Four steps to product data optimization

Sellers must learn what kind of content their customers look for. In order to compete, sellers are expected to provide complete and accurate information, in an engaging way. The more relevant the information is, the better it helps the shopper to make an informed purchasing decision and increases the odds of a sale. There are four steps to product data optimization.

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The global e-commerce market size was valued at USD 4.2 trillion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.7% from 2020 to 2024, reaching an estimated value of USD 6.3 trillion. At such a high rate of growth, ecommerce is already one of the most rapidly growing business sectors in the world. Encouraged by the pandemic, ecommerce sales have seen a significant rise across every continent, with China leading the way with its USD 2.8 trillion market. 

The quick rise of ecommerce has naturally bred fierce competition. Marketplace platforms and other online sales channels require sellers to keep up with constant changes and adjustments to their content, in order to meet the customers’ demands and provide them with the best shopping experience possible. Sellers are left to their own devices to figure out how to create high quality content that will meet the varying standards and differentiate them from the competition.

In this article we will talk about how sellers can improve and optimize their product data, in order to achieve better performances across marketplaces and sale channels.    

Four Steps to Product Data Optimization

Sellers must learn what kind of content their customers look for. In order to compete, sellers are expected to provide complete and accurate information, in an engaging way. The more relevant the information is, the better it helps the shopper to make an informed purchasing decision and increases the odds of a sale. There are three steps to product data optimization:

1. Product Title

The first encounter between a potential customer and your product is in the search results page, where your product is presented among hundreds and perhaps thousands of smiler products sold by your competitors. What can set you apart from the others is an engaging, optimized product title that will shoot your product at the top of the list. 

When creating a product title, try to do the following:

• Make sure the title matches possible search queries. A good rule of thumb is going by brand name, product type, size and so on.
• Check the title requirements of the different marketplaces and channels to make sure the product is not rejected. 
• Keep it short and simple, including only the most relevant information in the order of importance. 

The title should be engaging and attract shoppers to learn more about the product. It is worth researching what your customers have been searching for to get valuable insights, and adjust titles accordingly. 

2. Product Description

Product description has a very important role in converting sales. According to a recent study, product description has significant positive effects on product cognitive involvement. When creating your product description, remember to:

• Include all the product information that might be relevant and useful to the customer. 
• Study your customers’ preferences. Learn what specific information they are looking for, how the product might be beneficial to them, or what other uses they might find in it. 
• Create an engaging story that will help build customer loyalty to the site. 
• Adjust your product information according to the specific requirements of the different marketplaces and channels. For example, in Amazon sellers are required to include keywords in their product description, otherwise the product is rejected. However, not every marketplace has this requirement, so it is important to make sure you adjust the product description accordingly. 
• As much as possible, emphasize the unique qualities of your products. Dedicate a section of the product description to showing customers the advantages of your products over the competition’s, using links, videos, images etc.
   

3. Product Images

Images may be the first thing to capture the eyes of customers, that is why it is vital to include images in product descriptions. Including images in the description is a no-brainer. Not many people will buy products online with seeing at least one image of what they are buying. But the quality of the image is also important, and may be the reason shoppers buy it or not.  

Make sure the images included in the product description:

• High resolution, clear and well lit
• Include various angles and looks
• Show each relevant variation of the product (colors, for instance)
• Uniform for all similar items

Different marketplaces put varying degrees of emphasis on images. Some offer sophisticated image editing and optimization tools, while others only let sellers upload up to three images. This mostly depends on what type of products are sold on the platform. For instance, fashion products are most likely to benefit greatly from high quality images, showing the product from every possible angle. In contrast, when purchasing a laptop online, while product images are still important, more emphasis should be put on the product description, rather than the images.  

4. Marketplace-Specific Data Tagging

As mentioned before, each of the different marketplaces and sale channels has its own set of rules regarding the form in which the product data should be uploaded. The rules deal with images, product title and description, etc., and sellers are expected to follow them or risk having their products rejected. 

One of the most important adjustments required for each specific platform is data tagging. Every platform has its own navigation infrastructure, and as a result, each one requires different tagging data. The variations may be in tag names, different values, or altogether different attributes, never mention the different submission formats.

Continuously adjusting products’ tagging data every time you upload new products to a marketplace is not easy, but it is definitely worth it. Creating marketplace-specific tagging data not only ensures your products will not be rejected by the marketplace, but also increases the exposure of your products and improves conversion rates.

Conclusion

As ecommerce keeps expanding and growing, marketplaces and other online sale channels are constantly trying to improve the shopping experience. In a drive towards more personalization, sellers are required by marketplaces to constantly adjust and optimize their information, in order to provide shoppers with a better experience, and have a chance against the competition. Competing in this rapidly growing market requires sellers to:

• Come up with strong product titles
• Create high quality and engaging product description
• Incorporate enticing product images
• Create marketplace-specific data tagging  

If you need an expert’s help in optimizing your store’s product data, we at Lisuto will be happy to assist. Lisuto combines technology with deep ecommerce consumer product knowledge helping sellers optimize their product data and extract much more out of the online store. Using proprietary AI technology, Lisuto goes through the existing product information, tagging the data with marketplace specific navigational tags, making necessary corrections and completions, bringing the quality of the sellers' product feed up to highest standard in terms of uniformity and completeness, making it perfectly optimized for each channel and for the user's eyes.