How to Send Progress Photos to Customers on Custom Orders

Short answer: send a progress photo at two to four real checkpoints, not every day. Ask for approval only where a change is still easy, such as a sketch or a fabric choice. Give a reply date. Take the photo in daylight on a plain background, and write one line about what happens next. Before you send it, turn off the photo’s location and check the background.

A custom order can take a week or more. During that time, your customer has paid a deposit and has nothing to look at. So they ask: “How is it going?” A good photo answers that question before they ask it. It also shows the work that goes into a handmade piece, which is often the reason they chose you.

But photos can cause problems too. Too many invite a new change request every day. A blurry photo worries the customer. And a photo can show your home address without you noticing. This guide shows how to plan your photos, take them, write them, send them and check them. It works for tailors, bakers, jewelry makers, artists and anyone else who makes things to order.

1. Why progress photos help

Customers who are waiting check often. We looked at 262 WISMO orders whose tracking link was opened at least once. Customers opened each link a median of 5 times before the order was finished.

Median 5 opens

Each of those checks is a question the customer would otherwise send you. A photo gives them something real to see.

There is also research on why seeing the work matters. In 2011, Ryan Buell and Michael Norton published a paper called “The Labor Illusion” in the journal Management Science. In five experiments, people valued a service more when they could see the effort behind it. This held even when the result was exactly the same. The experiments used travel and dating websites, not handmade orders. So read it as a reason to show your work, not as a promise of a higher price.

2. Pick two to four checkpoints

Do not send a photo every time you pick up the work. Choose the moments when something has really changed, and tell the customer at the start when to expect them. Two to four checkpoints are enough for most orders.

A checkpoint is good when it does one of these things:

• It lets the customer catch a mistake early. The spelling of a name, a color or a size.
• It shows a big step. The first fitting, the cake stacked before decorating, the stone set in the ring.
• It shows the finished piece before it leaves. This is the photo almost every customer wants.

Here are some examples by trade. They are illustrative, so change them to fit your own process.

Our 2026 order data shows 1,952 status updates across 731 orders. That is an average of 2.7 updates per order. So two to four photo checkpoints fit the rhythm many sellers already keep.

2.7 updates

3. Keep approval photos and update photos apart

This is the most useful habit in this guide. There are two kinds of progress photos, and the customer needs to know which one they are looking at.

An approval photo needs an answer. Send one only where a change is still easy and cheap. That is usually early: a sketch, a fabric, a layout or the spelling of a name. Say exactly what you want the customer to check. Give a date to reply by. Say what happens after they approve.

An update photo needs no answer. It shows progress, and that is all. Say so in the message. Otherwise some customers will treat every photo as a chance to change the design.

When a customer asks for a change after approval, you do not have to refuse. But it is fair to say what the change costs in time or money before you agree. Our guide to managing art commissions shows how to set revision rounds at the start.

Keep each approval in writing. A “Yes, that looks perfect” in the chat is a record you can point to later.

4. Take a clear photo with your phone

You do not need a camera or a studio. A phone and a window are enough if you follow a few rules.

• Use daylight. Stand near a window and turn off the overhead light. Mixed light changes colors, and color is often what the customer is checking.
• Use a plain background. A white sheet, a clean table or a piece of card works. Move tools, cups and other orders out of the frame.
• Show the size. Put a ruler, a coin or your hand next to small items. A ring and a cake topper can look any size in a photo.
• Take the detail too. Send one photo of the whole piece. Then send a close-up of the part the customer cares about, such as a seam or a stone.
• Do not use filters. A filter that changes the color can lead to a “this is not what I saw” message at delivery.
• Wipe the lens. A phone lens that has been in a pocket makes every photo look soft.

If the piece looks unfinished in a way that might worry the customer, say so. A dress held with pins or a cake before its frosting can look wrong to someone who does not know the steps. One sentence of explanation stops that worry.

5. Write one line with each photo

A photo with no words leaves the customer to guess. A good message is one or two short sentences. It says what the customer is looking at, what happens next and when.

Here are messages you can adapt. They are illustrative examples, not messages from a real seller.

For other moments in an order, such as the confirmation or the deposit request, see our WhatsApp order message templates. They work in Instagram messages, texts and email too.

6. Send it the right way

Send progress photos in the same chat where you took the order. Then the brief, the deposit, the approvals and the photos are all in one place. If you take orders in several apps, pick the one each customer uses most.

On WhatsApp, check the quality. WhatsApp added HD photos in August 2023. At that time it kept Standard quality as the default, to make sending fast. Standard photos are compressed, so fine details can blur. Before you send, look for the HD button at the top of the photo screen and choose HD.

For a close detail, use email too. Messaging apps compress photos even in HD. When the customer must check something small, like an engraving, email the original file as well.

Send at a sensible time. A photo at 11 p.m. may wake the customer, and it can make them think something is urgent. Write the message at night if you like, but send it in the morning.

Think about surprise gifts. Ask early who should get the photos. A wedding gift or a birthday present should not appear on the phone of the person it is for.

7. Check the photo before you send it

A photo carries more than the picture. Take ten seconds to check two things.

The location. Phone cameras can save the place where each photo was taken. Apple says that when Location Services is on for the Camera, the coordinates are saved in every photo. Someone who receives the photo may be able to see where it was taken. If you work from home, that is your address.

• On an iPhone or iPad: select the photo, tap Share, then tap Options. Turn off Location. “Location Not Included” appears, and you can send as usual.
• On Android: Google Photos cannot remove a location that the camera recorded. To stop the camera saving it in future photos, change the location setting in your camera app. The steps differ by phone maker.

Google also notes that people can guess a place from landmarks in the photo. So a plain background helps here too.

The background. Look for anything private in the frame. Watch for a parcel with an address label, another customer’s order, a mirror or a window. Crop it out or take the photo again.

8. Ask before you post it on social media

A finished custom piece is often your best advertising. But it was made for one customer, and some orders are private. A wedding dress may be a secret until the day. A cake may show a child’s name. A gift may show a family photo.

So ask before you post. A short message is enough: “May I share a photo of your quilt on my Instagram? I will not show your name.” Then do what the customer says. Many will say yes, and some will share your post too.

If a customer says no, you can still keep the photo for your own records. It is useful when you price a similar order later. Our guide on how to price custom orders shows how to use past orders to set a price.

9. When to skip progress photos

Progress photos are not right for every order. Skip them, or send only the finished photo, in these cases:

• Quick orders. If the order is ready in a day or two, one photo of the finished piece is enough.
• Simple repeat items. A customer who orders your standard candle again does not need to see it being poured.
• Stages that look worse than they are. If a stage would only cause worry and you cannot explain it in one line, wait for the next stage.
• When you are behind. A photo does not replace a late-order message. If the date is at risk, say so first. Our guide on what to tell a customer when an order is late has messages for that.

How WISMO does this

You can do everything in this guide with your phone’s camera and your usual chat app. WISMO is one way to keep the photos with the order.

Each order in WISMO has a tracking link. Your customer opens it in any browser, with no app and no signup. The page shows the stage the order is at, in your own words, such as “First fitting” or “Decorating”. You can also add a note that your customer sees on the same page. Stages, notes and the link are free on every plan.

Photo updates are a WISMO Pro feature. On Pro, you can add a photo to an update. It shows on your customer’s tracking page with your note. So the customer sees every checkpoint in one place, in order, without scrolling back through the chat. Pro can also email your customer when you add an update or move the order to a new stage.

WISMO has no approval button. Ask for approvals in your chat or email, and keep the customer’s reply there. WISMO also does not send WhatsApp or text messages for you. You still send the link yourself.

Your first 30 orders are free. WISMO Pro is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, which saves over 15%. You can try Pro free for 7 days.