🤔What is a Product Template?

A Zazzle product template is a design that includes placeholder images and/or text that customers can easily personalize. Templates make it simple for customers to create custom products without starting from scratch, allowing them to add their own personal touch.

Popular examples of template products include greeting cards, wedding invitations, and business cards. These products allow customers to upload images or input personalized text effortlessly. For instance, when a customer views a business card template (as shown below), they’ll simply fill in fields like “Your Name” or “Your Contact Info” to make it uniquely theirs. This makes the customization experience for customers easier for all products on Zazzle, and we would recommend using this for all your public products. 

Look how easy adding templates can make buying a product for your Customers…

✏️How to Create a Product Template

If you’ve created products on Zazzle before, you’re almost there! Turning a product into a template just involves defining which image(s) or text field(s) the customer can edit.

Top Tip before you begin: Enable templates in the order you want customers to see them. For example, starting with 'Name' will ensure this is at the top, followed by 'Address,' and so on.

Follow these steps to create a template:

Add Your Design Elements: First, upload your image(s) and text to the product.

1. Select your first Design Element
   • Click directly on the image or text you want to make editable.
   • Options will appear on the right-hand side of the design tool.
2. Activate the Template
   • Toggle ‘Make this a template object’ to activate the template options

3. Add Product Page Labels
   • Update the ‘Product page label’ to guide the customer.
   • For example, use labels like “Your Name” (for text) or “Your Logo” (for images).

Repeat these steps for every text and image element in your design.

 

🖼️Important Notes for Using Stock Images

If you’re using stock images, be sure to:

• Select the ‘Force customers to replace with their own content’ option. This ensures customers don’t accidentally purchase the product with the stock image and avoids licensing issues.
•  Ensure a great experience for your customers, make sure your image templates are set to the recommended default “Fill” mode in the Design tool. This ensures user-uploaded images align perfectly with your design and avoids issues like cut-off faces or misaligned images. This is suitable for 99% of examples we have seen onsite. 

🔗Linking Duplicate Fields

For products with duplicate fields (like a name or image that appears in multiple places), you can link them so they update simultaneously.

How to Link Duplicate Fields:

• Use the same URL Parameter for each field in the template settings.
• For example:
  • Add a name and year to the front side of a double-sided ornament.
  • Duplicate these fields on the back side and assign the same URL Parameter.

Now, when the customer edits one field, both sides will automatically update!

➕Additional Options in the Template Tool

Once you click ‘More options,’ you’ll see additional settings:

1. Make Object(s) Permanent and Always Visible
   • Customers can move or resize an object but can’t delete it.
2. URL Parameter
   • If you’re using the Zazzle API, this is the field name for data passed from an external source. Skip this if you’re not using the API.
3. Allow Editing on Product Page
   • Enable this to allow customization directly on the product page. Uncheck only if working with the API. More information can be found here. 

Finalizing and Posting Your Template Product
When posting your product for sale, you’ll see a checkbox labeled “This product is a template.” Keep this checked to allow personalization. If you decide not to offer customization, you can uncheck it.

 

 

📽️See all the steps in action...

 

And that’s it—congratulations! You’ve just created a Zazzle product template. 🎉