This message is intended to be directed specifically to you.
We have purchased numerous products over the years, and have noticed a trend/theme with the products that we have issues with. The author spends a great amount of time creating fabulous products, but fails miserably when producing a proper set of instructions (or tutorial) for the product.
This is an issue, as the instructions for websites, and Adobe After Effects templates, and other products that require a process to achieve the end result, are just as important as the files themselves.
This will benefit your organization as well, as it will decrease the sheer number of support requests and dispute requests. If you look at your stats of in-coming requests, I think you will find a great number are related specifically to this topic.
Therefore I have a solution:
Make the author post their instruction sheet/tutorial, or other similar files on the description page.
This will provide the buyer with an advanced opportunity to discover some key information:
This will be a second opportunity to see that a specific 3-rd party program/plugin is required
is this template for buyers with a specific skillset. I.e. “Advanced Video Editors” only
AND/OR does the tutorial properly explain how to make the template work.
The buyer will be able to discover if the tutorial itself is sufficiently written to complete the job.
Example: We have purchased many complicated templates, and the author only included instructions on how to change font color but failed to describe how to install the template.
The proposed solution will hold authors accountable to provide exactly what is needed for this product.
It will do so in a couple of ways:
allowing the buyer to review the tutorials, will allow the buyer to make a “buy or not buy” decision for the product. Thus, authors will realize they need good instructions with the products.
It will encourage the authors to provide support for the product so that they can handle any installation issues that may occur.
Envato is a fantastic solution for those of us that want professional items for our work .
The issue is that there is not enough emphasis on “professional” when it comes to the distribution of certain items.
Speaking as an experienced buyer - this sounds like an ideal solution but in reality I am not sure it would work.
There is simply too much difference in experience between buyers and often a potential naivety/excitement/confusion which can cloud some buyers view of either their own skillset or what’s involved.
I get your point is to preview documentation to allow buyers to assess complexity and considerations but unfortunately the vast majority don’t read this stuff, or may not actually understand even if they think they do.
The other challenge is “how clear is clear” in terms of documentation - it’s reasonable to expect some level of experience when buying an item based on a certain platform or software, and there has to be a point at which responsibility moves from author to buyer.
Again - it’s a nice idea but I actually think it has the potential to increase support as expectation/frustration increases.
There is no way to screen out idiots, lazy people, and “purchase now click-friendly” buyers who consider their time too precious to stop and read.
Your response is bang on the money on the “what is clear” aspect, except my proposed solution would allow the buyer to determine that for their own experience/skillset. My solution removes the need for Envato to review tutorials/instructions but allows the buyer to make that determination ahead of purchase.
Like any solution, there’s always drawbacks and the such. My Idea is born of frustration with the entire community, as 99.9 % of the time is spent on the product, and 0.01% on getting the product installed properly.
Even Envato had to initiate rules to ensure authors posted that “plugins were required”. This was another issue for the longest time. And although obvious. Envato needed to step in.
Much thanks on the response.
My final agenda here, is a hope that some authors discover this and catch a clue on their own
I do entirely see your point and in essence it would definitely help everyone - we just intended to add context.
It’s often the case - like with the endless “detailed rejection” threads - yes, it would be great, but there are huge implications that make it unrealistic, and ultimately would probably not resolve problems for a significant % of examples.
It’s great when the community share positive or useful ideas - us adding context is simply to prevent the otherwise potential confusion from those who may not be aware of the wider considerations
Hi @Roddy thanks for this suggestion. Realistically, this will not be implemented by envato, but some authors may take this into consideration, as do I.
On some items, where there is a rather lengthy videotutorial, I’ve included a link to it on youtube. I know that other authors do this as well, but it certainly is not a standard.
From time to time, a buyer contacts me before purchase and asks for the tutorial, because he wants to see if it is understandable for him. In this case, I always happily provided my documentation, which is aimed at beginners.
I could add this to my item descriptions, but realistically, this is a lot of work for my ~300 items that will not pay off for the majority of them. Envato does not provide any tools to batch-process items or descriptions, so this is a cumbersome process. On Envato Elements, envato even forbids us any links in the description.
I will keep this in mind for future releases, though!
