More Ways to Customize Your Product Data Feed
Ecommerce
Sep 14 2022
The importance of high-quality product data feeds cannot be overstated. An ecommerce business’s ability to provide accurate, thorough, and relevant product information is key to finding success in online marketplaces and shopping channels. When digital shoppers know they can trust your ads and product information, they’re more likely to become repeat customers and recommend your shop to others.
Build on the strength of your current product data feed by trying a few of the recommended customizations and improvements below.
Customizations to Consider
Using an automated product feed tool is one of the most useful customizations an ecommerce business can make, mainly because this option allows for additional customizations in the future.
Some smaller businesses might opt to enter feed data manually or pursue the next most advanced method of connecting data from their ecommerce shop directly to their selling channel of choice. However, GoDataFeed points out, “The downside of this option is the lack of customization, optimization, and automation.”
Essentially, automated product feeds offer you more control over your data and streamline the process of selling on multiple channels by adjusting your data to meet each channel’s individual guidelines and requirements. Some of the benefits include:
- You control how and when your data is updated without logging into individual retail platforms.
- The information is accurate across all channels.
- You’re creating exponentially more sales opportunities.
- The time saved frees you up to make other customizations, such as creating custom attributes or drilling down further on product categorization.
Another key customization: providing a GTIN for every possible product. This identifying number makes it easier for sales channels to identify exactly what you’re selling, which in turn makes it easier to create automated ads for the exact audience you want to reach. Plus, consumers want to compare products and prices online (even when they’re shopping in a store); assigning a GTIN enables channels to find more relevant matches.
Other Areas for Improvement
Most established product data feeds won’t need to be regularly overhauled; however, there are always ways to improve for the benefit of the customer.
Take product titles, for instance. What’s considered optimized for one product type might not be the same for another. The recommended order for apparel looks like Brand + Gender + Product Type + Attributes, whereas seasonal products are better listed as Occasion + Product Type + Attributes. Check for consistency across product titles and place the most relevant product information in the first few words (in case the title gets cut off).
Landing pages have an important connection to product data feeds as well. The data feed information must match whatever appears on the ad’s associated landing page. Create helpful, relevant content so people will continue to trust your ads in the future. Show the same product variant on the page as what appears in the ad; otherwise, you risk your product listing being rejected or losing customers’ trust.
In the competitive world of online shopping, correct pricing is also essential. Google recommends, “Maintain up-to-date price and availability, including tax and shipping, by using automated feed delivery (including intraday updates), the Content API, or structured data markup. Customers will leave your site if they don’t see the price or availability they expect.” Mismatched data could result in product disapproval and lost sales opportunities.
Tried-and-True Tips Plus Trending Tactics
Consumers seem to have more digital shopping options every day, making it even more important for ecommerce retailers to stay on top of their data feeds. Here are a few reminders to ensure you’re adhering to best practices and taking advantage of new features.
- Always check platform guidelines to ensure your information meets the site’s requirements. While this is easier with an automated data feed tool, it’s still a good idea to check for yourself.
- Use high-quality images and make sure branding is consistent. This is important regardless of what channel you sell through, but it’s especially crucial to provide a wide variety of these assets when using Google Performance Max campaigns. The more image, video, and text assets you provide, the stronger your ads will be across Google’s properties.
- Fill in every required and optional field available. It can’t be said enough: the more information you provide, the better your ads will perform. This applies to attributes as well. For example, Google Merchant Center now has a pause attribute that allows for more accurate ads, and a shipping attribute for better country-specific shipping information.
Optimize when campaigns aren’t performing well. The solution could even be as simple as improving product titles: Search Engine Land conducted an experiment and found that “by simply running rule-based title updates through their feeds they were able to increase impressions by 2,000% and CTR by 88%.” Knowing your metrics will help you determine when it’s time to optimize, and making regular, strategic adjustments helps to keep your ecommerce business in the game.
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