An Interview with Nihat Karadağ, Founder of PhotoPlay and PhotoTravel
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TL;DR
Thanks to Kommo, PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel now run their online education business from a single dashboard — every inquiry from WhatsApp, Instagram, and other channels in one place. With Kommo's Salesbot, built-in automations, and a sales pipeline built around their business, they've cut response times by 80%, sped up enrollment, and turned a chaotic communication process into one that actually scales.
Background
PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel is one of Türkiye's largest and longest-running names in photography education and photo tours. 17 years of teaching, 12 years of leading tours across Türkiye and abroad, and more than 50,000 students and participants along the way; the organization has grown from a training provider into something closer to a hub for the country's photography community.
Most people find their way in through social media — a DM on Instagram, a message on Facebook, a WhatsApp text. From there, the conversation usually moves fast: questions about course content, trip logistics, technical specifics. PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel has always cared as much about the speed and reliability of that first conversation as it does about the quality of the courses themselves.
The problem was that scaling that kind of responsiveness wasn't easy. As inquiries poured in across more and more channels, things got harder to manage and response times slipped; opportunities started slipping through the cracks.
Co-founder Nihat Karadağ remembers exactly how unsustainable it had become:
“Before Kommo, responding to students ate up so much of our time. We were drowning in chaos; now we respond much faster, and we actually get our time back.”
That was the turning point. PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel started looking for a system that could bring every student request into one place, work on the move, and grow alongside their traffic. That search led them to Kommo CRM.
Motivation
A couple of recurring problems pushed PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel toward Kommo CRM:
Thousands of messages a month, arriving through WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and web forms, with no way to manage them centrally. As more channels grew, response times slowed, and student satisfaction slipped.
Someone interested in a course wants an answer within the first half hour. That kind of speed was nearly out of reach before, but with Kommo, it became the norm, not the exception.
Nihat is constantly traveling, leading tours across Türkiye and abroad. A desk-bound system simply wasn't going to work; the team needed something mobile enough to keep coordination and student relations running wherever he was.
Knowing exactly which students were interested in which course, what their communication history looked like, and where they stood in the purchase process wasn't a nice-to-have, it was essential to running the business well.
Karadağ sums up what changed with Kommo:
“By using Kommo CRM, we automatically route people to the right channel based on the course they're interested in.”
Solution: Kommo — a CRM built for photography courses
With Kommo, PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel brought every inquiry, whether from Instagram, WhatsApp, web forms, and every other digital touchpoint, into a single dashboard.
Communication that used to be scattered across a half-dozen channels was instantly consolidated in one platform: no message got lost, and response times became something the team could actually measure.
It no longer mattered which channel a student used to reach out. The experience was the same either way: fast and consistent.
Karadağ describes the change:
“Thanks to Kommo CRM, all communication is managed from a single dashboard. We can clearly see who messaged us, where they messaged from, which training program they’re interested in, and what stage they’re at.”
One of the most critical turning points was Kommo’s automation tools and chatbot infrastructure.
Most inquiries about a photography workshop follow the same pattern: course content, dates, destinations, trip logistics; questions the team once answered one by one, in long WhatsApp threads. Kommo's chatbots now handle that first layer automatically: students get instant answers, and the team steps in only when a conversation genuinely needs a person.
As a result, PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel now deliver seamless communication everywhere — at headquarters and out on tour, whether in Türkiye or abroad. Thanks to chatbots and automated responses, the team keeps responding quickly to potential participants even while on the road; nothing goes quiet, and no opportunity gets missed.
Benefits of using Kommo CRM
#1 Unified inbox
The most fundamental benefit of Kommo CRM was that it consolidated all customer communications from different channels into a single platform.
“All our communication runs through a single dashboard. The moment someone reaches out through one of our social media profiles, it lands directly in Kommo.”
Messages that once had to be tracked separately across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook now land in one dashboard. Nothing gets missed, every step is traceable, and responses stay fast and consistent no matter who's answering.
#2 Chatbots
Chatbots cut response times on course inquiries dramatically, especially on WhatsApp, where manual replies used to be the norm.
“Thanks to the chatbot, we can send out all the information with a single click.”
Kommo Salesbot handles the first response automatically and routes the student to the right segment, freeing the team to focus only on conversations that actually need them to step in.
#3 Customizable sales pipelines
Kommo's visual pipeline gives PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel a clear view of exactly where every student stands, customized around their own process, not a generic template.
“The sales pipeline in Kommo can be customized for anyone. We tailored it to our business, and it's working really well.”
Potential leads who want more than information get segmented and tracked through the entire process, whether they've already enrolled or are still deciding.
#4 WhatsApp Broadcasts
Broadcasting turned out to be as much a marketing tool as a communication one.
“We've increased our sales and our announcements and campaigns too; now we can reach hundreds, even thousands of people.”
Communicating information, such as educational programs, campaigns, or announcements about new trips, quickly and in an organized manner has both increased efficiency and boosted student engagement.
#5 Mobile app
With training sessions and tours pulling the team across cities and countries, the mobile app keeps everything running. Nihat and his team can manage communication from anywhere, without losing speed or coordination.
“We can make the most of our time… Thanks to Kommo CRM, I can manage everything from anywhere.”
This allows Nihat Karadağ and his team to manage communication processes without being tied to a specific location, which translates into a great deal of freedom and operational flexibility.
#6 Analytics
Kommo's dashboard does more than just collect messages; it provides managers with performance metrics.
Response times, pending requests, team output: all visible at a glance, giving PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel the data to sharpen their process and make better calls.
“I can see our average response times and give the team the feedback they need.”
Impact of Kommo CRM at PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel
Kommo CRM didn't just organize PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel's communication; it removed the operational chaos underneath it and replaced it with something that actually scales.
Where the team once managed to respond to 15–20 people a day, they now handle hundreds in the same window. That 80% cut in response time translated directly into happier students and faster enrollments.
Automation took the repetitive work off the team's plate, and with Kommo, nothing falls through the cracks: every contact point is visible, every step trackable.
Broadcasting added a new layer entirely. Prospective students who'd gone quiet could be pulled back in through targeted campaigns.
Results
Kommo CRM has gone beyond being just a communication tool for PhotoPlay, and PhotoTravel. It's core infrastructure for PhotoPlay & PhotoTravel, driving growth, streamlining enrollment, and lifting efficiency across the organization.
In the words of Nihat Karadağ:
“If you want to increase your sales, respond quickly to your customers, and free up your time, you should definitely use Kommo.”
For education and experience-driven brands playing the long game, Kommo CRM isn't just software — it's a growth partner.
