Buyers don't know what they're buying

Customer 1

Customer 2

These two emails (and many more before) were received during the week, i would like to draw attention to staff and members to do something together on this issue in order to avoid the unpleasant situations with customers.

I never reject my customers but in this case i need to do two customizations for free, to keep those 2 satisfied.

Your opinion or suggestion?

Are the doors opening not part of the template? It’s in the preview video. If I was a buyer I would also have assumed its part of the file.

Doors are part of the template, everything except preview images is included in my templates. Problem is that they don’t know what is AfterEffects they like only previews.

I dont understand why you have to do customisation work for free If they dont know what the heck they are buying??? If you have a videotutorial in your template package ( and I have a hunch you do) that should take care of your problem, your personal time should be precious not wasted away like this Misel. Just my 2 cents on the matter

miseld said
Doors are part of the template, everything except preview images is included in my templates. Problem is that they don’t know what is AfterEffects they like only previews.

then it is their problem… or they are looking for free customization.

@Miseld.

You could do like I do and put your user guide material on-line somewhere, so users can preview it and get a flavour for what they’re have to do to customize the template.

In 2 years, I’ve never had an email like the one above. Very occasionally, something from a novice who’s got a bit confused over something or other, but they usually get in touch before they’ve been through the user guide material properly.

I don’t really enjoy doing user guides.. they take me about a day… sometimes longer for an in-depth one. I make notes as I’m building the project, which I then fill out and convert into the html user guide. (this usually as I’m converting the final download file into the preview and going through the process that the user will). The html user guide then forms the basis of the video user guide.

Like I say, it’s quite time-consuming to make, but it means that I can really put projects to bed once they’re uploaded. I get an enquiry or someone asking for help once in a blue moon and I don’t end up having to support my products heavily throughout their lifetime. For me, this makes producing a solid user guide and making it available before purchase totally worthwhile.

I don’t know if putting them on-line attracts customers or puts them off, but they certainly couldn’t ever claim that they don’t know what they’re letting themselves in for!

-f.

I just a customer wondering what is “Trapcode Particular” and why the project is not working for him properly…
Not to look in the project’s description before you buy it…

felt_tips said
@Miseld.

You could do like I do and put your user guide material on-line somewhere, so users can preview it and get a flavour for what they’re have to do to customize the template.

In 2 years, I’ve never had an email like the one above. Very occasionally, something from a novice who’s got a bit confused over something or other, but they usually get in touch before they’ve been through the user guide material properly.

I don’t really enjoy doing user guides.. they take me about a day… sometimes longer for an in-depth one. I make notes as I’m building the project, which I then fill out and convert into the html user guide. (this usually as I’m converting the final download file into the preview and going through the process that the user will). The html user guide then forms the basis of the video user guide.

Like I say, it’s quite time-consuming to make, but it means that I can really put projects to bed once they’re uploaded. I get an enquiry or someone asking for help once in a blue moon and I don’t end up having to support my products heavily throughout their lifetime. For me, this makes producing a solid user guide and making it available before purchase totally worthwhile.

I don’t know if putting them on-line attracts customers or puts them off, but they certainly couldn’t ever claim that they don’t know what they’re letting themselves in for!

-f.

Nothing will be problem for me that i’m not working full time job. I don’t have pretty much free time to invest it in guides etc… As time goes i’m trying to keep my position on marketplace and make step forward to quit my job and spend much more then now on maketplace. I just wanted to draw your attention that there are customers like those two.

I recently had a customer asking for FLA (Flash) files to edit the animation. He was clearly confused as to what After Effects was and thought he could edit the animation using any application he damn well pleased.

After a few emails back and forth, he started getting more and more frustrated to the point of insulting me, which is when I basically told him to “have a nice day”, and I stopped responding.

This same customer couldn’t figure out how to use the Captcha to submit an Envato support ticket. We deal with users of all skill levels here, apparently.

@Miseld – If someone purchases your file and doesn’t know what to do with it, it’s not your fault, it’s the customer’s fault. Customers should know what they’re buying before they hand over their money. And don’t feel like you need to customize the project for free… just explain to them what they purchased, and if they have a budget, you’d be happy to work with them.

I’m having record sales but i get so little support questions as i did before like a year ago. I use to get 10~20 mails a week from buyers now i get 1 mail a month if i’m lucky lol I guess userguides/videotutorials help.