GCU Forum - Name Cards...

Eve_138255

Ex Member

Re: Name Cards...
Reply #30 - Oct 6^th, 2010, 3:28pm

Quote from Delores_132508 on Oct 6^th, 2010, 1:53pm:

While I understand the frustration of scanning through multiple cards of the same design, we should also stop to look at the sales results of "specific" cards such as 88th Birthday or Birthday for Uncle. In looking at the store report of the past thirty days, 461 general birthday cards were sold while 471 age specific birthday cards were sold in the same time period. I didn't bother to count the number of relationship specific birthday cards sold. I do design for age specific and for relationship specific cards as they are my biggest sellers. As long as customers want to buy these specific cards from GCU then there seems to be a reason to design and sell them. Speaking as a customer myself, if I am looking for a card for an uncle then I will buy one that is already designed that way rather than going through the custom request method.

We have to look at both sides don't we.

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Penny_134243

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #31 - Oct 6^th, 2010, 3:30pm

Quote from Linda_132742 on Oct 6^th, 2010, 9:27am:

hello Penny,
please do not take offence with my post...I too have multiple cards of the same image with a different "relationship" on the card. The point I am trying to get across is, why not have some sort of censor on GCU that could notice/recognize multiples, and only post one of them????????
L+L,
L

Hi, Linda,

No offense taken... More confusion on my part... Huh

My point was about the words in the inside verse showing up in the searches, which maybe should be looked into by GCU.

As for multiples, names, ages, relationships, GCU is founded on getting customers the exact card for their needs, and we have the very specific categories to lead customers to very specific cards. All good with me.

How they are presented perhaps could be worked on at some point in time.

And, yes, I do make multiples, too. Not names, but, relationships and ages, yes.

Hope that clarifies my point.

Thanks!

Penny

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Willaim_132003 Senior Member artist Posts: 433	Re: Name Cards... Reply #32 - Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:52am I agree, it is mainly the name specific cards.. but I would really like to see a limit as to how many can be uploaded at one time so the other don't have to wait to week or more to get approved say 25-30 cards max a day... this would also break them up in the catagories as people scroll through.
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Mindy

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Community Manager

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #33 - Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:48pm

I'm listening in here...
There are a few different issues being discussed that need to be considered separately...

1. name specific cards
these cards, as long as residing in the appropriate category, are warranted. A shopper clicking through categories will not see these unless they are in the parent category ie: Birthdays viewing all 112,669 cards at which time a shopper would naturally narrow their search via search terms or category view vs continue page by page by page.

2. search results
this is the real culprit here where search results pull up this series of cards for a somewhat unrelated term, "sleigh", which resides in the inside verse. We will look into this matter to see if search logic can be tweaked.

3. newest cards view
this has long been debated, please see threads:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1268767011/0#0
and here
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/forum/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1266605846/0

We have no immediate plans to revisit this page.

Bits, your comparison of a border to differentiate a design is not the same as a name or an age for that matter. The variation must speak to a shopper's NEED causing them to chose one card over another. Shopping for someone named "Julia" makes other name specific cards like Jake not an option and thus it is a different card. Granted they can request for the artist to make any name card there is still nothing like immediate satisfaction and having the one you need ready to purchase.

Adding a border as you suggest to the same card makes it near identical and essentially the same card. The shopper could buy one or the other based on their preference NOT need. These are the types of image reuse cards that should be minimized if not avoided.

Lastly our advice on image reuse is to vary it up based on gender, age, relation, etc. Although you may have a lovely photo of a pine cone it does not mean it is suited for all ages, all genders, all relationships and all occasions. Artists should be selective. THESE are the image reuse cards that you should be complaining about NOT the name specific ones.

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Doreen_137017

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #34 - Oct 7^th, 2010, 4:29pm

Hi Mindy,

Thanks so much for listening in and I do realize that the waters were muddied a bit with various topics here.

Quote from Mindy on Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:48pm:

I'm listening in here...
There are a few different issues being discussed that need to be considered separately...

2. search results
this is the real culprit here where search results pull up this series of cards for a somewhat unrelated term, "sleigh", which resides in the inside verse. We will look into this matter to see if search logic can be tweaked.

Thank you for looking into the search logic...that would probably help this situation a lot.

Quote from Mindy on Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:48pm:

I'm listening in here...
There are a few different issues being discussed that need to be considered separately...

Lastly our advice on image reuse is to vary it up based on gender, age, relation, etc. Although you may have a lovely photo of a pine cone it does not mean it is suited for all ages, all genders, all relationships and all occasions. Artists should be selective. THESE are the image reuse cards that you should be complaining about NOT the name specific ones.

Your comments above are right on and I could not agree more and had the 1120 name cards I went through been somewhat of a variety for male vs female imagery, it would have been less irritating.

Perhaps it could be considered that the image use for a Name card has a limit? Like 25? My point was that with both the specific age and specific relation, there is a limit to the number of cards because we only live so long and there are only so many relation specific categories. 1120 cards with nothing different but the name is beyond excessive. That was and still is my reason for posting.

Thanks for taking the time to listen in and for the encouraging suggestions. I do hope you might consider an image limit use for Name cards since there is no limit to the number of names someone can come up with.

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Ernestine_131365

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #35 - Oct 7^th, 2010, 5:34pm

I just don't understand why GCU is being so stubborn about this "multiple image" situation. It's been brought up numerous times in the last two years at least and every time the response is that either customers are not searching the home page "new cards" section or that when a search is done these multiple cards won't show up together, but obviously customers ARE seeing these pages of multiples in a row and aren't happy about it. I think this is bad customer service. It's like saying "We don't care that you leave the site because you don't search the way we want you to."

I'm reminded of recently ordering a sandwich at a chain restaurant I've frequented for 15 years or so and received a product that was black and charred. Upon telling the server that it was burnt he proceeded to tell me that it was not. . . that I, the customer was wrong . Shocked

So we can continue to drive customers away (and I do believe we ARE driving customers away or to other POD sites) or DO something about it. Offering name cards, age card and multiple relationship cards is a great service, but when that is NOT what a customer is looking for, they should not be forced to wade through these cards. . .they will leave.

undecided

Sigh . . . I'm probably preaching to choir.

'e'

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DENISE_132110

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #36 - Oct 7^th, 2010, 10:02pm

Ernestine i agree with you but from Mindys' post it appears that it is in vain. no immediate plans to revisit the page, concerning the new cards section. i am just as puzzled as you are about this. and i too have spoken my mind on it. i can not see any benefit to a buyer looking at that link and seeing page after page of the images that are the same.

i understand they will not turn up together in a search, that makes perfect sense, i do think though that people who come to the homepage are just curious enough to go look at the new today cards. they don't stay there long due to repetition, but they do look. i too believe it is counter productive. things have to be fresh and new. how long have the testimonials stayed the same?

not only are we losing customers to the other sites, we are losing artists time and attention to the other sites. GCU will not be my first priority when i have time to work on submitting designs. i have to pick and choose and i will spend my time on other venues. i find i am spending too much time being frustrated and aggravated, i don't need that right now. i am turning into a grumpy gussie and that is not good for my health or mind set. i have taken hiatus from here before and come back hoping for some changes, and there have been some, unfortunately i am not sure they are in the direction i hoped for. Sad

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Paul_133086 Full Member artist Posts: 217	Re: Name Cards... Reply #37 - Oct 8^th, 2010, 10:05am Couldn't agree more. Downright silly.
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Mindy

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Community Manager

Posts: 6567
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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #38 - Oct 12^th, 2010, 12:17pm

Quote from Doreen_137017 on Oct 7^th, 2010, 4:29pm:

Hi Mindy,

Thanks so much for listening in and I do realize that the waters were muddied a bit with various topics here.

Quote from Mindy on Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:48pm:

I'm listening in here...
There are a few different issues being discussed that need to be considered separately...

2. search results
this is the real culprit here where search results pull up this series of cards for a somewhat unrelated term, "sleigh", which resides in the inside verse. We will look into this matter to see if search logic can be tweaked.

Thank you for looking into the search logic...that would probably help this situation a lot.

Quote from Mindy on Oct 7^th, 2010, 3:48pm:

I'm listening in here...
There are a few different issues being discussed that need to be considered separately...

Lastly our advice on image reuse is to vary it up based on gender, age, relation, etc. Although you may have a lovely photo of a pine cone it does not mean it is suited for all ages, all genders, all relationships and all occasions. Artists should be selective. THESE are the image reuse cards that you should be complaining about NOT the name specific ones.

Your comments above are right on and I could not agree more and had the 1120 name cards I went through been somewhat of a variety for male vs female imagery, it would have been less irritating.

Perhaps it could be considered that the image use for a Name card has a limit? Like 25? My point was that with both the specific age and specific relation, there is a limit to the number of cards because we only live so long and there are only so many relation specific categories. 1120 cards with nothing different but the name is beyond excessive. That was and still is my reason for posting.

Thanks for taking the time to listen in and for the encouraging suggestions. I do hope you might consider an image limit use for Name cards since there is no limit to the number of names someone can come up with.

** UPDATE ** the inside verse has been removed as criteria when generating onsite search results **

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Deborah_133004

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #39 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 1:51am

Quote from Rebecca_140932 on Oct 5^th, 2010, 11:47pm:

Amen!!!!!! You tell it like it is. I also agree. The first time I took a look around on the site, I saw hundreds of repeat cards that totally turned me off. I had not even joined or anything yet. I was just looking around. The first thing I thought about the artist who did them was... how unprofessional. I also figured, a person who has to make hundreds of the same card must not be very creative, so they are desperate to make a sell with just their one card design. I can understand using a picture for a totally different card, but not the same card with different names or a year of birth, over... and over... and over... and over, again and again. That must be awful for the reviewers as well. I think it's just tacky that GCU lets that go on. It makes all of us look bad. No one wants to look through hundreds of cards of the same old design forever. I think it could be costing GCU more business than they know about. I think they should put a limit on the number of repeat cards you can make with one design, unless it is a special request by a customer (which should be noted to the reviewer). I think that reviewers should be allowed to stop this form of creative abuse, also. They are really good at their job, and I am sure that they hate this as much as we do. I am really glad to see that I am not the only one who doesn't like this. I support you Doreen, in your effort to rid GCU of the repeat card offender!

Firstly I would like to say that I agree with all comments about name specific cards showing up under searches that are not relevant. My solution to this would be to remove these cards from all searches that do not include the specific name as they are of no use to anyone else and should only show up in bulk under the category they are in. I feel I am entitled to make this request since as evidenced by my card and store clicks this thread is clearly about my recent uploads. I never intended for these cards to show up under a search for sleigh in fact this annoys me as much as everyone else.

I have done nothing wrong and this is one category that had few cards in it and I saw an opportunity to get noticed (that obviously worked). As to me being desperate to make money YOU BET I am. Unlike some established Artists I have yet to receive a payment from any sales and I have made some.

For anyone who cares I put a great deal of though and research into taking on this project and would not have wasted a good deal of my time over the last 3 months creating and uploading these cards if I did not feel that they would sell. I took the time to check out the most popular name choices around the world between 2000 and 2010 and personalised not just the front of the card but the inner verse as well.

Does anyone know how many card sales come from customised/personalised card requests?

It would seem there are people out there who have forgotten what Christmas means to Children, the intended recipients of these cards.

I find it interesting that of the 20 stores commenting on this thread only 2 did not have any repeat images and would be interested to know if any of the stores with less than 100 cards have made many sales yet?

If you do not think this card is worthy of this site I challenge you to spend the time putting up a better one. I've already researched the names for you, take your pick. The cards are up there now the only time you should see them will be when they come up under "Recently Sold".

In the spirit that my card was intended to convey "May you all have a Safe, Merry and Prosperous Christmas with many card sales"

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« Last Edit: Oct 28^th, 2010, 3:16am by Deborah_133004 »

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Lj_135293

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Posts: 1178

Re: Name Cards...
Reply #40 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 6:57am

Hi Deborah. I wanted to say that I do not think the the main post was geared towards you in particular.. at all.. I do agree that there were some comments left that perhaps should not have been written the way they were but no one can control that unfortunately. I think the topic in general was simply trying to address an issue here that might have a better resolve for all parties involved. As many of us stated earlier> these cards are a good thing and clearly allowed-promoted by the site.. It was more the way they displayed to the viewer in some cases and also how they get mixed in with searches to the viewer. I think your card came up in "Sleigh" only because of the inner verse. And for no other reason... I didn't even know that would happen from just the inner verse so it was also a learning experience for me on this topic. Please do not read more into it all than what it actually-truly was about and I sincerely apologize if I offended you in any way.. I never meant to and it is not in my general nature to do so with a fellow artist. You did exactly as you should be doing here and I think most of us would agree on that and I hope you can read through the lines in this thread that most of us agree on just that.

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Deborah_133004

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 17

Re: Name Cards...
Reply #41 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 6:22pm

Thank you Lj

I did realise that most of the thread was of a more positive less personal nature (the problem is with the system not the Artist) but it was very upsetting to read that people who don't even know me consider me "unprofessional, not very creative & desperate" Not to meantion that they are calling for me to be kicked off and banned.

I have always felt the forum was friendly and helpful and was shocked by these statements. I wish other Artists would afford everyone the respect that is due and given to them and remember that the people they are complaining about might be reading their comments.

That being said I do agree that there is a major issue with these cards as although the verse search may have been removed (thank you Mindy) I do not want to see a repeat of this come Christmas when everyone types in one of my keywords. I seriously would like GCU to remove these cards from on site searches that don't include the name (would like to try and keep the keywords for search engines) but if this is not possible I will remove all keywords except the name from these cards.

As I said earlier I agree there is nothing more annoying and off putting than searching and getting a lot of cards with names on. It makes me look and feel bad too. I have a plain version of this card in the General section with a note about the name specific ones on it and am happy to have this be the only card generated by searches.

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Doreen_137017

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Posts: 5274

Re: Name Cards...
Reply #42 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 7:10pm

Quote from Rebecca_140932 on Oct 5^th, 2010, 11:47pm:

Amen!!!!!! You tell it like it is. I also agree. The first time I took a look around on the site, I saw hundreds of repeat cards that totally turned me off. I had not even joined or anything yet. I was just looking around. The first thing I thought about the artist who did them was... how unprofessional. I also figured, a person who has to make hundreds of the same card must not be very creative, so they are desperate to make a sell with just their one card design. I can understand using a picture for a totally different card, but not the same card with different names or a year of birth, over... and over... and over... and over, again and again. That must be awful for the reviewers as well. I think it's just tacky that GCU lets that go on. It makes all of us look bad. No one wants to look through hundreds of cards of the same old design forever. I think it could be costing GCU more business than they know about. I think they should put a limit on the number of repeat cards you can make with one design, unless it is a special request by a customer (which should be noted to the reviewer). I think that reviewers should be allowed to stop this form of creative abuse, also. They are really good at their job, and I am sure that they hate this as much as we do. I am really glad to see that I am not the only one who doesn't like this. I support you Doreen, in your effort to rid GCU of the repeat card offender!

I need to make something clear here...

My complaint was the way GCU handled these cards in searches. I never once suggested we should rid GCU of this artist or any who choose to fill this profitable niche. I'm sad to say that I did not read all the posts of this thread as it continued on and as the artist who started the thread I want to apologize to Deborah for anything she felt was personally directed at her. I certainly never meant to do that to her or any artist. I was simply frustrated with the way the cards are handled and as Deborah herself has stated, so is she.

I too have many repeat images, though I tend to not do more than about 12 of any one design...that's just a personal choice. I stand by my feelings of putting a limit of 25 or so on the use of a same design, but again that's my preference and it means nothing Grin

Deborah, I never meant for this thread to attack you or anyone else. I was frustrated with the system and the process.

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Robert_136464

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Re: Name Cards...
Reply #43 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 7:44pm

I felt the same way about the age specific cards BUT caved and made two sets...then another...and I was surprised at how well they did...I didn't go over board - I started at 21 and then did all the milestones 30,40,50 etc...I have sold more 60 cards than any other...still can't believe it...

So I figured 'Why not try the name thing?' My approach was a bit different - I did a search on 'most popular names' and did a small set of cards based on that information...and it's been quite slow - very few clicks - no sales - in my 'Private Gallery' - I have a card with just 'Name' on it saying I would customize the name and update the image upon request with some disclaimers in the 'Artist Notes' - in an effort to stop the madness of 'almost the same' cards...I will agree it can be frustrating but I hope I took a more conservative approach to the issues regarding age specific and name cards...

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Lj_135293

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Posts: 1178

Re: Name Cards...
Reply #44 - Oct 28^th, 2010, 9:41pm

That's great to hear you sold those 60+ Robert. WTG - Congrats!

It is surely a good idea and big seller to have them. That's what customized cards are all about too.. Giving them what they want... Smart! Thanks for sharing~ Lj

Deborah> Thanks for replying. Makes me feel much better tonight. I hope you continue to do whats right for you and your customers and don't listen or take much stock in what others have to say about it. Ignore what is useless my Mom always says.. Wink

No need to remove key words or the such.. Let em rip! Plus.. Mindy resolved the issue with all that already...

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