I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’ve been totally slammed with shipping inquires recently - three so far this morning. I really think that calling us “creators” has made this problem worse.
I would love it if Zazzle could allow us to craft an instant auto-response to clarify, but since that might be difficult, perhaps Zazzle could implement an instant “thank you for your message” note which would clarify that we cannot help with customer service requests, but to stand by if their request is about the artwork/digital template. The current auto-response isn’t very automatic so if we’re not available to reply instantly, the customer is left hanging, and I think it’s very frustrating for them to have to wait hours or days only to find out that we can’t help them.
Something like this perhaps:
Thanks so much for reaching out! Your message has been forwarded to the product creator. Please Note: creators produce the artwork/digital templates, but not the products themselves. If you are inquiring about product specifications, the ordering process, printing, or shipping, you’ll need to contact Zazzle’s Customer Care team via www.zazzle.com/about/ask. Otherwise, stand by and the creator will back to you as soon as possible.
Every so often I will log out and view things as someone new to Zazzle would. This time around I chose to view what the messaging system looks like. When I clicked “Message” on my profile, this is what I saw. Is this new? Is this what you requested?
@Gina That’s not new. Clearly, people either don’t read it or don’t understand it. The key piece of info that people don’t seem to grock is that we don’t make or ship the physical products. Even people who message me with designer related issues still assume that I’m manufacturing the products and can see/modify/cancel their orders. They think they’re buying something from us directly rather than from Zazzle, and I think that all of the recent changes designed to put designers up front and center only serve to strengthen this misconception.
I have really mixed feelings about all of it. On the one hand, I resent having to spend so much time explaining how Zazzle works and walking people through how to use the website. On the other hand, I know that it’s expensive to pay customer service personnel, and even if people have to wait a few hours for me to see their message and point them in the right direction, they’re probably getting a more timely answer than they would if they had to wait for an email response from customer support. And I’m sure that ultimately does result in more sales, even if it annoys me and pushes my “it’s not fair - this isn’t what I signed up for” buttons.
So, in some ways the misunderstanding is beneficial, and I’ve pretty much accepted that it’s now just part of the cost of doing business here. But I do think that it opens the door for all sorts of negative outcomes as well, especially given the fact that customers don’t automatically get an email notification about messages unless they’ve opted in for it. I think an instant response would go a long way towards making the customer feel like they’re not just sending their questions off into the ether, and a simple sentence explaining our role in the company would ease a great deal of the confusion and frustration.
Sorry to rant. Clearly, I’ve spent WAY too much time thinking about all of this!
Zazzle does promote makers in various lists around the site. So I can see where customers get confused. I didn’t realize how many there were until I looked at some of their gift suggestion lists. I don’t know if there are different messages for them than for “us Zazzle designers.” It has made me a bit more patient with customers. It only takes me one sentence to say that they need to contact Zazzle. I don’t think I spend more than 5 or 10 minutes a day on it.
@CrazyMermaid You mean the artisan makers? That’s a good point, and probably explains at least some of the customer confusion. At this point it’s less about the time I have to spend - which is probably closer to 20-30 minutes per day for me, but it’s more about the customer’s experience. I frequently get people asking me to cancel or modify orders, but I usually don’t get a response to my message, so I never know if they got it and contacted Zazzle, or if they’re expecting that it’s already been handled.
I’m curious about your strategy though. When you get the typical “please, please, please hurry with the shipping because my wedding’s this weekend” message, do you just send the Zazzle auto response? I always feel some obligation to explain how it works and point them to the tracking on the orders page.
Agree, good idea 😁 I have a standard reply which I send out, but have other work a couple of days a week and as I am the other side of the world so they often have to wait until I am awake to get a reply from me, when it is time sensitive that isn’t ideal, this would solve the issue for sure.
I dont think any shop owner should feel obligated to use the customer chat feature at all. A lot of people chose Zazzle and POD to avoid having to interact with customers at all due to their time/life/other jobs/anxiety etc. Since creators are not paid extra to do any customer service, I think its unfair to shop owners to feel a responsibility to handle this in ANY way. Some people do not wish to do custom edits or answer questions or even interact in that way and were opted into this feature without a choice and it’s confusing to customers who don’t understand how Zazzle works. I feel bad that any shop owner feels an obligation to be available for these messages or feels obligated to explain or redirect customers. That’s work/time that is not being compensated and feels really really grey area as far as employment/contractor goes.
There should absolutely be an auto reply or bot especially if a shop owner doesn’t wish to utilize the feature at all. People do not read, yes, and also not everyone has time to log in regularly to handle customer inquiries and requests and it does feel unfair to leave customers in a void or to feel a duty to have to do so. I don’t think the wording is as clear as it could be that the chat to the shop owner goes to independent makers who are from across the globe and who may not be available for days, weeks, or ever or may even have a language barrier!
I see the benefits of it, although I think the email feature was better because it didn’t set the “instant reply” expectation that a chat does. But I don’t think anyone should feel obligated to utilize it and I think it needs some refining in order to give customer the best customer service possible.
I agree. I was in back and forth messages with with someone who, even after I explained, didn’t really understand. She requested a solid color pillow to match the floral one she had already received. I made one and sent her a link, she ordered it but then decided she wanted a lighter shade. I sent her the link to a lighter one and she ordered it. Then she contacted me because she got a message that her order for the darker one had shipped. She thought I had cancelled the order for it. Then I had to explain to her I couldn’t cancel orders, but that she could return it after it was received. Lucky for me she didn’t cancel any of them.
Having a automatic response to their initial question would be so helpful. The small grayed out text below it is invisible in terms of being useful. An auto-chat reply would be right there and they would see it.
That same auto-reply could mention they should turn on receiving emails for a response and then them how to do it too.
Sorry to bring this topic up again but after letting a customer know I couldn’t help her when a product arrived broken she sent me this:
"Wow. Thank you for your total lack of compassion, consideration and helpfulness- I’ll never order from you again. Your “design” work is less than subpar.
I will never order from you again. Expect that in your review."
I just don’t want to deal with the customer service questions that I receive anymore - especially since 90% of them I couldn’t help them with if I tried. And I’m not always at my computer. Please, please find a solution for this Zazzle as it isn’t working as it is.
