Questions about the correct use of cover images/videos in Collections outreach

[James]

Hi Creators, 

I'm creating this thread so we can help with any questions from the outreach for correct/intended use of cover images/videos in a collections media manager. This way, we can collaborate and help each other resolve any questions. 

The email highlighted the misuse of single product images in a Collections Media Manager, which might cause confusion in line with intended use in the Marketplace and Search. 

Please only comment in this thread with questions regarding this subject directly. We all love a chit chat but this can sometimes drown out the genuine concerns of a topic. 😊

Thank you so much

James H. 

[CrazyMermaid]

I completely agree about the confused customer that thinks we are making thousands of products in our basement. It is exhausting.

[Connie]

I wholeheartedly agree!!!!

[SeanaDG]

I totally agree! As a shopper, I liked the clean look of similar mock-ups for products on Zazzle. I didn’t have to spend time figuring out what the product was from a thumbnail and deciding if i wanted to click on it to I wanted to learn more; when the product images were similar, I could focus on the design on that product which made for a more pleasant and efficient shopping experience. Now it feels so cluttered, which is one thing I don’t like about Etsy but there I expect it given independent shops.

[Deb]

I agree but I add, The only thing I can say about the zazzle images is.. while most are fine.. some are really bad.. dark colors, out of focus, weird angles etc.. many folks complained about some of Zazzle’s images.. yes I did too.. and now look where it got us.. 🙄

[marsh4]

update update your business or it will die, etsy has way more traffic and there is nothing to criticize about it we all doing this for money.

[Connie]

There is plenty to criticize about Etsy! Sure, they have more traffic, but traffic is useless if visitors can't see what we are selling! Zazzle's thumbnail images are a lot smaller than Etsy's, so using collection covers in place of product images is even worse than it would be on Etsy. And besides, even if you could SEE what is in the thumbnail image, if a customer is looking for an invitation, they want to SEE invitations, not a collection of products they may or may not want!

Nobody is saying they don't want to keep their businesses up to date. But changes have to IMPROVE things, not just change for the sake of change, when those changes are CLEARLY and PROVABLY detrimental!

[Laura-LiseWong]

That would be my biggest feedback on the whole collection covers... they should not take place in the marketplace over the image of the actual product. No one can truly find what they are looking for if they can't actually see the product first. It makes the marketplace look really cluttered and confusing. I know many of us feel the same. There has to be a better way.

[Jstonge]

As a creator and shopper I totally agree.

[Connie]

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AntonDesignCo]

I'm in the same boat here as others have mentioned.  All of my cover images have at least 3 different products. Typically an invitation, rsvp card, enclosure card. Some collections showcase more. My images are cohesive and not a mix-match of random items thrown with the words "view more from this collection" is Zazzle implying my photos must be chip chop and include that wording to count?

[AntonDesignCo]

I tried to edit my original post to show that your system has deemed this collection photo to only have one item, when it in fact has 7. Will this photo be removed?

[Babawich]

It would be helpful to have Zazzle automate some of this for us. Why not make an automated short video based on all the cover photos of our products in a collection and place it where needs to be for us. Just show each one after the other for a second or something. Surely that would save us a lot of time and anxiety I think. 

[SusanEileenEvan]

What email?

Why didn't I get that email?

I have 62 collections that I KNOW need updated covers and banners. I intended to immediately start updating them anyway.  But now, with all this confusion,  I will put off updating any collections until I get said email and the details are worked out, and questions answered.

[epicdesigns]

I have had several collections listed as needing multiple products in the cover photo that already do. Hope they don't get removed....

[origamiprints]

I got the same email and it listed quite a few collections of mine that needed updated cover images with multiple products. All but 2 already have cover images with multiple products. In fact, I spent a lot of time and money (on the mockups) so that they can stand out and be seen by customers. 

My views are down despite putting a ton of effort into collection images. I'm trying my best to do everything right but am I missing something here?

[CrazyMermaid]

If that cover image was flagged, we are all in trouble. It is gorgeous.

[origamiprints]

It was! This was one of my collections that was flagged. I'm so confused and I've spent countless hours trying to keep up with crafting the perfect cover images. If this isn't enough then I'm afraid it's not worth my time. 

It's my job as a creator to make designs that will sell. It's Zazzle's job to market, sell and make them.

If I have to jump through anymore hoops to get my designs seen on the marketplace then I've just about had it. I will look elsewhere to sell my work where my time as an artist is more valued. 

[CrazyMermaid]

I did not receive an email, but I am still terrified. All my collection photos have multiple products, but so do yours. What if the Zazzle bot decides on March 1st, that mine are of compliance. I was checking back to see if Zazzle had explained the reasoning here. 

[ElizabethR]

I didn't get an e-mail either. James, does that mean we're okay??????

[shoshannahscrib]

You are so right! For 10% we are now supposed to be doing 50-90% of the work. Who wants to start our own art collective? 🙂 
PS: your designs are lovely and your mockups are too

[Amy_Daniels]

I am curious about how this impacts products in cross-sell collections that don't have the New Collection View available (i.e. Events/Occasions that are not Birthday, Wedding, Holiday, etc - Business, Retirement as a couple of examples). Since as of current the collection media doesn't appear to populate automatically for those products, I've been using the workaround of uploading what is in my collection media (i.e. cover images with multiple products) at the product level. It would be wonderful to have the collection media populate those pages and/or avoid duplicates in that case - can you explain how these types of collections and/or collection media files will be affected, if at all, by the plans referenced in the email and this thread?  Thanks for your time. 

[starstreamdesig]

I'm having this problem as well. I have a design that is a Valentines Day design but there's no category for Valentine's Day invites and such. It can also be used as an Engagement Party design but there is no collection category for that, so the image I have isn't populating the design. Therefore the image I upload with all the products doesn't come up as recognizing it as a collection image under the product listing. The collection categories need to be rounded out much more. It's very limited at this point.

[SJoy]

My question is: What is the point of offering multiple media cover photos provided by Zazzle within the collection media section? If we activate these cover photos provided by Z, do they count? Or is uploading our own designed cover photo more important (leaving Z's mockups null in void - or are they supposed to be in conjunction with our own cover)?

Also, I have a collection of monogram mugs where each lettered mug is a separate image following the same design theme.  If I add a cover photo with more items in it, it will just have a cover photo of a few of the exact same mugs with different letters on it (showing multiple of the same product pretty much).  Such as this collection: 

Monogram Initial Christmas Berry Wreath Mugs
by Clever Clover

I have a few more collections with similar letter designs on the same product. Just needing to know best ways to handle cover photos for collections that target a certain product type. Thanks in advance.

Also just noticed that one of my collections for matching bride, maid-of-honor, and bridesmaids shirts was marked in the email.  This again goes to the question, "If a certain product is targeted (as in t-shirts for bridal and bachelorette parties)...the cover image already shows 3 t-shirts showcasing the three different but matching designs in the collection. Here is one collection example below. This collection does have some keychains in it but including the most important items (the t-shirts) as listed in the email.

Bride's Honor Squad | Matching Bridal Party Gifts
by The Dainty Kindle Co

[Deb]

so.. it tells you Not to add the  collection main cover image because zazzle will add it for you..

So here is from a recent  collection (Feb 11,  - 5 days ago) 

cover image with  various  products 

click on one of the products featured in the main cover image and  NOPE  this main cover image is not here..  SO  if there is this much of a delay do we need to continue to go back for each collection and babysit whether or not the main image was added or do we take the chance and just go ahead and add it ourselves  so we can move on to a new project?

https://www.zazzle.com/collections/119969060715082322 

Now as far as videos go..  not everyone can afford to buy  products  to create a video showing them either singly  or as a group .. I know I don't.. and not everyone has  pretty areas to showcase them..  so the best I could do  is to make a short 8 second animations - no sound.. to draw attention to  them -  one I can use in multiple platforms.  https://www.zazzle.com/pairs_well_with_my_degree_cap_stemless_wine_glass-256423094953965256  enough to garner attention but not so much to irritate (hopefully)_ do these even count? 

[Connie]

Wow! That wine collection cover is amazing! I don't even have the slightest clue how to get all those wine glasses in one image! Can I pay you to make my cover photos?

[Deb]

Thank you very much, I did work on it.. the glasses are fun.. a nice change from paper products. 

Hire me? lol with all the new and changing rules .. my fees would be have to be astronomical..  lol. Hint.. Photoshop is your friend.. 

[Connie]

I do use Photoshop, but I have an older version without AI. Did you isolate all the glasses from the Zazzle downloads, and then arrange them?

[Deb]

I'm sorry I just now saw this.. NO I used ai to create the image of multiple glasses and then arranged my designs on them - the hardest part was to get glasses that looked exactly like zazzles..  took awhile .. 🙂 

[shoshannahscrib]

An animation is such a great idea! That looks amazing. I also wondered about this video thing since I'm not buying my own stuff. Such a great idea. ❤️ Thank you!

[Deb]

Thank you.. very much

[DahliaDesignCo]

Most of my collection cover images that were identified as having issues contain multiple products. Such as this one shown below... I'm confused as to how this is not adequate.

[Deb]

Stunning cover.. mine look wayy to messy 

[Sara_H]

In the collection media it says 'Enhance your collections by adding up to 10 images or videos and a captivating banner. We recommend uploading 1 short video (5-90s), along with diverse images showcasing the most important products in the collection. '

In my collections I've done just that. A collection cover image with more than one product and uploaded more promos of the individual products in the collection to this section. (you know - like you told us to do in the first place?)

Was this wrong to do? I followed your instructions

Are you now going to auto remove the cover images of the collections in the email or just the extra product images that were uploaded to the Collection media (you know - like you told us to do in the first place?)

[tiffjamaica]

As others are stating, some of the collection links that were sent already has a cover photo featuring multiple images. In fact, at first glance, I thought you'd used my account as the example of "correct use" because their collection cover image is a carbon copy of how I make mine.  An extra disappointment since I very carefully chose this style of cover to set my collections apart and brand my store. 😞   Guess I'll be updating all my collections after all. my covers...

[Windy]

Using iPad with Chrome, it's not possible for me to delete media images from the collections. Therefore many of us will be able to drag the correct image to the primary position. And then Zazzle will in one sweep delete the unwanted images.

[Windy]

I clicked on all the links you sent with the email. In one case, there did not appear to be any problem. I had only one cover image and it had been created properly to Zazzle specs. I had not already created a banner, however, so I am thinking maybe that is why this collection got flagged.

[PoshPatterns]

I don't understand why you need to delete collections simply because they only feature one product. anyone scrolling a collection can clearly the products inside. And I have seen "example" videos zazzle has suggested as a means of video promotion that only include one product. It would be better if you say from here on be certain to use cover images that include more than one product fine. But to remove collections, i just don't see the logic. It's way too time to have to rebuild collections that have already been made. Some people don't even have cover images. Are you deleting their collections as well? I am all for collections but seriously don't make it a hassle.

It appears some of my collections have already been deleted because links you listed lead to nothing. I am so over this right now.

[Deb]

Unless I am misunderstanding this.. I don't think zazzle will be removing collections - I think only the collection main media cover image? Correct me If I'm wrong.. (which I usually am) 

here is the sentence in my email:

Feel free to make updates by February 29th, 2024. Alternatively, so it’s more convenient for you, Zazzle will automatically remove Collection Media Manager images featuring only one product type on or after March 1st, 2024.

[PoshPatterns]

well that i can live with. thanks for clarifying. i was freaking out because some of the links they sent me are no longer there unless they just sent wrong links

[HeatherB]

Yes. One of the links they sent me doesn’t go to a collection either. It goes to a general zazzle search page. I was confused too.