Meet Zia: Zenfolio’s AI assistant for photographers.
October 7th, 2026
Running a photography business means juggling a lot—shooting, editing, marketing, and managing your website.
Sometimes the hardest part isn’t the work itself. It’s simply knowing what to do next. Should you start by creating galleries? Setting up client delivery? Optimizing your site for search?
That’s why we built Zia, Zenfolio’s AI assistant designed to help photographers get things done faster. With the addition of Advanced search, it can also answer questions about your business.
What is Zia?
Zia is Zenfolio’s built-in AI assistant on the NextZen platform. From day one, it has helped you find features, troubleshoot tasks, and get step-by-step guidance without leaving your account. Instead of searching through menus or help documentation, you can simply ask Zia what you’re trying to accomplish and get guidance instantly.
With the latest update, Zia can use data in your account to answer questions about your galleries, sales, clients, bookings and more, all in plain language.
What Zia has always done: guidance on demand.
Zia’s original role was to help you navigate Zenfolio and get more from the platform. That part has not changed.
With Zia, you can:
- Get answers instantly, without digging through help documentation
- Discover features you have not explored yet
- Complete tasks faster with step-by-step direction
- Keep working without leaving your current screen
Example how-to prompts:
- “How do I create a client gallery?”
- “How do I start selling prints on my Zenfolio site?”
- “How do I deliver photos to clients?”
- “How can I improve SEO for my photography website?”
- “What should I set up first during my trial?”
What’s new: Zia can review your photography business data on NextZen.
Until now, Zia could explain how a feature works, much like a help article would. It could not tell you which galleries sold the most last month, or which clients have not ordered yet. To answer those questions, you had to move between screens, apply the right filters, and assemble the picture yourself.
Advanced Search changes that. Zia can now look across your account and answer questions about your own data in seconds. Your business information lives across more than eleven areas, each with its own screen and filters. Zia brings the answer to you in a single conversation.
You can now ask Zia about:
- Sales and orders: what sold, when, to whom, and how a gallery is performing
- Galleries and photos: where a gallery lives, its status, and finding an image by content or keyword
- Contacts: client contact details, contact counts, how many galleries they are attached to, and more
- Bookings and BookMe services: session dates, locations, payment status, and availability
- SEO and site analytics: where your traffic opportunities are and how visitors behave
- Price lists, coupons, website pages, and campaigns: what exists, the details, and current status
Answers that connect the dots.
The best part? Zia isn’t limited to a single lookup or data point. It can bring together information from different parts of your account, which is how it answers a question no single screen can, such as what your top selling product was in 2026, and for the last 6 months. Ask about things that can make an impact on your business, and Zia will combine the data for you.
Try asking Zia:
- “Which 5 products have generated the most profit for me in the last 6 months?”
- “Analyze my site and tell me what I could do to improve my SEO.”
- “Who hasn’t placed an order yet in [Gallery Name]?”
- “What was my total revenue in 2025? Create a month-by-month chart.”
- “How many bookings do I have this weekend, and where are they located?”
If you ask about an area Zia cannot reach yet, it will tell you which category it needs, so you always know where you stand.
Whose photography business can Zia assist?
Zia helps photographers on the NextZen platform at every stage of business.
- New photographers: understand where to start and what to set up first.
- Growing photography businesses: explore selling, SEO, and client delivery as you expand.
- Established Zenfolio users: get quick reminders, and now, direct answers about your own numbers without the screen hopping.
Advanced Search is most useful once your account has some history behind it. Active galleries, order records, and a contact list give Zia more to work with.
Why we love Zia on NextZen.
- Answers in seconds. Ask the way you would ask a teammate who knows your numbers.
- One conversation instead of eleven screens. The data comes to you.
- Insight without spreadsheets. Surface what is happening in your business through a question, not an export.
- Works wherever you do. Desktop and mobile, whenever a question comes up.
Try Zia today.
Zia is part of Zenfolio’s work to make running a photography business simpler and smarter. Next time you are in Zenfolio, ask Zia something about your business. You might be surprised how quickly the answer arrives.
Log in and ask Zia, or start a free trial to see it in action.
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Contributor
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Elizabeth Glanville is the Content Marketing Manager at Zenfolio, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. With over 12 years of professional photography experience, she has captured a wide array of subjects, from equestrian sport and luxury real estate to fashion editorials, commercial campaigns, family portraits, and Arabic weddings. Her photography has appeared in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Vogue Arabia, Elle, and Marie Claire. Deeply embedded in the equestrian world, Elizabeth also offers photography, creative and strategic marketing consulting to equestrian brands including some of the countries leading polo and equestrian clubs.
Elizabeth holds a Master’s degree in Graphic Communication from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK and has a deep passion for design, branding, and visual storytelling. Her expertise bridges the creative and strategic, with a strong focus on marketing and commercial communication. Outside of work, Elizabeth enjoys spending time at the stables with her two daughters, horses, and an ever-growing collection of pets.
