How Do You Not Make 3 Separate Collections For Every New Design

[klstock]

For example, say I have a tiki party theme design that could be used for a birthday, engagement party, bridal/couples shower, baby shower, anniversary, retirement party, etc..... and the text template is set up so the customer can fill in the occasion, name(s), date, time, location, rsvp, etc., it makes no sense to have to create 3-5 collections for each separate category. 

 Before the new collections categorization stuff, I used to make my invitation template placeholder text say "please join us for a shower in honor of" - the customer could customize it to say baby shower, couples shower or whatever. Or I would make the text template placeholder text say "join us to celebrate" and then something like "your name/occasion here" so the customer could fill it in to say "Kate's 30th Birthday" or "Kate & Joe's 50th Anniversary".

But now that would need to be many separate collections even though the template would be the same across whatever products I put in the collection. Usually an invitation, napkins, paper plates, sign. The template for the napkins and paper plates would have a field to customize the name(s), occasion, date. Nothing is changing in the design or template so it makes no sense to me to have to make multiple collections with the same products - and then that also means triple the mockups, cover photos, banner, etc. 

What do you do? Any suggestions?

[APe]

For me, it depends.
I've been making separate collections for separate events and then adding products to all three that fit all three. Since the collection types suggest different products I think it kind of makes sense? I don't publish three different napkins when they're generic enough to suit any event but for invitations, signs, etc. I will. Keep in mind the product category is for a different for weddings vs. general parties which determines where they'll be seen in a search.

[klstock]

In the napkin example, do you publish the one and then add it to the other collections? Does it accept that or stick it in the bonus product section?

Wedding collections I pretty much keep separate. But for example the bridal/couples shower category and engagement party would be redundant to make a whole different collection with the exact same design and templates on the same products. 

[Connie]

I think it does make more sense now to make separate collections for each type of event, because Zazzle has the actual collections in the various categories, and you want them to show up in the right sort. It is a ton of extra work, but maybe you could re-use the cover photos for the products in each different collection.

[klstock]

Reusing the cover photos is a good idea for sure (when possible), and I definitely want them to show up in the right sort. It just seems there could be a more sensible way of doing these things without all the repetition of products. 

[Cat]

I would absolutely make separate collections. But beyond that, I would make separate products for each occasion. Doing it that way you can optimize the font size etc for different text, but more importantly, I think expecting your products to do double duty (or triple/quadruple duty) really hurts you from a marketing perspective.

Just think of it from the customer's perspective. Let's assume you've done a wonderful job tagging your invitation so it shows up in a search for a bridal shower even though the text says birthday party. When a customer sees that, are they really gonna think "Well, it says birthday party, but I could change that to bridal shower"? I mean, maybe if they understand how Zazzle works and are highly motivated to get your design above all of the zillions of other ones out there - but that certainly doesn't describe the majority of my customers.

I read once that for every hoop you make your customers jump through, you lose 50% of them. It doesn't mean that you won't get ANY of those types of sales, but I think you'd probably get a LOT more if you specialized each invitation for a particular occasion. I'd still leave the text customizable because it's always good to leave the door open for the odd customer who does want to go the extra mile, but I certainly wouldn't count on them to do that.

Just my 2 cents! 

[klstock]

Thanks Cat for taking the time to answer! Uugh, I was hoping there was some clever trick to get around this ......😮 (<< me letting out a long, loud sigh....).

What I used to do was have just one collection for each design and within that I would make separate invitations for birthday, baby shower, bridal or couples shower for example. Napkins and paper plates would just have a text field for name/occasion/date for example so whether they were having a baby or bridal shower the one napkin would work for either so I didn't have to post 3 different (but basically the same) products. It seemed to work for me ok.

It seems like creating all these basically duplicate products could negatively affect the product to sales ratio and zrank?? 

I wish there was a way we could click off more than one category for a product such as napkins and paper plates - that we could click all that apply. 

[klstock]

Another example - a tiki party or luau. People have them for all different types of celebrations - birthday, wedding, baby shower, anniversary, or just because. It would seem redundant to make 5 separate collection when nothing on the design or templates for each product is changing. 

I don't do all the suggested products in a collection - usually just the same handful of products such as invitation, napkins, paper plates, signs, stickers... And those would have the same template and design so it just doesn't make sense to make 5 different collections and different cover photos, banners etc. 

Or birthday party collections - there should just be a general category for birthday. As it is now you have to pick adult or kids. When it is obviously designed for a kid, or for an adult that is fine. But often times I have designs that could be for either, so it seems redundant to make two separate collections and all the media that goes along with it. 

Anyone run into these dilemmas? Any suggestions?

[Cat]

There's nothing wrong with putting the same product in multiple collections - especially if even the template text is the same. I have a few things (mostly rubber stamps and wax seals where I have a different collection for each color artwork - because the color isn't reflected in those products.) However, when you do that, the primary collection is the one that gets displayed beneath the product, so it's not entirely ideal. I basically think that if it can be customized for different occasions, you should do it and put different versions in different collections.

[klstock]

I get why making a different collection for each event such as wedding, bridal shower, baby shower etc. should be done ... but when a products such as napkins and paper plates could often be used interchangeably for each collection it seems there could be a better way than to make essentially the same product for multiple collections. 

As it is, the reason is because you have to pick an event/occasion for the product when posting for marketing purposes so people can find it in a search. If there would be an option to select more than one event/occasion for a product as it applies, or an "any event/occasion" or "multi-purpose" option it seems like that would cut down on having to post repetitive products. For example, I could make one napkin and use it in 3 different collections, and the collection would allow it to fill the napkin slot instead of being relegated to a bonus product. 

But as it is now I can't do that because what I select for the product event/occasion has to match what event/occasion I set the collection as or it won't put it in the slot it is supposed to go. 

Zazzle, is there any way this can be done so we could select an "any event/occasion" option for a product and then use that same product in more than one collection instead of having to create multiples of essentially the same product?