Is the Zazzle Promoter Program 1.0 Right For You?

UPDATE: AS OF JANUARY  2020 – The Zazzle Promoter Program 2.0  has been completely changed for the better. I have now enrolled in the program and encourage you to do the same. You can request to enroll by clicking this link. I describe the benefits and how it has changed in my January 8, 2020 article.

The Zazzle Promoter Program 1.0 was rolled out in June 2019 by Zazzle to give store owners up to 7x more royalty payouts.  This article describes the issues that made it not as interesting for Zazzle Designers. I help you make your decision by providing you with the pros and cons of opting into this program 1.0 version if you receive your invitation from Zazzle.

Is the Zazzle Promoter Program Right For You?

Zazzle’s reasoning behind The Zazzle Promoter Program is to reward Zazzle store owners for their efforts in promoting externally on social media, website, blogs, and with paid ads. Based on the current base prices for products on Zazzle, it’s difficult to be competitive if your royalty is more than 15%. With this new program, you will receive higher royalties, making it more profitable to drive traffic to your Zazzle store. A second benefit is that if you do custom orders, you can receive a higher royalty while charging the same competitive price as similar products in the Zazzle marketplace.

The pros sound lucrative until you look at the cons. The biggest con is that most of the millions of Zazzle store owners are better designers than promoters. Plus the rules that Zazzle has set out for the Zazzle Promoter Program make it difficult to actually profit from this arrangement.

Let’s dive into the details so that you can make your decision.

Zazzle Promoter Program Details

This chart below, comparing the standard Zazzle store to the Zazzle Promoter Store, says it all. You can earn 20% to 35% royalty without a price increase of the Zazzle product. However, all the other features, that make Zazzle such an amazing marketplace and eCommerce platform, are no longer an option for you if you choose the Zazzle Promoter Program.

UPDATE: This Zazzle Promoter Program 1.0 is no longer correct. Click here for details of The Zazzle Promoter Program 2.0 as of January 2020 – Source = Zazzle

How Do I Know if I’m a Good Candidate for a Promoter Store?

You are a good candidate for the program if the bulk of your sales come from your own marketing efforts. If most of your product sales are referred by you (not 3rd party), then you are a good candidate for the program.

Zazzle’s best-selling promoters are API partners, entertainers (music bands, podcasts, authors, etc.), fundraisers, events, small to medium-sized business owners, and more!

If you were not invited but think that you would be a good fit for this Program, email Zazzle at Designer. Promoter @ Zazzle.com and they will send you an application.

What if I was Invited into the Zazzle Promoter Program? 

If Zazzle sent you an email asking you to join then the following sections will cover the details of the program so you can make a rational decision.

If you are a Zazzle designer store owner but not an API partner, entertainer (music bands, podcasts, authors, etc.), fundraiser, or small to medium-sized business owner, then a Promoter store may still have advantages for you but let’s look at some details.

The Differences Between a Standard Store Product Page and a Promoter Store Product Page

A Promoter product page does not have the following elements:

1. The ‘Other designs you might like widget
2. ‘Other products by X designer’ widget
3. Also the ‘Other products from this collection widget 
4. ‘Transfer this design to another product’ widget
5. Promo code (coupon) header strip
6. Discount/coupon information underneath the price.

The Promoter product page has the least amount of external links to ensure customers stay on your product page and purchase your product. However, the cross-marketing opportunities that collections provide and the “transfer this design” option are places where you will lose money. Why? Because these consistently provide additional sales opportunities in the Standard store option.

Confusing FAQs – Does design transfer work in a Promoter store?

In the FAQs provided by Zazzle they state that ‘Transfer this design on another product’ is not available to customers (see above).

Yet then they say in another section of the FAQs that “Yes, the design transfer feature does work in a Promoter store. Please note that when a user transfers a design to a different product, the default royalty you set for your account will transfer to that product.” 

This option may be only in the backend when you are designing products. It’s my best guess.

Can I Still Set My Royalty Rate?

Yes. You can set the rate higher that the minimum 20-35% (depending on the product). This will, however, increase the price of the product. So if you set the royalty at 50% on a minimum 20% royalty product (no price increase), then the price increase by 30%.

Zazzle Promoter Program Store Products vs Direct Only Products

You can have direct-only products in Promoter stores. However, Promoter products are not the same as standard store direct-only products. Promoter products can be accessed from a Promoter store and via a direct link. Direct-only products are only accessible via a direct link. Also, Promoter store products are visible in RSS feeds, whereas direct-only products are not.

Promoter Stores Affect All Your Other Stores Under the Same Username / Account

All your stores listed under ONE username or account WILL be affected if you make one of the stores a Promoter Store. The share tools will not work for accounts that have a Promoter store in them.

The workaround is to open a new Zazzle account with a new username and create a Promoter store in this new account. This will allow you to keep your share tools in the account with your standard (normal) stores.

Zazzle recently allowed people who were in the Promoter program to opt out in order to get the share tools back. However, it was a one-time option. If you missed it, or change your mind now, there is no going back now.

Coupons Can Not Be Applied

You will not be able to stop customers from seeing coupon deals and promo emails from Zazzle. However, your products will not qualify for these discounts. If the customer wants to use the coupon codes they can click on the Zazzle marketplace and find products that do honor the coupon codes.

You may have brought the customer to Zazzle via your promotion to your store. However, there is nothing stopping them from venturing off to the Zazzle marketplace and not buying from your Promoter store.

If the customer is following your link directly to your Promoter store and/or product page, they would not see any promo information on those pages. However, if they saw an email regarding a coupon code and realize it won’t work on your products, there is no guarantee that they would be loyal to you.

Zazzle Promoter Program Products are Not Searchable

Promoter stores and products are not indexed by search engines. Your products will not be found in the Zazzle Marketplace, nor externally on Google or other search engines.

This is unfortunate for you since the majority of Zazzle traffic comes from organic searches. According to Similarweb.com (see image below) 40% of traffic coming to Zazzle is via search and 86% of it is organic search.

People know about Zazzle and specifically, search it out and browse the Zazzle Marketplace. If you had a Promoter store you would be missing out on this opportunity.

Most traffic to Zazzle is through searches and direct

This information (see images below) as found on Similarweb.com makes it clear that the majority of traffic to Zazzle is through direct (45%) and search (40%) options. Only 15% of Zazzle’s current traffic comes from these sources combined: email (3.24%), referrals (3.6%), social (7.37%), and display ads (0.48%).

If Zazzle’s best-selling promoters (API partners, entertainers (music bands, podcasts, authors, etc.), fundraisers, events, and small to medium-sized business owners) are not showing up in the top referrers (see image below – according to Similarweb.com – except neopets.com with 11% of the 3.6% (referrals) of the entire traffic,  then how much of the market share can you capture being part of the Zazzle Promoter Program?

Let’s look at neopets.com with 11% of 3.6% of the referrals. That’s less than 0.5% of the total number of visitors brought to Zazzle. Which is (0.5% of 8.4 million visits per month = 42K per month). Estimate a 1% buy rule which results in 420 possible unique customer sales a month. That’s what the top referring site can achieve with a huge reputation and 6.14 million visitors per month to their own site (according to Similarweb.com).  

Can You Generate 8.4 Million Visits Per Month to Your Promoter Store?

That’s right, Zazzle receives on average  8.4 million visits per month (according to Similarweb.com). If you can generate millions of visits per month to your promoter store, then definitely take advantage of this opportunity.

If you can not drive that much traffic to Zazzle, it might be best to take advantage of Zazzle’s traffic to the site.

Only products in your Standard stores will be searchable by these millions of visitors.

Comments

Did you find this article helpful? What was your biggest AHA moment? Does this help you make a decision about the Zazzle Promoter Program?

Post your comments below. I would love to hear from you.

This blog post is sponsored by The Small Group Mallorca Mentoring Retreat in September 2019!

Are you frustrated with how little your Zazzle business is earning?

Are you making some money on Zazzle but want it to be much more – like 5 and 6 figures?

Have you been working hard on your Zazzle business but just can’t seem to get the results you REALLY want?

Then the Small Group Mallorca Mentoring Retreat with Elke and Jen is the perfect solution for you.

Receive the attention and training specifically tailored to your needs to achieve your goals.

Click here to reserve your spot for the September 2019 Mallorca Mentoring Retreat

Connect With Elke and Jen to Ask Us About The Retreat

Easily connect with Elke and Jen in the way that works best for you.

Click here to connect with Jen or go to www.JenClarke360.com.

Click here to connect with Elke or go to www.ElkeClarke360.com

OR

open the camera on your phone and hover the camera over the QR code below to be taken to the link.

About the Author:

Elke Clarke, is the award-winning author of the book Create Online and Grow Rich. Elke mentors and teaches digital creatives online marketing and business strategies to build a profitable eCommerce business. The 5 Step Profit Plan VIP Mentoring Program™ is Elke Clarke’s signature program that hundreds of people around the world are using to make money online by being successful designers and sellers on Zazzle. Connect with Elke, on social media by clicking here or visiting https://www.ElkeClarke360.com