Confused Customer- how do I answer her?

[escturtle]

I was issued a Private Request, I submitted on time and the CC editors approved it and sent it on to the customer. But the customer sent me a letter asking for help! (I don't know why she isn't addressing the CC customer support, or perhaps they're not answering her...)

Does anyone know what to answer her? (I told her to contact CC support, but in the meantime-) This is what she wrote:

From Customer
To Author
Subject article
Sent On Tue, Oct 20 of 2015 at 02:48 AM
I can't seem to see your article in the system to purchase it. There is 2 paragraphs, but can't see any more than that. Do you know why? Thanks



Shouldn't an article submitted for a Private Request be permitted for full viewing before the customer commits?

[Abbamay]

That's strange!

I guess she can only see a two-paragraph sample. Do you think your default setting for the preview section of your article is set to 100%? If you're not sure, go to "my account" dropdown box, click on "edit my account" and scroll down to "default long summary percentage" so you can see if it's 100%. Might not help now if the article has already been approved.

I really don't know what customers see, but maybe she's seeing your article in the catalogue somehow and not in her request system where she can put it in her cart or whatever they do. If you have had an email from your editor or account manager in the past, try emailing them from your home account, as the CC contact form doesn't always work.

Hopefully you'll get a reply on here soon from someone who actually knows... but I hope this gets sorted out quickly for you!!

Abba

[escturtle]

yeah, I think she needs help in using the platform

I've never received any emails from an editor or account manager... I hope some CC customer support person (or anyone good-hearted, informed member) happens to read this post, and provides that customer with some assistance. Or tells me what to tell her!

also- what does CC advise writers to set the Default for- 100%?

thanks

[Abbamay]

If the customer made a private request, surely she must have an account manager who she can contact directly? I'd ask her to do that.

Abba

[Pellucidean]

also- what does CC advise writers to set the Default for- 100%?

thanks

I'm not sure what CC itself advises, but the consensus on the forums when this topic has come up before seemed to be that 100% was the best option, so that's what I've always done. The explanation was that customers are less likely to buy articles they can't preview completely, while on the flip side there isn't any real disadvantage to allowing 100%.

[HiredGun]

also- what does CC advise writers to set the Default for- 100%?

thanks

I'm not sure what CC itself advises, but the consensus on the forums when this topic has come up before seemed to be that 100% was the best option, so that's what I've always done. The explanation was that customers are less likely to buy articles they can't preview completely, while on the flip side there isn't any real disadvantage to allowing 100%.

I've always only shown 33% percent. Even with only showing 33%, I've found some of my content stolen from Constant Content and posted online. I can only surmise if I showed 100% of an article, even more of my content would be stolen and posted online. Would be interesting to hear from other writers as to how much of an article they preview, and whether there is any increase in sales when more of each article is shown.

[Lysis]

I always do 100%. I did it after a post from Celeste back in the day. I don't track my content. I feel like I would be rage faced every day if I did. lol

[Judith]

I always post 100%. When I first started with CC, I only posted 1/3. After a few weeks, I decided to up it to 100% as an experiment because I would never buy something if I couldn't see it all first. My sales immediately went up and so I have left it at 100% and it has been profitable. Clients are not going to change their mind, since they have already seen the article in its entirety. There will always be thieves. If they steal one paragraph or five paragraphs, it really doesn't matter because the damage is done. Sometimes they copy the work after it is sold and there is nothing you can do about it. Write a lot and sell a lot is the answer And for me showing 100% sells the most.

[HiredGun]

I always do 100%. I did it after a post from Celeste back in the day. I don't track my content. I feel like I would be rage faced every day if I did. lol

You don't happen to have a link to that post of Celeste's or remember the title of the post, do you? With so many tools and apps available now that can highlight and strip out text from images, I'm hesitant to make my articles 100% viewable. Might try setting the odd one at 100% and see what happens, or maybe try it on some of my older pieces I don't want to rework.

[Lysis]

Hey HiredGun, I wish I did to help out but I don't. I started here in 2009, so I'd say it was a post from way back then.

It's hard for me to say if it helped because when I read her post I was new with maybe a dozen articles up. I've always just had 100%. I sell about 75% of my content. I think that's the average if I'm not mistaken, but I also charge more than average too. CC posted that the best sellers charge $.05-$.08/word. I am probably somewhere between $.12-$13/word because I calculate $.10/word and then add some money to cover for the 35% commission.

[HiredGun]

Hey HiredGun, I wish I did to help out but I don't. I started here in 2009, so I'd say it was a post from way back then.

It's hard for me to say if it helped because when I read her post I was new with maybe a dozen articles up. I've always just had 100%. I sell about 75% of my content. I think that's the average if I'm not mistaken, but I also charge more than average too. CC posted that the best sellers charge $.05-$.08/word. I am probably somewhere between $.12-$13/word because I calculate $.10/word and then add some money to cover for the 35% commission.

Thanks, Lysis. Having the year really helped. I'm guessing this thread from 2009 is the one you referred to: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15185&hilit=celeste+2009. I'm a big fan of A/B testing, so I think I'm going to run a test for the next month. I'll post 100% on some articles and 33% on others, and track the post date to sale date on each of them (which I'm already doing). Should get a pretty clear idea on whether having 100% viewable significantly impacts my sales rate/sales speed or not. Will add a byline to each fresh submission, set up a Google Alert, and then monitor results. The extra tweaks only take about 5 minutes, so not adding a great deal of work to my submission process. I tend to have repeat buyers, so will see if 100% viewable impacts my repeat business. Already happy with my sales from Constant Content; tweaking my viewable strategy might make me even happier! Wish me luck for the next month. ♥‿♥

[Celeste Stewart]

Yikes! A lot has changed over the last 6-7 years, so I wouldn't necessarily go looking for advice from that far back. That said, I still feel that showing 100 percent is the best approach. If you only show 30 percent, the customer won't necessarily know which direction your article will go. You may have a unique perspective that could really impress the customer, but it won't do any good if the customer never sees it. LIkewise, the article could go off in a direction that doesn't necessarily appeal to the customer, in which case they won't find out until it's too late (if they took the risk and bought the article). Then they'd have buyer's remorse. Not sure I want that.

[Abbamay]

Wow, HiredGun, you sound like you know what you're doing! I'd love to hear the results of your analysis.

I think of it from the buyer's viewpoint and I think they'd prefer to see 100% before buying. We can worry about people copying and stealing our work if we reveal too much of it, but if people are determined, they'll find a way somehow and we can't really control that.

Good luck!!

[Lysis]

We brought her out of the woodwork.

I can't believe I've been here 6 years. Time flies when you work from home. sheesh

HiredGun, I'd like to hear your results too.

[escturtle]

To update all of you (after I started such a lively thread! who woulda known?) - my client purchased the article that had been a Private Request, and then sent me a letter saying that she will not buy in the future if she can't see 100%! I feel kinda silly, I had no clue that those settings affected Private Request views. I obviously stand corrected!

Thanks for all your advice on how this impacts sales. I'm horrid at anything that involves money, so I always forget to consider such trivial matters as "selling".