Store Z Rank, Sales, etc.

[RG]

I have worked tirelessly on my store for weeks, including putting everything into categories, deleting, changing default royalty, changing designs, posting new items, sharing on Pinterest, etc.

I have not seen any good effect from all the work I have been putting in, including with my Zrank, sales. etc.

Has anyone else had the same experience?  I am frustrated and find myself hesitating to work on my store.

[zensusan]

Same here! I have 4 shops and they are ALL at 3 or below and will not budge. I have had the account for around 8 years. I have one shop that has been at "3" after four months of actively trying to improve it! I have completed everything to 100%, routinely share, and have been placing ads to bring visitors. I have made a few sales here and there. I've put 20 hours a week or more on this for months and nothing. Please - any new suggestions would be so appreciated! It is very discouraging. 

[RG]

I am in the same boat.  I am keeping at it, but a bit deflated.

[Brownielocks]

As far as the ZRank, that's a mystery.  Mine went down one digit and I have no clue why.  They change the algorithm all the time.  I think it's a bit disrespectful not to inform us on why we drop, but that's the way it is.

As far as sales, the summer is slow.  But, I think part of the problem is the economy.  Lots of businesses are suffering in sales, even the professional chains, etc.  Look how many are closing branches?  You also have to consider competition.  Zazzle has a lot of stores, all selling the same products with different designs.  Then we have Cafe Press who has the same basic format as Zazzle with its sellers to compete against.  

I don't think there is a magic answer.

[zensusan]

Agreed, there's a lot of competition. But just within Zazzle, they tell you that you need your store to be a 4 zRank to have your products seen but then they don't tell us exactly what to do to make that happen. You are right, it's disrespectful. I am trying to do the right things here and putting in a lot of time and effort and I feel like I am just floundering, I don't even know if what I am doing is helping or hurting my cause. 

Hello Zazzle Support? Please support your artists! 

[Barbara]

This is pure guesswork, but I've often thought number of sales, number of views, and maybe a certain amount of customers coming in via our outside links are involved, each weighted in descending order in the way I listed them. Frankly, I don't think how we've set up our stores counts for much at all.

Why Zazzle has never let us in on the game is a big fat puzzle. It would be like getting hired for a job but not being told how to accomplish that job.

The above said, it might be best to focus completely on trying to create designs people want to buy and not worrying about zRank. That's what I ended up doing and (very slowly) my rank rose, though I can't for the life of me tell you why.

Colorwash's Home

[Wildart]

I USED to think that too till this week... I opened a SECOND Store, and boy am I surprised, I have just completed all the tasks like 10 of this and 10 of that, and I am now only 1 rank below the other store,  (for which I have had many views, sales, and made cover images for etc etc.) I keep it clean. SO I am wondering, maybe the rank of the first store influenced the rank of the second. will they be equal rank tomoro? hmmm, Let you know 🙂 🙂 I also went down a rank for that store, I think due to poor sales in December. (I don't do many xmas related stuff, and only a few wedding suites. )

[chefcateringbiz]

I find that sales makes zrank go up or down the most, but then that falls apart when I have a rank of 6 on a home goods store I rarely add to anymore, probably has most products expired (no views for a million years) and only get a sale on once every 3 months.

[waterart]

I'm so discouraged by the dwindling sales that I don't feel like posting products for sale anymore, anything I post for sale these days doesn't get any views at all.

[RG]

😭

[CreativeLeahG]

sales are down ...... I wonder how much others are impacted by this.

There is a lot of competition outside of Zazzle now, not just from within.

[De]

I don't necessarily think of competition, especially within.  With promoting, anything anyone makes is of value.  The biggest being I can look at the items that really stand out to me that have techniques I hadn't used or thought of in order to learn a little more and push myself to learn something new.  Sometime it may even be a design I'm not particularly fond of, (we all have different tastes)  but they may have used an element or style in it that sparks an inspiration. 

 the 

[CreativeLeahG]

What kind of results were you expecting I wonder?

I worked on my Zazzle stores for over 6yrs before I saw the results I hoped to see ........

[Barbara]

Something that's been mentioned a lot is finding a niche. After creating a lot of different designs on a lot of different products, and then watching where your own sales are most likely to occur and with what sorts of designs, you can start discerning a pattern. For me, it happened when I started designing for my own interests, for areas I personally went back to over and over again in real life. Those were and still are the ones where most of my sales are generated. For instance, I've been composing music off and on for years, and so when I focused on it, my sales started to jump. The same has happened in a few other areas too.

Why would the above be true? Maybe because when focused on what we love, we do better work? Maybe because there are often customers who share the same interests?

My own conclusion is that we should design what we love. If we don't love what we're doing, then why are we doing it and why would others love it?

Colorwash's Home

[waterart]

I design what I love and my sales have gone down. I think zazzle is favoring those who post a photo of themselves instead of a logo, I came a cross this on the editing page of my profile: "We feature independent creators with real photos in our marketing. Please upload a profile photo versus a logo in order to be eligible for spotlight and merchandising opportunities."

[De]

Same here.  New store.  100% efficient.  -1 zrank.  As far as a personal photo, some people have valid reasons for not wanting their photo posted.  Whether it is for themselves or someone else.  I find it ironic that Zazzle expects everyone to post a photo to do well, yet they do not have a personal photo above the Zazzle name.

[JB]

Yes, some people do not want personal photos for a multitude of reasons, including personal safety! The same with having to do customer service and answer customer questions without being paid for that. Many people have chosen to utilize POD sites because their personal lives make this commitment to direct customer engagement and/or being personally engaged is taxing, stressful, not tenable (taking care of a terminally ill child, for example) and this allows people to do this without having to show up every day. There are people who have legitimate concerns about their profile having their full name and photo... I think of domestic abuse survivors, for example. Some people are businesses who do not wish to be "the face" of their business for other types of reasons. I really hope that not using your photo is not a reason that a well designed store, thoughtful product and design would be overlooked or negged. ❤️ xo

[Barbara]

I'm not sure what Zazzle means by being "spotlighted." Looking at their front pages, you can find designers there who use a logo, not their face. If you want to check this out for yourself, make sure to sign out first because, otherwise, you'll see a landing page supposedly designed for you. I say "supposedly" because they show odd things such as what's trending in your store, products you know for a fact aren't trending at all, not in sales nor in views.

Colorwash's Home

[Barbara]

@De  There are those who compete with others, and there are those who compete with themselves. You're the latter as am I. We're the ones who create something, think we've done a bang-up job, and then look at it much later and decide we could have done better and try again. We harass ourselves. LOL

Colorwash's Home

[orientcourt]

RG.I feel your anguish! Sales have been slow for a few months now, and its easy to lose your mojo! I finally and reluctantly decided to decrease my royalies  across the board from 19.9O% to 16.90. Because Zazzle has raised the prices of products ( some which don't reflect the quality and consumers knowledge of similar products in the marketplace) It made sense to at least keep selling more product rather fewer! Results from this week show more sales, though of 'cause at a lower royality! Could be because people are looking toward Xmas?  Who knows! 

[angelafuller729]

Sales are down for many this season... but there are some things you can do.  I looked at both your Pinterest acct and a few holiday items in your store.  You would definitely benefit by optimizing your keywords - in particular, your meditating sloth t-shirt needs tags that put it in a specific category (like "funny Christmas t-shirts" )  Use Zazzle's Holiday guide or a keyword helper (I use keyword surfer - an extension for Chrome and other OS, shown in the screenshot below)

As for your Pinterest - you don't have views to speak of...  it needs to be in the THOUSANDS per month to pay off.  Pinterest is no longer the place to just drop a link -- create appealing pins with Canva or Pinterest, start following more people, interact with them, etc.  That should help increase the views and the clickthroughs. 

My Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SheZazzles/ 

[RG]

Angela, thanks so much!  Keywords I need to do better on.  I did read that guide yesterday.  I have to redo some keywords today.  For Pinterest, should I not just be sharing?  Do I need to create special pins?

[angelafuller729]

My rule of thumb on Pinterest sharing is basically I try to just pin individual items straight from Zazzle but create full size pins or  videos in Canva for collections.  When I pin, I'm aiming for 15-25 pins per day, with at least 50-60% being seasonal.