When sharing the video view of products to social media, the link back which goes to the ‘landing page’ doesn’t include our video (note the landing page is not our product page).
What’s the advantage in us creating videos, if when we share them they’re not showing?
I had an experiment with this and decided the best option when pinned was to upload the video myself and just use the link back to my collection worked ok, you have to click the title rather that the video though apart from that works great 
Just need another half today to create another one now I am so slow… 
Steep learning curve here… But if needs must…
Edit this I was talking about the collections, just made a video for an individual product and pinned it and it just shows a random frame that is it! Not great is it… then went to my collections page same thing stuck on the same mid random frame (see candy favor mixed drinks bottom corner)? Surely it is not supposed to look like that? Else you will have to do a cover photo and place that first in the media files? Here is the link no the video isn’t great but cut me some slack on that best I can do with limited resources! https://www.zazzle.com/z/cwus23t5?rf=238346800477376990
It’s very time consuming creating pins and posts as opposed to sharing direct from Zazzle but yes it’s a workaround. But in all honesty I don’t have time for that. From sharing 100 items a day to 5 is the difference this makes in terms of time . Thank you though!
It’s a good video. It showcases the product very clearly.
You are too kind 
I am totally with you on the time it takes, but at least the covers are still a quick pin and win. It takes me so long to upload and create a small video what is another 5-10 minutes of my life? I have come to the conclusion I need at least another 7 hours a day and a couple of extra years to make a dent in all this new requirements and that is just updating with covers the years of previous designs I have, let alone the video! Time to turn into wonder woman
I gave up on collections for this very reason.
We have to weigh up the return for our investment in time.
ps. Rather than aiming to do this for every product ( 40,000 plus, no chance!) I will only do this for products where I can utilize the tools at my disposal via Canva where a lifestyle theme, storytelling will fit a product in such a way as the greatly improve its appeal.
When covers were introduced we were advised having them would give us an advantage in the marketplace. And it did … BUT… my recent searches show that is nolonger the case. So, I have also now stopped creating covers.
Re videos … they don’t show up as noted when we share from Zazzle and in the shared items they do not show as videos, just images. Whether they get greater visibility in th marketplace via Zazzle remains to be seen.
SO … for me … video only serve a purpose if I am sharing them myself to my social media, via uploads which is as you say time consuming. So I will only do this for items where I can see a video will have an edge in influencing a buyer. And I already have a little insight into this.
With products for events, if one can make a video that is able to capture the essence of ‘the event’ rather than the attributes of the product, a degree of ‘excitement’ can be instilled with the buyer that compliments how they already feel about planning their event. This is a ‘new revelation’ and as such will require some experimentation. But if we look at tv adverts and how they generate a buzz, it is NOT by emphasizing the product but the lifestyle or event surrounding the product, that’s what grabs our attention. I will dig into this a probably do a blog post on it relating to the science behind it.
In essence, forget trying to do it all … just do what appears to bring in the desired results and consistently so, and one thing that doesn’t change is human psychology and the psychology of buying habits.
I hope this helps. I hate the idea of people burning themselves out trying to do it all, cos I’ve been there and it is VERY bad for physical and mental health. So I say … forget that! Just do what works. We can figure out what works …just takes a little time to refine. x
Hey @CreativeLeahG ,
Thank you for flagging. Can you share a link to a product where this happens please?
Thank you!
Thank you Mark
This is the pin, created when sharing direct from Zazzle (nothing added) via the video image
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123215739804397031/
This is the Link from Pinterest to Zazzle (referral code now added, so that seems to have been fixed, thankyou!)
And this is the page it lands on
the video is just an image on Pinterest, and the landing page (not store page) doesn’t show the video. The customer has to go a 3rd step (view product details) to get to my store page where the video can then be seen. After which time the ‘allure of the video’ is not required, as they have to choose to go further based on the flat images.
Hey @CreativeLeahG ,
That is great, thank you for all the info. I have passed it on to the team now and will let you know once I get an update.
All the best.
Hey @CreativeLeahG ,
When users click on a link from Pinterest or any other social platform, they are directed to an alternative product page. By selecting “view product details,” users can access the full product page to see video and cover photo. Your feedback has been forwarded to our internal team for consideration. Thank you.
I’m familiar with this issue, Mark. I highlighted it as a ‘problem’ in my original post. Zazzle redirecting users away from our store pages to a landing page where the video isn’t visible is counterproductive to the purpose of having a video. The more steps a customer has to go through, the lower the likelihood of making a sale. If a simple image is sufficient to prompt them to click again to reach our store, then do we really need a video?
The ideal scenario for maximizing conversions involves having active videos shared on social media. It seems we have to manually load them for that purpose. These videos should prominently appear on the FIRST page that customers land on after clicking the ‘AD’ on social media, especially when the shared image is a flat one rather than a video. However, this doesn’t seem to be happening. If landing pages are a necessity, it’s crucial that the videos are featured on those pages.
So, the fundamental question is, how do videos benefit us if customers don’t see them at a crucial decision-making point? Will they only be visible after the customer has already made the decision to make a purchase?
Our time as creators Mark is critical, we have to weigh up what action will result in the best results. I was excited about videos but if I can’t actually use them in a way that will increase conversions, then creating them isn’t an effective use of my time.
This is not a bug, so I’m moving it to over to General Discussion.
This is the first I have seen Zazzle finally admit to redirecting our links to an “alternative product page” so I will call that progress. Zazzle’s lack of transparency on that issue was surprising. I no longer share things without my referral code and it really takes the wind out of the sails even wanting to drive traffic to my items.
But I think Leah brings up a really good point here about videos. I’ve done a couple and used them for social media, but again, felt like all I was doing was sending affiliate traffic. With most people blocking cookies affiliate income is few and far between and I was more willing to put in the work for my own items.
Clearly it is making more sales for Zazzle since it has been around this long. And I can’t fault you for sending traffic to what sells, but I felt like I would reiterate what a lot of us have said. When I find hardly any benefit to all of this work, it makes me not want to waste the precious time which results in less traffic to Zazzle overall.
I’m sure videos not playing on Pinterest is out of your control. But the customer has to click at least 2 more times to even see it on Zazzle. My guess is the page load time matters so I see the point there as well. But when they have to click 3 times to even see the video (and have a high likely hood of viewing alternative products instead), it doesn’t seem like time well spent.
Some thoughts for your team, people use Zazzle to get traction by the marketplace but can’t be seen in marketplace without views and sales. Driving your own traffic was to help boost you there to utilize Zazzle’s advertising and bigger brand. The redirecting of our links takes away a huge chance to get those views and sales. Thus, you can’t move up the marketplace and stay buried. Maybe someone else here can change my mind but it is a real deterrent for creating and promoting on Zazzle as a platform.
I hope this is not taken as just more complaining, because I feel like it just falls on deaf ears. I was just trying to bring up how long term this could impact social traffic for Zazzle. I want Zazzle to benefit so they stay around, but it feels like only pro sellers or those few products that are always seen on the alternative page will make much. When I click a pin on my phone, which is where the majority of shoppers come from, I don’t even see my product without scrolling down. Again, I am trying to see this from both points of view, hopefully someone there will do the same. I’ve included a screenshot of what I see when I click my product pin for reference.
