FAQ – How many products will you crawl for my product data feed?

Posted on by Jamie Birch

We field this question more often than any other.  “How much is it if my product inventory goes above 1000, 10,000, 50,000?”  “Can your system handle tens of thousands of products?”  “If we go above a certain number of products, will we see a higher charge?”  All great questions that I can very quickly answer for you.

Let’s start with the the functionality question.  Can the Chloe Feed Assembler handle tens of thousands of products or more?  YES.  There is no limit to the number of products the feed assembler can extract from your website.  If you have ten products or 100,000, the feed assembler will simply keep crawling till they are all added to our database and assembled in your network format.    The only thing that changes is the time it takes to complete the data scraping and extraction for your product data feed.  Higher number of products equal longer time to compile.  But don’t worry, we start pretty early in the morning to get these done :).

Let’s address cost.  We do not price the feed assembler based on number of products.  The current pricing allows for unlimited number of products extracted from your website with different packages based on frequency.  So, 4 products or 400,000, there is only one price based on whether you want your feed created weekly, monthly or unlimited times a month.

Easy right?

FAQ – How often can you create and submit my affiliate program datafeed?

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Frequency is an important aspect of your product feed management.  Chloe Feed Assembler is set up to handle this in several different ways.  Our automagic scheduler and distribution tool allows you to set up daily, weekly and monthly recurring feed creation and distribution to the affiliate network of your choice.  Beyond that, you have the capability to create your feed at any time on the fly.  When would this be appropriate?

When you:

  • Experience heavy traffic days/weeks and your inventory fluctuates frequently necessitating updated feeds frequently
  • When you have a huge selection of new products show up in your inventory and you don’t want your product datafeed to be innacurate in between scheduled feeds

How do you decide on the proper frequency?  That is a great question.  It really depends on the nature of your product and your organization as a whole.  One of our clients is a big retailer in the fast fashion category.  Their inventory levels can change multiple times a day, so they have a daily recurring feed and we update it twice a day manually.  We have other clients that have the same product year in and year out, we update that one quarterly just to be safe.  I don’t recommend going more than a quarter, even in a case like this.  Most advertisers see that a weekly feed update schedule is suitable.  But if you are not sure, a weekly or daily cost the same, so try each out, test and measure the results.  We are a huge advocate of testing and measuring, so give it a shot.  But in the end, it really depends on your product turnover.

In the past, the frequency of the feed depended entirely on your IT team’s willingness to get it done and the affiliate manager’s time and resources.  But, with the Chloe Feed Assembler, that isn’t a consideration any longer.

FAQ – What if I want several different product feeds for my affiliate program?

Posted on by Jamie Birch

This is a great question.  The reason I love this question is because I know I’m talking to someone who is trying to not only squeeze out every single affiliate sale they can, but they also want to serve their affiliate partners.  Striving to serve is such a huge attribute of success these days that I love to help those who have a heart for it.  Anyway…

The simple answer is yes.  We can crawl and scour just about anything, and we can target certain areas and then export certain areas.  Maybe you have never asked this questions so you are wondering what type of different type of product datafeeds could be created and distributed to your affiliate network.  How about these:

  • A comprehensive and complete product datafeed that includes all the fields available, all the product attributes and includes every available product and category
  • An abbreviated feed that only includes the required information – it’s shorter and easier to deal with
  • Category specific feeds.  If you have affiliates that only promote one or two categories, why not make their lives easier and provide what they need and only what they need
  • Promotion Feeds

With each new advertiser there is a new and different way we could create and distribute a feed to make their affiliate program stronger and better serving of their affiliates.  And we can definitely do that.  Contact sales@chloeassembler.com for more information!

Current Fields Gathered and Assembled into Product Data Feeds

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Many have asked us what type of information we gather directly from advertisers’ websites and assemble into affiliate program product datafeeds. Currently, we have focused on the required fields of networks like Rakuten LinkShare, CJ by Conversant, ShareASale, AvantLink, Impact Radius, Ebay Enterprise Affiliate Network, Affiliate Window etc. Those fields are:

  • Product Name
  • Product URL
  • Product Image
  • Product Thumbnail
  • Product Price
  • Long Description
  • Short Description
  • Keywords
  • Sizes
  • Color
  • Product Category
  • Product Subcategory
  • Product Grandchild Category
  • Other Configurable Product Attributes

What is a configurable product attribute?  A configurable product is simple, a product that you can configure :).  For example – apparel.  You can choose size, color and even style.  For other items you may choose size, weight, quality, thickness or other attributes by which you can change, customize and alter the product.  Chloe Feed Assembler grabs all of those.

We are working diligently on adding the following attributes to our feed crawl and export:

  • Manufacturer ID
  • Brand Name
  • Additional Thumbnail URLs
  • Product Reviews and Ratings
  • Sale Price vs Retail Price
  • Brand Logo Image
  • UPC code
  • Condition (New/Used)
  • Gender
  • Shipping options
  • European Article Number
  • Warranty Information
  • Currency
  • Author
  • Heel Heigth
  • Made_in
  • Material Composition
  • Shoe size
  • Show width
  • Complete Category Path
  • Savings Percent Sale vs. Retail
  • Global Trade Item Number
  • Shipping Costs
  • Related Products
  • Customers Who Bought X Also Bought

We are looking to add these attributes shortly, stay tuned!

 

CJ by Conversant (Commision Junction) Product Datafeed Created by Chloe Feed Assembler

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Each week we like to highlight a new or prominent existing feature of the Chloe Feed Assembler that really makes it useful and different from our competition. No one has the ability to create feeds for all the affiliate networks like we do. And today, we feature our integration of the CJ by Conversant product catalogs (datafeeds). CJ by Conversant offers two ways to integrate their product catalogs based on the two ways advertisers can integrate tracking with CJ. These are Standard and Gateway integrations.

Standard Advertisers are advertisers who track every transaction on their website through CJ. They do not have any redirects or specific entry points that are unique to CJ by Conversant. They simply have all affiliate links go direct to the site, and only affiliate orders get tracked in CJ.

Gateway Advertisers are advertisers who do not display or track every transaction on their site through CJ. They implement a gateway url that only CJ referred traffic gets sent through that is designed to trigger CJ’s tracking mechanisms.

There are benefits and downsides to both, and that discussion isn’t appropriate here.

Basically, Gateway advertisers need to add that gateway url to the beginning of all the product urls in the product catalog.

And now Chloe Feed Assembler can export feeds in both formats! Need a CJ datafeed (product catalog) – we got ya covered!

If you need the specifications for the CJ product catalog, you can read all about them here – http://cjsupport.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/43. You’ll even find the actual specs on that page.

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Scheduling your product datafeed creation and distribution – now easier than making a sandwich.

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Today we released an exciting new feature to our product datafeed creator – Chloe Feed Assembler – the Crawling and Distribution Scheduler! Do you wake up in the middle of the night wondering when you need to create your datafeed? Do you wake up in a cold sweat wondering if you submitted your product datafeed to your affiliate network? Do you have a recurring nightmare that you created your feed but forgot to submit it, like the one I have where I show up to high school without pants?

Well stress no more!

Now the Chloe Feed Assembler allows you to schedule the day and time you want to create your feed, how often you want it created (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly etc) and when to distribute it to your network(s) of choice. Yes you heard me right! Not only can we automagically create your feed whenever you want and do that every (enter time frame here), but we’ll also automagically submit it to the network of your choice!

You’ll wake up well rested and in a good mood when you read your email and see this: “Your feed was created, submitted and accepted today at 5:20am!”

Ok, enough of the late night informercial. But it’s true. The only thing it doesn’t do for you is cut a beer can in half and still thinly slice a tomato!

Need this? We thought so. Contact us at sales@chloeassembler.com or 1800-208-6215. We’d love to help you get started!

Rakuten LinkShare Product Datafeed Created by Crawling – Chloe Feed Assembler

Posted on by Jamie Birch

5 or 6 years ago we tried to find a solution for a LinkShare client of ours that would allow us to get a product datafeed, merchandiser feed as LinkShare has called it, with very little needed from our client. There just wasn’t an option at the time, nor has there been until we developed the Feed Assembler.

Who did we create this tool for that allows anyone to create a product datafeed with no IT resources and really no resources needed at all? Well, basically me, 16 years ago. I worked for a large women’s retailer and could not get the dev team to give me a feed, for years. I would have loved a tool that only required me to provide my upload and distribution information and a credit card. Now I don’t think I would have given a limb for that but maybe a digit :).

Several weeks ago, we released the Rakuten Linkshare Merchandiser product feed integration for Chloe Feed Assembler. Each formatted and distributed LinkShare Merchandiser Product Datafeed file includes your MID, Company Name, Time Stamp and all the required product information as well as all the non-required fields that we are able to find and map from the in-code and on page data from your site. When the file is sent to Rakuten LinkShare, it is in the format and has the naming convention required for a completed upload.

If you have an affiliate program on the Rakuten LinkShare affiliate network and you need a product datafeed, don’t spend any more time on it then getting out your credit card. There is no mapping, no meetings with your dev team, no begging for development time and no time spent hand building a datafeed. We do it all and within 48-72 hours you’ll have a datafeed that will help you drive more sales! Email us at sales@chloeassembler.com!

Chloe Feed Assembler – Watch the product datafeed creation in action!

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Many of asked to see the Feed Assembler in action as it is creating a product datafeed for one of our client’s affiliate programs.  Below is a screencast of one job being created.  Now, you won’t get access to the entire matrix Neo, but this should give you a great idea of how it’s done.

 

 

If you are in need of a datafeed for your Rakuten LinkShare, Commission Junction, Impact Radius, Affiliate Window, AvantLink, ShareASale or other network program, we’ve got the solution for you!

FAQ – Can you do multiple product feeds?

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Another question we received in about our product feed tool was whether we could create different type of feeds for the same advertiser.  What kind of product feeds could you have?  Well, hundreds of different types.  Like this for instance:

  • Comprehensive feed that includes pretty much everything
  • A slimmed down feed that only includes short descriptions and the vital, required information
  • Category specific feeds
  • Promotional feeds
  • Creative asset feeds

The answer is yes!  To be honest, I hadn’t even though of this scenario prior to presenting the Chloe Feed Assembler to one of the affiliate networks.  But it makes perfect sense and we are already to set that up!  We simply create different configurations for the feed, assign them to your account and then let the Feed Assembler do its thang!  I believe we’ll incorporate this package into the Unlimited package for $699/mo.  After you sign up, we’ll be contacting you for information that will include the type of feeds you want to push out and make available.

What else could we do for you?

FAQ – Is there an interface to do the field mapping for my product datafeed?

Posted on by Jamie Birch

Yesterday I presented the full functioning Feed Assembler to a prominent network.  I really enjoyed showing our solution to a very common problem to a super smart group of people.  I love showcasing the Feed Assembler!  They asked me a few questions that I’ll be elaborating on here over the coming days and weeks.  The first one was a great one.  “Do you have an interface or a dashboard where the customer can or has to map their data to the feed specified fields required?

Great question right?  The simple answer is no, we don’t.  Could we?  Most definitely we can.  But why not now?

Well, we wanted to solve a specific problem with this tool.  Creating  feed when there are no tech resources or skills available to create one and make the results available any any network format.  I used myself 15 years ago as an example of the ideal client.  I was an affiliate manager at a very large women’s apparel retailer.  While I was handy in the tech area for a marketing guy, I was not a developer nor would I have been given access to that realm by the tech team.  The tech team also had hundreds of projects that were ahead of my datafeed requirements and it took me over a year to get a datafeed, and then I got one comprehensive feed, no customization or categorization of feeds.  I got what I got and that’s all I got.

I would have killed for a tool that allowed me to create a feed without any involvement from my entire company outside of submitting a payment option and providing credentials to upload and distribute the feed.  Ok, I don’t think I would have killed or even maimed, but I probably would have given good money for it.

So because of that, we didn’t want to provide an interface to do the mapping.  We wanted to do it for you.  So we do.  Clients of the Feed Assembler do not have to figure out what fields go where, what requirements each network has and what needs to go into those required areas.  We do that during the mapping process that takes a little over a day, share that first feed output with you the advertiser, then set up the crawl and distribution schedule.  After that you receive notification emails that the feed has started, it has completed, it was sent to the network(s) and it was accepted.  And then the receipt when it is done.

We tried to make this as simple as possible for you to have a fully functioning datafeed!

And I’m so excited to see you use it!