Do Foil Cards Print OK? The Previews are SOOOO Bad!

[Cat]

I've had several messages from customers who are concerned about buying foil cards because the previews just look so terrible. I've made cover images, but once the design is customized, the changes are only visible on the Zazzle-generated preview, and customers are hesitant to purchase because the writing is almost invisible on some sorts of designs.

I've been assuring them that the final product will look good, but since I never get to actually see the finished product, I just wanted to be sure.

Here's an example. A customer wanted an invitation translated to Spanish, which I happily did - but she's concerned about buying it because the Zazzle-generated preview is illegible. 

Here's the cover I made for the original card:

But once I made the changes for her, we're left with the Zazzle-generated preview:

How on earth is she supposed to even see the text that she types in? Maybe I just need to order some samples to assure myself, but has anybody out there ordered any? Do they actually look OK?

I can't help but wonder how many sales we're losing because of this issue!

[Cat]

Just a quick follow up. I went through my reviews and all of the reviews for these foil invites (same design) are 5 stars - print quality was excellent. So I have to believe that the problem is just with the previews - not that the font and/or artwork doesn't work with foil. That being the case, could Zazzle PLEASE fix the auto-generated previews? I really think it's impacting sales.

[Sandra-]

Hi @Cat happy to say I ordered several for samples when they were available singularly and they look absolutely STUNNING in reality! It’s a shame about the previews. It’s also tricky to make a cover pic showing the foil to its best advantage.

[Cat]

Thanks so much for the firsthand account! It's just such a shame that the previews are so bad, because it seems like a great product. I just can't understand why Zazzle would go to such time & expense to create this new product and then shoot themselves in the foot with the terrible previews. I know it's tricky to make a rendering that's going to work well for all types of designs, but the previews on the old foil cards (Create your own Foil Card | Zazzle) were infinitely better.

If they can't make something that works for all sorts of designs, maybe they could at least offer a number of different styles of rendering the foil previews so there would at least be something legible for the customer to look at!

[Sandra-]

You’re very welcome 😊 agree, it would be great if there was some way to make the previews better. They’re not easy to photograph either lol - I took some quick pics of my sample ones, they’re not great I’m afraid, would need proper lighting etc to show them at their best, but hopefully may give you an idea of how they look printed. I’ve seen some great examples other designers have posted on their socials too so maybe someone else may add some better photos of theirs!  

[Cat]

Wow! Thank you so much for posting those! Still not sure if my customer will be willing to take the plunge or not - I haven't heard back from her. But I did send her one of the customer reviews for the same design where the customer said it was the most beautiful invitation she'd ever seen. Fingers crossed...

[Sandra-]

No problem 😊  Really hope your customer orders - great idea to send her the glowing review, that should help I’m sure! 

[Fiona]

Hey all,

Thanks for the feedback, I will pass this on to the team now!

-Fiona😊