I know that when products are color grouped, only one version appears in the MP and you don’t get any say in which version that is. The alternate color versions only come up if/when they match specific search terms. I think that was probably one of the main benefits of the feature, to cut down on the repetitive clutter in the MP by grouping all the products that are the same except color into one listing.
Today, kicking and screaming, I entered into this business of making cover images and the first product I chose happened to be one with two linked color versions. The version I like the least is the one that shows by default in the MP.
I made completely different covers for both versions. Didn’t take long for the covers to be shown in the back-end and on the product pages, just waiting for the thumbs in the MP to reflect them now. Do you think if I delete the cover for the version that I least like, that the other color version that I prefer will then take its place as the default in the MP since it has a cover and the other version doesn’t?
I’ve seen products with as many as 21 different linked color versions. So now I have a number of questions …
Are we expected to engage in the Sisyphean task of making a cover for each individual color version published? Are each of those covers supposed to be different from each other? Will each individual color version be listed separately in the MP again since it has a cover, which takes us back to the cluttered, repetitive designs showing over and over? If we only provide a cover for one of a linked color group, will that force that one into being the default MP listing?
Good questions - but in terms of which one shows up in the marketplace, I think it would depend on which color the customer searches for. If they search for red, the red one is likely to show up first, if they search for blue, green, or purple, I’d expect the relevant color to show up in the search, not the wrong color even if the wrong color is the one with the cover image.
As far as making each cover different… well… I’m trying to vary them, but reasonably speaking, I’m not going to come up with over 10,000 completely unique images. For things that are different colors of the same design, I’m mostly trying to vary the color of the background a bit, and maybe some of the objects around it - but I’m not going to create something totally new from scratch for each and every color!
in terms of which one shows up in the marketplace, I think it would depend on which color the customer searches for. If they search for red, the red one is likely to show up first, if they search for blue, green, or purple, I’d expect the relevant color to show up in the search,
Exactly. That’s what I meant by “The alternate color versions only come up if/when they match specific search terms”.
As a made-up example, say you have a rustic roses wedding invite in six linked color versions. A shopper browsing invites, or even searching for [rustic roses] is going to be presented with one of those six versions and you don’t get to choose which one that is. That’s the one I am calling the MP “default”. On the other hand, if they search for [blue rustic roses] then they’ll get your blue version (assuming you have tagged/titled it for blue of course LOL). Or maybe it’s an Easter themed mug and you have three linked color versions, a pink bunny, a brown bunny, and a white bunny. [easter bunny mug] will yield the default chosen by Zazzle. [pink easter bunny mug] would get you the pink mug. So yeah, to keep each color version in the running for specific searches, each one needs it own cover.
We tend to think in terms of specific tags for people finding our products directly but lots of people window shop using nav menus and/or just clicking whatever looks interesting. (I am one of those easily distracted shoppers, LOL.) If they’re not using terms specific enough to match one specific color version, or not using terms at all, they get whichever version Z decides to show them. I guess I am just wondering how the new cover system is going to affect this.
Those are good points. I think probably it’s more of an issue for things that aren’t wedding related because (in my experience anyhow) the bride always has a color scheme pre-chosen, so she’s almost always going to include color terms in the search. But as you say, if someone is searching for an Easter design, color is probably not going to be at the top of their search priority list.
When a user performs a search we return a list of results. If one of your products (we’ll call it Product A) appears in the results then we’ll show it in the product grid. If Product A is part of a group then we’ll show the rest of the group as color options, but we’ll still be showing Product A in the search results. If Product A is grouped with Product B and Product C, but only Product C has a Cover Photo, that won’t matter. We’ll still show Product A in search results. Finally, let’s say that someone did a new search and now Product A and Product B are returned in the search results. In this case we will group all products in with the highest-ranking product, which in this case might be Product B. Does this help clarify?
As far as adding Cover Photo to every product in a group, I don’t really have any good suggestions here. I’ve been focusing my efforts on making sure that comments/suggestions/etc are passed along to the team, and that bugs are tended to. Perhaps this question might be best answered by using our new Product Insights tool to track performance over time? This might be a good question to pose to the group in this other conversation to see how they’re handling it: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/general-zazzle-discussion/cover-photos-tips-and-tricks-time-management-discussion/m-p/27127
Thanks, @Scott . A related question - would it be acceptable to create a cover image for a color group that includes more than one of the same product with the different color options displayed, and use that for each of the color option product pages?
@Scott I was wondering how long does it take for products to get grouped? I been waiting a month on some bridesmaid invitation they were never grouped.
I think there is still a bug in color grouping. It really hasn’t worked correctly or at all for quite a while now. It’s been asked a lot on the forums lately and I’m not sure if there is a direct answer right now? I am assuming the known bug is being worked on behind the scenes. Hopefully it is fixed soon!
I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to use the same cover photo background for all the different colorways of the same design (maybe with color tweaks to match). Because we want the customers to notice the different colors, and not be distracted by all different backgrounds. I know Zazzle likes us to use a variety of images and not reuse the mockups too many times, but in cases like this, I think it would be beneficial to have them all match?
