Z rank dropped today

[womaninlove1980]

Hello, fellow Zazzlers!

my store rank was z6, and today it’s z5. I was surprised because I’m adding new products and improving the store so if anything the rank should have been the same at least if not up.

why do the ranks drop?

any explanations?

thanks so much 

[LMGildersleeve]

It's really not a big thing but if you click on the blue "zrank" next to the number it tells you what they are looking for.

This is really what drives it up. "The more the products in your store are selling the better for your zRank." In my experience there is a tipping point to the products created and products sold.

[CreativeLeahG]

Products versus views and sales ... is the factor I have noticed. So adding more products can have a knock on effect. 

As an example you can have stores with 80 products that are a zrank 9 IF their views and sales for those 80 items are sufficiently high. 

[PacifierCity]

It is always frustrating to see your Zrank go down.  I feel your pain.  As those above have mentioned, sales and views vs the number of products one has seems to be part of the Zrank formula.  Knowing that, one might make the decision to stop creating more products in order to keep a high Zrank.  In my opinion, that would be a mistake.

As long as you have a Zrank of 4, your products appear in the Marketplace for customers to find.  Having a higher Zrank will not make a product appear higher up in the marketplace.  Views and sales make that happen.

Some designers have multiple stores for a variety of reasons...  But one of them could be that having multiple stores offsets the effect of adding "lots" of products to a store with the possibility of that action lowering your Zrank.  They add a few products to each store.  And as long as sales come in, that should preserve their Zrank.  In theory.

Since none of us truly know the why's and how's of Zrank, we have developed theories that Zazzle has never confirmed.  So being too focused on it can be counter productive.  Many here completely ignore it because there is no clear direction as to how to improve it.  Thinking too much about it can drive one nutty...lol.

At a 6 you are selling.  Dropping to a five won't stop sales.  Who knows, with a few more sales, it could jump back up to a 6 again.  Stay focused on the things you can control and keep up the good work.  Your store is coming along nicely.

PC

...........................

[shellifitz]

Never make too many changes at one time.  Since we don't know everything that goes into zrank it is best to take any changes slowly.  Some people have gone on "cleaning" sprees and lost ground in return for it.  I always make slow changes, like not deleting or hiding more thatn 20 things a day in any one shop. or not adding more than 10 new products in a day... especially if sales are slow.  I wouldn't worry too much though because even stores with a rank of 4 can have good sales. 

[MadjackGG]

I had the impression that having many products flagged as not having been viewed for 15 months or more, could affect Z rank. I make it a habit to regularly review any such products (open them to reset the view date), and either update details, or do a redesign, or delete the product entirely.

[avgsuperheroine]

It's arbitrary as long as you're over 4. Try not to worry about it too much.
The number of views and sales make a difference, so as you add new items you're adding inventory with 0 views and 0 sales. Or if you just exited a season that you sell well in, your rank may go down.

[mylittleeden]

Interesting thread. My cases were and to some degree still are a complete mess, years of neglect, different new types older ones discontinued, auto migrated  etc. So with Christmas coming I have just spend the best part of two weeks, removing discontinued and changing some to the newer case versions and deleting ones that were super old. My reward for this boring work, a drop again in rank I am totally bummed. It doesn't make me want to now finish the job now or tidy up anything else for that matter. I have zero desire to ever create a new phone or pad case either, they never sell and just eat up my time! Certainly wasn't one of my better ideas cases.

From this information then I have just shoot myself in foot! Should have left them then? Particularly before Christmas but leaving them wasn't good either I couldn't bear the consistent reminder I have been getting they all needed optimizing. I hate the z rank. I have more chance of traveling to moon 🌜on a flying pig 😂 than ever getting a 10!  I am totally over it... Does z rank it matter? Well yes it would make me feel better and not so deflated.

I also got an email telling me not to use the replace button, so for many I reposted new, however after reading this it seems it is essential to keep what views and like and sales you do have? At least on the upside sales are still coming in 😃 so I guess that is the main thing, rant over...

[LMGildersleeve]

Hi , 😁 I have learned over the years that if I want to "clean house" it's best to do it gradually. For instance, I usually delete the same time I am uploading new products in roughly the same ratio. Or deleting 10 at a time once a week or whatever you feel would keep you sane also works. Deleting large number of products in one day is never a good idea for sure and many creators have experienced what you had. 😔

Having said this I have had my rank drop one day and after indexing it pops back up to what it was before the drop. 🤞you experience the same.

"Does z rank it matter?"

The only information we have is for the products to be shown in the MP (I think? lol) or used by Z for promotional reasons, your store rank should be a 4 or above. One of my stores has been a high rank for several years now and honestly, I can't tell any difference in sales etc. Of course Z would never tell you how they use that ranking.

I wouldn't sweat it as long as your store is a 4 or above. ((hug))

[ColsCreations]

It's a myth we need to put to rest that your products won't appear in the marketplace unless the store has a zRank of at least 4.

There are also a few added benefits* for your store on Zazzle:

• Your store will appear, and have preference, as a suggested search result when searching.
• Your store will appear, and have preference, in the Creator Store search Filter - the links which appear in the left-hand navigation bar for narrowing results in marketplace search.

*Your store must have a zRank of 4 or above to have these features enabled

I have a card in a store with a zRank of only 2. It's sold a couple of times and if I search (in an anonymous browser)  for 'spanish christmas card' it's #11 of 2,000 results. I have another card in same store that's never sold. Searching for 'flamingos in the snow' it's on page 6 of almost 16,000 results. Narrowing it down to the cards & invites category, it's #23 of about 200 results. Your products absolutely do appear in the MP and can be found searching, it's just that if it's a common search term with thousands of results, a zRank of 4 or more might help it appear higher in the results.

[DZYNWRLD]

Really hope you're right!... in the last month in prepping for the holidays I tripled the number of products in one shop and it dropped from a 4 to a 3. Uggggh!

[ColsCreations]

UPDATE ONE YEAR LATER:

I have a card in a store with a zRank of only 2.

Sometime in the last year the zRank changed to 3
Last week someone purchased 75 of mentioned card. Referrer=None so must have found it searching.
Shortly after, the zRank changed to 4.

 if I search (in an anonymous browser) for 'spanish christmas card' it's #11 of 2,000 results.

It's now #3 of 2,000 results.

 I have another card in same store that's never sold. Searching for 'flamingos in the snow' it's on page 6 of almost 16,000 results.

That card sold last Christmas after I wrote that. Doing the same search now oddly only yields 3,000 results but my card comes up on the first page.

 Narrowing it down to the cards & invites category, it's #23 of about 200 results.

It's now #6 out of only 136.

I can't know if the boost in results is due to the product sales or the store zRank increasing a little, probably a little of both. But I thought it was interesting and wanted to update to reaffirm that you don't need a z4 or higher to be found in the marketplace.

[ColsCreations]

Update to the Update:

Oct 6, 2023:
Sometime in the last year the zRank changed to 3 [from 2]
Last week someone purchased 75 of mentioned card. Referrer=None so must have found it searching.
Shortly after, the zRank changed to 4. [from 3]

Had a bulk order on the 16th of 65 of a different card and now today, the 20th, my Zrank has gone up another notch to 5 even though the store completion still sits at only 65%.

So now my little secondary store with only 25 products and 16 total orders has the same zRank as my main store that's been stuck at 5 forever. It hit 6 a few times after getting referrals but always dropped back to 5 eventually.

[kellyd02]

Mine just dropped from a 6 to a 5 before my eyes, after reaching Pro level and making sales this week.  It sure doesn't make me feel positive at all after working so hard.

[Sea-Change]

I can relate! My zRank dropped in all my four stores in the last few days as well, lower than it has been in years. I had been making slow but steady sales, adding covers for months, and promoting products every day. It's disheartening.