Devin Botha, Head of Feeds at Incubeta SA, says one of the biggest challenges has always been who is in charge of feed management. In too many cases companies have assigned their developers to be in charge, with many having only a basic understanding of the requirements. But like SEO, unless you understand the complexities and nuances of the topic, you are not the right person to be driving a feed strategy.
A Lot Of Moving Parts That Go Beyond E-Commerce
E-commerce feeds – like the Amazon product feed or those used for Google Merchant Center or comparison shopping engines (CSEs) – contain a store of product information such as titles, descriptions, images, prices, and specifications. Search engines use this data to better understand a company’s products and can match them with relevant search queries. Richer product listings in search results improve click-through rates. And, by submitting product feeds to relevant platforms, brands are providing a map for search engines to all their products.
SEO best practices naturally fit into this strategy and, through solid AB testing, SEO and e-commerce feeds can work together to dramatically boost the discoverability of a brand’s products online, attracting more qualified traffic and driving more sales.
Feeds act as the essential factor of e-commerce platforms, serving as the connection between product data and consumer visibility – and that alone is incredibly valuable. But great feed optimisation goes beyond driving online sales. By correctly optimising a feed through their broader SEO strategies, brands can extend their reach beyond e-commerce platforms to attract more organic traffic from search engines.
Unfortunately, the complexity of feed management and optimisation often deters brands from fully embracing them, cutting themselves off from benefits feeds offer in terms of enhanced product visibility, increased sales and improved overall marketing performance.
Getting In On The E-Commerce Action
Amazon’s launch has spurred on many CMOs to optimise their product feeds for the mega platform. But marketing leaders should also be looking to amplify their visibility and drive sales with Amazon Advertising. This offers various ad formats, including sponsored product ads, sponsored brand ads, and sponsored display ads all of which allow brands to target users at different stages of the purchase journey.
By integrating feed optimisations with targeted advertising campaigns, brands can enhance product discoverability, capture interest and ultimately increase conversions. Together with a well optimised feed, brands can effectively capitalise on Amazon’s growing local brand awareness and drive business growth.
Don’t Neglect Your Other Channels
While CMOs should be rushing to bed down their feeds strategy, they shouldn’t obsess over Amazon at the expense of the other channels. Feed optimisation for social platforms requires a tailored approach to meet the unique requirements and algorithms of each platform.
Firstly, it’s important to have a good understanding of each platform’s requirements and best practices. Secondly, your feed specialist should optimise product titles and descriptions with compelling and concise keywords that resonate with your brand’s target audience and align with search trends on each platform.
By utilising dynamic product ads, feed managers can take advantage of these ad formats to reach potential customers with personalised product recommendations.
Finally, it’s crucial to continuously monitor the performance of the feed and run experiments with different strategies to optimise results. Adopting a test-and-learn approach is vital when it comes to the mercurial world of feed optimisation.
A Complex Business That Requires A Deft Touch
Companies have a lot to lose if they display incorrect information. An outdated price or product description could end up in brand-damaging reviews or even worse. It’s important that the entire marketing team understands that setting up and maintaining product feeds is a complex task that requires accurate product information, specific optimisations for the various platforms and consistency across all the channels.
How feeds are maintained is also dependent on a number of other factors such as size of the feed, the number of channels exported to, and the level of customisation required.
Great feed management requires a feeds specialist working closely with the development team during the setup phase to gather and organise the product data. Maintenance then requires regular updates from the internal teams to reflect the changes in the product information, availability and pricing.
Given the complexity of feed management, choosing the right feed specialist will have a big impact on the success of the effort and return on, not just your company’s investment, but your teams’ time as well.
INCUBETA
www.incubeta.com
