Data Feed Optimization: A Hidden Gem of Online Marketing
As the price of online advertising increases every single day, it is vital to discover more efficient ways to advertise. Comparison shopping engines such as Shopzilla, Froogle and Shopping.com offer the ability to reach untapped markets without high upfront costs associated with other forms of advertising. The payment structure is similar to Google Adwords but since competition is not as fierce, you will spend significantly less money per click.
Current statistics provide even more arguments in favor of submitting data feeds to comparison shopping engines. One in three Internet users visits a comparison shopping site in a typical month. Comparison shoppers make up for a very distinct customer profile. They are savvier, more product-oriented and spend an average of 24% more than the average shopper. Forrester Reference. These numbers are impossible to ignore.
In order to achieve the best conversion rates from shopping engines, you need to optimize your data feeds. Time, diligence and a touch of creativity can get you further than you think. Here are a couple of ways to get started.
Step 1. Maintain data feed “hygiene”. We recommend randomly choosing a few of your live listings and checking whether product names, descriptions, prices, and shopping costs are correct. Also make sure you remove poor selling and out of stock products on a regular basis. Daily checkups help to detect problems at early stages and ensure a smooth-running campaign.
Step 2. Know your competition. It is advisable to compare both titles and prices to other merchants within the shopping engine. Perfect price doesn’t mean the lowest price. If you are bidding too low, there is a chance your listing won’t be found on the engine. Also you need to be aware when your competitors lower prices or run special promotion so that you can promptly respond with a creative solution. The right price in combination with the right promotion will get you good margins and more sales per unit.
Step 3. Optimize the product descriptions. Instead of using generic product descriptions provided by the manufacturer, use a creative approach to distinguish your product from its competition. Experiment with changing product titles and descriptions to see if your ranking moves. This will enable you to find the optimum variations for your listings and outsmart your competitors. However, make sure you always include MPN and UPC codes to make the products easily trackable for customers.
Step 4. Analyze your conversions. Google Analytics is a free tool which offers the ability to track goal conversions and traffic patterns. Implementing this tool on your website will enable you to track conversions at the product level, allowing you to analyze which data feeds are working best for you.
Creating data feeds needs some initial time commitment to extract the data out of your system in the required format, but once you get started, you can release the full potential of a new, less competitive market.
When optimized, data feeds can significantly increase your online visibility and improve ROI at a cost lower than Adwords. Take advantage of this new opportunity before your competition jumps ahead.
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