New Collections - Same design on many different products

[DIANA]

So what do I do with my collections that have one design style on many different products?  For instance, a collection of different products that all have the same animal print design, or a collection of different products that all have a pink glitter heart and pink and gold confetti, etc.  It looks like these types of collections are the ones that I have to migrate manually.  Do all of these need to go into "Other", which seems to be a category that aren't eligible for any promotion?  Am I the only one who has curated these types of collections?

[KeegansCreation]

It's a common situation and one that I have too. I've been putting them in Similar Styles/Themes. It's not a perfect fit but it's closer than Other which is for "products with no clear purpose and intent" and is meant to be only a temporary holding place. The caveat for Similar Styles/Themes is that they ought to "use the same or similar product type". The solution there, one that I am slowly implementing, is to break them apart into smaller collections that are more tightly aligned. I noticed that now collections only have to have 4 products. It used to be 7 (one to be on the product page and 6 to show lower down the page). So making little bitty collections that are more tightly focused is a good idea. But I'm putting them in Similar Styles/Themes rather than Other until I can break them apart, so long as they are the same Style/Theme.

[Connie]

I have no intention of breaking my collections apart- I have a lot of collections already, and it's hard to keep track of where everything goes when I make new products. So unless They give us a category that actually fits, or they expressly forbid it, I'm putting mine in Similar Styles/ Themes.

[Caprice]

@KeegansCreation The trouble with using "similar styles/themes", if I'm not mistaken - is that you don't get the benefit of the follow up email to the customer recommending the other products in the collection - is that right?

[Deb]

does anyone else have any of their collections stuck in 'other' even though you have changed the collection type?  all my others I have done successfully changed except this one.. some before and some after.. just one seems stuck 

[Marcia]

I've been putting those in "cross sell" & then they all show up as bonus products. I think I read somewhere that they'll still show up in the collection. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!)

[Connie]

For now at least, they still show up in the collection, because all those Recommended Product sections are just for us in our back end. But I think eventually Zazzle's going to use them on the customer's end, and then I don't know how things will look.

[Marcia]

Yikes – I certainly hope not or I'm kinda screwed! (So in Murphy's Law that means, they probably won't show them or something & I'll have to modify everything again...instead of having the time to make new products...) <sigh>

[k8hayes]

I have this problem, too. I just realized I was merrily putting these kinds of collections into Birthday Parties and Gifts, but that’s wrong; they need to have different designs. One of many things I’m wondering now is, what happens when all this guessing we’re doing, and squooging our collections into some sort of thing so they will fit and not land in “Other,” turn out to be wrong and we have to go through this all again? I wish the Powers that Be would start answering all these questions we have. 

[TMGEE]

That's one of my many concerns too. Will we have to undo what we are doing, or re-work on everything again to make our products and collections fit where they should fit? So much time and energy wasted here...

[swatcreate]

can you explain what do we mean by "cross sell, others, same style/theme"? Is there any video where I can understand this better.

[Sara_H]

@swatcreate Have a search of the Help Section https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=collection

and also https://www.zazzle.com/creators/playbook/collection+types - there's a video on the page

[Caprice]

So "cross selling" is only for a specific event?  Seems "cross selling" can also mean the same pattern on various products. "You bought a dish towel with this pattern; you might like a teapot to match" kinda thing.  I, too, resist placing these collections in the non-specific and boring "Other" wasteland category.

[Goldie]

Would it be possible to add more than one Event to one collection? I have 2 sometimes 3 events for one main design: baby shower, baby birthday, sometimes even bridal shower or bachelorette invitations. The invitations are different, but the rest of the collection is similar and one design can be used for multiple events (stickers, paper plates, paper cups, etc.), just by changing the event name

[Connie]

I think you can still add the same product to multiple collections, so you could have separate collections for each event, and the same cross-over products in all those collections.

[Heather]

Hi Creators - To help address the confusion here about cross-sell collections, we've adjusted the language in the feature. See changes in bold. Please let us know if this helps. 

Empower hosts and event planners to throw the ultimate event featuring a similar theme and style across a complementary set of products e.g. wedding suite, birthday party, baby shower collection, etc. This type should also be used to group products that all feature the same or very similar design.

• Products share the same, or very similar designs and style
• Focused on a single event, holiday, or design
• Perfect range of products for hosts, event planners, or customers looking for the same design on different products. 

[Connie]

Thank you for this clarification!

[Malissa · Accepted solution]

I don't know when it got updated, or if I just didn't notice it before, but if you choose "other" as the first choice for your collection of items with the same artwork on different products, it allows you to choose cross sell and opens up all 3 marketing channels for your collection. 

I have a lot of these collections and was able to update them, although I still have a lot of optimizing to do on all of them with adding media and fixing the tags that didn't transfer properly.

[KeegansCreation]

Good to know. I had been avoiding Other because I thought its' lack of categorization meant it would be nearly invisible.

[DIANA]

Thank you so much for this.  I don't know how long it would have taken me to actually find this out on my own.