Image Credit: Unsplash @maltehelmhold

Becoming visible in a competitive digital market can be extremely hard. Product Feed Optimisation helps businesses that thrive to meet the needs of every potential customer online. A product feed management software essentially steps in to make your job easier, allowing you to optimise all the products within your data feed. But not all feed management is equal. Every business will have different ‘must-haves’ so we have put together 5 factors to consider when choosing a product feed management software.

1. Innovation

When choosing a product feed management software, you should choose one that regularly updates its existing features as well as introducing new ones. Outdated software can’t accurately export to other channels, meaning various opportunities to reach all potential customers could be missed.

Consider whether your chosen software is designed to generate a product feed that can be used for Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and all major Affiliate Networks. A product feed management software that is innovative should also grant access to remarketing platforms such as Criteo and AdRoll. 

Real-time updates are without doubt innovative. Your data feed never stays the same, it is constantly changing and updating even when no new campaigns are being added, so you should also choose a product feed management system that will provide you with regular updates for your product feed as well as updated data for each product.

And finally, accreditations matter. Choosing an official Google CSS partner, for example, gives you an advantage because as such, they can help your Google Shopping customers at a cheaper rate than going directly through Google.

2. Automated features

Automated features are still new and most product feed management platforms do not offer them yet. Consider finding software that can provide automated features and an agile approach to feed optimisation. At the beginning of 2021, we launched 'Automated Suggestions', a unique feature within our product feed management system that isn’t provided by any other company to date.

This Shoptimised automated feature constantly analyses your product feed and provides you with hundreds of suggestions that will help you optimise your products and increase your campaign performance.

The Shoptimised users are currently benefitting from the advantages that the automated feature brings in comparison to other platforms that aren't automated.

3. Speed

One of the main reasons to consider getting a product feed management software is time efficiency. So, when choosing which product feed management software, consider how fast the tool works as well as how quickly it can pull the data in your product feed during the initial phase. Then, consider how quickly it can get your products out there for consumers to find you.

4. Analytics and tracking

When considering which product feed management software best suits your business, in-depth performance tracking should be on your checklist. Choose a product feed optimisation software that gathers all your data from Google Ads and Google Shopping. Tracking your shopping campaign performance is not only a great bonus, it’s an excellent way to understand whether your feed is fully optimised.

5. Costs

Efficiency doesn’t have to be expensive. As a business, you want to bring product feed optimisation into your marketing efforts in the hope boost conversions and overall performance without breaking the bank. 

So, when choosing software, consider whether what you are paying for is going to be worth the asking fee. Ultimately, you want this to become an investment for your business.

When signing up, ensure that you have fully understood the system and its functionalities.  Also, enquire about any additional fees to avoid surprises later on. Ask whether you will be charged per click or per number of products managed on the software. Enquiring about the costs will mean that you won’t pay a fixed cost for the system. Consider carefully if that’s something you want.

Additionally, you’ll be able to predict your costs by looking at the number of products in your inventory.

It’s also wise to pick software that offers a free trial. That way you can test the system, make all your considerations and then decide without making any permanent commitment. 

If you wish to learn more, contact us today and we’ll talk you through our product feed management software. If your understanding is already good, why not sign-up today?