A Product Feed Is…
one of the best ways to send up-to-date information regarding your products to online channels. Feeds can be created in a few different formats such as XML, CSV, TSV, or JSON. Product feeds can be configured to automatically update, typically daily, so that channels will not have outdated information about products. These feeds will contain many product attributes such as title, description, price, and image.
Depending on the product, there can be more specific attributes such as size and gender for clothes, or trim and options for vehicles. Different channels are going to have different required fields, so it is important to check what is required from each specific channel before setting up the feed. All of these attributes for the products are going to come from a primary database, which will be exported as a product file. With this file, you are able to manually generate your feed, or use tools to generate the feed for you and make corrections as needed. Feeds can contain millions of products at a time.
Product Feed Marketing Uses
There are many different channels in digital marketing that can be facilitated by using a product feed. Vehicle Listing Ads are a prime example of an online channel that can use a product feed. With dealerships’ inventories always changing, it is good to keep your online inventory as up-to-date as possible, and product feeds make this easy. Similarly, Vehicle Listings on Google are another example of an online channel that can stay up to date by using a product feed.
It is also beneficial to use a product feed while running Product Listing Ads or maintaining a Facebook Shop just to easily keep all product information updated with any price changes, image updates, or description adjustments.
How To Maintenance A Product Feed
Maintenance is an important part of product feeds, because if they are not properly maintained, your products may stop showing on the channels that use the feed. Many channels have required fields that product feeds must contain, and the data in these fields may need to be formatted in a specific way. If the data’s formatting is incorrect, the products with the incorrect format will no longer show on the channel.
It is also important to monitor the feed to make sure that it is continuing to update all products, and archiving any sold products. This is important because, without this maintenance, online channels would continue to show consumers products that are no longer available or incorrect information about your products.
End Note:
Overall product feeds are a fantastic way to keep your products updated on all your online channels. If you need help setting up your product feeds, please do not be afraid to reach out to Corkboard Concepts today! We would be happy to craft services to your organizational needs.
