Upcoming testing on the product page

[Scott]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to share some information about a test that will be starting very soon.

This test will be running on the product page, and it includes a few new elements on the page which are intended to improve product discoverability. As always, these tests are being run to learn more about how customers interact with the page. We're all going to have our own opinions on how things look, but testing is an important step in ensuring our collective success. Also, there's a few different versions of this page, so not everyone is going to see the same arrangement.

As you may be aware, we recently made some significant upgrades to our Collections feature. There’s more information here in case you missed it. There's certainly a lot to learn with the new Collections backend, and it may take some time for you to become familiar with how everything works. It's very possible that this round of testing will help you make sense of things because you're going to see how some of these new elements are being used on the page. 

Alright, here we go! The first screenshot shows some of the changes appearing near the top of the product page. The second screenshot is of the new Collection pod. See description below.

The product preview image gallery will now contain the primary collection image. If your collection image contains multiple products in the suite then this could help bring some attention to related products. When you hover your mouse cursor over the main preview image a “View Collection” button will appear. If you click on the button you’ll be moved down the page and shown the new Collection pod. There’s an “Other Styles” section just below the main preview image. This will put more of your products up higher on the page for better visibility.

About the new collection pod: Your media images will appear on the left (similar to the product preview images), and there will be a small grid of products. Clicking on the Show More Products button will transform the pod into a product grid. You can view all products in the collection in this manner. I should also note there’s a slightly more compact version of this new Collections pod, but the functionality is very similar.

 

[Cat]

Thanks for the heads up! Can somebody enlighten me as to what the "collection pod" is? Like where is this "pod" displayed for the customer? Do they see this when they look at the collection? If so, do they also see the full selection of products? If they don't see this when they open the collection, where do they see this "pod?" Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

Edited... I'm thinking maybe the "Collection Pod" going to replace the line of products that currently show on the product page where it says "Other Products from this Collection?" Either that or it's what you see when share the collection on social media?

[Caprice]

Anyone know if we're all supposed to be seeing this change yet?  Or is it a select number of designers?  Cuz I see nothin', lol.

[Pixelan]

Thanks, It makes the reason of the collection update a bit more clear although I believe this is just part of more changes in the customer 'frontend'. 

It looks like variants of a single card will be more highlighted than before. Like a normal and foil version. I currently have some color variants, will those also appear as an image variant or still as a colored circle like 🟠🟡? 

With "Your media images will appear on the left" do you mean the collection cover images? Since I was wondering why would more than 1 collection cover be needed (featuring multiple products in one image). 

With collection pod do you mean the collection page, which are available at: zazzle.com/collections/ etc.. ?

[Barbara]

I ran a search on the term "pod" as it relates to software design, and it appears to refer to what you might describe as a cluster, which in this case would be a cluster of thumbnails. Anyway, this is my best guess after having searched.

In the end, we won't have a full grasp of possible changes until we see them.

Colorwash's Home

[Sara_H]

Is this Collection POD just for cross sell/collection suites (ie wedding stuff)

How will a normal run of the mill collection be shown? Same way?

Is it worth doing collection cover images if this pop out POD won't be shown for normal collections (not wedding)

[ievajen]

Do for people package deal - like 50 plates+ 50 napkins+ 50 cups =$$$

[SJoy]

Is this change going to be viewed across multiple platforms?  Will customers be able to view these changes similarly on mobile or desktop or will one more targeted? Just curious.

[Scott]

To answer some questions above:

• This testing is taking place on the product page.
• With some collections you'll now see the new Collections pod shown in my screenshots above. This would replace the current "found in collections" pod, assuming it performs well. My usage of the term "pod" is not really an engineering term, but more of a general term. A pod is just a grouping of some sort.
• Test is being carried out on the desktop website. Based on performance, we may start testing some of these changes on mobile web, and on mobile app.
• Test is probably running on zazzle.com only (and not on zazzle.co.uk, for instance).
• This test is not just for wedding collections. This was simply the product page that I came across. Obviously, it makes the most sense to use a screenshot for a product that's been nicely decorated by its Creator.

I don't usually say stuff like this, but I'm quite excited to see changes like this to the product page. Over the past few years we've seen a lot of interest from Creators in having more of the Creators own products positioned up higher on the page. This would accomplish exactly that. We're trying a few different things with this test to see how customers respond. I think the most interesting aspect is how we're adding the Collection Cover Photo to the product's preview image gallery at the very top of the page. If the right Collection Cover Photo image is used then it could provide a very nice visual hint to a customer that there's more great stuff available. But, that's just my opinion, and I'm just one person in a very large and diverse world. How customers respond to this will help us guide our decisions here.

With Instant Downloads, and Creator Generated Content (aka Cover Photo), and now this Collections revamp, it's probably quite clear that we've been extremely busy working on significant new features that you can use to improve your sales here at Zazzle. Our recent work on Collections adds a lot of new features, and we're working on new ways of displaying collections across our website, but it does require a bit of work from you. I understand that these changes are quite complex, but if you can find a way to simplify things and slowly work at adding Cover Photo images to your collections, then I think you'll be putting yourself in a pretty good position moving forward.

[Spark]

🤓👍

[khorah]

I have several stores and many collections from each store, and some collections have products from several stores in them to match the theme of the collection, would it be possible to have collections visible in more than one store or to be able to change the store they are visible in?

This would save having to delete and or reorganize every collection so as only to show products from that store.

[klstock]

I just saw it, and it really showcases the products in the collection with much more "pop" than before - I like it!

[angelafuller729]

Well said. I'm looking forward to seeing how this pans out, especially for the Holiday Season.  It's A LOT of work, but updating/creating a few collections each day can make a big difference in sales.  I started creating product cover photos last year and can say they definitely get more views, which in my case has consistently lead to more sales each and every month, compared to same months last year (increase of 35-65% per month).  I've been on Zazzle for a long time - and even though I hit the $25,000 silver level in Dec, I'm still waiting for that to be officially acknowledged (Zazzle says it's because they only count US sales). So I'm definitely not one of Zazzle's"Power" accounts, but I've also had a couple of products make "Editors Pick" fairly quickly after adding cover photos to them.  Two of those products were not only featured at some point on Zazzle's Marketplace, but also added to International collections created by Zazzle editors.  
BTW, neither product is in the wedding or birthday category.  One was a tote bag and one was a compact mirror.  Normally I don't share statistics, but in this case, I thought the "receipts" might be beneficial to some who might be questioning the value of cover photos (along with good titles/descrips/tags)   Below are the stats for the tote bag, along with earnings to date.

[SwissVillage]

I just saw one on one of my pages.  They look completely fantastic!  Everything we've been waiting for!  Way to go, Zazzle. I'm inspired! 

[CreativeLeahG]

I can see it on some of my collections. It looks fantastic, well done team!!

[Barbara]

So, the large image is the cover we create, and the banner isn't shown?

Colorwash's Home

[Cat]

I have the same question. I'm actually not sure if you can even get to the collection page itself with this new system - I haven't been able to find a way to see the collection other than on the product page.

[Barbara]

You have to click on the collection, then in the upper right-hand corner is a link to "View on Zazzle." You can see only one collection at a time, not the pages of collections we're used to. This new setup would be okay if it had the functions of the previous spread of all our collections.

Colorwash's Home

[CreativeLeahG]

You can still view them all in the public profile view of your collections

[HoneyBlossomA]

So far the new test layout looks terrific. ♥

I wonder will there be a way for us to select which products are highlighted/suggested first in that pod or will it be a randomized thing?