GoDataFeed's Top 10 Holiday Datafeed Optimization Tips

This holiday season, many shoppers are going to skip the malls and shop directly online. In fact, Forrester Research predicts online retail sales this holiday season will grow 12% to $44 billion. With the holidays right around the corner, it's the best time to increase your store's reach and visibility.

To help you optimize your product feeds in time for the holidays, the GoDataFeed team has compiled its Top 10 Holiday Tips for optimizing your retail product feeds:

1. Anticipate upcoming traffic and bid more aggressively on top performing categories on peak bargain-hunting dates: Black Friday in Late November, “Cyber Monday” after Black Friday, pre-holiday, early December and post-holiday, December 26th and January 1st
   


2. Take advantage of GoDataFeed’s Featured Merchant Offers--which include free merchant credits, free listings and clicks-- by Smarter.com, Become.com and ShopMania to expand your holiday promotions
   


3. If you’re not already submitting to Google Base--- Sign Up-- it’s free and you could be reaching thousands of shoppers
   


4. Create compelling call-to-action promotions in feeds that allow promotional messaging, i.e. Holiday free-shipping incentives, Price Discounts, Date-specific promotions that prompt buyers to shop by a holiday deadline, Gifts with Purchase
   


5. Where applicable, include the “Retail Price” or "MSRP" field along with the “Sale Price,” so customers can see their holiday savings
   


6. Deepen your product descriptions by adding recommended data feed fields like gender, color, size, etc…
   


7. Provide as much preliminary information as possible in the feed including shipping costs, tax rates and delivery date estimations
   


8. Consider advertising on Microsoft's Jellyfish/Cashback, which employs a Cost-per-Action model - you only pay for conversions!
   


9. During the holiday rush, make sure to filter out any out-of-stock products and submit your feeds on a daily or weekly basis to keep your data feeds fresh
   


10. Install GoDataFeed analytics to get instant feedback on your holiday feed campaigns to gain insight on your best performing shopping engines, categories, products and holiday promotions--to learn more about installing analytics, go to your merchant home page--under 'View Start Page' ->'Activate Analytics'
    
    

Want to optimize your feeds in time for the holidays? Contact GoDataFeed at http://www.godatafeed.com/ or call us at 954-472-3400 to schedule a tour of our datafeed management software

GoDataFeed Merchants Get $25 Credit at Become.com

For a limited time, Become.com is offering GoDataFeed merchants a sign-up bonus of $25 worth of credit. To take advantage of this promotion, enter the code: BEGDF208D during Become's sign-up process at: https://www.become.com/merchant/SignUp.aspx

Become's Feed Optimization Tips to Improve Shopping Site Performance

• Merchants should always provide images and categories; missing either component will result in artificially down-ranked listings
• Map as deep as possible into the Become taxonomy-- GoDataFeed has all of Become's categories built-in to its software
• The more unique identifiers one can provide, the better. Do not provide false unique identifiers just to populate the columns (e.g., 123456789 for UPC). If no data is available, leave the field(s) blank or omit the entire column
• Make sure the titles are clear and concise, while important keywords are placed at the beginning of the fields
• Bid up a minimum of one cent for a quick boost to surpass those bidding at the minimums
• Provide tax and shipping information when possible. If tax is not charged in one or more states, use “0” to indicate as such
• Free shipping can be indicated by entering “free” or “0” in the shipping cost fields
• Logo placement is free on Become! Use it to strengthen branding and to further call out your listings
• Update your listings as frequently as possible. Inaccurate pricing information will quickly harm conversion

Smarter Offers $50 Sign Up Bonus for GoDataFeed Clients

GoDataFeed recently caught up with Joanna, Account Manager with Smarter.com and in addition to offering new GoDataFeed merchants a $50 Sign up Bonus, she also shared with us Smarter's Insider Tips for Shopping Engine success:

•Manage Bids either by category, or better yet product level
•Remove products you know do not perform well on CSE’s (low margin, high ticket items)
•Remove Out of Stock products
•Refresh and update your data feeds as often as you make changes to your website
•Make sure your account is funded- Smarter.com has a Continuous Payment plan to avoid any downtime
•Use the MPN or UPC code to better compare with other merchants
•Write a product name that identifies the product by the common usage name-- i.e. pants, not slacks, shirts not blouses
•Ensure your store profile is completed fully and up to date, including name, location, phone numbers, customer service hours & contact info, shipping information, return policy
•Use any and all optional relevant data fields, including Coupon Field, Promotion Field, etc.
•If you change your data feed, make sure to contact your shopping engine representative immediately to avoid any potential issues
•Evaluate and optimize your product pages for a favorable and informational shopping experience

"It’s important to incorporate these best practices into your marketing initiatives. The deeper understanding you have of the options available on each engine, such as Smarter.com – the greater the chance of a successful marketing campaign," said Joanna.

$50 Sign Up Bonus for GoDataFeed Merchants
GoDataFeed clients who sign up for a Smarter.com account today can receive a $50 bonus towards use on the Smarter.com site.