Zazzle Chat System Pros & Cons

[Laura]

Please list your pros & cons regarding the current Zazzle chat system. 

Every designer has their own unique experiences so this is the place to share them. 

Thank you for participating ✨

[Laura]

At first I thought there'd be more pros than cons. Overall I have experienced little benefit.

I wish we could opt out of the chat system. In fact, I wish Zazzle would retire the program altogether. No idea what the cost/benefit of the system is for Zazzle, however, based on the responses from other threads, I gather the current system isn't much of a benefit at this time for designers/creators.

There must be a better way for designers to communicate properly with customers rather than spend most of their time fielding questions which should be automatically, first and foremost, directed toward Customer Service. Only after it's been determined that it is truly a design/artwork question, the proper CS representative would directly email designers regarding these questions - not thru the current chat system (some designers/customers have "opted out" by not providing their phone number).

Also, as stated above, it truly doesn't leave our customers a postive impression when chat messages end up being a back and forth with the customer/designer before they reach out for Zazzle Help, or worse yet, go unaswered.

Again, imho, at this point it seems the best option would be to retire, or at least, "hide" the chat system. We designers did fine communicating with customers prior to it being such a relatively new, major part of the Zazzle communication system.

[jophb]

It's a mixed bag for sure. I actually just recently requested Zazzle update the process in the 'suggestions' section because I think they could definitely improve the clarity on who customers need to contact for what. Here is that feed if you want to add to it: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ideas-suggestions/make-zazzle-messenger-more-clear-to-customers-on-w...

[DM]

There is no "pro" side. It was rolled out, intended for designers to be unpaid customer service. Then Z added the option to contact real customer service, but did so in such a way as to make it confusing to the customer. If there was a "contact the artist" button and a "contact Zazzle customer support" button as separate things on the page, it might be better. Might. Then they added the mandatory phone number nonsense. I rarely get contacted, but if I receive something that falls under Zazzle's purview rather than mine, I just ignore the message. After all, they aren't writing to me, they're writing to Zazzle. Not my problem if Zazzle looks bad.

[Connie]

As a pro, I've gotten several orders, some quite large, through customer design requests in chat. I don't want to set up a special email for customer requests, especially because I'd end up always forgetting to check it multiple times a day. So the Chat is an easy way for me to get those requests and fill them when possible.

As a con, I get a lot of customer service questions, and while it only takes a few seconds to direct them to Zazzle's customer support, it's still annoying. However, I've had a few customers who are so grateful I was able to direct them to Customer service and they got their issues taken care of. I think customers appreciate an actual human taking time to answer them, rather than the AI chat bots. (and it's sort of poetic justice when I get the credit for the good customer service, LOL!)

[Cat]

I think it's definitely a mixed bag. On the one hand, direct contact with customers has given me a lot of great insights into what people are looking for and I've been able to convert a bunch of customer requests into successful products.

I think the biggest drawback for me is the time commitment. The chat system definitely took Zazzle out of the passive income category and put it into the "job" category. It's not just the time assisting customers, it's also feeling the pressure to check in 4-5 times throughout the day to make sure I'm not leaving someone hanging - which is doubly frustrating because the vast majority of the questions are customer service related, so all they require is for me to cut and paste one of my "you've got the wrong person" replies - but I still have to check in throughout the day in order to do that.

I think we're all feeling the sting of the time commitment more acutely right now since our royalties have been cut and our incomes are plunging. It's hard to make a job-level time commitment if you're not making job-level income. I'm not saying that to be snarky, it's just reality. If I have to go find some other gig in order to make a living, I'm not gonna be available all day to assist customers, so as much as I hate to do it, I'm just gonna be forced to leave them hanging.

I think there are a bunch of ways that Zazzle could improve the system - most of which have been requested and ignored zillions of times. You know, fixing the message popups so they always clarify that we can't answer customer service questions, coming up with a true auto-responder so we can let people know when we're not available, allowing us to forward messages to customer support, and maybe even having the AI chatbot screen messages and point them in the right direction.

I think my ultimate feelings about it will also depend on what direction Zazzle goes with some of these new terms. If they come up with a system to compensate/reward us for assisting customers (whether that's self-referrals on direct-only products, or something else) it makes it more palatable. If not, well, time will tell. It's only been 2 weeks since they changed the system so it's hard to know exactly how far our incomes will fall. But I know that I, for one, have definitely diverted a big chunk of my time away from Zazzle these past weeks so I can research other platforms and opportunities. I have to assume other folks are doing the same thing. 

[CrazyMermaid]

Even though I sell mostly invitations and party supplies for a variety of events, I get very few customer requests these days. Maybe one or two a month. I decided a few years ago to design templates that would be very simple and easy-to-use and that transfer to other products easily. I found that two design elements were responsible for most of the customer questions 3 or 4 years ago and I just stopped using them and found other ways to design. 

So most people don't need my help. If customers do contact me for the wrong reason, my canned reply is "I am the template designer. After you complete your template personalization, Zazzle takes over, processes your order, makes the product and ships it. So you need to contact Zazzle customer service. I hope this helps, Best wishes." No one has ever said anything to this except, Thank You. 

I think of chat as a safety valve. If I do screw up a template and the customer has a problem, I do want to know. If I need to add a color option because several people ask for it, then I add it. That kind of stuff. I don't do custom orders and just tell the customer that I don't have time for it in my schedule. 

[Cat]

You're obviously WAY better at handling this sort of stuff than I am. You said that you don't do custom orders, but I wonder where you draw the line between helping a customer with the template and a custom order. Like here are some examples of questions that I've received over the past few weeks. Would you mind sharing how you'd respond to these sorts of things?

1) I love this design, could I get it with a teal background? (Do you go back & forth to figure out what shade of teal they want? Do you just take a guess at what shade of teal they want and send them a link? Do you walk them through using the design tool to change it themselves? Do you just say no?)
2) I love this design, but I need it for private party, not a wedding, can you re-work the text for me?
3) Could I get this on a flat card instead of a postcard? (customer has already done extensive work to the design - do you just send them a link to the other product and tell them they have to re-do their work, do you walk them through the process of transferring, do you offer to transfer it for them?)
4) Can you change the color of the artwork?
5) I need to add a line under the reception for RSVP, and can we put a small note in the corner requesting no gifts?
6) Can I get this with both sets of parent's names rather than "together with their families"?
7) Could you make the text a different font for the titles?
8 ) Could you add a cross (or some sort of extra artwork) at the top of my invitation?
9) Can I add a picture to the back of the card?
10) Can I get a sample before placing the full order? (Do you explain how it works? Do you just send them to customer support?)
11) Can I get this in Spanish?

I'd love to know how you deal with these sorts of thing. Do you just have a pat response saying no? Do you send them to customer support? Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

[Cat]

@CrazyMermaid You know what, never mind. After thinking about the math a bit more, I've concluded that none of the above is worth my time. If I can just send them a link to a public product I will, but no more of this back & forth with share links, accessing their design and helping them to customize things. It's just not worth it. 

From now on, here's my response to someone asking for help with customizations:

Hi and thanks so much for choosing my design! Due to the volume of requests I receive I'm unable to assist with customizations. You can edit the template yourself by choosing "edit using design tool" at the bottom of the personalization form, or you can try contacting customer support for help: https://help.zazzle.com/hc/en-us/articles/221463567-How-Do-I-Contact-Zazzle-Customer-Support- Hope that helps! Best wishes and thanks again for choosing my design!

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and my blood pressure is going down already! I think I may go outside and enjoy the weather for a bit before the snow comes tomorrow!

[CrazyMermaid]

I think your comment could lead to more questions. So if they continue to ask for help, you should not explain your day and why you can't do it. It is just important for them to know that it is a service that you don't provide. I don't give tutorials in how to use the design tool either. That would just lead to more questions. Zazzle is more than welcome to create one if they want customers to know that. I have to make cover photos for every product, maybe videos, create collections etc. Template designer stuff.

[Cat]

I think you should give courses in "how to set boundaries" - I really appreciate your feedback. And here I was thinking that my response was curt to the point of rudeness! 

[CrazyMermaid]

LOL, my therapist is quite the task master. It has taken me a long time to learn to do this. I am glad it helped. 

[Laura]

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@Cat wrote:

I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and my blood pressure is going down already! I think I may go outside and enjoy the weather for a bit before the snow comes tomorrow!

---

😍

[CrazyMermaid]

Basically the only thing I fix is if I forget to make a text or image a template. I don't change colors or add lines. OMG how many shades of teal are there. The line is to long too thick. Not going to go there. No, I don't tell them how to do it. 

Years ago I was stupid and made really fancy birthday invitations with numbers that weren't editable for milestone years. I still have people who want an 82 or 47. I have the numbers handy and will change the number. That is all I agree to change. How do I handle it? I say I don't have the time to do custom work. They can't argue with that. 

I have never had anyone ask for help on a seating chart. But if I did, "Sorry the template is there and that's it I'm afraid. I don't have the time in my day for custom work. Best wishes. Nelda"

[sharonrheafords]

My last chat asked if I could give her my product FREE, because her organization has no money (and I wondered if they went out to lunch daily / whatever ....). I explained that I could not due to having paid $36.00 for the license to use it with the copyright owned by the artist, agreement to not share, etc., but suggested if they purchase just one card, they could copy it w/o me breaking the law. She responded a week later that SHE GOT IT FOR FREE! I replied Great! (Thinking I love ya Z, and you know I do, but what the heck .... At least I didn't break the law .... : )

[Cat]

Maybe this is hard hearted of me, but I take a real dim view of people asking for products or artwork for free. Before I did graphic design I ran a music school, and we'd regularly get people calling us up asking if one of our teachers would come perform for free. The thing is, the vast majority of the requests came from law firms and corporate party planners who obviously had money, but just didn't think they should have to spend it on paying a musician. I got really fed up with it and started saying things like "OK, well perhaps you'd like to provide us with xyz hours of free legal service in exchange?" Sorry to be snarky, but I think our culture has a habit of under-valuing the arts. People think that musicians & artists are having so much fun that they shouldn't need to be compensated. 

I guess that's my long-winded way of saying that I think it's a really bad idea to coach someone on how to essentially steal your designs. When you do that, you're also telling them how they can steal other people's work as well.

[sharonrheafords]

I just explained above to Barbara. I took the line out of context from the long chat as the lady on chat explained exactly what she intended to do, and I explained copyrights (no aiding and abbeting .... how funny 😂). I actually just asked, "Couldn't you just buy one card and whatever?" as in whatever you had planned before I explained my legal obligation to the copyright ... and I'm sure she probably did afterward. I did not coach nor did she need coaching; yet, my original post here filled in for us what I did not say to her, because that was her plan.  I took it out of context here which confused the issue.    Someone gave it to her FREE though. Zazzle? Even if she did a search, it wouldn't be my composition she wanted. No, due to a corporate position a while back with one of the top 2 card companies, (and one of my college paths I changed before taking the boards), I'm very aware of copyright laws; yet, even moreso, I am an artist also and close to almost all the designers from whom I buy .... and I give my  word to them, so I was shocked she got it free. 

[sharonrheafords]

Also, I agree with your comments about free services and love the reponse you gave the attorneys. I actually did the same once (much to the disdain of my then boss, but did not care). I said I'd be glad to give as much time as they needed if an attorney would in turn fill my position while I was gone (and at that time, I was teaching high school art as a later in life career). I was permanently excused from jury duty - post card with a big red check mark..                                    Off to work on one house. This is the most I've been on the forums in years. Good luck - best wishes to all.

[BevStuff]

You're right. 

[Barbara]

Hmm... I think they'd call what you did "aiding and abetting," which means you knowingly aided someone in copyright theft. Probably nothing will come of it, of course, but maybe think twice if such a thing ever comes up again.

Colorwash's Home

[sharonrheafords]

I actually didn't finish the "copy it sentence" on chat. I said Buy one card and .... whatever." Then she comes back a week later and says SHE GOT IT FREE. I was polite and said Great (period), but I was shocked. I'm covered as I explained the copyright situation, and I'm really surprised she was given it free. Zazzle would know better. I was just thinking right now though, isn't there something about samples? Maybe that was it, but then again, it crosses the copyright line. 

[Barbara]

Because of "but suggested if they purchase just one card, they could copy it w/o me breaking the law," I misunderstood. In the meantime, how the devil did she get it for free? You'll probably never find out.

Colorwash's Home

[sharonrheafords]

No, that was MY Fault for confusing the issue by taking the sentence out of context and typing it here as I did which was to say what she had stated they were going to do, but not explaining here. 100% MY FAULT. I am a confusing person anyway 🙄 !  How did she get it free? I should have just asked her how. I figured she contacted Zazzle, but even though they can read this, I sort of hated to ask since they've been good to me when I needed a million stupid answers other times ... and I figure as rotten as it is that she got it free, it's over and done. She was very happy to let me know though: I GOT IT FREE!

[Barbara]

@sharonrheafords  No problem. We all have periodic issues with being misunderstood because we write slower than we speak and think. I can't count the number of times someone has said to me, "WHAT?" As for that person getting your art for free, we see this all the time on the internet from people who think that, if they can see it, it should be free. The notion is a strange one, that's for sure.

@CatYou can add yet another group in the arts whose work is devalued by the freeloaders: the writers. I had a writer friend whose son in grammar school learned to answer the phone with, "My mother can't come to the phone because she's writing." He learned this from listening to her out-loud thoughts about those who were sure she had the time because she was a writer. And this was before there was an internet. I think the arts are looked at as being too much fun to be actual work.

Colorwash's Home

[BevStuff]

Man, that is just wrong on Zazzle's part. 

[ColsCreations]

Just because the customer was "nananana I GOT IT FOR FREE!" it's a big leap to assume that means Zazzle gave it to her. I think the chances of that having happened are approximately 0.

[Laura]

I was hoping you'd chime in here! I've always valued your insight and you truly provided much for us today. Thank you @CrazyMermaid 🌟

[Cat]

OK, you got me thinking (always dangerous) so I sat down and did some math on a real common scenario: customer contacts me because they need some help with their seating chart - they had an uneven number of people at each table so things got out of alignment. They tried to adjust it themselves and made a mess. 

In order to help them, I need access to their design. This generally requires some back and forth - let's say they get it on the first try, so 10 minutes for that part. If it's not a really botched situation it will only take me 10 minutes to fix the design. I send them a link back, then they inevitably ask me questions about shipping. I explain that I don't handle that part and do some hand holding helping them find the link for turnaround estimates etc.... another 10 minutes there.

Total time invested comes out to 30 minutes. Now, average price on a seating chart is around $50 (if it's a foam core board - if it's a poster it's much less, but let's be optimistic here.) If I could get a self-referral on the sale, that would work out to $25 - closer to $20 after taxes, so extrapolating to a 40-hour work week that's around $40K annually. Not gonna get rich at those rates, but it's reasonable.

If it's NOT a self-referral... My royalty is set at 8%. That would come out to $4 ($3.20 after taxes) so that's not even minimum wage. Not worth it on its own, but if the sale bumps it up in the algorithm I might make more sales in the future. I'd have to make 6 additional sales to work out to the $40K/annually scenario above. Chances of that are slim, but possible. So even at my regular royalty it's hardly worth it, but does foster some good will.

BUT with the new system in place at least 75% of orders are coming through as 3rd party, so that means that on average, my royalty will be closer to $2.50 ($2 after taxes). Now we're talking really sub-human wages. The algorithm bump from the sale would have to get me 12 more sales (and that's 12 sales from customers who DON'T need help) in order for it to work out to the $40K/annual salary. Totally not worth my time.

So I guess that makes it an easy decision. If Zazzle comes through with a way for us to get self-referrals (or some comparable amount of income) on these sorts of requests, I'll keep doing them. If not, I'm just gonna craft an auto-response explaining that I can't help them and pass them on to customer support where someone who's actually getting paid can assist them. I sorta feel bad doing that because I know there's a stressed out person on the other side of that message, and it will probably take them much longer to get help that way, but honestly, at some point I have to start taking care of myself here. I'll probably lose some sales, but ultimately, my time is better spent elsewhere.

Anyhow, thanks for posing this question. Doing the math was quite enlightening and it makes me feel much better about saying no to these requests. 

[Laura]

I give the kudos for @CrazyMermaid for helping you process your thoughts - that said, So Happy to know you feel so much better about this! 🌞

[Marcia]

That's why I don't do seating charts, although I know there's money to be made doing so! I did the math & it didn't seem worth it, even before this salary cut. I don't do weddings, only other niche occasions, but I from time to time I do get asked & I tell my clients (even if they've made other purchases from me) to do a seating chart search for a compatible seating chart style that will go with/not clash with my design.

[Laura]

Many thanks for your replies and insights! 🌺 Hoping more will share their experiences.

[Cat]

Well, I realized that my math on the self-referral part was wrong - did I mention math is not my strong suit? Anyhow $20 for half an hour = $40/hour = $80K annually. So that's reasonable. I guess if Zazzle comes through with referrals on direct-only products (or something equivalent) I'm in, otherwise I'm DONE helping customers. Phew!

[Barbara]

My single observation is that those who have the biggest (and understandable) problems are the designers who do invitations and are, therefore, the ones who need improvements in both the chat system and payment for their time. Looking at another company, it appears the designers are paid more for working with customers, and the customers know up front just how many change requests they're allowed. I suspect this company may have been at one time a brick-and-mortar printer and so know the time required to assist customers.

Anyway, that's the arena in which a better and tighter chat system might be worth it for both the designer and the customer. There need to be rules up front for the customer, and the system should be totally separate from the questions having to do with printing and shipping, which should never go to the design department. There need to be filters in place.

I personally get no customer questions and so chat could be turned off and there would be no loss in sales. I don't know if this is typical for others who don't do invitations, but I suspect it is. Thus, Zazzle truly needs to up its game to fix the issues for those who inevitably have to put in extra work without remuneration.

Colorwash's Home

[PlayfulPixel]

I rarely have customer queries/requests through the Chat function. But when I do - such as this last week when someone left me a message about one of my designs, the Chat function showed an error. 3 days after this, it's still showing an error.

And I must say that this has been a consistent experience on the rare occasion someone has tried to get in touch with me. Customers must think that am ignoring them...sigh

To have a system like this that doesn't work is worse than not having a system at all. Given that Zazzle has been in business for so long it never ceases to amaze me how they seem to get some of the fundamentals wrong.

[PlayfulPixel]

As an Add on to my previous post..
So I checked back a couple of days later, the Chat opened, I saw my last reply to a customer question plus I discovered 2 more questions from different customers. They were asking about making a change to one of my designs.

I started to reply, then the Chat function showed an error - Nut's Looks like we're currently experiencing problems with our chat... and I haven't been able to get back in as the error is still showing several days later. Hopeless.

[sharonrheafords]

My main concern is that I wish our chat introduction message could be a bit larger and just a bit longer. Although I wasted a lot of money and time I do not have on over a dozen never purchased products a while back, most of my products are easily customized by the customer and not as involved and profitable as say wedding invitations, etc.; yet, if I can, I will make a quick edit. The problem is if I can / cannot help, I feel bad ignoring a message, and I am buried in 2 houses filled with SHIPPING PODS shipped here and there and back, parents' belongings, tons of furniture needing a moving van to one or the other houses, etc. 13 hours apart needing to sell one 11 years ago and dealing with all involved drowning me until I get it done (all alone with the spine injury ignored), so ... even though I obviously to all who know me love Zazzle, have since 2006, spend far too much time researhing for every item I create, and do enjoy designing a bit daily and take great pride in what I offer a customer, I am having to balance my Zazzle time and maybe $300.00 now earnings (which I enjoy so much more than packing houses) against getting out of deeeeeep doo debt (as my best friend leaves me in tears by bringing over groceries at times which just can't go on out of my pride) ..... and selling my  beach house for quite a lot of $ (before cap gains tax, etc.). I need to focus even though I do create on Zazzle nightly out of love and enjoyment; yet, without giving personal info, I wish our intro could be larger so the customer can see it w/o feeling ignored (which would irk me royally if I was). Something larger and a bit bold like this even though I'm not really AWAY as much as buried and between 2 disasters, just: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING TO ZAZZLE AND MY STORES. Please know how much you are appreciated. I would never ignore you; yet, I am away for 3 weeks and unable to offer assistance during this time.

[Laura]

I would like to update my chat intro message too, so people know I'm not ignoring them—I haven't been able to use the feature since Zazzle suddenly required phone verification to use it. Honestly, I know many people who don't want to give out their email let alone their phone number just to be able to purchase a product or get help.

[BevStuff]

I agree. I would like 250 letter spaces allowed in the Chat settings headline.

[VivianD117]

I hate to say this, but I enjoy customer requests --  I'm not really in the wedding niche so I don't get really complicated requests, but I've designed a personalized Wedding welcome sign; cornholes set for tennis enthusiasts; changes for a NW small company's Christmas card and other stuff like that.  Doesn't take me that long and makes someone (and me) happy -- and sometimes the product sells again or it gives me another idea. 
Before starting this venture I was in a much more complicated business with a direct one-to-one customer relationship -- perhaps this just seems much easier to make someone happy.

[VivianD117]

So, what I didn't say is -- I have no problem with Chat -- I also provide my email -- I would rather someone contact me as opposed to going someplace else when I might have been able to answer their question.