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May 20, 2009 |
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| Online Marketing Channels Commentary |
Back to Basics: Data Feeds and Comparison Shopping Engine Marketing
by Chip Arndt, EVP & Co-Founder
 Miami, FL (May 20, 2009) – It seems to happen in business, just like it does in our personal lives, which we take for granted the things we're closest to, and forget that the routine things we think of as "simple" can be confounding to others. At MerchantAdvantage we have been reminded of this 1Q 2009, which led to the decision to devote the May newsletter to the most basic component of our business: feeding merchant product catalog data to CSEs -- Comparison Shopping Engines or, as we think more broadly defines the category, Consumer Shopping Engines.
As you know, MerchantAdvantage works with ecommerce merchants to enable them to feed their product catalog to any CSE and sees CSEs as a complimentary marketing effort to other marketing strategies to garner new sales and new clients. Many of our clients have excellent questions on working with CSEs and how to gain the greatest Return on Ad Spend ("ROAS"). Some questions are simple and some are more complex and we believe that the increased sales and exposure to millions of potential customers that many merchants have working with CSEs justifies navigating any data feed issues that may arise.
So, let's start with a simple question and then move to an analysis that covers answers to many general questions on the process of and success to working with CSEs.
Q: "Can’t I work directly with a CSE without MerchantAdvantage’s help?"
Or, as one of our clients asked: "...couldn’t we just do this process ourselves without MerchantAdvantage’s help?"
The answer is simple. Yes, an ecommerce merchant can sign up and feed to any CSE themself, and that same merchant must navigate the following processes before they can begin feeding properly to most CSEs:
- Navigating sign up protocols with the proper technical liaison
- Figuring out how to create a file from your shopping cart technology storefront that matches the individual protocols and specs demanded by each CSE
- Mapping/optimizing that file to support the required data feed to the CSE
- Creating and monitoring a data feed to the CSE daily to ensure that it mirrors what is on your storefront
- Monitoring the CSE marketing campaign on a daily basis to ensure proper ROAS
- Changing products in and out of data feeds to maintain high ROAS ratios, and
- REPEAT above process for each and every CSE.
And…each CSE must be prepared to work with every ecommerce merchant and your particular shopping cart technology to ensure that your data feed is properly categorized and the data feed you send to them is formatted to match their protocols and internal taxonomy requirements. If these protocols are not met for each unique shopping cart technology, the product catalog feeds will be rejected. If the protocols are met, then you are off and running to using CSEs effectively.
For some ecommerce merchants the above process is "intuitive", for others it is not. Thus, you can do all of the above by yourself or utilize MerchantAdvantage's marketing tool to help you make the above processes seamless and, dare I say, fun.
Why Listing With CSEs Can Be A Cumbersome Process.
MerchantAdvantage knows of and works with more than 300 CSEs – that's the good news, that the universe of market potential is so vast. Some of these CSEs never charge a cent to work with them, such as Google Product Search, ShopWiki, or theFind.com - that is better news because once an ecommerce merchant sets up the process to send their data feed properly (while abiding by their rules and there are several) to utilize these free listing sites, an ecommerce merchant rarely has to worry about the feed again. The downside is that these sites are free, representing over 250,000 ecommerce merchants in most cases and thus the number of clicks redirected to your site may be low – but any clicks are better than none.
To work with other CSEs is a bit more complicated because their business model is to make money from the merchant and, in order for them to differentiate themselves from other CSEs, requires direct interaction with the ecommerce merchant and your unique shopping cart technology to format data properly in their product catalog data feed. Even the biggest and most successful online merchants, with internal marketing experts, pay hundreds (or in many cases thousands) of dollars every month for software or a service to handle product catalog data feed management and marketing to CSEs. Doing it right on an ongoing basis sounds simple, but it is far from simple, especially when working with more than a couple of CSEs.
Complications result because each CSE has a unique set of specifications for receiving data from your shopping cart technology platform and subsequent product catalog data feed. And when you work with more than one CSE, the issues are multiplied.
If your data is not formatted to meet a CSEs specifications precisely then your end result is just a series of error messages. In some cases these are pretty sophisticated issues and include:
- Mapping a merchant's categorizations with the taxonomy of each CSE
- Complying with the rules of each CSE to avoid disqualification (things such as marketing jargon in your description or name – "FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ITEM" etc...)
- Sending the minimum required fields to the CSE (we always recommend sending more if you can)
- Confusing the ISBN number with the UPC international code or other industry standard field misconceptions
- Correct use of SKU level bidding options which help list products higher
Using a tool like those developed by MerchantAdvantage (or a full-service consultant) to manage your data feeds gets you past these snags: your product catalogue will be fed in the right file format, method, and at the right time. MerchantAdvantage knows how to look for feed validation and how to optimize your placement through built-in categorization technology options. And even when your product data feed is properly sent to a CSE there may be issues on the CSE's end when accepting the data feed which requires follow up to ensure you are being listed properly. Some of these issues are basic and some are confusing which often require technical follow up.
So it's equally important to recognize that the CSE universe is not static: their environment changes every day, just as the pricing and product descriptions of your own inventory may change. The typical do-it-yourselfer who sets up his or her own data feeds to CSEs often is inclined to believe that the initial setup is the final step: "set it and forget it." However, a simple adjustment in CSE product alignment can render all your hard work useless.
In a rapidly changing CSE environment, the ability to respond in real time can be critical. Changes in inventory availability, in which products to feature, or in pricing strategies depend on your receiving the most accurate reports on the performance of each of your products – and as quickly as possible. It's easy to rely on Google Analytics, and that's a good tool. But Google Analytics is designed from Google's own perspective; we strongly believe that Google needs to be combined with at least one other source of performance analytics to give you the whole story. With the Chanalytics tool that's built into the MerchantAdvantage Channel Management application, you can easily compare performance within channels and between channels, by product and price point. It's the surest way to be sure you're spending your advertising dollars efficiently.
Another Important Consideration Before Working With CSEs.
There's one other essential marketing issue to address before any ecommerce merchant starts to work with CSEs to send new customers their way, and that is the quality and presentation of the actual merchant storefront.
Now that you've made the decision to be more aggressive in the use of CSE marketing, because you believe it will expand your market presence, help you acquire new customers, increase your online sales and improve your ROAS - and you're right – targeted CSE channel marketing can do those things for you – it is important to ask yourself if the quality of your Web Storefront justifies the expense and effort of directing newly found customers to you through CSEs? Even if the CSEs do their job and direct quality buyers your way, if your Web Store is not professional then what was the point of working with CSEs?
Your Web storefront is your #1 marketing statement to the world – are you proud of, or even satisfied with, the statement that it makes? How does it compare to your competitors' sites? When was the last time you upgraded the look and feel of your site? Perhaps the easiest and most important question to ask yourself when looking at the site is:
Q: "Would you shop on your Web storefront?"
Be brutally honest – and be proud of your accomplishment if the answer is yes. As I have always said, just listing products online is not enough to get people to buy from you.
SPECIAL NOTE: You may want to review two articles "Can Consumers Trust My Online Storefront" and "Must Have Features Your WebSite Is Missing"; both articles examine methods to increase consumers' confidence in buying from your site and building the best Web Storefront possible.
CSEs can be effective marketing avenues to drive quality consumers to your storefront when used properly and there are tools in the marketplace to assist you to gain all of the benefits CSEs offer. But before working with any CSE do make sure your Web storefront is excellent, that you are proud of it, and that you have incorporated the many necessary "bells and whistles" to build trust with your consumers as soon as they arrive on your Web Storefront. |
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| Advice, Tips & Tricks |
Getting Your Web Storefront Up To Speed To Compete
By B. Thomas Romeo, Sr. Technical Engineer
 Miami, FL (May 20, 2009)— Many merchants struggle with learning all they can about successful Web storefronts. With so many options these days of technologies to improve your Web storefront, it can be overwhelming. I'm not talking about shopping cart technologies or eCommerce platforms as much as inclusion of web technologies that can augment your business plan.
What marketing do you do on your storefront? What cool "components" do you have that will interest your shoppers and keep them coming back? What kind of revenue could you generate from things other than your products? Let's look at some of the ways that merchants are making their storefront savvy, unique and hip.
The first component on the top of most storefront owners is a blog. Why would you have a blog on your storefront at all? Well some basic reasons are that consumers are looking for more information about the products you sell and will do the research elsewhere if you don't provide it for them. This means they could be elsewhere too. This, of course, depends on your product set.
Do you have electronics or gadgets and focus on latest release, updates, mods, etc? You can talk about this on your blog. Do you sell products that address specific health or sporting needs? You can address latest trends, medical/nutritional information, or opinions on how to use the very things you sell in your blog and your product set determines what you should communicate to your consumers.
How do you get a blog?
There are many technologies out there and even quite a few ways to deploy them. Your shopping cart technology might even have some add-on capabilities for you to be able to easily add blogs or other components to them. You should check out what's possible, and how much it costs to utilize these components (or do them yourself with some free solutions). GoDaddy for example has a long list of add-ons including Wordpress hosting, email marketing, site surveys, etc. Your host company might also have some too. You can even ask to beta test some of them as they are adding new features and you can be one of the first to utilize them.
If you want to do things yourself you can create blogs easily and free on Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. Or you can go so far as to download the open source code and install it yourself on a web server. There are many great open source packages available for any add-on you could think of, including many business items that you might need to address (project managers, CRMs, order management). Of course I would be amiss not to mention Typepad and Moveable Type as other blogging platforms to use. One cool thing about WordPress and Typepad (and maybe, by now others) is the ability to blog from your iPhone or other mobile device.
So now you have a blog. What about other components? There are a whole slew of them to look into - Google or MSN ads, Google Adsense, Facebook and MySpace components, Twitter and more. Check with your shopping cart technology's website to see what other options you have to make your site more consumer friendly and how can you add resources and personal attention that many consumers are looking for as they access their purchases.
Take advantage of blogs and other social networking tools to get your brand out there, recognized and gain loyal visitors. Investigate the latest "look" of store sites and see how you can emulate the ones you like. Take a look at sites like LifeHacker.com to get the latest news about technology and technology related business resources. Next month we'll talk about LifeHacker, other cool blogs and tools that you can review from time to time so you can stay up to date and learn about the latest and greatest tools that you can utilize for your storefront and business in general. |
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| Webinars & White Papers |
Webinar:
2 Proven & Innovative Ways to Market Online -
Increase Your Sales with Video and Comparison Shopping
(On Demand Webcast)
View Webinar >>
Webinar:
Getting F.I.T. in 2009 part II-
Best Practices for CSE Marketing & Site Search
(On Demand Webcast)
View Webinar >>
Webinar:
Getting F.I.T. in 2009-
Focused Intelligent Targeting for Online Marketing
(On Demand Webcast)
View Webinar >>
Webinar:
The Blueprint for Multichannel Success
(On Demand Webcast)
View Webinar >>
Webinar:
How to Afford Comparison Shopping Engines
(On Demand Webcast)
View Webinar >>
White Paper:
2 Steps to Increase Return on CSE Ad Spend
Download >> |
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| Industry News |
| Industry News |
US Online Retail Sales May have Bottomed-comScore
Google Online Marketing Reaches More US Web Users
Online Retail Sales Up 14 Percent
AC Lens Named to Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide for the Fourth Consecutive Year
Google outage caused slowdown in online retail sites, Gomez says |
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Get Your Channel Management Fee Waived Plus Receive a Complimentary Companion Airline Ticket!
 We're thrilled and inspired by all the Channel Management success stories you share with us. Now we want to turn the spotlight on you! Send us your best Channel Management success story and you could be selected as our Merchant of the Month.
If chosen, your company will be exclusively showcased in an edition of our monthly newsletter, eTail dTail.
Best of all, your monthly MerchantAdvantage fee will be waived in the month you are selected and you will receive a complimentary Companion Airline Ticket. Submit your Channel Management success story today to stories@merchantadvantage.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
(Note: MerchantAdvantage reserves the right to use any or all of your story, whether or not your article is selected as the winning entry.) |
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About MerchantAdvantage
MerchantAdvantage (www.MerchantAdvantage.com) is an ecommerce software solutions company committed to championing and helping the small to midsized online merchant address complicated online and mobile commerce issues. MerchantAdvantage takes a systematic, controlled and proactive approach to online product marketing by providing long-term, cost effective, Web-based software tools that enable an online business to grow by reaching the widest audience possible via online, broadband, and wireless devices.
MerchantAdvantage's applications are designed to connect the online retailer to their marketplace partners in a seamless motion of communication, allowing online merchants to take control of their e-Commerce and m-Commerce channels, marketing strategies and IT solutions. MerchantAdvantage currently markets over $3 billion worth of product value daily, representing over 1,000 online storefronts and is changing the macrocosm of ecommerce by staying ahead of the curve in providing business solutions to the growing online retail marketplace. They are here because your commerce future is online and wireless. For more information, please visit MerchantAdvantage.com, e-mail us at sales@MerchantAdvantage.com or call us at 1.800.550.9466.
MerchantAdvantage – Take Control of Your Marketing Channels! |
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