http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php Shapeways: Bring your creativity to life in 3D http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24271&th=4640#msg_24271
First, I must say that, overall, I am very happy with the communication with Shapeways.
But I mentionned that I would like to review the different e-mails we received from Shapeways, and suggest some modifications.
So let's begin!

Here is the mail we receive when we sell an item:

Quote:

Hi , The following models were ordered from your Shop and will soon go in production: 1x D14 numbe...m 1 to 14 = $x.xx Markup fee (3.5% of order total incl VAT) = - $y.yy Total (incl VAT) = $z.zz So start thinking what you are going to do with your mark up fee! Right now we're making a physical copy of your design so that we can ship it to an eager customer of ours. By ours I mean you and Shapeways. NOTE: It may have been yourself who placed this order, in which case the information is not applicable. Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

and here are the proposed corrections :

Quote:

Hi, The following models were ordered from your Shop and will soon go in production: 1x D14 numbered from 1 to 14 = $x.xx in Indigo Strong and Flexible Markup fee (3.5% of order total incl VAT) = - $y.yy Total (incl VAT) = $z.zz So start thinking what you are going to do with your markup fee! Right now we're making a physical copy of your design so that we can ship it to an eager customer of ours. By ours we mean you and Shapeways. NOTE: It may have been yourself who placed this order, in which case the information is not applicable. Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

Basically, we need the name of the model to be written with no abbreviations, and we need to know the material in the text itself (it is in the attached file, btw). I am very happy to learn that my model was ordered in a new color, for instance.
And, as far as I know, when we order the model for ourself, there is no markup anymore, so we do not receive this e-mail (and this is to be discussed: we have no way to track item offered with no markup).
Any other idea?

[EDIT] "markup" was spelled "mark up", removed extra space after "Hi"
Furthermore "will soon go into production" suggests that the production did not started yet, while "Right now we're making a physical copy of your design" suggests it has actually started. There is a contradiction (or perhaps it began while we were reading the message ) and anyways, the two sentences are redundant: the successive topics are order, production, markup fee, production again, shipping.

]]> Magic 2011-02-26T07:14:29-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24276&th=4640#msg_24276 .... but if you want suggestions for point fixes, here are a few which are easy to implement:

1- Order cancellations & coupons:
Some coupons arrive in messages from "Shapeways Team" with subject "Shapeways | There were rejected models in your order 134500", 
some others from "Christel Hagens" with subject "Your order 36794 at Shapeways", 
yet other subjects read "Shapeways | You've sold models that were rejected by our manufacturer" with no mention of an order number in the message body
To facilitate email sorting and searching

• All messages should reference the same invoice number in the subject line
  
• Format of the subject line should be consistent with other messages, i.e. "Shapeways | Order 134500 rejection/cancellation"
  

2- Shipping:
Messages arrive from "Shapeways Team" with subject "Your model has been shipped" with no order number at all, neither in the subject nor body text. To facilitate email sorting and searching

• Format of the subject line should be consistent with other messages, i.e. "Shapeways | Order 134500 shipping notice"
  
• invoice number should be prominently mentioned in the message body
  

3- Upload:
"Thanks for uploading ..." is completely redundant, superfluous and comes close to spamming. 

A thorough review of that message flow would definitely be appreciated.


]]> trompevenlo 2011-02-26T12:51:19-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24408&th=4640#msg_24408 Please .....

... when an order for a private model is rejected, leave the model state and material list alone. Do not remove materials from the list, do not set to "show only".

Because ....

... we already know that the order had failed, there is zero risk of anybody else seeing or ordering it and it's a real annoyance to check and reset everything on each and every new round.




]]> trompevenlo 2011-03-03T06:08:40-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24561&th=4640#msg_24561 Once again, sorry if the tone is sometimes ironic, the goal is really to explain what is unclear for me, not to criticize for the pleasure of criticizing

Quote:

Hi Vincent, We just received the successful upload of your product 'space_filling.STL'. We will now run some automated checks to see if your product can be printed. When your product is fine you can find it in your 'my designs' section and you will be notified that your product is printable. When your product can not be printed you will receive an e-mail with the error we found. We will get back asap to you with the results of the checks. Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

So that's cool. Compared to the previous one (which begin by "Hi [space]," you remembered my first name. Adding the name is great. Not only it make the conversation more personnal, but it proves that this e-mail is not a spam .
Nothing special to say here, the message is quite clear:
- The upload has been sucessful.
- You will do some check.
- If it is ok blabla, if not blabla.
Perhaps there could be some hyperlinks, and the title could be "Shapeways | Your model 'Space Filling' had been uploaded successfully" to be more consistent with the other titles.

Then, you received another e-mail sometimes some seconds after, sometimes some seconds before (which can be confusing). This raises the question: are two e-mails necessary?
But, let's go on.

Quote:

Hi Vincent Greco, We just finished processing your product called 'Space Filling' and ran a few checks on it to make sure your product can be printed. Your product, Space Filling, has been successfully uploaded and will soon be available in your my designs page or you could go directly to the product details page. To order your product please add it to your basket and continue with the check-out process. Maybe we can suggest a few things to do next? • Make sure people can find your work. • Check the title, description, tags etc. on the product page. • Spice up your gallery. You can add action shots or renderings to the product. Once your product has been ordered, you can expect your product(s) to arrive within 10 working days, the metal products within 14 working days. For the glass models you will need a little more patience, you will get them within 21 working days. Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

First I've got now a second name. That's cool also. But if all the messages could be consistent in terms of naming (currently no name/first name/complete name) it would be even cooler.
And from here, the message is a little bit more... confused.

Quote:

We just finished processing your product called 'Space Filling' and ran a few checks on it to make sure your product can be printed.

So the processing and the checks are differents things, right? You just finished the processing, so the checks occured before? or were perhaps part of the processing?
Anyways. You did that in order to make sure my product can be print. And so what? What is the result? I think somewhere you should say that the tests have been successful.
I don't think you can say you are sure it is printable, there are still some manual checks afterwards, so perhaps the wording should be different.

Quote:

Your product, Space Filling, has been successfully uploaded and will soon be available in your my designs page or you could go directly to the product details page.

OK, this time I am lost. We are back in the future: my model has been successfully uploaded? Didn't I already receive a message about that? that's past. It will be soon available in my designs. This is more future, right? But each time I receive this e-mail the model is already there (some kind of present for me in both senses of the term).
Then, you explain how to order it. OK.
Then some suggestions. Why not. But for me this closes the topic of ordering.
But then, you go back to the ordering topic with the delivery times...
Once again, if you want to be clear, try to keep the chronology consistent.
- we run some checks
- we finished the process (checks are part of it)
- the checks have been sucessful
- the model is now in "my design"
- to order it do that
- once ordered, the delivery will take this time
- then some suggestions if you want.

That's all for now...
I hope you do not hate me too much...


[EDIT] fixed some typos]]> Magic 2011-03-07T22:27:32-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24574&th=4640#msg_24574 Magic wrote on Mon, 07 March 2011 22:27
I hope you do not hate me too much...  :d 

don't worry. nobody actually reads this. they are way too busy with the important stuff...

]]> trompevenlo 2011-03-08T06:55:50-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24593&th=4640#msg_24593
@Magic please let me clarify, this isn't going to get anyone upset, this is fantastic and I really appreciate you taking the time to give feedback on this stuff.

Interestingly enough, this thread started right around the same time that Ralph started leading some conversations to rework our CS emails. In the coming weeks, I want to make sure we dig deep, and smooth a lot of these things out. If you guys want to provide direct input while we do it, that would be wonderful.
]]> ana 2011-03-08T17:23:40-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24596&th=4640#msg_24596
to be honest, i don't read any of the automatic mails from shapeways,,(well only the ones saying it's rejected)

i just read the "thanks for uploading" and the "became printable"
and then i just remove them in the trash-bin ]]> Jettuh 2011-03-08T17:52:30-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24628&th=4640#msg_24628 Quote:
@Magic please let me clarify, this isn't going to get anyone upset, this is fantastic and I really appreciate you taking the time to give feedback on this stuff.

I suspected that but I wanted to be sure

Quote:

to be honest, i don't read any of the automatic mails from shapeways,,(well only the ones saying it's rejected)

OK, let's go on with the rejections.
Basically you receive once again two e-mails (I guess that one would be enough).

Quote:

Shapeways | You've sold models which have been rejected Dear Vincent, You've sold models that unfortunately can't be produced. Our apologies for the fact that our validation software did not catch this earlier. The following models have been rejected: - Packed Spheres 3x3x3 D6: Can not be cleaned http://www.shapeways.com/model/216155/packed_spheres_3x3x3_d 6.html See the attachment(s) for further explanation! This image has only been checked on a few points so there can be more thin walls in more places than indicated. Please check if it is possible to fix the the mentioned flaws in the file. At the moment this/these model/s is/are not printable with the available techniques. Bear in mind that it has no use to sent us the remodeled files, you have to re-upload yourself. Useful tutorial on fixing STL's: http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/fixing-non-manifold-model s. The minimum wall thickness for our different materials are: White Strong & Flexible = 0.7 mm But we advise you to use at least 1 or 2 mm, depending on the size of the area. White, Transparent & Black detail = 1 mm Cream Robust = 1 mm Stainless Steel = 3 mm Full Color Sandstone = 3 mm Milky White Matte Glass = 3 mm Alumide = 1.5 mm Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

First note that I am Vincent again, and that the model name is with no abbreviation: this will not last too long...
This e-mail is typically a standard e-mail, that does not really help you too much.
As you can see the problem is that my model could not been cleaned. But I don't know (from this e-mail) what material was ordered. The material should absolutely been mentionned. This is also true in case of wall thickness issue, which must be most frequent.
I also need to know which order number is concerned.

The attachement is this case is just a rendering of my model (that i know quite well since I did it ). So it is not really useful, but anyways, in this case the explanation is quite clear (by the way "can not" is normally spelled "cannot").
Then the text mentionned a tutorial about manifold issues and the list of the minimum wall thickness (standard e-mail).
I understand that the e-mail cannot be personalized for each kind of issues, but perhaps it should be written:
"If you have manifold issues then check this tutorial (...).
If you have wall thickness issues, here are the minimum wall thickness allowed per material. (...)"

Last thing: the material was in fact Black Detail. as a consequence Black Detail has been removed from the allowed materials. That's correct. But Shapeways should also have removed Transparent Detail and White Detail, right? No need to wait that someone order this model on those materials to reach the same conclusion...

Second email, with the credit note in attachement.
I am wondering if this e-mail and this credit note would be necessary if Shapeways could delay the invoice until the model is actually printed. For us, it does not change a lot, since we are paid a lot later, but this would avoid paying+refunding. But perhaps legally it is not possible.

Quote:

Shapeways | Your model has been canceled Dear , I'm sorry to inform you that the order of the following product(s) have been canceled: 1x Packed Sp... 3x3x3 D6 There could be one of two reasons for this: 1. It might be because the person buying your product has had issues paying us. or 2. If your product has not been produced before, there might have been problems producing your product. This has consequences for your mark up fee. Please read the Shop FAQs on order cancellation for more information. This is an automatic email that is generated once the order of the product has been canceled. If you have any questions or remarks please don't hesitate to let us know. We hope to meet you on Shapeways.com soon! Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com _______________________________________

Oops! I am John Doe again and the name of my model is truncated (Packed Sp... 3x3x3 D6). Please fix this bug (missing name) and always use the complete name (with material) when there is not space issues.
Once again, there is no reference to the invoice number.
For the rest, I do not have too much remarks.

Note that I received twice the first e-mail (two identiacal e-mail, with the very same attachement) and once the second one. As far as I know the model has been oredered only once in Detail Material, so I guess the double e-mail is a mistake.

That's all for today!





Your model cannot be cleaned: bwaaaaaaah!
]]> Magic 2011-03-08T21:43:24-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=24633&th=4640#msg_24633
We have been reviewing the emails recently and once we have them singing a little better you can look forward to some fresh correspondence to delete (Jetttuh)

With this
Second email, with the credit note in attachement.
I am wondering if this e-mail and this credit note would be necessary if Shapeways could delay the invoice until the model is actually printed. For us, it does not change a lot, since we are paid a lot later, but this would avoid paying+refunding. But perhaps legally it is not possible.

Could be problematic if funds do not clear when model is printed, or if someone in the US wants to cancel an order at midday when the printers in the Netherlands are getting their beauty sleep.

Thanks

We do take your comments into our decisions..

Kind regards]]> bitstoatoms 2011-03-09T03:24:27-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25757&th=4640#msg_25757
Our wishlist:

- consistent order numbers in each and every message
ex. "Your model has been shipped" has no order number at all
ex. "Your order 36794 at Shapeways" and "Shapeways | Order 133629 was cancelled" have no apparent relation

- consistent, sortable subject lines in each and every message
ex. "Your order 36794 at Shapeways"and "Shapeways | Order 133629 was cancelled" cannot be sorted by any means

- a consistent information block in each and every message. Less blah-blah, more information
i.e. model number and names, order numbers, order dates, est. production dates, shipping dates, etc. etc.

- refrain from spamming (i.e. Thank you for uploading ...)

- for private models, on order rejection, do not fiddle with the materials list

]]> trompevenlo 2011-04-07T10:15:59-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25761&th=4640#msg_25761
I flagged this again with Customer Service..

Cheers]]> bitstoatoms 2011-04-07T11:43:27-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=26852&th=4640#msg_26852

Quote:

Shapeways | Interaction time: somebody left a message with your model Heyah, Somebody viewed your product and thought it was so interesting, they left you a note. I would advise to read the message, for it might require your answer. You can read the post by clicking on this link D18 Sphere We love discussions, so feel free to reply to the message on the website. Kind regards, The Shapeways Service Team Ralph, Maartje, Joost, Christel, Kevin and Petra service@shapeways.com Shapeways Passionate about creating www.shapeways.com ________________________________________

Nothing special to say except that when I am the one answering to a first interaction or just commenting my own model, I do not need to be warned... ]]> Magic 2011-05-02T17:16:23-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=36688&th=4640#msg_36688 Hopefully this should quite safe to implement... ]]> Magic 2011-10-15T07:45:10-00:00