this
vendor, they're so skilled, theygo above and beyond that is
just as important to a couple.
And then Zola also.
That means that our reviews areimportant for vendors and for
(22:20):
couples.
So if you're a photographer andyou're trying to find a
videographer to partner with,you can come to Zola too and see
what it's like to work withthese people in the eyes of the
customer, but also in the eyesof the partner.
And we see that couples are justas interested in vendor reviews
(22:41):
as they are in couple reviewsand it shows that community.
So often the discoveryexperience for a couple is that
they'll go to a venue page maybe, and then they'll scroll down
and they'll see those preferredvendors and they'll see who
vendors have worked with andbefore they know it, they've
started to put together thisnetwork effect of who they're
(23:05):
going to be working with, andthat is what vendors love.
But it also makes couples'lives so much easier to utilize
and leverage these relationshipsthat they're seeing on Zola to
guide them through the process,and I think it feels good on
both sides.
But it also really drives amaterial difference for our
(23:25):
vendors and our couples asthey're building up their
listings and growing theirbusinesses.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
It's funny I always say running a wedding band.
I always say we need people tonot know us.
It's a good thing thateverybody doesn't know us.
We need more fans.
This is great.
But Zola just knows howimportant building relationships
is for any wedding pro new orveteran and what a driving force
that is for any weddingbusiness.
(23:51):
And to be able to realize thatand just build upon that is just
so unique to me.
What are some other ways thatvendors form relationships with
other vendors on Zola?
Because there's like a suggestalternate vendors tool.
There's just so many cool thingsthat I'd love for you to chat
about.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah.
So I think what has been reallyone of my favorite learnings
about the Zola for Vendorsproduct and I've been out at
wedding conferences and we'vebeen hosting gatherings for a
lot of venues in differentcities is it has just blown my
mind how much community is atthe heart of the wedding
(24:30):
professionals world.
I mean, back in the day, I thinkit used to be a lot more
competitive and cutthroat in theway that people operated, and
it is just not like that now.
It is a very supportive andcommunity driven world and I
think that Zola has steppedforward, listening to vendors
(24:51):
that this is important to them,that they do want to help grow
each other's business and growtogether, and so we offer not
only the ability for them toreview each other and help each
other get that benefit, but wealso offer something called
preferred vendors andalternative vendors, which I
think is a chance for vendors tosay let's say, you're a venue
(25:13):
and you're like these arecaterers and photographers we
work with all the time, so thathelps the venue because they're
going to be working with morepeople who they've worked with
before, which has worked forthem, and everybody already has
gotten the cobwebs out of whatthat first experience is like of
partnering on a weddingtogether, but it also helps the
preferred vendors grow, and sothey're very motivated to be
(25:36):
able to create these connectionpoints and recommend each other
so that they're able to displaythese strong relationships, grow
together, solve availabilityissues together and foster a
trusting, vibrant community ofvendors who actively uplift one
another and ultimately isbenefiting the entire vendor and
couple community.
(25:56):
And I think that has just been.
You put it forward and you'rereally curious if people are
going to use it.
And we see that it is very muchused and it's amazing to watch
that network effect.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I was part of a wedding kind of mastermind
workshop here in Chicago about amonth ago where they had
different groups of vendors socaterers and venues,
photographers, videographers,bands, djs everybody is now
doing a preferred vendors list.
This is like bigger than everright now, especially in a few.
(26:29):
Depending on what field you'rein, it could be more competitive
than others and and that's whyI was just so amazed there's not
really a platform like zolathat encourages other vendors to
connect with each other,because there have been so many
times I was like man, I wishthat I was more friendly with
like one of the veteran you knowbands out there, and zola has
(26:50):
really given me an opportunityto do that where I'm not sure I
would have had a channel to dothat through otherwise.
So I just thought that was so,so cool.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, I think it's one of my favorite behind the
scenes kind of components.
It's like a little bit of asleeper thing that I think just
sits back and just does a lot ofhard work for our vendors and
it's really great to see.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Zola's algorithms use various tools to help vendors
connect with the right couples.
Can you talk a little bit moreabout how Zola pairs wedding
pros with the right couples?
You chatted a little bit on it,but it inspired me to think
about who our ideal couple is innew ways as well, so I was just
wondering if you could chat alittle bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Sure.
So when I think it's a lot ofit goes back to when vendors are
creating the.
They go through the onboardingprocess to customize their, what
they're offering and theirservices are, and so when you're
doing that, you're specifyingpricing and compelling info in
your bio.
You're talking about themarkets that you serve.
(27:56):
So if you are in Chicago, youalso probably serve the North
Shore and you serve maybeWisconsin, parts of Wisconsin,
the Wisconsin Dells and all that.
But so we give you the abilityto say I serve all these
different markets.
Right, it's not just hyperlocalto wherever you are, but for a
band or someone in theentertainment side, somebody in
(28:17):
the photography side, thatability to define markets is
transformative, because thatmeans that they're not just
pigeonholed into this very smalllocation based system.
It really allows them to spreadtheir wings.
And we also give them say whatservices do you offer?
And upload photos, faqs and allthose kinds of things.
(28:38):
And then we take all of that andwhen couples come to us, we
provide a robust amount offilters so that they are able to
say where they're looking, saywhat they're looking for and in
a completely authentic way, wejust put forward results that
(28:58):
match back to what you say youoffer and what they say they're
looking for, and there's nodisintermediation there of like
us getting in the way of tryingto.
We are just trying to connect onboth sides and so it really
allows for interest of thecouple and services of the
vendor to be the number onepriority of what comes forward
(29:21):
in that match.
And I think that the what I'vebeen really amazed by is we
offer all these filters Like areyou looking for all inclusive?
Are you looking for how manypeople are coming to your
wedding?
What is your budget?
What are all these differentcomponents?
And when couples then canfilter by that, the results just
populate through for of thevendor population that are able
(29:45):
to service that couple's needs.
And it's incredible to then seehow many leads a couple will
then generate because we've putforward so many good results for
them.
So they will then go on andinquire with a handful of
vendors and those conversationshave already skipped all of the
(30:08):
icebreakers of sorts and gonedirectly into these very
intentional conversations, and Ithink that is something that we
plan to just continue to buildmore on, because there's just
always more opportunity for usto continue to take more of
those little niche ways thatniche interests on both side and
use that to make even betterconnections.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
So depending how many credits couples buy, does that
mean that they will be receivingmore leads or showing up higher
in the search results?
Or is every vendor fair game?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Every vendor is fair game.
So couples connect for free.
They just come on and searchand they're just connecting with
as many vendors as they want.
And for vendors we prioritizethe only things that we
prioritize our listing resultson is based off of how engaged
you are as a vendor and like aslike, for example, and your
(31:04):
location, and I mean there's acouple other popularity are you
a newcomer?
Those kinds of things.
But that is if you are a quickresponder.
That is the kind of stuff thatpushes you to the top.
If you're gonna ghost couples,we're not gonna put you at the
very top because we don't wantcouples to have a bad experience
(31:24):
and so that if you have credits, if you don't have credits, if
you have an unlimited package,if you don't have an unlimited
package, the results page isreally based off of how engaged
you are as a vendor and whetheror not you're matching to the
couple's filters.
It's not going to be.
It's.
Those are the main componentsthat we utilize in making those
(31:46):
search results.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I was surprised that I've never been asked by a
platform hey, how was thequality of this lead?
How did we do here?
Did we do a good job matchingthis lead?
Why or why not?
That is just something thatreally makes me, as a vendor,
feel like.
It encourages me to just put somuch trust into Zola, into the
couples that are searching forus through Zola, just because I
(32:08):
feel like Zola is on my sidehere as far as getting me the
best leads, and not so much thequantity but the right leads and
the right conversations.
Can we chat a little bit aboutIf there's 40,000 vendor
profiles we said earlier right,Is that right?
That's right.
(32:29):
If you're not one of these40,000, could you please talk
about going to Zola and creatinga vendor profile, how vendors
can go about doing that?
And then also, we chatted onthe reviews feature.
We chatted on the connectingwith other vendors feature, but
was wondering if you could chata little bit more about some of
the other features that Zolaoffers as well in that listing
(32:51):
profile.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Sure.
So you come to Zola and we havea Zola for vendors part of the
site and you come on and it'sjust a total breeze to set up it
.
Literally, it's like you canset it up in a matter of minutes
, but at the end we have adedicated team that will help
you do it.
And so you go through a veryquick onboarding that really
(33:14):
just asks you about yourbusiness and about the things I
mentioned before.
What is your pricing?
What kind of different packagesdo you offer?
If you're a venue, do you havedifferent rooms?
If you're a photographer, doyou also offer videography?
What is, what is your businesslook like?
And then we say what is whatare you?
What do you look like?
(33:34):
Not physically, but like whatis your?
Who are you?
What is your business?
And we want you to tell uscompelling info, because the
more unique you make yourself,the more people feel connected.
You're not making yourselfunique for no reason, but you
know, the more you're able totune into the personal parts of
(33:54):
your business, the more thecouples are able to see and
visualize what it might be liketo work with you.
So you're defining your markets, you're saying your services,
you're uploading photos andvideos because those are so
important.
And we say upload more photosand videos as frequently as you
can, because couples just keepon looking when they're looking
at photos.
(34:14):
They love that inspirationalmoment.
We also give vendors a chanceto answer FAQs of things that
might questions couples mighthave as they're going through
that process.
And then we want you to uploadyour social media handles
because obviously that's justsuper important.
So now you've created thisbeautiful listing, but then I
(34:35):
think, what's?
You don't set it and forget it.
You come back, you tweak it andwe tell you what we can, how
you can make it better.
So our vendor team will thencome on and be like hey, I think
you could put more pricinginformation here.
It might be helpful to clarifywhether it's a minimum amount of
spend that you need to kick offa relationship or whether you
(34:56):
do it on a price per guest.
Whatever it might be, give usmore information.
Or maybe we should change thisfront picture to make it a
little more compelling, basedoff of what we see couples
really respond to.
So that's a very human side ofus that's really coming out to
say, hey, how do we make yourbusiness better?
And we're holding your hand thewhole way through, and I think
(35:17):
that's at the core of who we areand with all the new features
that we're constantlyconsidering rolling out, a lot
of it is literally just ustrying to listen and help
vendors grow their business, andso we have a lot of really
exciting things that I thinkit's coming down the pipe.
One of them is that we recentlylaunched a new vendor dashboard
(35:39):
for our vendors, which reallymakes the user experience even
easier in your inbox to sendthose hellos.
But also we added this listingstrength kind of score of sorts
that really says like hey, youhaven't added photos in like a
year.
You should do more here orhere's more.
We really could use yourequesting more reviews, because
(36:01):
we see that vendors with morereviews just get farther along
in the process with couples.
So we're telling you exactlywhat is going to help you
improve your business, whichmost people don't do it that way
.
For us, we are holding yourhand the whole way through and
that.
But we also recently added thisresource guide so that you can
(36:22):
also this resource center so youcan also research and do more
yourself.
Like if you go in there, it'slike how do I even grow my
business more.
How do I?
What are the right kind ofmessages I should send couples
when I'm responding to them?
What is the?
What are people in my areadoing?
How do I foster more of thatkind of type of couple to get
(36:44):
that a certain type of couplethrough the door?
So we have articles, we haveall those kinds of things and
that's really new for us to betaking a lot of that personal
handholding that we've beendoing offline with our account
management team and bringing itonline.
So it's really more in aself-service capacity.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, I mean us as wedding pros me being a musician
we're so invested working inour businesses.
I feel like that is great, thatZola gives us these tools on
our dashboard to help us work onour businesses, because I know
that's something that's reallyeasy to forget about, especially
this time of year all the timesaying, like what more should I
(37:23):
do?
Speaker 2 (37:23):
What should I do?
And you shouldn't have to ask usthat question.
We should just be able to tellyou, like you should just come
on and see that like there'ssome stuff that you could do to
improve your profile and like,why wouldn't we do that?
And I think one of the otherthings that we've recently found
is that, like, obviously withinthat concept of reviews,
there's a lot more we could doto make that more turnkey for
(37:44):
our vendors, and so we recentlyoverhauled the reviews
experience because we wanted togive even more features and
tools there.
So vendors now can respond toreviews, they can ask for more
reviews, they can do it in areally easy way so that it's not
like copying and pasting amillion things.
They can track their reviews.
And all of that is just to saythat we're literally sitting
(38:06):
there and listening to vendorsall day long tell us what's
working, what's not working, andwe're busting our butts to make
sure that we are drivingforward improvements for them,
to help them with the experience, make their lives easier and
also drive more of thosequalified leads their way.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Especially drive more of those qualified leads into
the markets that they want to bein.
I think what stops a lot ofpeople from expanding is just
the financial cost of it onother listing sites.
And so for Zola to just say,hey, you could be in as many
markets as you want to serve isa pretty revolutionary thing
here in the wedding list.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
You don't pay more to put more markets on.
Exactly, you're really tryingto grow Nashville because
Nashville and Charlotte are hugewedding communities but you
don't have a huge amount ofbusiness there.
But you can get there and offeryour services.
Then we will help you do thatin just a way that or we both we
benefit too, because if you'regoing to get more leads, then we
obviously were able to supportyou through that, and there's
(39:10):
buying more credits is somethingwe would benefit from.
But we're putting that forwardbecause we want you to grow your
business authentically, not addmore markets because it comes
at an incremental cost to you.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Kate, first, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast.
I've been waiting to talk toyou for a while, just because
Zola is just doing so many coolthings and it's just really been
amazing watching over the pastfew years all the amazing things
that Zola has done for vendorsand just really especially
post-COVID.
I feel like building acommunity of vendors and helping
(39:41):
each other and supporting eachother is more important than
ever and I think it's just sogreat that there's a platform
out there that fosters that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Well, thank you so much.
We are huge fans of yourpodcast.
We talk about it all the time.
We're huge fans of this amazingvendor community and we love
being able to support bothvendors and couples on these
incredible days of celebrationand the wedding universe brings
(40:14):
so much joy and we just feelvery honored to be a part of
that on both sides, and we're sograteful for the chance to
connect with you and connectwith your audience, because
there's so much for us to all dotogether to continue to bring
that joy.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yes, thank you so much.
Okay, make sure you go towwwzolacom or just check the
link in the show notes.
We'll have just a short linkthere that leads you right to
the Zola for Vendors page.
Kate, thanks so much forjoining us.
Make sure you guys sign up fora profile and if you really feel
like it, us Make sure you guyssign up for a profile.
And if you really feel likeit's a funktastic scent, yes.
(40:48):
So thanks, kate, I appreciateit.
Thank you All right.
All right, and that's it fortoday's conversation with Zola,
but it does not have to stophere.
You can go to wwwzolacom slashfour dash vendors, wwwzolacom
slashvendors, where you canconnect with the right couples
and own your brand with a freelisting tailored to your
(41:10):
industry.
This may be a great way toconnect with more qualified
couples.
Grow your network with yourpeers.
If you've been wanting toexpand into another market,
another city, another state, butafraid of the financial burden,
this may be a great way to getin front of other couples in
these new markets.
Maybe the financial burden hasstopped you.
(41:30):
Maybe the SEO that's requiredto get in front of these couples
in this new market has stoppedyou.
Take advantage of Zola, becausethey're doing everything right
here when it comes to getting infront of couples with their say
hello, feature their algorithmsto qualify these couples.
So you're having the rightconversations.
(41:52):
We're going to have all thelinks in the show notes, so make
sure you check those out andyou are extraordinary and we'll
see you next time.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Once in a lifetime, lifetime.
Today we're chatting with Kate First from Zola, the
fastest-growing women-ledwedding planning platform.
Kate shares her incrediblejourney in the events industry,
celebrating nearly 11 years atZola.
She provides an inside look athow Zola has transformed from an
e-commerce registry to acomprehensive wedding planning
tool that serves both couplesand vendors.
(00:21):
Zola's unique credit systemallows vendors to connect with
couples without the burden ofexpensive subscriptions.
Kate also highlights theimportance of community in the
wedding industry, emphasizingZola's tools for vendor
collaboration and peer reviews.
So, whether you're a seasonedwedding pro or just starting out
, this episode is packed withvaluable insights when it comes
to leveraging Zola to grow yourwedding business and navigating
(00:44):
the platform's robust matchingalgorithms to connect you with
the right couples.
This is the Funkatastic Chatspodcast.
It's all coming up next withKate Burst.
You are special girl.
You are extraordinary.
You are special girl, all right.
(01:19):
So today we're here with KateFirst.
Kate, welcome to the podcast.
It's so great to have you ontoday.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I'd love to turn it over to you, Kate.
How did you get started in theevents industry?
What is your role at Zola?
I'd love to hear all about it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh sure, I could go on and on.
I am almost celebrating my 11thyear at Zola, so it has been a
long time that I've been a partof this company and the wedding
industry and I've had a chanceto wear a bunch of different
hats at the company, which is areal privilege.
I started off in operationsbefore we launched, so creating
(01:58):
all the supply chain operations,all the customer support
operations and really, as weinitially started, primarily as
an e-commerce company, so I wasable to focus on that, really
learn.
The couple side of theexperience ultimately took over
the e-commerce side with ourregistry business and our paper
(02:18):
offering for invitations, savethe dates, all that fun stuff.
And then I have nowtransitioned to the Zola for
Vendors product, which has beenamazing because I now get to get
a taste for what the vendorside of the experience is and
match that with the couple sideof the experience that I do feel
like I know pretty well.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
For those who might not be familiar with Zola or
haven't explored the platformyet, can you explain what Zola
is all about?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, I feel like a Zola evangelist, so I would be
thrilled to do that.
So Zola is the fastest growingwomen-led wedding planning
platform that has millions ofcouples who come to us and love
and trust us.
And Zola was really born out ofthe desire to make the wedding
(03:08):
planning experience better forcouples and we're really proud
that now over 2 million coupleshave chosen to plan their
weddings with us, which isreally incredible.
And Zola started, as I said, asthat e-commerce experience.
It was like 11 years ago, therewas a reality that the registry
experience just didn't reallymatch the kind of it was this
(03:31):
afterthought, so it started offreally trying to create a
transformative experience thereand that brought us to this
place where we realized we couldreally solve problems for
couples.
And then we've just continued toevolve the experience to add
more problem solving elements tothe platform.
So, like I said, we added paper, we added free wedding websites
(03:52):
, we added albums and then weadded the ability for our vendor
marketplace to launch, whichhappened in 2020.
And we now have grown that toover 40,000 vendors who share
our commitment to inclusivity,tolerance and respect, and we've
now provided those vendors withover 19 million leads, which is
(04:14):
just a lot of leads and thatallows us to bring together that
thoughtfulness that we bring tocouples, also to our vendors,
and we've taken tons of feedbackfrom both communities to really
understand how to build anexperience that helps them grow,
solves their problems in a waythat just feels right and
(04:35):
authentic to both of thosegroups.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So this whole side of Zola that's catered towards
wedding pros.
This is a newer thing for Zola.
Zola has not had this vendorside since the beginning.
What does your role entail onthe vendor side?
Now for Zola.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We've continued to add more components to the
platform as we've evolved,continue to solve those problems
.
So for us now, what we kept onhearing from couples was that
when they started their weddingplanning process they were just
totally overwhelmed.
And what we also heard theywanted to find their wedding
team but they just didn't reallyknow where to start.
It was a really overwhelmingexperience.
(05:12):
But we also heard the samething for vendors that they felt
like they were struggling tofigure out how to get good
connections to couples and theirleads.
So for us, that meant that wehad this two communities that
were struggling, that we feltlike we could come together and
connect them and do it in areally different way.
But you have to do it in a waythat isn't just putting volume
(05:37):
in front of everybody, becausethat doesn't feel good.
Couples come to us because theyknow that we're going to
provide that level of curationand quality and vendors want to
come to us because they knowthat we're going to provide that
level of curation quality andvendors want to come to us
because we have that level ofquality in our couples.
So we had to really figure outhow we bring that quality to
both audiences and doing it in away that you can also scale,
because you need to cover theentire country and that's a lot
(06:01):
of couples and that is a lot ofvendors.
So figuring out how to bring onthat vendor community and put
it in front of couples in a waythat made sense for both has
just been a really interestingopportunity for Zola to get to
solve those problems on bothsides.
And what we do now is for everyvendor, we give them the chance
(06:21):
to come on Zola, create a freelisting.
We give you a dedicated accountmanager to support you through
that process.
We'll build the listing withyou, we'll help you optimize it
and that's let us make theseinroads into this community of
vendors.
That is just a whole new worldfor us.
And you don't want to put thelocal pizzeria up there because
(06:43):
they're willing to pay.
You want to put the place thatthe couples feel really excited
about, and so that both the newvenues and the new vendors that
we put up get to see the Zolaaudience and that audience also
gets to see this kind of curatedcommunity of vendors.
So that has been amazing.
I mean we also differentiateourselves to both those
(07:04):
audiences by making theinformation that the couples and
the vendors share between themreally meaningful.
So we ask both couples andvendors to share what they're
looking for, what they offer, sothat pricing, availability,
style all those things can beused as criteria for to match
(07:24):
those two different audiencesand ensure that you're talking
to the right people.
You're not just having anexperience where we connect you
with someone and you're likethis isn't anywhere near what I
was looking for.
Couples want to find somethingthat makes sense for them and
vendors want to find somethingthat makes sense for them, and
it's frustrating if those leadsare mismatched on both sides.
So we work really hard to makesure that we are authentic about
(07:47):
the criteria that bothaudiences put forward to connect
to each other.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, I mean just as my experience as a vendor so far
on Zola.
I feel like I'm not beingsaturated with unqualified
inquiries, but I'm reallyfocused on having the right
conversations, not just as manyconversations as I can.
I mean, there's so many thingsI want to ask you here, but
before we even go on to anythingI would listing or anything
(08:17):
like that, I would kind of wantto start with Zola's credits
feature for Wedding Pros,because I didn't want somebody
listening to this being like ohGod, I'm already paying
thousands of dollars a year forthis and this service and this.
It doesn't have to be like thatat Zola, right, right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
No, I think that is one of the things that, when we
were researching how we couldsolve, how we could help the
vendor community, we what wefound was that it is a crazy
world out there for how theyhave to manage all these
different costs and platforms inorder to manage and grow their
business, and what we found isthat you don't really need to.
(08:54):
We don't want to force anybodyto do anything right.
So the way that Zola comes outis that we worked to create this
thoughtful group of packagesthat are super affordable and
allow for vendors to invest whatthey want and can budget in
order to connect with couples.
There's no locked in contracts.
(09:14):
It's totally flexible to yourbusiness, and in doing so, we
were able to create kind ofthese multi.
We have these differentpackages that you can just have
credit so that you pay as you gowhen you connect with leads and
you don't have to even pay tobe on the platform.
So let's say you're aphotographer and you're in
Boston and you're on theplatform when you get leads.
(09:38):
You would then get a messagethat says, like Sally and Peter
are interested in connectingwith you and they're getting
married in December.
This is their budget, this iswhat they're looking for, and
you could evaluate certaincomponents of that lead to say,
does this make sense for me ornot?
And if it does, then you canbuy credits to connect with that
lead, which is amazing.
(09:59):
It's totally different thanwhat other platforms offer,
because it doesn't.
It's not a subscription modelthat makes you pay in advance
and potentially get no value outof it.
And but we also could say wealso have this offering where we
have unlimited plans that yousay I want to pay monthly and
connect to as many leads as comein, so I don't have to play
that mental math on is what?
(10:21):
How many leads have I connectedwith amongst my budget?
And?
And so we offer both of thesedifferent types of plans to
really give that flexibility toour vendors to make sense with
whatever type of business theyhave.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
For those who are really looking to manage their
cashflow.
Vendors don't have to pay toconnect with inquiries for dates
they aren't available for.
They don't have to pay for aninquiry where they know the
venue is just too far away, orfor more experienced wedding
pros.
You could go on one of thosehigher packages.
I'm wondering, kate, if you'vebeen having conversations with
wedding pros who are brand newto the business and if this
(10:57):
model is just giving them a legup in the business, because it's
not a huge financial commitmentrelative to other subscriptions
out there.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah Well, the other thing that I wanted to mention
is that we offer you a freetrial for anybody who signs up.
So you come in the door andyou're like I heard really great
things about Zola, but like Ineed to learn for myself, I'm
not going to sign up for a year.
That feels totally overwhelming.
We don't expect that from you.
So we give you a certain amountof credits, depending on, like,
what type of business you are,and so then you just get to try
(11:31):
it out.
So that often does.
It's like magical marketing,because it's just us giving you
a chance to have the experienceand connect for free with leads
and see how, what kind of leadswe offer, how amazing these
couples are.
In a way that takes away thenthat fear of like, what have I
committed to?
And we do hear from vendorsjust how much they appreciate
(11:55):
the fact that we do give themthat flexibility.
But not only that.
I think one of the other thingsthat we find is that if you
reach out to a couple and forwhatever reason, you use your
credits and you reach out tothem and they don't connect with
you, we have this program whereyou can reach out to us and say
hey, that couple didn't respondwithin the 14 days after I
reached out and we'll give youyour credits back.
(12:16):
So it's, the risk is nothingthere's.
We're just giving you a way ofconnecting with this audience
that we already built, thatwe've spent 10 years nurturing
and growing, and now we're justproviding an amazing way for our
vendors to grow their businessby having access to this
audience in a way that really isrisk-free.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
This is such a little thing, but I noticed it right
away.
I love the green checkmark onmy profile that says how many
Zola couples have booked us.
It says 35 couples have bookedus.
I don't know if that's a lot ora little, but it just adds
another level of credibility.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
When I say that, what I mean is we have had 10 years
of couples getting married usingour wedding websites, using our
different functionalities, andso we know who they're using, we
(13:09):
know where they're gettingmarried, we know the
photographers they're using, andso it's this amazing ability to
give that kind of social proofto couples and to vendors so
that they can see that they'reworking with someone who a lot
of different couples have hadamazing experiences with whether
it's the check about a numberof book couples or reviews that
(13:30):
kind of ability for us to giveyou a trusted vendor team, I
think is one of the things thatcouples and vendors really
appreciate team I think is oneof the things that couples and
vendors really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, this is also why I was just asking about if
new wedding pros who areentirely new to the wedding
industry have reached out to youover the years because the Zola
listing just looks so beautiful.
I mean, this is the first timeI've ever referred someone to a
listing page instead of mywebsite, to be honest, thank you
.
With all these features thevideos, the services, FAQ these
(14:08):
new wedding pros that are comingon the market here you're
really giving them guidanceabout how to build their
businesses.
You know, have you guysconnected with new owners in
that way?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, I think what has been so motivating to me as
I've come into this new side ofZola for Vendors, after being at
Zola for a long time, is beingable to hear what the new and
existing vendors have to sayabout the experience.
I think they are just sograteful that their businesses
are growing, especially becauseit is a bit of a challenging
year out there for the weddingvendor community, given that
(14:38):
COVID impacted the number ofpeople dating, which just feels
like a wild thing to even haveto think about.
But for us to be able to saywe're here to support you and
we're going to make yourbusiness beautiful and we're
going to help you differentiateyourself.
Vendors are so grateful and Ithink one of the things the
listings are beautiful, but oneof the other things that vendors
are so amazed by is thisprospecting tool that we have
(15:00):
and we call it our say hellotool, and what it does is it
doesn't.
You, as a vendor, don't have tosit back and wait for couples to
inquire with you.
We give vendors this match,match list of couples that are
searching for basicallysearching for things like you in
your area, for basicallysearching for things like you in
your area, and so you get thislist and it says, hey, these are
(15:28):
10 couples who have beensearching.
Do you want to reach out tothem and say that you're willing
to connect and you're eager topotentially have a conversation?
And so it puts vendors in thedriver's seat, which is so hard
and there's so few places wherevendors can basically drive
their own business, and so thishas been an incredible feature
for our vendors to be able touse our say hello feature, and
couples love it, because so manyof them are intimidated by
(15:52):
boiling the ocean of sorts tofind their wedding team, and so
for vendors to get to reach outare.
The new and existing vendors onthe platform are just blown
away by this ability to growtheir business and put it in
their hands.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
It's amazing to me that we don't always have to
wait for couples to reach outfirst to us to start the
conversation.
And there's a way to get theseideal couples, quote unquote in
front of us by what Kate saidthe saying hello feature.
What are some best practicesfor vendors to turn these
(16:26):
initial prospect interactionsand in the meaningful
conversations on Zola?
Is there a difference whenyou're reaching out to a couple
saying hello versus respondingback to a couple?
Is the communication differentthere versus responding?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
back to a couple.
Is the communication differentthere?
I think it's so.
When you reach out with our sayhello feature, you can put a
little note and I think what wehave found is that the more
personalized you make thatmessage, the higher the
connection rate is, and thisobviously seems so obvious, but
it is something that we reallytell vendors like be personal,
(17:03):
like lean into who you are.
You do not have to be themasses, you be your authentic
self and that person, showinterest in the couple's vision
for the wedding, Remember howimportant that day is for them
and show empathy and excitementto potentially work with them.
I think that is reallyimportant.
The other thing I would say isrespond quickly and whether it's
(17:26):
declining politely because it'snot going to be the right match
for you, or responding to themwhen it is potentially the right
match, making couples wait thelonger they wait, the less
likely they are to continue thatconversation, and we all know
it sucks to be ghosted.
And so if you're using thefeature whether it's the say
hello feature or just gettinginquiries being swift in your
(17:49):
response goes a really long way.
And then there are other littlethings, like, I would say,
addressing the couple by bothnames.
That, I think, is important.
We at Zola really want it to bea dual planning process, not
just weighted in one side of thecouple's hands.
So it can be pretty frustratingfor couples when vendors only
(18:10):
assume one of them is engaged inthe planning process.
So your inclusivity goes a longway and when in doubt, keep it
short and sweet.
Try not to overwhelm coupleswith too much information, but
definitely just keep checkingfor new leads and don't be
afraid to reach out first andkeep the conversation going.
(18:31):
Vendors this is their bread andbutter and for couples this is
a totally new side of theiruniverse Most likely they've
never planned a wedding before.
New side of their universe.
Most likely they've neverplanned a wedding before.
And so being thoughtful in yourfollow-up really will go a long
way, because I think a lot oftimes couples need a little mini
break to just process what's infront of them, but that doesn't
(18:51):
mean they're not still in theplanning process.
So being thoughtful in yourfollow-up, I think definitely
also is something that we'veseen really provide important
return to our vendors.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yes, and the listing makes the messaging a little bit
easier, because I think onemessage that always frustrates
vendors is hey, could you pleasesend pricing and packages?
And they don't know what elseto ask.
They're not trying to just getit out of you, they just don't
know what else to ask and that'sjust the logical thing to ask.
And I think between thestarting prices at the top of
(19:22):
the Zola listing the packages,it takes some of the friction
out of the process when you'recommunicating with the couples
and I really appreciate that asa vendor because then I'm
focused on selling results, I'mnot focused on selling price and
I think that it's so great thatZola kind of takes that pricing
and packages friction out ofthe initial messages a little
(19:46):
bit Right.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I think when couples are, it's all about who you want
to work with on both sides.
Like you might be the mostaffordable caterer in the
universe, but if you're not warmand friendly, there's a chance
that a couple is going to befearful about what it's like to
partner with you on that day,and the same goes for a vendor.
(20:07):
If you reach out to a coupleand they're not necessarily
giving you the warm and fuzzies,it's all about that partnership
and I think our hope is that weput forward great options for
both couples and their vendorsand they connect and see what
that vibe is like and then theycan get into the details and
we'll make that swift for them.
(20:28):
But our whole goal in askingvendors to give us more
information about their businessis so that the couples that
come to them have already seen alot of those details, and so
it's not wasting the vendor'stime by saying, hi, my budget's
too low or your dates areunavailable.
Hopefully we've done some ofthat weeding out for them so
that when the couple comes tothem, it's really about whether
(20:50):
or not that's the rightconnection.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Zola is the only listing sites where other
vendors are encouraged to leavereviews, and not just past
clients.
Kate, how have you seen Zola'sreview section for vendors stand
out unique compared to otherplatforms like Google Reviews?
Because, with me, I justnoticed that the few reviews
I've gotten from other vendors,the reviews are just so
(21:16):
different Talking about what itwas like working with us leading
up to the big day, thelogistics, the things that the
couple doesn't see.
Have you noticed the types ofreviews vendors are leaving?
Just the way that the reviewswidget looks is just so
different to other platforms outthere.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, I think when we first started this, we were
like reviews are obviously superimportant.
Started this, we were likereviews are obviously super
important.
But why wouldn't we let vendorsalso be part of the review
experience, not just couples?
Because it's a different levelof education, it's a different
exposure and education rightLike couples are like.
This is what it was like tostart this process and do and
(21:56):
have this experience and whatthe end result was.
And this is my vision as a.
This is what my experience wasas a couple.
But giving vendors the abilityto say I love working with this
vendor, they're so skilled, theygo above and beyond that is
just as important to a couple.
And then Zola also.
That means that our reviews areimportant for vendors and for
(22:20):
couples.
So if you're a photographer andyou're trying to find a
videographer to partner with,you can come to Zola too and see
what it's like to work withthese people in the eyes of the
customer, but also in the eyesof the partner.
And we see that couples are justas interested in vendor reviews
(22:41):
as they are in couple reviewsand it shows that community.
So often the discoveryexperience for a couple is that
they'll go to a venue page maybe, and then they'll scroll down
and they'll see those preferredvendors and they'll see who
vendors have worked with andbefore they know it, they've
started to put together thisnetwork effect of who they're
(23:05):
going to be working with, andthat is what vendors love.
But it also makes couples'lives so much easier to utilize
and leverage these relationshipsthat they're seeing on Zola to
guide them through the process,and I think it feels good on
both sides.
But it also really drives amaterial difference for our
(23:25):
vendors and our couples asthey're building up their
listings and growing theirbusinesses.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
It's funny I always say running a wedding band.
I always say we need people tonot know us.
It's a good thing thateverybody doesn't know us.
We need more fans.
This is great.
But Zola just knows howimportant building relationships
is for any wedding pro new orveteran and what a driving force
that is for any weddingbusiness.
(23:51):
And to be able to realize thatand just build upon that is just
so unique to me.
What are some other ways thatvendors form relationships with
other vendors on Zola?
Because there's like a suggestalternate vendors tool.
There's just so many cool thingsthat I'd love for you to chat
about.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Yeah.
So I think what has been reallyone of my favorite learnings
about the Zola for Vendorsproduct and I've been out at
wedding conferences and we'vebeen hosting gatherings for a
lot of venues in differentcities is it has just blown my
mind how much community is atthe heart of the wedding
(24:30):
professionals world.
I mean, back in the day, I thinkit used to be a lot more
competitive and cutthroat in theway that people operated, and
it is just not like that now.
It is a very supportive andcommunity driven world and I
think that Zola has steppedforward, listening to vendors
(24:51):
that this is important to them,that they do want to help grow
each other's business and growtogether, and so we offer not
only the ability for them toreview each other and help each
other get that benefit, but wealso offer something called
preferred vendors andalternative vendors, which I
think is a chance for vendors tosay let's say, you're a venue
(25:13):
and you're like these arecaterers and photographers we
work with all the time, so thathelps the venue because they're
going to be working with morepeople who they've worked with
before, which has worked forthem, and everybody already has
gotten the cobwebs out of whatthat first experience is like of
partnering on a weddingtogether, but it also helps the
preferred vendors grow, and sothey're very motivated to be
(25:36):
able to create these connectionpoints and recommend each other
so that they're able to displaythese strong relationships, grow
together, solve availabilityissues together and foster a
trusting, vibrant community ofvendors who actively uplift one
another and ultimately isbenefiting the entire vendor and
couple community.
(25:56):
And I think that has just been.
You put it forward and you'rereally curious if people are
going to use it.
And we see that it is very muchused and it's amazing to watch
that network effect.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I was part of a wedding kind of mastermind
workshop here in Chicago about amonth ago where they had
different groups of vendors socaterers and venues,
photographers, videographers,bands, djs everybody is now
doing a preferred vendors list.
This is like bigger than everright now, especially in a few.
(26:29):
Depending on what field you'rein, it could be more competitive
than others and and that's whyI was just so amazed there's not
really a platform like zolathat encourages other vendors to
connect with each other,because there have been so many
times I was like man, I wishthat I was more friendly with
like one of the veteran you knowbands out there, and zola has
(26:50):
really given me an opportunityto do that where I'm not sure I
would have had a channel to dothat through otherwise.
So I just thought that was so,so cool.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah, I think it's one of my favorite behind the
scenes kind of components.
It's like a little bit of asleeper thing that I think just
sits back and just does a lot ofhard work for our vendors and
it's really great to see.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Zola's algorithms use various tools to help vendors
connect with the right couples.
Can you talk a little bit moreabout how Zola pairs wedding
pros with the right couples?
You chatted a little bit on it,but it inspired me to think
about who our ideal couple is innew ways as well, so I was just
wondering if you could chat alittle bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Sure.
So when I think it's a lot ofit goes back to when vendors are
creating the.
They go through the onboardingprocess to customize their, what
they're offering and theirservices are, and so when you're
doing that, you're specifyingpricing and compelling info in
your bio.
You're talking about themarkets that you serve.
(27:56):
So if you are in Chicago, youalso probably serve the North
Shore and you serve maybeWisconsin, parts of Wisconsin,
the Wisconsin Dells and all that.
But so we give you the abilityto say I serve all these
different markets.
Right, it's not just hyperlocalto wherever you are, but for a
band or someone in theentertainment side, somebody in
(28:17):
the photography side, thatability to define markets is
transformative, because thatmeans that they're not just
pigeonholed into this very smalllocation based system.
It really allows them to spreadtheir wings.
And we also give them say whatservices do you offer?
And upload photos, faqs and allthose kinds of things.
(28:38):
And then we take all of that andwhen couples come to us, we
provide a robust amount offilters so that they are able to
say where they're looking, saywhat they're looking for and in
a completely authentic way, wejust put forward results that
(28:58):
match back to what you say youoffer and what they say they're
looking for, and there's nodisintermediation there of like
us getting in the way of tryingto.
We are just trying to connect onboth sides and so it really
allows for interest of thecouple and services of the
vendor to be the number onepriority of what comes forward
(29:21):
in that match.
And I think that the what I'vebeen really amazed by is we
offer all these filters Like areyou looking for all inclusive?
Are you looking for how manypeople are coming to your
wedding?
What is your budget?
What are all these differentcomponents?
And when couples then canfilter by that, the results just
populate through for of thevendor population that are able
(29:45):
to service that couple's needs.
And it's incredible to then seehow many leads a couple will
then generate because we've putforward so many good results for
them.
So they will then go on andinquire with a handful of
vendors and those conversationshave already skipped all of the
(30:08):
icebreakers of sorts and gonedirectly into these very
intentional conversations, and Ithink that is something that we
plan to just continue to buildmore on, because there's just
always more opportunity for usto continue to take more of
those little niche ways thatniche interests on both side and
use that to make even betterconnections.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
So depending how many credits couples buy, does that
mean that they will be receivingmore leads or showing up higher
in the search results?
Or is every vendor fair game?
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Every vendor is fair game.
So couples connect for free.
They just come on and searchand they're just connecting with
as many vendors as they want.
And for vendors we prioritizethe only things that we
prioritize our listing resultson is based off of how engaged
you are as a vendor and like aslike, for example, and your
(31:04):
location, and I mean there's acouple other popularity are you
a newcomer?
Those kinds of things.
But that is if you are a quickresponder.
That is the kind of stuff thatpushes you to the top.
If you're gonna ghost couples,we're not gonna put you at the
very top because we don't wantcouples to have a bad experience
(31:24):
and so that if you have credits, if you don't have credits, if
you have an unlimited package,if you don't have an unlimited
package, the results page isreally based off of how engaged
you are as a vendor and whetheror not you're matching to the
couple's filters.
It's not going to be.
It's.
Those are the main componentsthat we utilize in making those
(31:46):
search results.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I was surprised that I've never been asked by a
platform hey, how was thequality of this lead?
How did we do here?
Did we do a good job matchingthis lead?
Why or why not?
That is just something thatreally makes me, as a vendor,
feel like.
It encourages me to just put somuch trust into Zola, into the
couples that are searching forus through Zola, just because I
(32:08):
feel like Zola is on my sidehere as far as getting me the
best leads, and not so much thequantity but the right leads and
the right conversations.
Can we chat a little bit aboutIf there's 40,000 vendor
profiles we said earlier right,Is that right?
That's right.
(32:29):
If you're not one of these40,000, could you please talk
about going to Zola and creatinga vendor profile, how vendors
can go about doing that?
And then also, we chatted onthe reviews feature.
We chatted on the connectingwith other vendors feature, but
was wondering if you could chata little bit more about some of
the other features that Zolaoffers as well in that listing
(32:51):
profile.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Sure.
So you come to Zola and we havea Zola for vendors part of the
site and you come on and it'sjust a total breeze to set up it
.
Literally, it's like you canset it up in a matter of minutes
, but at the end we have adedicated team that will help
you do it.
And so you go through a veryquick onboarding that really
(33:14):
just asks you about yourbusiness and about the things I
mentioned before.
What is your pricing?
What kind of different packagesdo you offer?
If you're a venue, do you havedifferent rooms?
If you're a photographer, doyou also offer videography?
What is, what is your businesslook like?
And then we say what is whatare you?
What do you look like?
(33:34):
Not physically, but like whatis your?
Who are you?
What is your business?
And we want you to tell uscompelling info, because the
more unique you make yourself,the more people feel connected.
You're not making yourselfunique for no reason, but you
know, the more you're able totune into the personal parts of
(33:54):
your business, the more thecouples are able to see and
visualize what it might be liketo work with you.
So you're defining your markets, you're saying your services,
you're uploading photos andvideos because those are so
important.
And we say upload more photosand videos as frequently as you
can, because couples just keepon looking when they're looking
at photos.
(34:14):
They love that inspirationalmoment.
We also give vendors a chanceto answer FAQs of things that
might questions couples mighthave as they're going through
that process.
And then we want you to uploadyour social media handles
because obviously that's justsuper important.
So now you've created thisbeautiful listing, but then I
(34:35):
think, what's?
You don't set it and forget it.
You come back, you tweak it andwe tell you what we can, how
you can make it better.
So our vendor team will thencome on and be like hey, I think
you could put more pricinginformation here.
It might be helpful to clarifywhether it's a minimum amount of
spend that you need to kick offa relationship or whether you
(34:56):
do it on a price per guest.
Whatever it might be, give usmore information.
Or maybe we should change thisfront picture to make it a
little more compelling, basedoff of what we see couples
really respond to.
So that's a very human side ofus that's really coming out to
say, hey, how do we make yourbusiness better?
And we're holding your hand thewhole way through, and I think
(35:17):
that's at the core of who we areand with all the new features
that we're constantlyconsidering rolling out, a lot
of it is literally just ustrying to listen and help
vendors grow their business, andso we have a lot of really
exciting things that I thinkit's coming down the pipe.
One of them is that we recentlylaunched a new vendor dashboard
(35:39):
for our vendors, which reallymakes the user experience even
easier in your inbox to sendthose hellos.
But also we added this listingstrength kind of score of sorts
that really says like hey, youhaven't added photos in like a
year.
You should do more here orhere's more.
We really could use yourequesting more reviews, because
(36:01):
we see that vendors with morereviews just get farther along
in the process with couples.
So we're telling you exactlywhat is going to help you
improve your business, whichmost people don't do it that way
.
For us, we are holding yourhand the whole way through and
that.
But we also recently added thisresource guide so that you can
(36:22):
also this resource center so youcan also research and do more
yourself.
Like if you go in there, it'slike how do I even grow my
business more.
How do I?
What are the right kind ofmessages I should send couples
when I'm responding to them?
What is the?
What are people in my areadoing?
How do I foster more of thatkind of type of couple to get
(36:44):
that a certain type of couplethrough the door?
So we have articles, we haveall those kinds of things and
that's really new for us to betaking a lot of that personal
handholding that we've beendoing offline with our account
management team and bringing itonline.
So it's really more in aself-service capacity.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, I mean us as wedding pros me being a musician
we're so invested working inour businesses.
I feel like that is great, thatZola gives us these tools on
our dashboard to help us work onour businesses, because I know
that's something that's reallyeasy to forget about, especially
this time of year all the timesaying, like what more should I
(37:23):
do?
Speaker 2 (37:23):
What should I do?
And you shouldn't have to ask usthat question.
We should just be able to tellyou, like you should just come
on and see that like there'ssome stuff that you could do to
improve your profile and like,why wouldn't we do that?
And I think one of the otherthings that we've recently found
is that, like, obviously withinthat concept of reviews,
there's a lot more we could doto make that more turnkey for
(37:44):
our vendors, and so we recentlyoverhauled the reviews
experience because we wanted togive even more features and
tools there.
So vendors now can respond toreviews, they can ask for more
reviews, they can do it in areally easy way so that it's not
like copying and pasting amillion things.
They can track their reviews.
And all of that is just to saythat we're literally sitting
(38:06):
there and listening to vendorsall day long tell us what's
working, what's not working, andwe're busting our butts to make
sure that we are drivingforward improvements for them,
to help them with the experience, make their lives easier and
also drive more of thosequalified leads their way.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Especially drive more of those qualified leads into
the markets that they want to bein.
I think what stops a lot ofpeople from expanding is just
the financial cost of it onother listing sites.
And so for Zola to just say,hey, you could be in as many
markets as you want to serve isa pretty revolutionary thing
here in the wedding list.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
You don't pay more to put more markets on.
Exactly, you're really tryingto grow Nashville because
Nashville and Charlotte are hugewedding communities but you
don't have a huge amount ofbusiness there.
But you can get there and offeryour services.
Then we will help you do thatin just a way that or we both we
benefit too, because if you'regoing to get more leads, then we
obviously were able to supportyou through that, and there's
(39:10):
buying more credits is somethingwe would benefit from.
But we're putting that forwardbecause we want you to grow your
business authentically, not addmore markets because it comes
at an incremental cost to you.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Kate, first, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast.
I've been waiting to talk toyou for a while, just because
Zola is just doing so many coolthings and it's just really been
amazing watching over the pastfew years all the amazing things
that Zola has done for vendorsand just really especially
post-COVID.
I feel like building acommunity of vendors and helping
(39:41):
each other and supporting eachother is more important than
ever and I think it's just sogreat that there's a platform
out there that fosters that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Well, thank you so much.
We are huge fans of yourpodcast.
We talk about it all the time.
We're huge fans of this amazingvendor community and we love
being able to support bothvendors and couples on these
incredible days of celebrationand the wedding universe brings
(40:14):
so much joy and we just feelvery honored to be a part of
that on both sides, and we're sograteful for the chance to
connect with you and connectwith your audience, because
there's so much for us to all dotogether to continue to bring
that joy.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yes, thank you so much.
Okay, make sure you go towwwzolacom or just check the
link in the show notes.
We'll have just a short linkthere that leads you right to
the Zola for Vendors page.
Kate, thanks so much forjoining us.
Make sure you guys sign up fora profile and if you really feel
like it, us Make sure you guyssign up for a profile.
And if you really feel likeit's a funktastic scent, yes.
(40:48):
So thanks, kate, I appreciateit.
Thank you All right.
All right, and that's it fortoday's conversation with Zola,
but it does not have to stophere.
You can go to wwwzolacom slashfour dash vendors, wwwzolacom
slashvendors, where you canconnect with the right couples
and own your brand with a freelisting tailored to your
(41:10):
industry.
This may be a great way toconnect with more qualified
couples.
Grow your network with yourpeers.
If you've been wanting toexpand into another market,
another city, another state, butafraid of the financial burden,
this may be a great way to getin front of other couples in
these new markets.
Maybe the financial burden hasstopped you.
(41:30):
Maybe the SEO that's requiredto get in front of these couples
in this new market has stoppedyou.
Take advantage of Zola, becausethey're doing everything right
here when it comes to getting infront of couples with their say
hello, feature their algorithmsto qualify these couples.
So you're having the rightconversations.
(41:52):
We're going to have all thelinks in the show notes, so make
sure you check those out andyou are extraordinary and we'll
see you next time.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Once in a lifetime, lifetime.
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