Why Do Our Pinterest Marketing Efforts (promoter 2 prog.) result in 65 products via other Designers?

[GagCartoonist]

Some time ago, I noticed that several of my Pins (not all) shared via the Promoter 2 Program, which enables me to earn a 35% affiliate fee if my item sells, do not direct customers to my product page as intended through the link I’ve shared. Instead, they lead to a landing page featuring my product (albeit with key details missing) along with no less than 65 products by other designers.

Example Pin: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123215739803223742/

This offers customers numerous alternative choices to consider, in contrast to the 5+ chances they have when viewing the other designers’ carousel on our product pages.

This redirection has been deeply frustrating, as it hinders the effectiveness of our marketing efforts in promoting our products. When customers end up purchasing something else, we miss out on the benefits we intended to gain from the Promoter 2 program.

To provide some context, I send approximately 20,000 customer referrals to Zazzle each month ,

Total linkovers 1,360,194

which is no small effort. I’ve also observed that my self-referrals have dwindled from around 5+ per day to approximately 2-3 every other day.

This leads me to wonder if the redirection issue is a contributing factor, with the 65 alternative choices possibly diverting customers away from the products I’ve worked hard to promote and refer.

As a result, I find myself facing a dilemma. Should I consider removing all my Promoter 2 pins to prevent potential sales from being directed to other designers? Denting significantly the number of customers I send to Zazzle (linkover history). It’s disheartening to put in considerable effort to showcase 65 other products without reaping any rewards in return.

Could you please shed light on whether this redirection issue is an aspect of Zazzle’s or Pinterest’s policy, and if it’s the latter, how we might engage with Pinterest to rectify the matter? The fact that the Pins do not direct customers to the intended pages raises concerns, potentially running counter to Pinterest’s terms.

Thank you for your time and consideration as I consider leaving the Promoter 2 program due to this development.

[Malissa]

If you click through from a Google search, the result is the same product page so I it’s not just links from Pinterest, however, if I click on a link from my own website, it goes directly to the regular product page.  I am not sure what causes the format change because the pin I checked was one I manually made with the same URL I used on my website.

[Sara_H]

the same happens if you click on a link from twitter/x  - it’s an extra click to view product details and for customers to put items in their basket and the collection that the product is in is all the way down under 60 other creator’s products

Would like to know why too @CreativeLeahG  why external clean links have a gatekeeper so to speak

[Laura]

This happens whenever a new customer clicks a Zazzle link because they are not logged in. If they click another link during the same session, it will go directly to the product page and skip the redirected page. So yes, it does affect our PP 2.0 links because we only get the referral when a new customer buys our own products and this appears to steer them away before they’ve seen the entire product details.

Not sure when I first noticed it, maybe around the same time the Home page was personalized?

[Cat_Ritchie]

Well, it happened to me when I clicked through from Leah’s link even though I was already logged into Zazzle. Not sure what that means.

[Cat_Ritchie]

I’m guessing that Zazzle is somehow redirecting incoming links from certain external sources. If you look at the link for the landing page when you click through from Leah’s link it has some sort of parameter added after the URL - the part after the question mark.

https://www.zazzle.com/elegant_white_gold_lace_modern_wedding_invitation-256898874195404952?epik=dj0yJnU9VE5PQzREODVqcTZmclJaRld4NGNGbTFWZkt5WG5iTF8mcD0wJm49bjhoUTFqbUQ5aDJnVWZFdXV2QjVuUSZ0PUFBQUFBR1VvTkhv

This forum keeps altering what you can see of the link, so here’s an image of the actual link:

If you just copy the link part (delete the question mark and everything that follows) it takes you directly to the product page. I thought at first that this was a function of using Zazzle’s share tool to create the link, so tried it with some pins that I created by hand but got the same result. So clearly Zazzle is somehow capturing incoming traffic from certain websites and adding that parameter.

However, if I click through from a link that I placed on my own website, the “epik” parameter does not get added to the link and it takes me directly to the product page. 

Don’t know what it all means…

[GagCartoonist]

It happens when logged in and it’s random as not all the pins I checked went to this landing page.

[GagCartoonist]

I had thought the ‘epik’ aspect had to do with Pinterest so I tried clicking on non Zazzle Pins and I didn’t get the eipk parameter.

As other’s mentioned links from other sites affected too, so it’s all the more bizarre. Hopefully Zazzle can shed some light. So far from what I checked, my blog links also go straight to my product page, but then so do some of my pins. It does appear random.

[GagCartoonist]

For this to happen re Google search makes a bit of sense in that Google results are possibly the result of Zazzle’s own adverts … in which case they’d want to ‘avoid’ ( I assume) a referral fee (of 35% to us) given we are not the ones doing the referring? But that shouldn’t be the case for anything we ourselves are ‘putting out there’. It’s all very odd.

[ColsCreations]

It used to be that one only got the"View Product Details" page if one was not signed into a Zazzle account. Then at some point that changed and now it seems to be all outside links back to a product whether one is signed in or not. I just checked links out to products from both my website and yours and they all result in getting the “View Product Details” page. However, you only get that page on the first click-in during a browser session. Even if one doesn’t actually click the “View Product Details” button, all subsequent clicks-in from an outside link take you to the regular product page. If you close your browser and start a new session (or clear your browsing data during a session) then you get the “View Product Details” page again on first link-in. Note that you also get this “View Product Details” page if you click-in to Zazzle via a link to a Collection, and then click on a product in that Collection. This has been my experience using different browsers (which I’ve been doing a lot lately trying to see the new BETA features) and logged in or out.

[sm11]

That’s not the worst part. The thumbnail of the product image we promote looks blurry while the thumbs of all the other designs are crystal clear. 

I don’t like this feature at all. It seems pretty obvious to me why Zazzle is doing it but it will backfire because it removes any motivation to promote any product, even with a referral code. At this point, I will only promote collections and not products. If this is not an error and isn’t fixed soon, I will have to remove my existing product links as the image just looks off. They encourage us to make cover images and to promote them, and this is the result? Of all the kicks in the teeth by Zazzle, this is absolutly the hardest one to take. It doesn’t instil confidence in them, in fact, it appears to be such a desperate move to shift money from the designers’ pockets into theirs, that it really makes one question the health of the organisation.

But, as always it is their company and they can make all the filthy decisions they want.

[GagCartoonist]

I will also be deleting my product links if it isn’t changed ( if it is Zazzle doing this) because this isn’t what I expected would happen when I joined the Promoter 2 program. if I can’t earn any kind of referral there’s no point me sending 20k customers to Zazzle each month.

[sm11]

Are you humouring them? How can it not be Zazzle doing it when it’s happening from different sources? It’s such a big disappointment, even without the new promoter program. 

We can’t be found easily in the MP and to be seen, all designers had were their promotional links to their products. Now that is gone as well. If we link to our collections, will they do the same thing at some point and show everyone elses collections with ours? At this point, I’m almost expecting them to do just that. I just imagine the Zazzle gods, sitting on a round table scheming of ways they can legally pee us off. They’ve done pretty well doing that over the years. They have gone above and beyond and are overachievers when it comes to screwing their designers lol. 

What is it with POD and microstock companies? They all have humble beginnings and turn into monsters. If I were to ever set up either one, I would run it as a co-op giving any designer 10% royalty for a sale and then share any profits amongst them. 

All I want to hear from Zazzle is that they made a bad decision and they’ll reverse it. Either that or to tell us some bug is doing it. I won’t believe it wasn’t intentional but I will humour them too lol.

[Cat_Ritchie]

OK never mind. The “epik” parameter is a complete red herring. I did a few more tests and found that when I clicked on links from Pinterest I sometimes got the parameter & sometimes didn’t, but either way it took me to the “landing page” instead of to the actual product page. 

I don’t know what it means, but I’m really not sure it’s worth worrying about. I seem to do pretty well with the promoter 2.0 program, and I don’t really have enough data points (nor do I have the time) to do a thorough analysis to determine if I’m better off now than I would have been if I’d just posted links with my associate code and gotten the 15%. Plus, if I quit the program now, all of those zillions of clean links that I’ve got out there would be for naught.

So I’m just gonna focus on things I can control and not waste any more time getting myself worked up about stuff like this that I’ll never be able to figure out or change. (Saying that mostly for my own benefit.)

[GagCartoonist]

I was of this mindset so do relate, but I am seeing my promoter 2 referrals dwindle while my linkovers remain substantial. I have to do what brings me the most bang for my buck and so if this isn’t it, I will have to make changes.

[GagCartoonist]

I posted about Zazzle own collections a while back. Not sure if this store is one of Zazzle’s own or not, The store is now ‘empty’ but the collections still exist, but are invisible in the store. https://community.zazzle.com/t5/general-zazzle-discussion/zazzle-s-own-collections-are-these-a-good-guide-to-follow/m-p/99896  I don’t know what this means?  Also we do have curated collections currently showing up instead of our own collections on our product pages. But Zazzle are looking into this and hopefully will address it.

Older post extract:

Re the collections page 

I noticed Zazzle has recently added some of their own collections already ranking high in the collections pages (see photo mugs)

Are the collection themes Zazzle is currently in the process of curating the ones we should be aspiring to create?

A few samples:

• https://www.zazzle.com/collections/photo_mugs-119133388115962469
• https://www.zazzle.com/collections/health_fitness-119214133109965556
• https://www.zazzle.com/collections/hosting_a_party-119709326452350596
• https://www.zazzle.com/collections/kids_birthday_party_supplies-119862037972752777

[GagCartoonist]

I’m not certain the redirects are Zazzle orchestrated or what the reasoning would be bearing in mind they are counter to the affiliate programs, but I do need to know so I can amend my referral strategy. I don’t believe Zazzle would intentionally be trying to curb our affiliate efforts as that would just result in less referral activity. I for one definitely want to continue referring, I just need to work out the best strategy in light of this ‘page’ as I feel it has dented my effectiveness as an affiliate. Any light Zazzle can shed is much appreciated in order we all progress.

[sm11]

Yeah, they removed them from the store but the collections are still under the Zazzle member profile. If it wasn’t a Zazzle account, surely they would have removed any ‘fraudulent’ account by now. 

“Also we do have curated collections currently showing up instead of our own collections on our product pages. But Zazzle are looking into this and hopefully will address it.”

Jesus! I am glad I haven’t seen that. Every day I wake up thinking I will do some Zazzle but more of this sort of rubbish makes me hesitate. It’s a good thing as I have a boatload of better things to do. I hate having my time wasted and Zazzle is intent on doing just that with practically everything. I am under $100 away from reaching gold and it’s such a ‘woopedidoo’ kind of feeling lol. I’ve been around long enough to have seen all the shenanigans. They don’t upset me even a little bit. I can always count on Zazzle to pull a ‘Zazzle’. Someone posted that they can’t take this company seriously. I haven’t taken Zazzle seriously for more than a decade lol. If I did, they’d break my spirit.

[GagCartoonist]

Ah, I hadn’t even noticed the profile side of things. Well spotted.

Do not devalue that GOLD!! It is still a badge of honor for all your hard work and yes it is a moment to celebrate and shout about Well done!!!

[sm11]

In light of everything, it means FA. Bronze was exciting. Silver was ‘meh’, Gold is ‘woopedidoo’. $100,000 over 13 years is embarrassing. That’s well below the poverty line. That’s a year’s worth of income for almost anything. It isn’t a badge I’d wear proudly. I don’t even tell anyone that I Zazzle lol. It’s just a little side hobby that I would do, with or without Zazzle.