Cards and postcards - does it really matter which type you start with?

[pencilcat]

I've been reading lots of past posts about designers having confusion / trouble with which card or postcard "type" (holiday, thank you, invitation, etc.) to start with, as well as how its difficult sometimes to find the exact one you want from the page(s) with all the card types available in that product Search tab thing (especially the elusive generic 5x7 folded card).

I've made a lot of cards. And I confess I've been super lazy about which type I start with, never thinking it mattered all that much. I figured as long as you have a good title, choose the correct marketplace placement, and the right product category, it should appear in searches (if you're lucky). But now I'm wondering if I've epically failed about this. I often just take one I've already made that's the right size (not paying attention to whether it's holiday, or whatever), and use it as a starting point to create a whole new design from. So sometimes I get it right, by chance, and other times I'm multiplying the error. There are times though that I'll have one design, and make a blank card, then a birthday card, then a thank you, then a Get Well, then a Mother's Day . . . so technically, those could have different "starter card" types, but really, who wants to start all over fresh for each one, when you can just change the inside greeting, republish, and change all the particulars (title, marketplace, category, description, etc.)? After just now reading the Zazzle help guidelines thing about paper and card types (better late than never I guess) I'm sure I've made business cards that are actually profile or announcement cards, called invites 'note cards', and pretty much every other wrong thing you can do (like probably ALL the postcards, which are Holiday, but actually not).

I want to either cry, or throw up, thinking maybe I have to go through alllllllll my cards and postcards and redo them to be the right "type". Am I the only one who's done this wrong? Or, how wrong is it? I do realize (now) that a shopper could be kind of confused if they look at a birthday card, for example, then go down to read the Zazzle product description and it's all about holidays. But then again, I've made those long hanging wine labels, and favor tags into yarn tags, and maybe a couple other things that don't technically match what the product is really designed for, so . . . maybe I'm just twisting in the wind here over nothing. 

From now on I'll definitely make an effort to get it right. But would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[Cat · Accepted solution]

Oy... I assume you've read this help file: Putting Your Designs on the Correct Paper Products – Zazzle Help Center

I think this was all part of something Zazzle did maybe 5-6 years ago called the "paper breakout." They basically separated their cards into different products (you can search for paper breakout in the help and also in Zazzle's YouTube channel for more info.)

I think it was mostly a marketing thing... the physical products are identical, but the Zazzle mockups are different, some of the quantities offered and pricing is different, they often qualify for different sales, it has to be on the right product to show up in the Real Views, and I would guess it has an impact on which products they market to the public and how.

At this point I don't think there's any way to move a design to the correct product without re-creating it. I'm not sure how big of a problem it is. I have a number of things designed when I first started that are on the wrong product, and certainly for things that have sales it doesn't seem like a good idea to re-make them on the correct product. I don't think it's fatal, but it does mean that they don't get the marketing advantages that they otherwise would.

[pencilcat]

Thank you Cat for all of that. I was off Zazzle for several years (health issues, oy) so missed the rollout about the card types. When I started back in, I just started making stuff again, unaware. So now I'm looking at my cards with fresh eyes. Some are actually ok, which is a relief. Some could use a re-do anyway, so maybe its a blessing in disguise. I have already noticed that the Holiday folded cards don't have an 8.5"x11" option available. So much to sift through. Sigh. Thanks again, I do really appreciate your thoughts.

[Cat]

Yeah, I missed the roll-out too. I joined and made a small handful of designs in 2017, but I didn't start designing in earnest until 2019, and I'm pretty sure it happened some time in there. Took me a long while to figure out what was going on because it's not exactly intuitive - at least it wasn't for me!  I wish it had been done differently - like that it was a setting you could change in "edit details" like tags & descriptions etc. I assume there's something about the way the system works that made that impossible, but it does create a fairly messy situation when things get put on the wrong product for whatever reason. 

I just thought of another thing that's impacted by this: whether it's eligible for digital download or not. Invitations, save the dates, greeting cards & holiday cards are eligible, but thank you cards, rsvps, enclosure cards, menus, programs, and just plain "cards" are not. I'm sure there's some method to that madness, but I keep finding that I have to transfer designs to eligible products for customers who want digital downloads, which is frustrating for the customer and very messy on the back end. Sigh.