E-commerce Product Data Feed: The Key To Your Online Success

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As an e-commerce business owner, you should understand the importance of having an enriched e-commerce product data feed to drive sales and revenue. According to a recent report conducted by Inriver, 53% of consumers want to shop elsewhere if the product information is incorrect. Therefore, ensuring accurate product data is vital for the profitability of your online company.

Product data feeds, which are used by online platforms like Google Shopping, Amazon, and eBay to present your items to potential buyers, offer comprehensive information about your products, including descriptions, pricing, photos, and availability.

Maintaining and distributing e-commerce product data feeds across multiple channels can be challenging for online merchants, which is why many choose a product feed management tool to fasten up the process.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about e-commerce product data feeds, including the common benefits and challenges and the best practices to optimise your feeds for maximum visibility and conversions.

Why Investing in the Optimisation of your Product Feeds Matters

Every online sales channel is different and so are the mandatory attributes you must take into account before starting to sell on those platforms. In order to achieve great sales results you need to offer as much clarity and details as possible about each product. By doing this the buyer is more likely to make a successful purchase and less likely to return the products.

When it comes to information like product titles and descriptions, for instance, you should always make sure to use strategic keywords and optimise product information for SEO. In addition, you should also make sure to consistently update the content of your product sheets in order to offer a frictionless service to your customers.

The Main Benefits of Product Data Feeds

As mentioned before, having product data feeds at an optimum state can influence the success of your online sales, but what exactly are the benefits of having curated product data feeds?

Below we have gathered the most important advantages of having enhanced e-commerce product data feeds:

  • Increased Visibility: You need well-prepared product data feeds in order to start selling on marketplaces and marketing channels. Once you are able to submit them to these shopping platforms, you can increase your product visibility by reaching a wider audience, which then drives more traffic to your website, and results in higher chances of selling.
  • Better Targeting: You can use product feeds to reach a targeted audience effectively by providing exact information and a good SEO strategy. No matter if you want to sell your products on Instagram or Google Shopping: Product level marketing activities will become much easier after you connect your product data feeds with those platforms. Once you add products with data feeds your products will be matched to relevant search queries, so they can be displayed to the most relevant customers.
  • Improved Customer Experience: It is no surprise that offering precise product information, such as pricing, shipping, and product description can generate a positive online sales experience. This allows your customers to make informed purchase decisions, reducing the likelihood of returns and improving customer satisfaction.

The Main Challenges with Product Data Feeds

Despite the many advantages of using your product data feeds correctly, e-commerce businesses may also encounter the following difficulties:

  • Data Quality: The quality of your product data should always be up-to-date and complete although this might be difficult since new products may enter and leave your product catalogues significantly fast. 
  • Technical Expertise: Managing an e-commerce product feed requires technical expertise and knowledge of data feed specifications and requirements. Make sure to have experts work on the product feeds to avoid complications with the online sales channels and the performance of your overall sales.
  • Feed Management: From practical experience, you know how much product catalogues and inventories can change. Therefore it can be frustrating and time-consuming to adapt the product data feed on a regular basis to an extensive product catalog.

If you are wondering how to overcome these challenges the answer is simple: by using a product feed management system like Lengow. Choosing an automation platform will allow you to disseminate and optimise product catalogs across a variety of e-commerce channels in one centralised platform.

What are the Best Practices for E-Commerce Product Data Feeds?

Now that you have an overview of the most important benefits and challenges you could have with product data feeds, you should also know which best practices will guarantee you a place amongst the top-selling merchants online.

Here are four tips you should consider when working with product data feeds for your online business:

  • Use High-quality Images: As seen above, one of the challenges is providing constant quality data and for that reason, it is indispensable to have high-quality product images for each of your products. Make sure to choose clear, high-resolution photographs with a consistent background that load fast and show different angles of the product.
  • Provide Detailed Descriptions and Titles: The more detailed and precise your descriptions and product titles are the better. The descriptions should showcase the main features and the unique selling proposition (USP) of your product, whereas the title focuses on giving the name of the product and some further details, depending on the platform you want to sell at. In addition, you have to walk in the shoes of your customers and understand how they search for your product by using relevant keywords.
  • Ensure Data Accuracy: Having accurate product information is crucial to ensure your products are accepted by shopping platforms and displayed correctly to potential customers. Make sure you have someone in charge of ensuring regular proofreading of your product data feeds. Data validation solutions can help you find and correct any mistakes or information gaps.
  • Test and Optimise: To enhance performance and increase conversions, evaluate and adjust your product data feed on a regular basis. Make data-driven decisions by keeping an eye on important metrics like click-through rate, conversion rate, and revenue.

Conclusion: Distribute Your Product Data Feeds with Lengow

E-commerce Product Data Feeds can become either your asset or your downfall. It is your task to ensure that they serve well their purpose which is to make your products visible and increase their conversions on multiple online shopping platforms.

Follow the previously mentioned best practices and make sure to use a product data feed solution like Lengow, the leader in e-commerce automation in the market, to save time, increase your revenue, and have the best overview of your product data in one place.

Start using a Product Data Feed Management System!

Sofia Carvalho e Pereira

Sofia is a language enthusiast with an academical background in Linguistics and Strategic Communication and PR. Before joining Netrivals' and Lengow's e-commerce content team, she worked in diverse sectors as part of their marketing departments.

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