When Collections first came out they were simply an "oh that's nice" feature. Other than giving you another way to promote to your social media, Collections were just there. Like everyone else, I made my ten Collections to help boost my z-Rank and moved on.
It seemed like Zazzle had no plan for Collections other than copying what other PODs had done.
That all changed last week when Zazzle revised the product page to include product images and linked text to the Collection the product is in. Not only is a product's Collection included on the page, it is featured directly below the product image. This is a huge marketing improvement for designers taking advantage of the tried and true strategy of cross-selling.
Cross-selling or cross-merchandising is the strategy of offering customers like products to encourage a sale or better yet multiple sales. Amazon is about the best at doing this online.
It seemed like Zazzle had no plan for Collections other than copying what other PODs had done.
That all changed last week when Zazzle revised the product page to include product images and linked text to the Collection the product is in. Not only is a product's Collection included on the page, it is featured directly below the product image. This is a huge marketing improvement for designers taking advantage of the tried and true strategy of cross-selling.
Cross-selling or cross-merchandising is the strategy of offering customers like products to encourage a sale or better yet multiple sales. Amazon is about the best at doing this online.
This is a good example of how cross-selling can work.
The image above is from the product page of one our new fun bartender drink recipe coasters. There are 23 different recipes that are included on eight different coaster types.
When someone is attracted to one of our coasters in the MarketPlace, we want them to see that there are several other related designs and they can create a set, each one with a different drink recipe. The Collection does that for us.
The first six products in the Collection are presented just below the main product image. This is a scrollable list so a customer does not have to leave the product that peaked their interest. If they do want to see them all, there is a link just before the Collection images that will take them to the Collection itself. So you want to have a good looking landing page in your Collection.
The image above is from the product page of one our new fun bartender drink recipe coasters. There are 23 different recipes that are included on eight different coaster types.
When someone is attracted to one of our coasters in the MarketPlace, we want them to see that there are several other related designs and they can create a set, each one with a different drink recipe. The Collection does that for us.
The first six products in the Collection are presented just below the main product image. This is a scrollable list so a customer does not have to leave the product that peaked their interest. If they do want to see them all, there is a link just before the Collection images that will take them to the Collection itself. So you want to have a good looking landing page in your Collection.
The image above is from our Collection "Fun Hand Drawn Bartender's Guide Coasters". Rather proud of it.
There are four parts to each Collection that you should customize.
The header is the first thing a customer will see and you want it grab their attention while telling them a bit of what the Collection is about. For this header, we found a public domain image of drinks on a bar and then laid three coaster images on top of it.
Creating a sharp header was a bit of pain. I created the header to size but it turned out slightly fuzzy. One really could not read the recipes. After experimenting with different approaches, I found that creating the Collection header double sized solved the problem. When Zazzle reduced it to fit the header space, it was clear and sharp. The specs were 2880 x 796 pixels at 72 dpi and it was output as a jpg level 9.
The Collection title should be descriptive and adjective heavy. Keep in mind that the title is what will be used for the link on the product page, so you want it compelling.
You also get to create an introductory paragraph. Adjectives are your friends here, as well. However, you are limited to 1,000 characters. Provide a short summary of what the customer will see when they scroll down.
The last section presents the products you've selected for your Collection. You can specify the order of the products with drag and drop just like you do for store categories. As you specify the order, remember that the first six products are the ones that will show on the product page (We haven't dealt with the product order yet in our coaster Collection, but will).
There are four parts to each Collection that you should customize.
The header is the first thing a customer will see and you want it grab their attention while telling them a bit of what the Collection is about. For this header, we found a public domain image of drinks on a bar and then laid three coaster images on top of it.
Creating a sharp header was a bit of pain. I created the header to size but it turned out slightly fuzzy. One really could not read the recipes. After experimenting with different approaches, I found that creating the Collection header double sized solved the problem. When Zazzle reduced it to fit the header space, it was clear and sharp. The specs were 2880 x 796 pixels at 72 dpi and it was output as a jpg level 9.
The Collection title should be descriptive and adjective heavy. Keep in mind that the title is what will be used for the link on the product page, so you want it compelling.
You also get to create an introductory paragraph. Adjectives are your friends here, as well. However, you are limited to 1,000 characters. Provide a short summary of what the customer will see when they scroll down.
The last section presents the products you've selected for your Collection. You can specify the order of the products with drag and drop just like you do for store categories. As you specify the order, remember that the first six products are the ones that will show on the product page (We haven't dealt with the product order yet in our coaster Collection, but will).
You can also Customize the "cover" image of your Collection.
The image above is from our Collection of cocktail napkins that uses the same drink recipe designs. When you create a Collection, Zazzle creates the cover for you made up of the first three products in the Collection. You have the option to upload an image for the large top display, which we did here to give a large clear view of the design.
We'll be reviewing our existing Collections to make them more appealing and to make a nice presentation on product pages.
The image above is from our Collection of cocktail napkins that uses the same drink recipe designs. When you create a Collection, Zazzle creates the cover for you made up of the first three products in the Collection. You have the option to upload an image for the large top display, which we did here to give a large clear view of the design.
We'll be reviewing our existing Collections to make them more appealing and to make a nice presentation on product pages.
RSS Feed
