Customer Email Option & Standardized Store Newsletter Form

[AllinGray]

1: Customer Email Option. For stores they purchase designs from, customers should have the option of allowing the designer to contact them via email. I've heard the argument that these are Zazzle customers and not those of the designer. To that I would offer that without the designers, what would Zazzle profit margins look like? If anything, it is a collective result and not a monopoly as it is treated now. 

2: Store Newsletter Form. A second option would be to give customers the option to sign up for a newsletter from the stores/designers of their choosing. Designers would be given a simple, branded template to update with new designs, and the one-page "newsletter" would be sent at an interval of the customers choosing. Everybody wins!

[Scott]

So this "Ideas" section of the site is a bit like a suggestion box, but I will mention that we have a few projects in the works that might be helpful with the second item that you've mentioned.

[CreativeLeahG]

I often have customers send me their email for me to contact them via that but I always decline to do so. It is very important to me that all discussions are held on the Zazzle platform because I am not responsible for (nor do I have access to) any product fulfillment, shipping, complaints arising, changes to orders and so on and the more the customer understands this the better. I do not take payments from the clients (some designers might for custom requests) and as such for 'me' there is no benefit to communicating off the platform. For others of course this might not be the case, which is why there is the option for you both to exchange emails in private Zazzle chat. I'm not sure what the 'monopoly' reference is about, Zazzle is very much a collaborative effort.

[AllinGray]

I couldn't agree more with the parts about order fulfillment, but the implication that designers would/will take business away from Zazzle is largely unfounded given that such efforts would enail a designer having the production resources Zazzle has its disposal. Zazzle is "collaborative" up until it's time to promote customer interest in a specific shop and/or designer, thus the never-present customer email address. It's okay though, the matter is being addressed via future front-end builds.