Consumers are seeking omnichannel buying experiences more than ever before and this diversity is a necessity for keeping customers engaged. Although offsite discovery is increasingly important, selling 1000s of products on hundreds of channels can be complex, to say the least.
The process is often API-driven and in the absence of optimised product data, up to 80% of products could be invisible. We hosted a webinar session with Intelligent Reach and discussed how to use product data streams to boost your Q4 performance. Here is what we learnt!
Data Hygiene
Ensure your feed is complete
Data hygiene is often overlooked, with product feeds rarely audited. Yet an accurate, complete, and up-to-date feed is crucial for effective ad performance. An error-free feed doesn’t guarantee success alone; if key data is missing, products may be disapproved, yield poor ROAS, or not appear at all in ad placements. Importantly, make sure all product IDs are present. If you don’t have a GTIN, the traffic will go to your competitors instead.
It is important to regularly review your ecommerce data source to ensure all data fields are included. This is because the source data forms the foundation of your channel feeds. Each marketing channel has specific data requirements, so a one-size-fits-all feed won’t work.
Errors and out-of-date data in the feed are detrimental
The process of exporting a feed with each channel’s required fields enhances performance and reduces errors. Errors can result in disapprovals. Avoiding generic plugins that may miss key data fields (such as product variants, original/sale prices, and other enrichments) is also critical for optimised ads.
For brands that are frequently updating prices and stock, it is also key to submit feeds at an appropriate pace to avoid mismatches and ad disapprovals. This is especially important during peak periods like Black Friday. Ensuring that each product aligns with relevant internal categories is a must. Vague categories can hinder mapping to partners’ taxonomies, which of course has negative effects on visibility. With all of this considered, it is clear that common data gaps limit advertisement appeal.
Data Enhancement
Product titles are key
While data hygiene ensures product data is complete and error-free, feed enrichment goes further by enhancing data to drive more value from feed-based advertising. One of the biggest enrichment areas in data is the product title. If a title only mirrors the website’s product name, key details such as brand, gender, size, and so on may be missing. Adding these attributes helps to fill ads with keywords, increasing relevance for consumer searches. This then leads to a boost in click-through and conversion rates. Enriching data also helps platforms better categorise products, which enhances visibility. For example, retailers can add specific product types or optimised terms during peak trading seasons, such as “Black Friday,” to improve channel performance.
Standardise your data
Another common pitfall with advertisers’ product feeds is the use of niche terms. An example of this and how you can utilise this as an enrichment tool is with normalised colours. Instead of unique colour names like “Sunflower,” standardising colours (e.g., “Yellow”) enhances ad clarity. This is because the use of the standard term allows for a broader reach when it comes to product visibility. Universally used colour names therefore help to enhance your data and boost the attached product.
Custom labels to boost bidding strategies
Custom labels are another area to incorporate when enriching your feed. They allow retailers to segment products based on objectives like “Best Sellers” or “High Stock.” This enables better campaign structure and bidding strategies. For instance, dynamically labelling products by stock quantity helps manage bids during sales like Black Friday. Labelling low-stock items allows retailers to reduce bids or exclude products, while high-stock, high-margin items can be promoted more aggressively. Effective stock management in feeds prevents ROAS loss, especially in high-traffic periods. If products in ads are out of stock, it impacts conversion rates and user experience. To mitigate this, retailers should feed both in-stock and out-of-stock items to avoid re-indexing delays.
Ultimately, successful feed enrichment begins with a clear strategy, with custom labels and relevant external data aligned to support advertising goals and ensure optimal feed performance.
Data Optimisation
Measure the impact
Now, when it comes to product data feeds, the term “optimistion” ultimately refers to measuring the impact that your enrichment efforts may have. As many product data feeds lack this form of optimisation, retailers should always ask themselves, “What improvements have we made to enhance our feed’s performance?”.
If Google Shopping ad titles are the same as product names on the website, testing improvements in data enrichment can reveal the true impact of these changes. Effective feed optimisation should follow a clear plan that includes measurable success indicators, such as increasing product visibility, reducing CPCs, driving incremental revenue, and so on.
A/B testing is most effective
The testing method that is used is critical. Common approaches include before-and-after comparisons, A/B testing with control and test groups, and multivariate testing (MVT) for simultaneous changes. While before-and-after testing is popular for feed optimisation, it’s less reliable due to external factors such as holidays and promotions that can impact results. A/B testing, on the other hand, is robust for proving the effectiveness of changes, provided products are sorted fairly between test and control groups. When testing multiple elements, such as images, ensure consistency in data structure across variants.
Effective feed optimisation is easier with segmented product groups, as it allows targeted tests within specific categories or custom label groups. Retailers should test areas of the feed that influence click-through rates, relevancy, visibility and conversions. Some examples of this could be product images, titles, and types. Additionally, aligning feed optimisations with campaign tactics can also improve ad performance. Segmentation, driven by business goals, allows for tailored strategies that maximise product visibility and align with desired outcomes across ad channels.
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The opportunities that come from improving your product data feeds are truly endless. This Q4, make sure to maximise your outreach with the help of these important keys to success. If you would like to find out more about how to make the most out of this year’s peak period, make sure to check out our other blog posts.
