Exciting News, Creators. We’ve launched Instant Downloads!
Please feel free to leave your feedback and questions here!
Thanks,
P.S. We’ve opened a new discussion board for Instant Downloads! In order to keep organized, we’ve moved all prior digital conversation into this new discussion board. You can find it here. This new board may take a few hours to appear in the dropdown menu at the top of the page.
Could we get a screenshot of the product page, and maybe some info on how the process works so those of us who aren’t in the beta group can have some idea of what the customer experience is like and answer the inevitable questions that we’ll get from customers who do have that option?
Yes, please! I see that many of the GREETING CARDS in my Dance Shop WERE marked as Downloadable Whatever a few minutes ago, yet now that notation is nowhere to be seen. I would like to know WHAT THE CUSTOMER is going to see and how he/she goes about purchasing the design as a DOWNLOAD. I have some customers waiting for an opportunity to purchase the designs through Zazzle and I would like to send an eMail with instructions, but not at this point!!! I have no idea how to purchase these items (and I’ve been HERE SINCE 2008 or so) so how can I tell my customers what to do? Thanks !!! Ann K.
It’s important to remember that we’re taking things very slowly this time around, so very few customers will actually see this new feature over the next few days. As a result, we do not advise that you advertise or market this new feature until we get a little bit further along. We understand that there is demand for this new offering, but the vast majority of Zazzle users will not actually be seeing this new feature on our website, so advertising it may only create confusion. At this time we ask for a bit of patience while we monitor things from our end to ensure that processes are operating as expected. We do hope to scale things up in the near future, and when we get further along we’ll provide an update so that you can start to notify interested parties.
Here’s a screenshot of what the user will see. On the right side of the page the user can select Prints, Instant Downloads, or Both. User will be sent through the normal checkout process, and once they check out they’ll be provided a link to download the product. This same download link will be found in the user’s Order History. When the user clicks on the download link they’ll be shown a simplified product page where they can download as png, jpeg, or pdf. This simplified product page will also contain a link to purchase the physical product, too.
Thanks so much for the screenshot - it’s super helpful to at least have some idea what to expect!
Thanks for the screenshot. I noticed something I didn’t know before: “Print + Instant Download” (the best of both worlds) as an option. 😊
If it was indicated from the beginning that those of us that opted in early would still have to wait for an undetermined amount of time, we may have made different decisions about where to put work in over the past few months. I did a lot of work to get ready and have everything updated, only to now learn I am not included in the roll out. I understand that everything goes to higher rank stores first, but perhaps that could have been made clearer at the beginning. It’s disappointing
When will the rest of us that opted in back in October be expected to see our products available as downloads?
Maybe I misunderstood, but I think that all of the products we enabled as downloadable are available, it’s just that they’re only available to a very limited subset of customers who have been included in the beta.
All products that were enabled for digital purchase are available in digital format now.
However, they’re only available in digital format for a small number of randomly selected users. I explained this in more detail in my post above…the post with the screenshot.
i took it to read that only some designers have the feature visible. My products do not show a visible download option
Interesting question, so if a customer finds these digital downloads and then starts a chat with us and ask if we offer the digital downloads, what are we suppose to tell them and where do we direct them to go for information?
Are digital downloads subject to the same sales/discounts as printed invitations? There is often a 50% off sale on invitations and it would be important to know whether this also would apply to digital downloads. I asked this in a different thread awhile back but did not see an answer.
Yep, they’ll be included in sales. The current promo is 50% off digital and print, but it may not always be like this in the future. It’s possible that we may do something like 50% off print and 15% off digital, but this sort of capability would need to be added to our promo tools. That’s not a small task.
Thank you. I wish sales would not apply to digital downloads and that they would just be a flat price. But that is good to know for deciding what royalty %. So in my case, if I do any of the digital downloads I know to set the % at the highest end to account for those 50% off sales.
Your digital offerings show to those who landed in the random group with Beta access to DD’s, even if you as the designer is not in that group and thus can’t see them yourself. I can see DD’s so checked and yes, I can see yours.
I’ve been checking out the Digital Downloads as a customer would see them and have a number of observations / questions. Since this is just the initial test offering I’m sure the Z team is working on all of them but since you’re collecting feedback here, here goes… (I’m just going to post one thing at a time in no particular order so as to make it easier.)
#1) Transparency
On printed products, transparent parts of an image reveal whatever the actual product color is and that is reflected in the previews. On digital images, how transparency is represented depends on the application you’re viewing the image in. It may show as black, white, gray, a grid pattern or actually transparent where you see the app’s background color. Zazzle has choosen to show it as white.
Here’s an example of a card where the center was published as transparent. I put it on kraft paper to highlight that it’s actually transparent and not white as represented in the phone in-situ.
Here’s another example with a twist. This card was published with all white text & elements, on a solid color background you can change.
I changed the background to transparent and again put it on kraft paper to highlight the transparency. Since you can’t print white all the design elements disappear in the print version. You can certainly have white in a digital image but since Zazzle is also using white to represent transparency, the elements disappear in the phone in-situ, too.
I am assuming that when someone pays to download a .png version, any transparent areas will actually be transparent, that transparency is not being converted to solid white in the digital files. I get that Zazzle had to pick something to represent transparent areas and that how it actually appears depends on the app the person is using to view it in, which Z obviously has no control over, but, I think white was a poor choice. How will customers be able to differentiate between what’s actually white and what’s transparent?
Going back to the first example, it looks beautiful at the published defaults.
Customer edits the template text without ever going into the Design Tool where they would see the white is actually transparent, downloads the file, sends it off to a bunch of people as-is. But uh-oh, some people aren’t seeing any text on it because for them the transparent center is black and maybe others are seeing gray or a grid. Not the white center the sender thought it had. Invite ruined. Customer embarrassed. Angry call to CS or chat message to Creator. Refund. Bad review …
I’m being extreme here I know, but I think the white/transparency issue is going to cause a lot of confusion and if at all possible Zazzle should use a grid to rep transparency on the digital in-situs.
I’d probably say something like: “Zazzle’s working on adding that feature, but I don’t know how long it will be before it’s available. You might want to contact Customer Support to see if they can help you.”
Very interesting! If it was up to me, I’d make the download look like the mockup - filling in any transparent areas with the color of the paper - so they’re getting a download of their invitation, not a download of the artwork on their invitation (if that distinction makes sense.) Seems like if they ordered both print and download, they’d want the two to match and sometimes the color of the paper is an integral part of the design.
ETA: I suppose if they’re ordering it to have it printed locally instead of to distribute online, then you wouldn’t want the paper from the mockup to be in the background on the .png file. Hmmmm…
Now I’m wondering if you get different results depending on which format you download and/or if the customer gets any choice in the matter. A jpg certainly can’t have transparency - so is it filled in with white, or does it look like the mock up? And what does all this mean in terms of best practices for designs with a white background - should we publish it white or transparent?
Another question is the cut. If the invitation utilizes a bracket or scallop - or especially the ticket shape is that reflected in the download? Seems like you’d definitely want the cut to be reflected in the download if your aim is to post it digitally - because that’s really part of the design. But if you plan to print it locally then you wouldn’t want that.
Lots of interesting questions to consider!
Somewhere and someplace, didn’t Zazzle say the downloads would be flattened and without transparency? If so, it means there would be no chance of white being interpreted as transparent. I assume because of this, any background color we use will be part of the flattened image as would the background color of the product itself. All assumptions on my part because I need to dig up the spot where Zazzle mentioned flattening.
Found it in two different places. Here’s one:
“Once the customer purchases the Instant Download, they will receive a private link to a copy of your design where they can edit the template details as well as download the flat file (.JPG, .PNG, .PDF) to their device to share with loved ones to celebrate their life’s moment.”
Thanks, if it ever happens, I’ll send them to customer service phone or email.
