Feedback for videos: please don't skew the marketplace

[Connie]

I'm extremely disappointed in Zazzle for adding videos to Media Manager! As a shopper, I find them annoying, distracting, and aggravating (especially with sound!), but what really bothers me is that Zazzle penalizes those who don't have the time and money to jump on every "shiny new object" they come out with.

"Our existing commitment to an enriched customer experience is only enhanced as products that feature Cover Photos (and now Videos!) will continue to be favored in the Marketplace and will be showcased throughout the customer experience."

So then, they will say: "See, it increases sales!" Well of course, products that are featured and promoted will have more sales than those that aren't! But it doesn't accurately reflect the actual impact of those added distractions.

REAL, ACTUAL Marketplace testing would be if they didn't favor them in the Marketplace, and "let the chips fall" naturally.You can't honestly claim to have done real-world testing, when customers only see the products you want them to see!

It would be fine to have that option for those who have unlimited time and resources to make videos. But it is extremely unfair to penalize the rest of us. And they can't honestly claim they AREN'T penalizing us, when they admit right in the Media Manager Playbook, that they are actively favoring the products with videos in the Marketplace and customer experiences! If you favor certain products over others, not because of the actual merits of the designs, but because of the "bells and whistles," you ARE in effect penalizing the products that don't have those bells and whistles.

I'm resigned to the fact that the viability of my store is time-limited, and I will eventually be phased out. But it is really disheartening, after all the hundreds of hours and dollars I've spent on cover photos, (not to mention losing all that time I could have spent making new products) to be shunted aside because I'm unable to make videos.

I wonder if there is any way to get a petition going to Zazzle, to stop the artificial skewing of the Marketplace, and let actual real-world customers shopping in a fair marketplace be the determining factor of search results.

[Jadendreamer13]

Generic videos—such as paper type/quality comparisons—should be recorded by Zazzle video experts and the same video should be uploaded automatically on relevant paper products. Otherwise, thousands of Zazzle designers will each create their own similar videos causing confusion to customers and taking up unnecessary site bandwidth. And, obviously, most designers aren’t earning enough money to purchase copies of their products for use in creating videos. Along with the monetary costs, all these products purchased by designers expressly for marketing purposes will ultimately end up in landfills, which goes against the entire POD intent.

Similarly, if a product requires video use instruction—or videos showing customers how to complete design templates—these videos should be created by Zazzle video experts and uploaded automatically to product feeds.

[Cat]

@Jadendreamer13 No argument there. And if they decided to do it I'd be delighted. In the meantime though, I'd like to look out for my own best interests as much as possible. I have no doubt that if Zazzle's internal metrics determine that there's a big benefit to this sort of thing they'll adopt it globally - but I think there's a fine line between offering information and overwhelming the customer, and since we're really on the front lines in terms of fielding customer questions, we probably have a better idea of the issues they're facing - and realistically - the issues that are super important for some sorts of designs might be practically irrelevant for others. 

Cluttered marketplace and site bandwidth - those are Zazzle's problems and I have to assume that the platform can handle it all or they wouldn't be doing it.

I dunno, I guess I'm just trying to look at all of these changes as opportunities rather than being angry that Zazzle is requiring something new of me. I mean, we're not employees - they can't make us do anything - they're just offering us new ways to give our products a nudge in the marketplace and beyond... and I actually think that's a great thing. 

I think we tend to assume that our competition is just other designs on Zazzle - so we focus our energies on increasing our ranking within the Zazzle marketplace. But the reality is that we're actually competing with the whole web. Well, it's bigger than that really - we're competing with other POD sites, as well as traditional designers/printers, brick & mortar stores, etc. I'm pretty sure that a page with video content is going to get higher Google/SEO rankings than one that doesn't have it. And the more unique it is, the better. Those aren't Zazzle's rules, that's just reality.

So while it may seem to us that each designer creating their own how-to videos is "cluttered" and inconsistent, from an SEO perspective it's infinitely better for drawing traffic to the site than if each page had the same content as all the others. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm as overwhelmed by all of this as anybody else. I'm acutely aware of my limitations at the moment! There's no way that I have the time or ability to take advantage of all of these new opportunities that Zazzle is offering. But I do think that having the opportunity is always better than not having it. Just my 2 cents...

[Connie]

@CatIt's not "having the opportunity" that's the problem- the problem is punishing those who can't take advantage of that opportunity! I'm all for Zazzle providing the option for videos, as long as they don't skew the marketplace in favor of those videos! THAT'S what's wrong with the whole concept!

[Cat]

@Connie I dunno. I mean, I feel you with the frustration of not having the time to give every product the attention we'd like to, but I'm not sure I agree that Zazzle is "punishing" certain designers by tweaking their algorithm to favor designs that are better marketed. Whatever algorithm they choose for presenting products to the customers is going to favor some designs over others, and I suppose on some level that's not "fair." But I'm not sure that being "fair" is Zazzle's job here. From a business perspective it certainly makes sense for them to offer incentives to designers who are going to create content that brings more people to the site (I'm assuming that at least part of the reason they want video content is because it bumps them up in the search engines and ultimately brings in more customers.)

I'm also not understanding why you feel like it's impossible for you to take advantage of the opportunity. There are plenty of free options out there for making videos, so when it comes down to it the only real obstacle is time - and that's an obstacle we all share. 

I'm not trying to be argumentative or to discount your frustration here. I just think that (especially in the online world) change is both frequent and inevitable, so we should expect Zazzle to continue to evolve and adapt. If they don't, they won't be around much longer - think MySpace, AOL, Netscape Navigator, etc.

None of us is going to be able to take advantage of every new opportunity - after all, there are only so many hours in the day. And I'm sure not all opportunities are going to pan out either. But I think we're much better served by trying to help each other to figure out ways to use these new tools to our advantage with the resources that we do have, rather than lamenting all of the things we don't have the time, energy, and money to do.

[cniem14]

Agree with your view point. My professional experience is the corporate world. Zazzle is a POD giant. I have to believe the decision to encourage or "promote" products with videos is a strategic move. Z likely employs a marketing team second to none. I don't believe the move towards video is to dishearten or frustrate designers. Including video to promote products is supported by loads of market research and studies. I agree video will likely will be time-consuming and require a learning curve with no promise of increased sales. I don't see how Z can retain a competitive edge and not make changes that may bring discomfort or introduce unfamiliar territory. I am doubtful I will add video. Keep doing what you are comfortable doing and let the chips fall where they may. 

[DM]

Yes, it's a strategic move. Just as cover photos were a strategic move. Zazzle asked: "how do we increase sales?" The answer was: "get designers to buy their own products so they can photograph and/or film them."

Call me bitter and cynical, but I've been here a long time. I remember when Zazzle was a giant. When they had products up on Amazon and ebay. When Zazzle did they advertising instead of putting it on our shoulders. Now they make commercials that are... questionable, to my mind. I've seen two of their ads on youtube, and if I didn't already know what Zazzle was I would have no idea what they were. If that's the result of a marketing team that's "second to none", you're better off with none.

People who bought their own products for the cover images will now buy more products to make videos. They'll get a bump in search results as a "thank you". When Z needs another artificial sales boost, they'll probably offer a bunch of "Zazzle bux" to the designer/creator who Zazzifies their entire wedding from invitations to socks. Whoever spends the most "wins".

[mokoosh]

How interesting, I didn't know Zazzle had products on ebay and Amazon.

I created some cover photos without buying the products, Zazzle allows you to download pictures through media manger, and manipulate them via Photoshop, or other platforms, I used placeit for mockups, (Zazzle sugested it in a tutorial) this platform also offers videos, but I never used it for creating videos .I also bought some mockup templates from etsy. I bought some products for myself, and put the images in my profile media, but only because I liked it. But i doubt if I will create videos, or how much more cover photos.

[Digitalbcon]

@Jadendreamer13 makes perfect sense!

[PAZP]

Very smart idea, Cat. 

[Scott]

iOS and Android each have a built-in screen recorder.

[Barbara]

@Cat. I was referring to the earlier mention of Amazon's product videos (produced by the larger companies, hosted by Amazon) and not YouTubers' videos, most of which aren't the unboxing sort. If it weren't for that type of video, I wouldn't have the wonderful food processor I bought this past year. Videos are downright necessary for buying various sorts of equipment, and by relying on them, I've been able to avoid wasting money. Again, though, this has little to do with video ads for products that don't do stuff such as here on Zazzle.

All the above said, @KeegansCreation  has an excellent idea about instructional videos. I wonder why Zazzle isn't doing this.

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[mokoosh]

If I remember right, Zazzle buyign demographics are millennials, not gen Z, so, no reason to make it too tic tocky.  And also how are the selling webistes fro kids, do they have video overloads? Rather not. Yes, amazon has videos for some types of products only. I don't recall videos for stationary, for example. Usually some products which show how they function. Here we have t-shirts on models, it is ok. Too much bling can be distracting and tiring. For example excellent selling sites like Nordstrom, (not for kids) or for ex. COS have limited videos, or no videos at all. Too austere, not good, too gimmicky, too overloaded, not good either. Can be distracting and annoying.

[Connie]

Zazzle's NOT a SOCIAL MEDIA platform, though! It is SUPPOSED to be a shopping site! If they want some videos to attract kids, they can add their own videos, for example, to explain paper types. Amazon doesn't go out of their way to promote sellers who have videos, and THEY sure don't have a problem with sales, presumably even to kids! If someone wants or needs a product, they buy it, whether or not it has a video attached. Kids dont' have a lot of disposable income, anyway.

Reviews are different- it's fine for them to offer customers a chance to do video reviews.

[Digitalbcon]

@Connie @I totally agree!  Videos don’t fit this platform at all!  

[cniem14]

 

[cniem14]

Online shopping that includes "likes," comments and reviews fall under the umbrella of social media platforms.

[mokoosh]

No, not really, it doesn't fall under this umbrella, as main focus of social media platforms is communication, or networking among users. Even if shopping platforms, and POD are such,  include some weak social media components, for ex. society6 has stronger social media components than Zazzle, but still is a selling platform. (Or social media can include weak shopping components). Weak components do not equal main focus. To suggest that Zazzle falls under the umbrella of social media platform is too big of a stretch  of a definition. And it is an informal logical fallacy: false analogy, like comparing apples and oranges, to bring a classical example here.  I stand with those who point out that Zazzle in not  a social media platform.

[cniem14]

 

[cniem14]

I have two teenage sons (18 years old) who are making a decent monthly income (more than 1500.00) a month selling Discord banners and doing online freelance art. They pay for their vehicles, gas, food, clothing and have enough money remaining to purchase all things boys that age like so yes, teenage kids do have money and contribute greatly to the retail industry. There are other kids in my community that are killing it on Bitcoin. I am not implying what kids/young adults are doing now for income is the path to success and financial freedom; simply pointing out kids do make money if they want to.

[mokoosh]

I agree! Of course it is a shopping site, as main focus of POD is sales, not communication and engagement in communication, or networking among users. And many selling websites offer possibilities to review products, and this is not making them social media platforms,as putting visual content and description as part of sale proposal is not social media. And the main demographics on Zazzle so far are Millennials anyway.

Explaining paper types on video, that is an excellent idea!

[mokoosh]

Amazon is not pushing, it gives an option. Still many people love to read. Difficult to make generalized opinions based on behavior of people we know. Some kids watch videos, some like to read. May people prefer to read reviews instead of having pre-ready videos on amazon. It depends how much information curious are some people. Some are very interested in reviews, some ignore them. Some who are more visually inclined may prefer videos instead of texts, specially longer reviews.

I also don' think Zazzle wants to frustrate designers. But seriosly, if they want the site to be less statics, they could provide mock up templates for designers to use, for example for leggings, as they did with t-shirts. They could do it for other products too. But no, they want designers to produce videos.

[SimplyDesigned]

Anyone looking to get into video making can use OBS for PC, it's free and what us content creators use on YouTube to livestream and record videos on a budget. If you just want to use it for Zazzle you could either capture display (whatever is on your screen) or capture your browser source (webpage). Then I use Davinci Resolve (also free) for video editing. I'll admit it's a learning curve if you've never done it before but there's a plethora of tutorials on YouTube. 

[waterart]

Thank you, thank you for saying that so well! I hardly come here anymore because this marketplace bias is so disheartening. it is unfair of what Z is asking from us. I now upload my designs elsewhere and rarely make any new products here.

[TShirtfort]

I am honestly turned off of the concept of zazzle and video because everytime I go to watch a video on youtube I always get an annoying zazzle ad with some unrelatable 18 year old going on and on about a white barn wedding invitation. Seeing as how I don't put my relationship status on social media it's a little much that zazzle assumes I am engaged and want to get married in a barn. Um no, I do like funny bright t-shirts from stores who's name usually ends in the word fort. Y'all don't need to advertise those to me though. Tell everyone else about them. 

[SimplyDesigned]

It's not showing those ads for no reason, it's personalized marketing because YouTube can see you spend a lot of time on Zazzle. YouTube doesn't know you're a designer, all my YouTube ads are Zazzle too and I hate those wedding ad videos, they are very unprofessional, unscripted and poorly edited. They just say a bunch of "umms" and "and uhhs" if you're advertising a product you have to speak with confidence and clarity and nothing about those wedding ads has either one.

[Sea-Change]

I want to clarify that I'm not against the concept of video itself, as I'm aware of that some audiences (but not all) are drawn to videos. This has been an emerging trend for a number of years, and I appreciate that Zazzle is trying to stay fresh and current in the marketplace across multiple audience segments, but I am concerned about the "how" of their approach. I experienced a big push for videos in my 9-to-5 profession, and it was time-consuming and yielded mixed results. I'm sure Zazzle has done its research for its target audiences, but I think the implementation strategy and impact on deigners are important factors. 

Also, some audiences are more discerning about the quality and depth of content than others. That said, this seems like Zazzle should be addressing this need versus asking already overloaded designers to do so. I also don't know if designs with videos will be prioritized over designs without, but this is a concern as well. Here are a few more specifics:
 
- Workflow and File Management: Managing the video files and raw images is one more media management task that adds time to the workflow, files to our hard disk and media libraries, and potentially additional apps. I'm using the video tool in Windows, but it's pretty rote. I noticed thath Zazzle's videos apparently use landscape images while our covers are square. This aspect ratio makes sense, given the dimensions of video players, but it's one more file manipulation task. It's also taking a few minutes for a video to upload - I hope this lag won't increase as more people upload video. 

- Strategy and Timing: Videos were apparently part of an overall Media Management strategy but this wasn't clear until now. Some people are still trying to backfill covers, especially with the early, issues with images not appearing or being indexed, and the continued issues with grouped (multiple colors of the same design) prdoucts. I also haven't heard whether images with backgrounds already removed (a highly requested feature) will be available in the future. Some backgrounds are easier to remove than others and masking helps, but it's a time hit. Some of us are also still struggling with the inflexible and confusing collections feature, which sometimes doesn't identify products correctly. 

Some designers are feeling stretched then, so more prep for video would have been helpful. It was also confusing to introduce the feature, leave in the UI text as if it were working, but then turn it off without more notification.  I spun my wheels with it and even though I checked the Technical Issue forum, I initially missed that they were turned off for a bit. Congrats on getting it rolling again. Meanwhile, please, please, Zazzle, refine existing features before rolling out huge new ones.  I do appreciate this site and forum, and thank you in advance for listening. 

[Connie]

I'm also not against Zazzle providing the OPTION for video, but they shouldn't PROMOTE it at the expense of those who can't do it. Also, Zazzle's research is inherently flawed, BECAUSE they favor the listings with video over those that don't have it, so they are essentially skewing the results toward the outcome that they want.

[Cat]

That's a good point, but I think it sorta depends on which metrics they're using. If products with covers/videos are just getting more sales because of their placement within the Zazzle marketplace that's one thing, but if they're generating new customers by showing up in Google searches etc, it's something else entirely. If that sort of content brings in more customers, then it totally makes sense that Zazzle would want to encourage it - and I think that giving it a nudge in the marketplace is one easy way for them to do that - even if it does skew things a bit.

As I mentioned in one of my other comments, we're very focused on where we rank within Zazzle's marketplace, but I think Zazzle is more interested in how people get to the site in the first place. It would be very interesting to know what percentage of sales come from folks who come to Zazzle and then search the marketplace, vs people who find products through a Google search or from links we post etc. I have a few products that rank very poorly in Zazzle's marketplace but for some reason they show up in a bunch of Google searches so they get views virtually every day.

BTW, did they say that products with videos will get better placement than products that just have still covers? I read through all of the stuff I could find last night and I couldn't find a definitive answer.

[Digitalbcon]

@Cat Zazzle shot themselves in the foot a long time ago when they hijacked the referral system to generate more income for the company, thereby shrinking their worldwide web exposure through external parties.  Companies like BHG used to feature so many of Zazzle products but not anymore as they lost their referral income.  So Zazzle won the battle but lost the war (imo) and have been playing catch-up ever since.  This video thing is just another gimmick to toss an elusive carrot to desperate designers in hopes of penetrating a dwindling market, one that they created themselves.

[Cat]

Well, I guess we'll just have to see how it pans out. I mean, there's not really anything we can do about it anyway. I figure the powers that be are concerned with a whole different set of things than we are, and they aren't likely to change course just because we're overwhelmed. I'm not going to stress over it - Lord knows there will be a pretty big learning curve for me on this one. But the covers thing has worked out pretty well for me, so I'm feeling more positive than negative about the opportunity.

[chefcateringbiz]

With all the DIY projects Zazzle wants us to complete, it's gonna start looking like an ebay rummage sale pretty soon. I'm drawing the line at covers, and only doing those for 5  products. My customers tend to buy one random product, not a set of matching things, and it seems rather pointless to put in all that work for such randomness and for products that don't require any kind of instruction/demonstration to use.

[terryjstudio]

I'm with you on the pressure on designers to do SO much fancy promotional materials and the video thing about gave me a heart attack.  I haven't even figured out the new media manager yet if we can't use Zazzle pics as some of them. I do regularly make videos on Canva for Pinterest and if that's what they mean, that's doable but it's not really clear what these videos are supposed to be. On the topic of cover photos, I have been collecting the shop addresses for sellers Gold Pro and above to see what they are doing right. One of the people who is constantly featured and has a zillion editor's pics has a cover photo for every single item in the store and there seem to be 60 of every product category and then sub category i.e. Weddings, Rsvp, foil rsvp, rustic rsvp etc... I just kept scrolling with my mouth hanging open.  I'm overwhelmed and I am genuine creative, doing my own illustrations much of the time, supposedly what Zazzle is looking for. I haven't even made bronze in 3.5 years .There aren't enough hours in a day.

[KeegansCreation]

I am wondering if some of these designer's stores that have managed to do that much are actually being run by multiple people.

[LMGildersleeve]

They are @KeegansCreation I know this for a fact. But I also know there are successful stores with just one hard working woman behind the scenes. 🦄

[Barbara]

Where things have gone awry comes from the impression that we should invest in all the new ideas. I keep wondering if this was Zazzle's intent. I won't do video because the repetitive behavior of "shorts" annoys me. I can't imagine that Zazzle expects us to create them for everything or even anything.

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[LoveToCreate]

I'm glad the video option is there for the designers who have the time and skills to do that - but what about those of us who don't have the technical know-how etc. or, the ability to order samples to be able to set this up? I am very concerned about how this will affect future sales.

[Cat]

OK... just to offer a word of encouragement to anyone who's feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of making videos... While it would be great if we could all order samples of each product and record videos of the actual products, I don't think it needs to be that complicated or expensive in order to be effective. I've been experimenting with the built-in video editor in Windows 11 (Clipchamp) and was able to create a template where I can drop in product images & covers and make a simple slideshow. I've never used it before, but in one day I was able to create the template and knock out 25 videos - which isn't bad considering I didn't have a clue, so I accidentally deleted my template at one point and had to start all over again. 

Here's a product that I made one for: Gold Lace Navy Blue Elegant Budget Wedding Program | Zazzle What I came up with is pretty rudimentary (which is why I didn't start with my best sellers) but it didn't cost me a dime, and I'm sure my skills will improve as I get the hang of it. Honestly, once I got the template created, it took less time to generate the videos than it does to make a cover. The most time-consuming part was waiting for the things to upload and process. But hey, I got a lot of file organizing done while I was waiting! Anyhow, I think there are lots of possibilities, and if it helps customers understand (even a little) I'm all for it!

[Barbara]

After I opened my doors for business here and before I closed down my video-effects business site, I created a separate section on it, making a small number of videos displaying my products. I'm back from YouTube where some of those videos still sit and watched them, remembering how much fun they were to create. Back then, we were able to download our products with transparent backgrounds, which made them so much easier to use. All of them were created in wide format, which can't be used here, and all had music, which also can't be used here. But if I could, this is the one and only one I'd enjoy posting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpjU-BKUKg

[CrazyMermaid]

Awesome video. 

[Barbara]

Thank you. It was pure playtime, and revisiting it made me decide to at least play with Zazzle videos, not necessarily for uploading, but simply for the fun of it.

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