topic Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons in General Zazzle Discussion

Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:16:34 GMT

Please list your pros & cons regarding the current Zazzle chat system.

Every designer has their own unique experiences so this is the place to share them.

Thank you for participating ✨

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:21:59 GMT

At first I thought there'd be more pros than cons. Overall I have experienced little benefit.

I wish we could opt out of the chat system. In fact, I wish Zazzle would retire the program altogether. No idea what the cost/benefit of the system is for Zazzle, however, based on the responses from other threads, I gather the current system isn't much of a benefit at this time for designers/creators.

There must be a better way for designers to communicate properly with customers rather than spend most of their time fielding questions which should be automatically, first and foremost, directed toward Customer Service. Only after it's been determined that it is truly a design/artwork question, the proper CS representative would directly email designers regarding these questions - not thru the current chat system (some designers/customers have "opted out" by not providing their phone number).

Also, as stated above, it truly doesn't leave our customers a postive impression when chat messages end up being a back and forth with the customer/designer before they reach out for Zazzle Help, or worse yet, go unaswered.

Again, imho, at this point it seems the best option would be to retire, or at least, "hide" the chat system. We designers did fine communicating with customers prior to it being such a relatively new, major part of the Zazzle communication system.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Connie — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 03:22:54 GMT

As a pro, I've gotten several orders, some quite large, through customer design requests in chat. I don't want to set up a special email for customer requests, especially because I'd end up always forgetting to check it multiple times a day. So the Chat is an easy way for me to get those requests and fill them when possible.

As a con, I get a lot of customer service questions, and while it only takes a few seconds to direct them to Zazzle's customer support, it's still annoying. However, I've had a few customers who are so grateful I was able to direct them to Customer service and they got their issues taken care of. I think customers appreciate an actual human taking time to answer them, rather than the AI chat bots. (and it's sort of poetic justice when I get the credit for the good customer service, LOL!)

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 03:35:33 GMT

I think it's definitely a mixed bag. On the one hand, direct contact with customers has given me a lot of great insights into what people are looking for and I've been able to convert a bunch of customer requests into successful products.

I think the biggest drawback for me is the time commitment. The chat system definitely took Zazzle out of the passive income category and put it into the "job" category. It's not just the time assisting customers, it's also feeling the pressure to check in 4-5 times throughout the day to make sure I'm not leaving someone hanging - which is doubly frustrating because the vast majority of the questions are customer service related, so all they require is for me to cut and paste one of my "you've got the wrong person" replies - but I still have to check in throughout the day in order to do that.

I think we're all feeling the sting of the time commitment more acutely right now since our royalties have been cut and our incomes are plunging. It's hard to make a job-level time commitment if you're not making job-level income. I'm not saying that to be snarky, it's just reality. If I have to go find some other gig in order to make a living, I'm not gonna be available all day to assist customers, so as much as I hate to do it, I'm just gonna be forced to leave them hanging.

I think there are a bunch of ways that Zazzle could improve the system - most of which have been requested and ignored zillions of times. You know, fixing the message popups so they always clarify that we can't answer customer service questions, coming up with a true auto-responder so we can let people know when we're not available, allowing us to forward messages to customer support, and maybe even having the AI chatbot screen messages and point them in the right direction.

I think my ultimate feelings about it will also depend on what direction Zazzle goes with some of these new terms. If they come up with a system to compensate/reward us for assisting customers (whether that's self-referrals on direct-only products, or something else) it makes it more palatable. If not, well, time will tell. It's only been 2 weeks since they changed the system so it's hard to know exactly how far our incomes will fall. But I know that I, for one, have definitely diverted a big chunk of my time away from Zazzle these past weeks so I can research other platforms and opportunities. I have to assume other folks are doing the same thing.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

CrazyMermaid — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:35:04 GMT

Even though I sell mostly invitations and party supplies for a variety of events, I get very few customer requests these days. Maybe one or two a month. I decided a few years ago to design templates that would be very simple and easy-to-use and that transfer to other products easily. I found that two design elements were responsible for most of the customer questions 3 or 4 years ago and I just stopped using them and found other ways to design.

So most people don't need my help. If customers do contact me for the wrong reason, my canned reply is "I am the template designer. After you complete your template personalization, Zazzle takes over, processes your order, makes the product and ships it. So you need to contact Zazzle customer service. I hope this helps, Best wishes." No one has ever said anything to this except, Thank You.

I think of chat as a safety valve. If I do screw up a template and the customer has a problem, I do want to know. If I need to add a color option because several people ask for it, then I add it. That kind of stuff. I don't do custom orders and just tell the customer that I don't have time for it in my schedule.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:00:19 GMT

OK, you got me thinking (always dangerous) so I sat down and did some math on a real common scenario: customer contacts me because they need some help with their seating chart - they had an uneven number of people at each table so things got out of alignment. They tried to adjust it themselves and made a mess.

In order to help them, I need access to their design. This generally requires some back and forth - let's say they get it on the first try, so 10 minutes for that part. If it's not a really botched situation it will only take me 10 minutes to fix the design. I send them a link back, then they inevitably ask me questions about shipping. I explain that I don't handle that part and do some hand holding helping them find the link for turnaround estimates etc.... another 10 minutes there.

Total time invested comes out to 30 minutes. Now, average price on a seating chart is around $50 (if it's a foam core board - if it's a poster it's much less, but let's be optimistic here.) If I could get a self-referral on the sale, that would work out to $25 - closer to $20 after taxes, so extrapolating to a 40-hour work week that's around $40K annually. Not gonna get rich at those rates, but it's reasonable.

If it's NOT a self-referral... My royalty is set at 8%. That would come out to $4 ($3.20 after taxes) so that's not even minimum wage. Not worth it on its own, but if the sale bumps it up in the algorithm I might make more sales in the future. I'd have to make 6 additional sales to work out to the $40K/annually scenario above. Chances of that are slim, but possible. So even at my regular royalty it's hardly worth it, but does foster some good will.

BUT with the new system in place at least 75% of orders are coming through as 3rd party, so that means that on average, my royalty will be closer to $2.50 ($2 after taxes). Now we're talking really sub-human wages. The algorithm bump from the sale would have to get me 12 more sales (and that's 12 sales from customers who DON'T need help) in order for it to work out to the $40K/annual salary. Totally not worth my time.

So I guess that makes it an easy decision. If Zazzle comes through with a way for us to get self-referrals (or some comparable amount of income) on these sorts of requests, I'll keep doing them. If not, I'm just gonna craft an auto-response explaining that I can't help them and pass them on to customer support where someone who's actually getting paid can assist them. I sorta feel bad doing that because I know there's a stressed out person on the other side of that message, and it will probably take them much longer to get help that way, but honestly, at some point I have to start taking care of myself here. I'll probably lose some sales, but ultimately, my time is better spent elsewhere.

Anyhow, thanks for posing this question. Doing the math was quite enlightening and it makes me feel much better about saying no to these requests.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 17:26:47 GMT

You're obviously WAY better at handling this sort of stuff than I am. You said that you don't do custom orders, but I wonder where you draw the line between helping a customer with the template and a custom order. Like here are some examples of questions that I've received over the past few weeks. Would you mind sharing how you'd respond to these sorts of things?

1) I love this design, could I get it with a teal background? (Do you go back & forth to figure out what shade of teal they want? Do you just take a guess at what shade of teal they want and send them a link? Do you walk them through using the design tool to change it themselves? Do you just say no?)
2) I love this design, but I need it for private party, not a wedding, can you re-work the text for me?
3) Could I get this on a flat card instead of a postcard? (customer has already done extensive work to the design - do you just send them a link to the other product and tell them they have to re-do their work, do you walk them through the process of transferring, do you offer to transfer it for them?)
4) Can you change the color of the artwork?
5) I need to add a line under the reception for RSVP, and can we put a small note in the corner requesting no gifts?
6) Can I get this with both sets of parent's names rather than "together with their families"?
7) Could you make the text a different font for the titles?
8 ) Could you add a cross (or some sort of extra artwork) at the top of my invitation?
9) Can I add a picture to the back of the card?
10) Can I get a sample before placing the full order? (Do you explain how it works? Do you just send them to customer support?)
11) Can I get this in Spanish?

I'd love to know how you deal with these sorts of thing. Do you just have a pat response saying no? Do you send them to customer support? Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 18:51:45 GMT

@CrazyMermaid You know what, never mind. After thinking about the math a bit more, I've concluded that none of the above is worth my time. If I can just send them a link to a public product I will, but no more of this back & forth with share links, accessing their design and helping them to customize things. It's just not worth it.

From now on, here's my response to someone asking for help with customizations:

Hi and thanks so much for choosing my design! Due to the volume of requests I receive I'm unable to assist with customizations. You can edit the template yourself by choosing "edit using design tool" at the bottom of the personalization form, or you can try contacting customer support for help: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support- Hope that helps! Best wishes and thanks again for choosing my design!

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and my blood pressure is going down already! I think I may go outside and enjoy the weather for a bit before the snow comes tomorrow!

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

jophb — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:36:00 GMT

It's a mixed bag for sure. I actually just recently requested Zazzle update the process in the 'suggestions' section because I think they could definitely improve the clarity on who customers need to contact for what. Here is that feed if you want to add to it: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ideas-suggestions/make-zazzle-messenger-more-clear-to-customers-on-who-can-help/idi-p/199045

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

CrazyMermaid — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:05:56 GMT

Basically the only thing I fix is if I forget to make a text or image a template. I don't change colors or add lines. OMG how many shades of teal are there. The line is to long too thick. Not going to go there. No, I don't tell them how to do it.

Years ago I was stupid and made really fancy birthday invitations with numbers that weren't editable for milestone years. I still have people who want an 82 or 47. I have the numbers handy and will change the number. That is all I agree to change. How do I handle it? I say I don't have the time to do custom work. They can't argue with that.

I have never had anyone ask for help on a seating chart. But if I did, "Sorry the template is there and that's it I'm afraid. I don't have the time in my day for custom work. Best wishes. Nelda"

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

CrazyMermaid — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:17:37 GMT

I think your comment could lead to more questions. So if they continue to ask for help, you should not explain your day and why you can't do it. It is just important for them to know that it is a service that you don't provide. I don't give tutorials in how to use the design tool either. That would just lead to more questions. Zazzle is more than welcome to create one if they want customers to know that. I have to make cover photos for every product, maybe videos, create collections etc. Template designer stuff.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 22:53:02 GMT

Many thanks for your replies and insights! 🌺 Hoping more will share their experiences.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 22:55:07 GMT

I was hoping you'd chime in here! I've always valued your insight and you truly provided much for us today. Thank you @CrazyMermaid 🌟

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 23:02:18 GMT

I give the kudos for @CrazyMermaid for helping you process your thoughts - that said, So Happy to know you feel so much better about this! 🌞

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Laura — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 23:06:50 GMT

@Cat wrote:
I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and my blood pressure is going down already! I think I may go outside and enjoy the weather for a bit before the snow comes tomorrow!

😍

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Marcia — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 23:44:44 GMT

That's why I don't do seating charts, although I know there's money to be made doing so! I did the math & it didn't seem worth it, even before this salary cut. I don't do weddings, only other niche occasions, but I from time to time I do get asked & I tell my clients (even if they've made other purchases from me) to do a seating chart search for a compatible seating chart style that will go with/not clash with my design.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 01:27:04 GMT

I think you should give courses in "how to set boundaries" - I really appreciate your feedback. And here I was thinking that my response was curt to the point of rudeness!

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Cat — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 01:30:17 GMT

Well, I realized that my math on the self-referral part was wrong - did I mention math is not my strong suit? Anyhow $20 for half an hour = $40/hour = $80K annually. So that's reasonable. I guess if Zazzle comes through with referrals on direct-only products (or something equivalent) I'm in, otherwise I'm DONE helping customers. Phew!

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

CrazyMermaid — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 01:56:20 GMT

LOL, my therapist is quite the task master. It has taken me a long time to learn to do this. I am glad it helped.

Re: Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

Barbara — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 11:45:14 GMT

My single observation is that those who have the biggest (and understandable) problems are the designers who do invitations and are, therefore, the ones who need improvements in both the chat system and payment for their time. Looking at another company, it appears the designers are paid more for working with customers, and the customers know up front just how many change requests they're allowed. I suspect this company may have been at one time a brick-and-mortar printer and so know the time required to assist customers.

Anyway, that's the arena in which a better and tighter chat system might be worth it for both the designer and the customer. There need to be rules up front for the customer, and the system should be totally separate from the questions having to do with printing and shipping, which should never go to the design department. There need to be filters in place.

I personally get no customer questions and so chat could be turned off and there would be no loss in sales. I don't know if this is typical for others who don't do invitations, but I suspect it is. Thus, Zazzle truly needs to up its game to fix the issues for those who inevitably have to put in extra work without remuneration.

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