Your Zazzle badges and awards really do help your online reputation. They’re small, but they work like little trust markers that show customers you’re active, consistent, and involved. A lot of people don’t realize how much those signals matter when someone is deciding whether to trust your shop.
Badges are basically social proof. They show you participate, you help others, you post regularly, and you’re part of the community. When someone clicks your profile and sees a row of badges, it tells them you’re not just someone who lists products and then disappears. It’s the same idea behind digital credentials online they show you’re present, reliable, and invested in what you’re doing.
I’ve seen this outside of Zazzle too. Years ago, one of my blogs received a “Best Blog” award back when Blogger still gave out awards. That blog is about 15 years old now, and it still averages around 200 views a day. The award didn’t make the blog successful by itself, but it definitely helped establish trust early on, and that trust carried forward over time.
The value of badges depends on where they come from. Some platforms hand out badges that don’t mean much, but when they’re tied to real activity or helpful contributions in a community like Zazzle where our customers are members, they do make a difference. Your profile awards and badges help you stand out, especially in places where customers want to know who they’re buying from or following.
Badges aren’t everything, but they do add up. They help shape how people online see you, and they make your profile feel more established and trustworthy. In a marketplace or a blog environment, that kind of credibility matters.
I thought the Community was private too, but it’s actually public. Colescreations posted a screenshot of my profile while she wasn’t signed in, and everything was still visible. That means anyone can see it customers are members, and members can view the Community if they want to. So the badges aren’t just “forum-only.” They’re part of your public member profile, and customers can see them if they click your name from a comment or a Show Me post
@kashmier The EDU article I shared explained something interesting about trust badges. Many online sales platforms use ribbon or medal graphics to show that a seller has earned a high level of trust from previous customers. In their study, sellers who earned a trust badge saw a 4.43% increase in sales in the first 15 days, and keeping the badge led to a 9.28% increase in sales after that. Losing the badge had the biggest impact sales dropped by almost 8%, which was four times worse than the boost from earning it.
To me, hiding your forum or community profile works a lot like losing a badge. When your profile is hidden, customers can’t see your badges, your activity, or your Show Me shares. If you’re sharing products in Show Me, all of that activity normally shows up on your profile, and that’s part of what helps customers discover your items. Hiding the profile removes that whole customer discovery path.
Creators assume customers aren’t in the forum because they don’t understand how public the Community actually is. And they think badges are “nobody’s business” because they don’t see them as part of their public reputation. But from a business standpoint especially from an affiliate marketer’s perspective badges, awards, and visible activity absolutely matter. They’re trust builders.
In my opinion, hiding your community profile/badges awards isn’t the best idea, but everyone has their own reasons for doing it.
Response to @Carla ? >
I actually know customers who read the threads some of them follow me on Facebook and tell me they check the Community. I am not sure how anyone would know if a customer was on the community or not,
In my experience I share products on the Show Me boards, I get a lot of organic traffic overnight, especially on items that aren’t indexed yet. I’ve also had sales come directly from things I shared in Show Me. That tells me customers are clicking through, reading, and browsing creator profiles.
They may come here for different reasons some shop, some read discussions, some follow creators and customers also add products they find into their collection / wish lists. Customers are members and they can see the community signed in and signed out. And if your profile is public they can see your reputation awards badges and other activity So my point wasn’t about how many customers read the forum. It was simply that badges and awards are part of our public profiles, and customers can see them when they click through That’s why I view them as trust markers. They’re small, but they’re visible, and they help shape how a customer sees a creator
