I’ve seen people referring to an auto response they’ve created in Chat, but all I can find is the far too short line that customers supposedly see. How do you supply a longer message that tells customers to use Zazzle’s help for things like shipping and price? Without such a message, we stand to lose sales because it can easily be 24 hours or more before we ever even see a customer’s query.
(In general, I hate Chat.)
Barbara I’ve never seen anything other than that short message space for an auto response in the Chat.
I don’t think there is a way to create your own auto response just editing the one that appears when a new chat from a customer starts. I’ve looked in the settings on desktop and you only get a space for your headline and that’s limiting for information (only so many characters)
You could create an image with a general message FAQs with lots of info but that wouldn’t have links to the help pages and may not answer the particular question that you get from chat (even though it would probably be about shipping)
Sorry to be of no help whatsoever 
Well, [strong swear word], I misunderstood what I was seeing. I thought people were talking about the existence of an auto response. I was indulging in wishful thinking.
I came a hair away sometime last night when a customer wanted to know why the price she was seeing in her cart was about 1-1/2 times what it should have been. Blessedly, she was so bent on buying the product that she must have contacted customer support. By the time I saw her message, she’d already made the purchase, but I answered her anyway, thanking her for pursuing the problem.
Zazzle does have an automated message that redirects customers to customer support. I have used it before because a customer placed an order on a weekend and reached out to me asking if I could get it in the mail sooner. Since it did not pertain to the images themselves I click on the section in chat that auto pastes Zazzle’s paragraph into chat and sent it. It states that if they have questions regarding the images to ask the “creator” but if it has something to do with their order, shipping, etc to click on the customer support link provided in the chat.
Thank you. I’ll have to look for Z’s auto message because I never noticed it before. However, unless I’m online, the customer won’t see it..
The biggest problem, as we all know, is that the customer has no way of knowing what a creator/designer is as opposed to what Zazzle is. The poor customer doesn’t necessarily understand that we’re just pretty pictures on Zazzle’s stuff.
Well, [strong swear word], I just spit tea all over my computer screen. Thanks for the chuckle!
I have a text document that I keep open whenever I’m working on Zazzle. I has about 10 different canned responses for questions that I commonly receive. I also have a bunch of info-graphics and screen shots that I regularly use to help people navigate the system. The message that @SJoy is referring to shows up when someone initially contacts you - it says something like “does this person need customer support?” with a link that you can click to insert Zazzle’s little blurb, but you’re correct there’s nothing “auto” about it because I have to actually click on it to reply to their message.
It would be SUPER helpful if there was some sort of a real auto response that we could create so customers aren’t left hanging until we’re available.
I like your idea of prewritten snippets addressing common questions asked in chat to copy and paste. I might write some up later and keep them on hand. I wish they would allow us to write our own with a longer character allowance. Like the ones we can write for our stores that pops up throughout the customers purchasing process. We also need to be able to send links and images in chat.
If you (or anyone else) would like to borrow anything from my snippets please feel free. I usually use these as a starting place and edit for the specific situation. I have other blurbs for people with questions pertaining to background images, but I don’t figure most designers would need those - but if anyone does, I’m happy to share those too!
Shipping Inquiries (post-order questions/concerns)
Hi, and thanks so much for choosing my design! All orders are prepared, manufactured & shipped by Zazzle, not by me - I’m just the graphic designer who created the artwork/design template that you used. Zazzle doesn’t give me any access to customer orders or accounts, so I’m not able to help with that. But here are some links that you might want to check out:
Order Status & Tracking: https://www.zazzle.com/my/orders/history
General Shipping Info: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219589388-Shipping-Info
Contact Customer Support: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support-
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I hope you get it sorted out, and thanks again for choosing my design!
Best Wishes,
Cat
Shipping Inquiries (pre-order)
Hi, and thanks so much for your interest in my design! All of the products are manufactured & shipped by Zazzle, not by me, and since I don’t play any role in that process I’m not able to answer your question.
To find turnaround estimates for your location, you can check out the shipping link on the product page. Here are some additional links that might be helpful:
General Shipping Info: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219589388-Shipping-Info
Contact Customer Support: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support-
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I hope it works out, and thanks again for your interest in my design!
Best Wishes,
Cat
for shipping inquiries I usually attach this infographic - I need to update it now that they’ve changed the icon for chatting with support.
Changes to Existing Orders
Hi, and thanks so much for choosing my design! I’m afraid that once the order has been placed it’s out of my hands. All orders are processed, manufactured & shipped by Zazzle - not by me, and they don’t allow any changes to existing orders - the only way to make a change is to cancel and redo it.
Here are some links that might be helpful:
For Orders that haven’t gone into the print queue yet you can cancel & reorder here: https://www.zazzle.com/my/orders/history
For Orders that have already gone to printing you’ll need to contact Customer support:
https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support-
For General Info on changing or cancelling orders: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219499808-How-Do-I-Cancel-or-Modify-an-Existing-Order
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I hope you get it sorted out and thanks again for choosing my design!
Best Wishes,
Cat
Printing errors
Hi, thanks so much for choosing my design, and I’m SO sorry your order didn’t print correctly! Zazzle has a 100% happiness guarantee so they should make it right for you. To get it fixed, you’ll need to contact customer support at support@zazzle.com or you can reach them here: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support-
If I could fix it for you I totally would, but all orders are prepared, printed, and shipped by Zazzle, not by me - I don’t even get to see them - and they don’t give me any access to customer accounts.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I hope you get it sorted out. Thanks again for choosing my design!
Best Wishes,
Cat
Help Customizing Design
Thanks so much for your interest in my design! I’d be delighted to help you, but this system does not let me see your work unless you send me a special link to give me access.
To find the link click on the arrow symbol in the upper corner of the preview image (it might look different on different devices, but on a PC it’s just to the left of the price.) When the dialog box opens, choose “copy link” and paste it into a message here. That will allow me to access your work and make the changes for you. See attached screen shots for further explanation.
…and then I attach this image
Help finding Download Link.
Hello, and thanks so much for your interest in my design! To order the design as a downloadable file, choose “instant download” from the “choose your format” dropdown, then put the item in your cart and proceed to checkout. See attached screenshot.
Sorry to write a novel, but I hope something in there helps somebody!
Thanks @Cat This is super helpful! I think I may reword them to match my lingo and then tailor them to match the the customer’s inquires (I don’t want to copy your responses, just use them as a guidelines to help write my own). You are always so helpful! Much appreciated!
You’re welcome! Please feel free to use them in any way that works for you!
I didn’t even know about the sharing a customized design. Extremely helpful. thanks!
I haven’t looked in ages so could be wrong, but don’t we have the option to customize a pop-up message shoppers see when they add something to their cart?
Just looked, we DO have the option in our Advanced Member settings, but it doesn’t work.
I tried in two different browsers, signed in and signed out, with products from different designers, and no such message appeared. 
Well, if this worked, it would be a good place to add an informative note.
It works pretty well. The only thing is that you’re basically taking a snapshot of a design rather than being able to edit their version, so once you make the changes for them you have to take another snapshot and send it back to them. It sometimes causes confusion when you get several different versions going, and changes to one aren’t reflected on the other.
You can both work on the same copy by using the green share button inside of the design tool, but that’s problematic because you both have to be online at the same time which can be difficult to schedule. I only tried that once and ended up doing 3 hours of free design work for a customer because I’m not very good at saying “no!” Anyhow, since the time I used that feature I think they added a video conferencing element to it which terrifies me, so I haven’t explored it further! 
Wait… so you mean that they don’t actually see my message when the add something to their cart? I wonder if they see the other messages. Hmmm…
Thanks so much, Cat, these are super helpful!
Clicking the message button results in a crystal-clear dropdown. Why don’t customers make the correct choice? Is it the fact that we artists are first and Zazzle is second? Would it make a difference if this were reversed? Probably not, but I can’t think of another reason.
The biggest problem seems to occur for those of you who create wedding suites, and whenever I see this, it reinforces my decision to stay away from that arena. I don’t know how you manage things like going on vacation, being ill, or family emergencies. Bless you for your fortitude.
Thank you @Cat for my future time saved 😊
