4 years, 4 months ago

We were mentioned on Violent Acres the other day! This is a great blog and I'd be interested to see how much traffic goes up because of it.

BTW, is there ever going to be another RP payout?

4 years, 6 months ago

Hey.



I think it was ConstantContact that we had used to do the marketing. Let me do some more research on it and I'll get back to you.



Todd

4 years, 6 months ago

Hey everyone--

In the past, we had access to an email marketing system to send out promotional emails. I was wondering if we still have access to that?

There's also a calendar around here somewhere that should keep us busy with promotions--so we're not a "holiday only" business.

4 years, 6 months ago

Glad you're on board.

My name is Matt. I'm willing to help out on any marketing, copy writing, affiliate tasks.

Or anything else.

4 years, 6 months ago

Hello everyone,



I am in. I am a php developer and am looking forward to working with all of you. I have been going through all the past information and am working on a compilation of ideas as well as some of my own ideas and suggestions for prezzle and will be posting those very soon.



In the meantime I have setup my server and will provide access to whomever needs it for testing. At this point I think we would all like to see who is on board and what we all can do to make prezzle a successful site.



Here are a few sites/application I have worked on:



http://www.copperproject.com/demo.php' target='_blank'>http://www.copperproject.com/demo.php

http://www.loftrent.com' target='_blank'>http://www.loftrent.com

http://www.tcirealestate.com' target='_blank'>http://www.tcirealestate.com



Anyway, look forward to seeing what ideas we can come up with and start implementing them.



Daina

4 years, 6 months ago

I'm in.

Happy to do any copy writing, marketing, branding, affiliate marketing.

And many other things that I am uniquely unqualified to do.

4 years, 6 months ago

Hey all. Let's start a thread about restarting Prezzle development! Everyone who's interested, put your hand up here and let the team know what you're interested in doing!



Todd

4 years, 6 months ago

Hey guys.



Just to let you know, I've made a change to our Paypal settings so that a buyer must have a valid Paypal account (and sign in to Paypal) to purchase a Prezzle. Previously, if they were purchasing a Prezzle with a credit card, they didn't need a Paypal account. Now they have to sign in to Paypal before doing a purchase, even when using a credit card. This should help alleviate the problem. I'll keep you guys posted.



I'm not too keen on the "please call us" option either. What happens when they call in the middle of the night? We could have an automated system, but that would be a lot of work.



As for the other questions, yes, we do pre-purchase the gift cards. When a sale comes in, everything happens automatically. Paypal confirms the purchase, so we fire off the Prezzle right away. It's usually 3 or 4 days later when Paypal puts a hold on the funds, so we don't know about until 3 or 4 days later.



Todd

4 years, 6 months ago

I agree calling is not the best option. Understanding at what point in the process this failed is key here. Are these verified paypal members or unverified members?



Do we currently pre purchase the gift cards? We can start by looking at this process and how we can change it. How does gifts.com handle this. Did paypal reverse the purchase causing the payment to not be made, but we had already sent the gift card? If yes, what will our overhead be by switching to a merchant account?



Authorize.net provides this information:









Can we use some sort of verification process after the receiver has received it? I haven't been through this portion of the code/site yet. When we send the prezzle, does it include the gift card redemption code? Should we have a generic redemption screen which then allows the receiver to pick which gift card they would like to have?



That is all I have for now



D

4 years, 6 months ago

How do other stores combat this?

Is this a security thing?

If they have to call us, we're going to lose some customers. I'm also worried about the higher value gift certificates. Hopefully, that's temporary?

4 years, 6 months ago

I should point out that recently Cambrian House has been having some troubles with Prezzles being purchased using a credit card that has been compromised. We are working with Paypal to help try and get our money back, but I suspect that CH will end up having to swallow the cost of these, which sucks big time.



Any ideas on how to combat this? One good idea is to have the person that purchased the Prezzle to have to call us up to confirm their identity. But I need to do some more thinking on this yet. In the meantime, we are disabling the purchases of larger iTunes gift certificates amounts (it's been limited to $100 and $75 iTunes.com gift certificates so far).



Todd

4 years, 9 months ago

Can we set something up, Christine?

4 years, 9 months ago

Amazon just sent out an email campaign promoting gift certificates as a Back to School gift:



Back to School

Amazon.com Gift Certificate



Shopping for a student?



Amazon.com gift certificates are redeemable for millions of items, from textbooks to trail mix.



You can choose any denomination from $5 (a back-to-school treat) to $5,000 (their own personal scholarship fund).

4 years, 9 months ago

Consider it kicked.

Now, go do some Prezzle stuff.

How was that?

Seriously, I think if we position this right, it has some potential.

4 years, 9 months ago

I'm in. I'm not motivated to do it myself, I need someone to kick me in the ass to do Prezzle stuff. :-)

4 years, 10 months ago

I think so. But I hope not. It's a great idea. Just needs some legs.

4 years, 10 months ago

I think I'm bummed out too, but I'm just waiting to see what happens.



I'm concerned that CH will leave deciding what to do with Prezzle too late and we'll miss any opportunity for X-mas. There are tons of free advertising print opportunities if you get on magazine's radar in August. And a friend of mine who owns an online retail site just contacted me and wants to do something for X-mas, but she wants it implemented before the end of Aug or else they're already too busy with other X-mas preparations.



Is it really only you and me who still like Prezzle... maybe it's time to put it to bed?

4 years, 10 months ago

Hey Christine.

I think I'm bummed out. Should I be?

I hope it's all good on your end.

I'd be happy to work with you in the future on this. I think it has a lot of potential. Just needs to get in the right hands.

Anyone else on board with this?

4 years, 10 months ago

I'm interested... although I guess I should let you guys know if you don't already that I'm no longer with Cambrian House AND Cambrian House has decided that they will be 'divesting' the Prezzle asset. I'm not 100% sure what their plans are. I've expressed my interested in taking over but haven't heard back.



but you're absolutely right mswayne - if Prezzle is going to do anything for Xmas, then the wheels need to be set in motion now with the plan starting to execute Sep 1 for sure.

4 years, 10 months ago

I saw Home Shopping Network was selling Christmas trees. And it got me thinking

Who's in for a little re-grouping chat?

August would be a great month to prepare for the holiday biggies coming up... Halloween... Christmas...

4 years, 10 months ago

Could we sell a little advertising into the free Prezzles?

Just my horrible capitalist side showing. Forgive me.

4 years, 10 months ago

tHE FI/FS always scares me...

4 years, 10 months ago

Let me know if you have any copy/content chores.

4 years, 10 months ago

Financials

Total Revenue: $30,180.82

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $46.79

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3110

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1619 (52.1%)

Created This Week: 42

Paid/Sent This Week: 7 (16.7%)



Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 2,678

P/V: 2.83

Bounce Rate: 61.02%





Progress Last Week

documentation on 'how-to build a prezzle' started

testing of sending FREE prezzles, need 1 bug fix

updated home page with last month's top prezzles - waiting for deploy this week



This Week:

need to find patent/licensing expert

close out spafinder

close out signature days

buy more iTunes.com



nice to haves...

new prezzles

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

facebook integration

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

4 years, 10 months ago

Thanks

4 years, 10 months ago

agreed - more exposure is always good. Heck we got another sale this morning so you never know where the lead truly came from.



Bounce rate is when a user clicks a link to the home page but then doesn't click any further into the site but rather closes the browser or goes to a completely new website.

4 years, 10 months ago

On July 4, 2007, 6:43 pm Christine said:



Bounce Rate: 50.00%

Sales: 1

What is Bounce rate?

I was unhappy with only getting 1 sale... but what ever more people know about Prezzle!

4 years, 10 months ago

Financials

Total Revenue: $30,134.03

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $165.81

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3068

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1612 (52.5%)

Created This Week: 10

Paid/Sent This Week: 6 (60%)



Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 2,142 (1046 less pd ad traffic = 0.5% of visitors bought a Prezzle)

P/V: 2.30

Bounce Rate: 69.65%



Gods_light's pd advertising on coolsiteoftheday...

Uniques: 1,096

P/V: 3.18

Bounce Rate: 50.00%

Sales: 1



Progress Last Week

nothing...



This Week:

test Todd's new feature & launch

need to find patent/licensing expert

update home page with last month's top prezzles



nice to haves...

new prezzles

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

facebook integration

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

4 years, 11 months ago

I'm on a short vaca to Vancouver Island. Be back on Jul 4th.

4 years, 11 months ago

Hey GL.



Christine and I have talked about "personalized Prezzle's", allowing people to add their own picture or video or a small audio clip or whatever to their Prezzle. Would be great to do.



Todd

4 years, 11 months ago

I just read a article in Entrepreneur's that talked about the success of personalized ecards, although they were print out ones that you sent out it got me thinking.

Why cant Prezzle do that? I would think it would be easy, have a box or envelop have people pick the color and what not but instead of a balloon coming out perhaps I picture that the user submits comes out?



You could even go one step more... This could be one step to far, why not have a epost card that you put a face of your friend or what not and allow the user to indicate where the persons mouth is, then do a cartoon like mouth movement that allows the epost card to say something...

4 years, 11 months ago

Financials

Total Revenue: $29,968.21

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $31.94

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3058

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1606 (52.5%)

Created This Week: 4

Paid/Sent This Week: 2 (50%)



Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 759 (76 less pd ad traffic = 5.2% of visitors bought a Prezzle)

P/V: 1.55

Bounce Rate: 84.98%



683 of visits due to Gods_light's pd advertising, this created a lot of traffic however only 4 sales.



Progress Last Week

updated home page, removed father's day images

Todd checked in Free text Prezzles, Christine to test

chatted with Sharon re: effort req'd to license



This Week:

test Todd's new feature & launch

licensing plan, need the numbers



nice to haves...

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

facebook integration

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

4 years, 11 months ago

Never seen it

4 years, 11 months ago

Never heard of it.

Just looking at the website now.

4 years, 11 months ago

my understanding is that clickandbuy.com is like a paypal alternative, mostly popular in europe.



has anyone heard / used this service? thoughts?

4 years, 11 months ago

Financials

Total Revenue: $29,914.33

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $251.79

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3052

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1602 (52.5%)

Created This Week: 12

Paid/Sent This Week: 7 (58.3%)



Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 192(3.6% of visitors bought a Prezzle)

P/V: 5.08

Bounce Rate: 31.77%



Progress Last Week

signature days email campaign sent Monday.

Results: 9.2% (12/76) of recipients purchased a Prezzle

Sent: 3933

Bounces: 9.5% (373)

Spam Reports: 6

Opt-outs: 1.1% (43)

Opens: 17.6% (627)

Clicks: 12.1% (76)

Forwards: 0





This Week:

close out spafinder

build vs. licensing plan



nice to haves...

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

facebook integration

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

4 years, 11 months ago

Financials

Total Revenue: $29,662.54

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $161.79

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3040

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1595 (52.5%)

Created This Week: 12

Paid/Sent This Week: 7 (58.3%)



Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 1442 (.48% of visitors bought a Prezzle)

P/V: 3.49

Bounce Rate: 45.07%



Progress Last Week

every Wednesday is Prezzle Wednesday from 5-7pm, status mtg starts at 5pm MST - meet you in the chat room

signature days email campaign ready to go...



This Week:

spafinder: S&H bug when open

Prezzle 2007/2008 plan to present to board Jun 13th

father's day reminder email campaign Fri Jun 15th





nice to haves...

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

facebook integration

spafinder: add delivery address to checkout

4 years, 11 months ago

Hey. I like it!

Please keep these samples on the wiki. It will be a great reference when we write more emails and copy.

4 years, 11 months ago

I attached a word doc on the wiki so you can get a feel for layout, but here's what I have so far for text (thanks mswayne & tarzan!)



** note: experts say we should try and keep the text under 120 words.



TO: Prezzle Customers

FROM: presents@prezzle.com

SUBJECT: Gift Ideas for Dads & Grads from Prezzle.com



BODY:



PREZZLE HEADER GRAPHIC:

TITLE GRAPHIC: Dads & Grads



Dear Prezzle.com Customer,



Give Dad more than a tie for Father’s Day. Have him all tied up trying to unwrap a Prezzle. This year, Prezzle has tied the knot with Signature Days, the experience gift certificates, to offer Dad and new Grads a gift they will love to unravel.



Signature Days offers gift certificate that will loosen up any father, be they sky divers or the next Tiger Woods. Dad can pick one of several packages from various US-based locations. Hey, maybe then they’ll stop calling him Captain Hook down at the club?



Best of all you pick the Prezzle wrapping that will leave Dad guessing what color of tie you gave him this year!





› Send a Prezzle now

4 years, 11 months ago

Looking for feedback, also see attached doc on wiki: EmailCampaign_DadsGrads_Jun15.doc





TO: Prezzle Customers / CH Community

FROM: presents@prezzle.com

SUBJECT: Dad’s Day Alert from Prezzle.com



BODY:



PREZZLE HEADER GRAPHIC:

TITLE GRAPHIC: Dad’s Day in 2 days! Give the Gift of Choice



Dear <name>,



Wondering what to get Dad this Father’s Day? Worried that time is running out? There’s still time with Prezzle.com!



Remember when Dad spent an hour driving aimlessly on the way to your family vacation, but, never once looked at a map or asked for directions? Let’s face it, Dad loves solving a good puzzle and he’ll love Prezzle.



Send Dad a Signature Day’s gift certificate for cooking classes, (there actually are dishes besides TV dinners and BBQ!) and choose the Prezzle wrap he’ll like best. Then, set June 17th as the opening date, add a cryptic hint, and he can’t open it until Father’s Day!



› Send a Prezzle now





Prezzle.com - The Fun Way to Wrap Online Gifts.





PS: Did you know that 5 out of every 8 Prezzle senders are extremely wise? It's true.

4 years, 11 months ago

there's 3 different ways:



1. click this link: http://cambrian.campfirenow.com/c3b69' target='_blank'>http://cambrian.campfirenow.com/c3b69



2. in the people section, click 'Chat' on the main nav



3. click the 'CH chat room' link on the main wiki page of the prezzle project.

4 years, 11 months ago

Help a poor idiot.

How do I get to the chat room?

4 years, 11 months ago

OK - I'm ready to admit I can't possibly keep up with a Daily Dashboard - so I'm going to commit to a Weekly Dashboard - yes let's try every Monday and see how that goes.



Financials

Total Revenue: $29,500.75

Total Spend: $420,926.19

Revenue This Week: $336.38

Spend This Week: $0



Site Usage

Total Prezzles Created: 3028

Total Prezzles Paid/Sent: 1588 (52.4%)

Created This Week: 8

Paid/Sent This Week: 4





Traffic Stats This Week

Uniques: 93 (4.3% of visitors bought a Prezzle)

P/V: 4.24

Bounce Rate: 46.24%



Progress

every Wednesday is Prezzle Wednesday from 5-7pm, status mtg starts at 5pm MST - meet you in the chat room

signature days is live

father's day home page img live



This Week:

spafinder: add delivery address to checkout?

father's day/grad email campaign Fri Jun 8th

father's day reminder email campaign Fri Jun 15th

Prezzle 2007/2008 plan to present to board Jun 13th





nice to haves...

modify gift certificate list page to display text when I click on a gift certificate image

modify send a message to upload photo or video for free

modify steps so #1 pick gift, #2 wrap it, #3 card

facebook integration

4 years, 11 months ago

On June 6, 2007, 8:29 pm Christine said:



Good idea....since Jan 2007





classic-squarebox.gif 132

xmas-cracker.gif 97

classic-roundbox.gif 88

flaming-poop-bag.gif 87

chinese-takeout-box.gif 73

cryptcake.gif 49

spy-computer.gif 42

jack-inthebox.gif 35

classic-tallbox.gif 25

envelope.gif 12

coal.gif 1

That really supises me that Classic Square box is the most popular...

4 years, 11 months ago

Good idea....since Jan 2007





classic-squarebox.gif 132

xmas-cracker.gif 97

classic-roundbox.gif 88

flaming-poop-bag.gif 87

chinese-takeout-box.gif 73

cryptcake.gif 49

spy-computer.gif 42

jack-inthebox.gif 35

classic-tallbox.gif 25

envelope.gif 12

coal.gif 1

4 years, 11 months ago

is there any way to find out which prezzle is sent the most? It could help decided which try's of prezzles to develop.





For the grad prezzle you should look at making a Grad Cap prezzle.



other subjections:

Get well - a needle

new baby - dirty dipper

Grad - a grad cap thrown in the air

fathers day - a hammock (open early it spins around)

Summer - a cold beer



I think people like the fun ones more then normal boxes.



but i would love to know which ones are sent.

4 years, 11 months ago

Hey all -



Just to get a little bit of rhythm and ritual going I'm starting a new club: Prezzle Wednesdays!



Prezzle Wednesday is our dedicated time each week where everyone working on Prezzle, actually comes together to chat/work on Prezzle at the same time. See you in the chat room between 5-7pm MST each Wednesday.



Oh FYI - I've updated the to do list on the wiki (I know I know I should use the job list, but I kinda find a bit cumbersome... thoughts?)

4 years, 11 months ago

If I don't really know what a GB is, I guess posting it wouldn't be helpful to me at all!

4 years, 11 months ago

lol



it's 10GB - please don't make me post...



basically the result of the session was 2 docs:

- how to install Prezzle locally

- how to deploy to staging/production



I can forward those docs to you if you want.

4 years, 11 months ago

I can always watch and pretend I understand.

Every few minutes, I'll nod my head and say, "hmmm, interesting."

This technique gets me through a lot of meetings.

4 years, 11 months ago

Honestly it's pretty techy and not really in a 'ROR 101' format which I think would be most useful for you.



But I will ask Gord to post - can't hurt right?

4 years, 12 months ago

Sorry I missed this. The hours didn't work for me. I have a very strict bed time.

I'm not a techy, but, I'd love to see the video or any other references.

How can I access?

4 years, 12 months ago

The tutorial didn't follow the agenda exactly - however I do now have notes on how to set up your localhost (for windows/unix) for Prezzle. We were missing a few libraries and there were some errors checked in.



The time was definitely well spent - let me know if you want more details on what went on, we do have raw video footage.



Thank you westaj!

4 years, 12 months ago

it was cool, got to hear a lot of stuff I didnt understand lol.

4 years, 12 months ago

If you're interested - tune into our live webcam and jump into the chat room tomorrow night for an overview on Ruby on Rails.



westaj will be coming in Wednesday night to present a Ruby on Rails overview.



Anyone is welcome (the more the merrier) ? we'll probably get going around 6.30.



The agenda:

- Setting up your project locally

- Basic anatomy of a Rails app

- Making a change (code/dB)

- How tests work

- Deploying changes

- Setting up the Production Environment (ROR versions, etc.)



Oh and don't worry ? we have a sample project for you to practice on ? PREZZLE!