Newbie question about revising / deleting art

[KimB3384]

Hi! So, I'm new to Zazzle but I've been designing professionally for decades. I absolutely love it here and love what I'm able to do with the platform, but I have a quick question. Part of my process is making tweaks to get a better final product. I've always treated my designs as drafts because I need to see something and live with it for a short period of time to see how it feels and see what needs to change. I don't have access to the "replace" button yet, so I'm having to edit my designs, create new entries, and then delete the originals. Is this process going to ding me in any way or put me on some sort of bad seed list?

I'm hoping that once I get used to the platform and really settle in, my process will become more streamlined and I won't have to make changes, but I'm launching this new brand and I'm being so obsessive about everything. 

[KeegansCreation · Accepted solution]

Welcome to Zazzle.

According to anecdotes on this forum, the only time deletions have resulted in a drop in zrank is when it was mass deletions of dozens and dozens of products all at once. Nobody has reported negative effects from doing deletions in this very gradual one-at-a-time manner. The "replace" feature is new and not widely available (seems to be still in beta) so making a new product that is an improvement on an old one and then deleting the old one has been done by many designers including me.

[KimB3384]

Whew! That's what I was hoping to hear. Thank you so much! 

[Cat]

Well, @KeegansCreation is probably right in terms of your store's ranking, however, it usually takes time (like a few months) for a product to get seen in the marketplace. Plus, Zazzle's search algorithm (which none of us know the complete details on) favors products that have more views, and it absolutely favors products that have more sales. So, if you create a product, and it gets some views and sales... and then you replace it with a newer version - that newer version will start from zero in terms of its placement in the marketplace - and, in my experience at least, often struggles to get back to where the original one was. Also, if you've done any marketing of the product (like, for instance posting it on Pinterest), the new one will have a new URL, so all those links will get broken. So, in general, I would try to avoid deleting and replacing products (especially anything with a meaningful number of views and/or sales) unless there's some sort of flaw that's big enough that it might cause a customer to either not buy it or return it unhappy. Just my 2 cents!

[KimB3384]

Excellent points. I've actually made it a point to NOT share anything that I am still "tweaking" because I know from my own online store how problematic links can be. 

I guess I feel that I need to be completely and totally happy with what I'm offering because if I don't think the design is solid, I can't expect anyone to buy it. I came from Redbubble where you could change and update as often as you wanted or needed to, but this is a different animal. It's going to be way better for my brand, but I'm going to need to solidify my approach, for sure. 

[Connie]

Just a word of caution- even if you have the Replace Product feature, there's a bug in it that adds it to your Saved Designs indefinitely, with no way of ever deleting them. so if you are doing all your products like that, you'll end up with an awful lot of undeletable Saved Designs! Also, it might catch the eye of Zazzle as being a misuse of the feature, which could cause you to lose the option altogether.

If you are concerned about deleting products after they are published, maybe you could set them to Hidden until you are sure the design is the way you want it, and then either make it public or delete and make a new version? This way you aren't risking having a customer find the product, or an affiliate share the product, and then when they come back later, the kink is broken.

[KimB3384]

OK, this is *exactly* what I was asking—will that "behavior" catch anyone's eye and ding me for it. Which, you know, is definitely not what I'm looking to do. So your suggestion to hide items is a great one. Now that I've been here for a couple of weeks and am getting a handle on how things work and what I really want to accomplish, I'm a little more on target with my creations on the first try. But I know me and know it's going to be an ongoing issue. Thank you so much for the help!

[KeegansCreation]

The absolute safest option is to simply not publish the product until you are satisfied with the design and unlikely to change it. Then it stays in your Saved Designs until you publish it, at which point it gets removed from Saved Designs. This would be easier than hiding it, deleting and remaking it or using the Replace feature when that becomes an option.

[KimB3384]

Now *that* is an excellent suggestion and is something I didn't even know was an option! Thank you!!!