Like OZ behind the curtain, product data files aren’t seen by end users, but power everything: our websites, third-party marketplaces, digital catalogs, fulfillment and operations, and more.

Product data files are integral to smooth internal/external operations, a pleasant end user experience, and sales success. The pitfall is they’re overwhelming and time consuming for marketers to consistently update and maintain across all digital channels.

Marketers rarely maintain just one either. In today’s omni channel world, companies aren’t only selling products through their website, digital catalogs, sales reps, or brick and mortar stores. Now, many brands also sell products on third-party marketplaces, like Amazon, Zulily, Wayfair, Google Shopping, and more.

The third-party marketplaces each require their own product data file. Yet the data in every file must be accurate, up-to-date, and compelling, since this information dictates how a product is displayed and marketed to the public.

Inaccuracies in product data means inaccuracies on webpages, wreaking havoc on site visitors’ brand perception and eroding credibility. In fact, a study from Episerver found that “98% of all shoppers have decided against buying due to errors in a retailer’s site content.”

Luckily, there are tools out there, called Product Information Management (PIM) systems,  that stop this manual product maintenance madness.

Today, we’ll talk through product data challenges, and how a PIM system can revolutionize the product data management process.

How is Product Data Used?

Just about everything a website visitor sees on a product page is pulled directly from a product data file. This Wayfair example below demonstrates a typical product data file, and how it drives the final webpage.

Examples of fields that may be in a product data file include:

• Product category
• Product name
• Item number
• Size specs
• Images and alternate images
• Product descriptions
• Designer
• Weight and dimensions
• Shipping options
• Availability

This data is imported into our website and third-party marketplaces on a regular basis, and automatically changes how information is displayed to end users.

Product Data File Challenges

For too many marketers, product data is housed in multiple formats, with more than one person responsible for managing and updating it.

Perhaps image files are stored on a thumb drive or Dropbox, and product descriptions, titles, SKUs, and more are in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or plain old Excel sheets.

When it’s time to update a product’s images or change its shipping options or availability, for example, it is a hassle to locate and modify the correct product in the correct file in a timely manner. The same challenge arises when the marketer is trying to execute a new promotion and needs to gather a subset of themed items from different files.

Furthermore, marketers need to make sure they keep these data files clean of errors or problematic formatting, or their nightly imports could fail. There are a lot of moving parts, and the stakes are high to keep everything accurate and updated.

Third-Party Marketplace Challenges

Third-party marketplaces further complicate product data file management, because each requires its own data file, formatted in a specific way.

Below, we’ve included a sample product data file for Wayfair and Amazon, and an example of what the end user sees for the product “Kitchen Aid Mixer.”

If a marketer doesn’t perfectly follow their data spec, the product page will be missing, inaccurate, or incomplete.

Introducing Product Information Management Systems (PIMs)

A Product Information Management (PIM) system centralizes and houses all marketing and technical information for product listings and catalogs in one simple tool.

Marketers can import images, product descriptions, titles, videos, sales sheets, and more into the system for immediate access by team members.

Once in the PIM, products can be searched and filtered, so finding images and assets is no longer a time-consuming struggle. It’s then easily distributed to third-party systems, like websites and marketplaces, supplied to customers, or fed into a digital catalog.

The graphic below is from Whereoware’s PIM system ProductFastLane. We built ProductFastlane with the marketer in mind.

We wanted to make it simple and streamlined to get the data you need to create compelling product pages on your website, run effective campaigns in Google Shopping or Facebook, and get a great ROI out of your third-party market places.

We also aimed to enhance your search engine optimization (SEO). Marketers can write and update compelling product descriptions, titles, and other data points in Product FastLane to optimize each product for natural search.

By housing all product data in one secure location, marketers update product details one time and easily distribute it to the website and third-party marketplaces. This saves time and headache, but also ensures product data is consistent and compelling across the web.

Avoid Product Data Pains

Too many marketers live in spreadsheet hell, battling their product data. Yet, this seemingly tedious task is vital to e-commerce success.

Looking for a lifeboat? A PIM system helps busy marketers manage, update, and optimize product data. Spend less time in the data weeds, and more time developing creative merchandising and outreach campaigns to delight customers.

Get more information on Whereoware’s Product FastLane here or contact us for a demo.

Today’s e-commerce marketers are rockstars. They’re the Swiss Army Knives of sales. The MacGyver’s of marketing. They’re juggling everything – websites, emails, digital catalogs, third-party marketplaces, paid ads, social media, and more, and making it all look effortless.

Under the hood, it’s everything but effortless. Not only are marketers executing campaigns, they’re also working behind the scenes, managing endless data feeds, APIs, automation tools, and CRM systems to power all their digital initiatives.

Clean and reliable data is the foundation of keeping all these balls in the air. Yet, untangling data on a day-to-day basis is one of the trickiest aspects of managing campaigns.

That’s where a Product Information Management (PIM) system helps. Today, we’ll cover PIM system basics and benefits, and four reasons why busy marketers should add a PIM system to their must-have list.

What is a PIM system?

A PIM system is a lifeline to pull you out of spreadsheet hell. You know what I’m talking about – you’ve got all of your product data in an Excel spreadsheet and product images on a USB drive or Dropbox. You’re checking databases for product inventory, hoping your recurring data feeds don’t fail, or importing product data manually.

There are so many moving parts, it’s enough to give the most competent marketer anxiety.

A PIM System replaces all of these moving parts. It places all your product data and assets in one, centralized system. (An example of Whereoware’s PIM system, Product FastLane, is pictured below.) When you’re managing hundreds or thousands of products, the ability to access, search, filter, and update data in one location and then share it across all your digital channels saves time and headaches.

Reduce Data Management Costs

Too often, data is stored in disparate locations and is outdated, or incomplete. When this happens, it takes many man hours to track and check the data – time that is better spent brainstorming or executing the next marketing campaign.

When you have multiple team members handling and relying on the same data, things become hairy fast.

A simple and effective PIM system let’s everyone on your team manage and update standardized data in one place. It streamlines collaboration and reduces organizational costs due to lost productivity.

Improve Data Quality and Reduce Risk Across Marketplaces

Similarly, by maintaining a “master” data standard in your PIM system, you know that everywhere you share your products – whether it’s your website, a digital catalog, or a third-party marketplace – product details are consistent and accurate.

When information changes, you update the system one time, instead of manually updating information on every channel, reducing redundancy and rework.

Many PIM systems, like Whereoware’s PIM system Product FastLane, alert you of incomplete data fields, missing links or images, or other data errors, so you fix them right away. This “second checker” will significantly reduce your anxiety, while ensuring your data is accurate on every channel.

Share Consistent Data Across Marketplaces

A brand’s e-commerce website isn’t the only place retailers or consumers purchase products anymore.

Many brands also sell on third-party marketplaces, like Amazon, Wayfair, Zulily, and more. These marketplaces expose a broader audience to a brand’s products, but each one typically requires a different product dataset, formatted a different way.

These third-party data specs can be built into your PIM system, so all you do is map your data fields to their spec with a few clicks. Since it pulls from one data source, you always have consistent, accurate data across marketplaces.

Increase Traffic and Conversions

Your product descriptions and imagery must grab attention and compel action. A PIM system lays everything out for you, from your product details to important search engine optimization (SEO) fields, like meta descriptions, image titles, and more.

If your SEO data is complete, your site’s placement in SERPs improves, and more searchers find your products.

Free yourself of data headaches: get a PIM system

As more marketers develop data-driven marketing strategies, they need tools and processes to make sure the data they rely on is complete, accurate, and quickly accessible. They can’t spend all day creating, checking, and importing data files.

Clean data is one of the most important weapons in a marketer’s arsenal. Take control of your marketing data with a user-friendly Product Information Management (PIM) system.

Like what you hear? Check out Whereoware’s new PIM system – Product FastLane.

Our Holiday Website Inspiration Gallery shows you how big brands updated their site last year to engage and convert gift seekers.

We hope you get holiday promotion ideas to try out on your own website!  (If you need specifics, read our 4 Website Tweaks to Convert Holiday Shoppers.)

This week, we welcome a guest post from our Online Marketing Manager Anna Pleshakova. Anna is responsible for behavior-driven email marketing campaigns and strategy for B2B and B2C clients and helping them navigate emerging digital trends.

When you hear about virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), you may picture a futuristic, Matrix-type world, or think of video games, like the popular AR game Pokemon Go.

Today, we’ll help you understand the differences between AR and VR, and get you thinking about how you can use both technologies to give your audience a unique brand experience.

VR/AR 101

Virtual reality is defined as a “computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment, that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.” That’s a mouthful, but think: wearing a VR helmet to transport yourself into another world – be that a different geolocation or a fictional video game world – the possibilities are endless!

Augmented reality is defined as “technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world, thus providing a composite view.” Think: Pokemon Go using your mobile phone’s camera functionality to superimpose a Pokemon inside your living room.

VR is a more immersive experience than AR. Wearing a VR device, the viewer sees a 360-degree view of content displayed on the screen and can interact with it. AR, on the other hand, incorporates the world around you and adds additional elements.

How Marketers can use VR and AR

Film used to be the most immersive storytelling medium, but even with the high-end TVs, you’re still only watching the screen. VR and AR offer marketers an exciting opportunity to create fully immersive, interactive customer experiences.

You’re probably thinking, “great, but using VR devices requires advanced developer or technical skills, right?” Absolutely not!

In our day and age, both VR and AR are easier to use then you think. For example: with a simple and cheap device like Google Cardboard, you can have a VR experience by inserting your phone into a cardboard viewer, which has two lenses. You hold the viewer over your eyes and explore various virtual reality apps.

6 Reasons to Adopt VR and AR + Brand Success Stories

1. Personalization: both the customer and marketer upload their own content to create a unique form of media, appealing to the customer’s interests.

Retailer Top Shop’s Catwalk Experience, developed by Inition, was a chance to get a sneak peek into London’s Fashion Week. Viewers “sit in the audience” at Topshop’s flagship store and get to see models wearing their favorite brand’s collection walking down the catwalk.

2. Novelty: an early adopter of one of technology’s “latest things” will gain the first movers’ advantage.

Michelle Obama’s VR video (created by the Verge) shows a 360 view of everything the first lady accomplished, now that Barack Obama’s time in office is coming to an end. It presents facts, figures, and stats – the very first VR infographic! This approach to looking at the infographic eliminates distractions and allows viewers to focus on the content.

3. Socialization: customers can save and share their content with others, potentially resulting in viral customer/brand experiences.

The iconic fast-food chain McDonald’s Sweden recently created a virtual reality viewer made from a happy meal box. (Remember we told you VR technology does not have to be complicated?) “Happy Goggles” function similarly to Google Cardboard and allow you to insert your mobile device into the happy meal “headset.” Customers can then share this experience with others via social media – a big win for McDonald’s!

4. Accessibility: customers can use both technologies if they’re not 100% tech-savvy or know how to create their own multimedia products.

Hiking boot brand Merrell’s TrailScape is an immersive VR hiking simulator at their Sundance festival stand. Participants can walk/climb up or down a mountain and must overcome obstacles throughout their journey. The customer just puts on the VR gear, walks around Merrell’s set, and they’re transported to the mountaintop– no technology knowledge required!

5. Excitement: inject a playful, fun element into any product or service.

Hotel chain Marriott’s “Teleporter” by Relevent is a VR booth whisking a viewer away on virtual travel all over the globe. Simultaneously, it subtly informs the potential customer that there’s always a Marriott to stay in, wherever you go. This takes a regular photo and/or information booth to a whole new and unexpected level by adding an Oculus Rift DK2 headset and headphones.

6. Mobile friendly: many VR headsets use phones to project the viewer’s content of choice. Behaviors consumers do everyday, like taking a photo, are used to deliver a more immersive experience.

Text100 described an example: “someone browsing a magazine for a watch, can take a small, customized branded insert, place it on his or her wrist and use an in-app camera to actually show exactly what that watch will look like when worn.”

Give AR and VR a Try

It’s important for marketers to stay ahead of technology and try new approaches to engage customers. Though we don’t think you should chase every new trend, VR and AR offer marketers an opportunity to create customer experiences that are impossible with other mediums.

We’ll keep watching to see how inventive brands get creative with both technologies. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the future and potential of VR and AR in the comments!

The best websites blend aesthetics and effectiveness. An elegant design captures visitors’ attention and increases their comfort with your business. This isn’t just our opinion – Adobe found 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if its content and layout is unattractive.

An effective website is easy to navigate and makes it simple for visitors to complete their goal (locate information, watch a video, download an asset, complete a purchase, etc.).

Too often, after a website is built, it’s ignored. The best websites, however, are consistently optimized to deliver even better results.

Don’t let your site become a stagnant destination. Instead, regularly review different pages or sections, make changes, and measure how your audience reacts. Download our Website Optimization Checklist to analyze your webpages, from the headlines to the copy, and more.

Today, we’re giving kudos to HelloFresh’s website’s balance between aesthetics and effectiveness to demonstrate many principles from the Website Optimization Checklist.

Homepage Love

HelloFresh is a healthy delivery service for busy home chefs. They deliver ingredients and recipes to the doorstep of customers, who either don’t know how to cook (but hope to learn), don’t have time to shop, or simply enjoy the ease of someone else planning their meals.

HelloFresh’s website is a knockout and exhibits many principles in our Website Optimization Checklist. Their homepage shows off checklist principles: Create Persuasive Headlines and Copy, Simplify the Design, Be Relevant, and Build Trust.

What We Love

1. Passes the 7-second test (can tell what HelloFresh does and their value in 7 seconds or less.) Directly in the center of the page is More Than Food: Chef curated recipes based on seasonal farm fresh ingredients delivered every week to your doorstep. This message concisely says what HelloFresh does and why they are different.

2. The layout has a logical thought sequence. First, HelloFresh states the service they provide, then how the delivery process works. The next section builds credibility with a celebrity chef (more on that later), and then, menu options and appealing visuals get you excited about the service. Scrolling down further, real-life customer testimonials shared on social sites remove any second thoughts. All of this content is relevant to the audience, informing and guiding their purchase.

3. Top navigation is simple and includes links to priority information, like Our Boxes, How It Works, Our Recipes, Gift Cards, Jamie Oliver, and Blog. The main navigation isn’t cluttered and doesn’t include a link to everything the site offers.

4. The hero image features delicious-looking food, drawing the eye and supporting their offer. Images that are relevant to the audience and support a brand’s claim are so much better than stock images of generic smiling faces (this happens way to often!).

5. A prominent CTA “View our plans” in the hero image is impossible to miss and tells you exactly what to expect. Imagine if the CTA instead said “click here,” – offering you no information and certainly no reason to click to see more.

7. Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver’s partnership with, and endorsement of, HelloFresh is featured to build credibility and trust. People tend to be suspicious online – no one wants to be tricked by a fraudulent company. Adding a celebrity endorsement, badges, certifications, testimonials, guarantees, etc. eases this anxiety.

Conversion Love

HelloFresh clearly optimized their website with one goal in mind: to turn browsers into buyers.

Clicking the “View Our Plans” CTA on the homepage brings you to a landing page talking through the three box options. Clicking any of the “View Box” CTAs on that page, drives you to the “Customize Box” page, intent on initiating your conversion. The Customize Box page exemplifies Get the Conversion, Simplify the Design, Build Trust, and Keep It Relevant on our checklist.

What We Love

1. The box description continues to make the case for converting. It highlights the farm fresh ingredients, delicious recipes, and flexible subscription. The description also reveals that the family box keeps spiciness to a minimum in order to please the entire family. This information reduces a buyer’s last minute concerns about whether their kids or any of their family’s picky eaters will like the recipes.

2. The “Select a Box” webform is super simple to follow. It asks two main questions: how many people would you like to cook for and how many meals would you like to receive a week? By asking only a few questions, the webform won’t turn off a potential customer, who may get overwhelmed by a long form or by providing personal information.

3. The webform declares shipping is “always free” – a compelling offer for anyone on the fence! Again, HelloFresh is reminding browsers how easy, cost-effective and painless their delivery service is. By stating shipping is “free” early-on, you provide all the information the potential customer needs up front, reducing anxiety that the price will increase after they click through.

4. Additional positive customer testimonials build trust and credibility.

5. The page design is simple, showing no competing or distracting elements. Extra, unrelated offers can confuse a visitor, increase bounce rates, and decrease conversions. By adding white space or blank areas throughout the site, Hello Fresh makes their offer incredibly easy to read and the CTA can’t be missed.

6. The header and footer both promote a $15 off discount for subscribing to HelloFresh’s email address, offering further incentive to purchase.

Try the Website Optimization Checklist for yourself

HelloFresh’s is just one of so many effective websites nailing the balance between nice-to-look-at and nice-to-explore. A website that looks cool, but frustrates users, is worse than a plain site driving conversions, but a stagnant website is the worst of all!

Get our Website Optimization Checklist (above) to systematically analyze pages on your site and pinpoint small updates to improve users’ experience. This checklist can be used time and again to make incremental, impactful improvements.

Regardless of whether you sell products or services, your website should be a lead generation machine, helping you capture new leads and customers. This is especially important for companies with longer sales cycles. When a prospective customer browses your website and then leaves, if you’d captured their email address, you would have the opportunity to re-engage them, nurture them with valuable resources, and guide their journey through your sales cycle.

1. Email sign up form

Your site needs an easy to find newsletter sign up form (preferably located at the top of the page -think F-layout).

Not to toot our own horn, but our newsletter sign-up icon is at the top of the page + expands when clicked on. Plus it’s short + to the point – just enter your email.

2. Valuable content for download

Do you have a blog or website where you share valuable resources + information?

Gated assets, meaning a form must be filled out to access the content, effectively capture leads + easily adds them to your lead nurture stream, to keep your company top of mind.

While gated assets are great – just make sure that not all your content is gated, as to not deter those interested in learning more. The example below is from bit.ly (free URL shortener) for a demo of their Bitly Enterprise service (again, the form is short + to the point):

3. Testimonials from clients/users

Testimonials authenticate claims about your services/products + provide a human touch to a sometimes cold sales pitch. Highlight customers who have had a positive experience with your service + the impact it has had on them or their business. The example below is from Zola (a modern wedding registry service):

4. Optimized Landing Pages/Forms/CTA

There is a lot to optimizing your landing pages and forms + we have written about it previously here and here. But, here’s a quick recap:
• Meaningful headlines. Think about where your users are coming from to get to the landing page. What were they promised when they clicked? Was it from an email that promised a discount? Make sure your landing page headline makes sense and delivers on your promises (free demo, service discount, etc).
• Short + to the point forms– reduce friction for your leads by only asking them for pertinent information (name, email, company name, phone number – you don’t also need to know their mother’s maiden name and favorite color).
• Never submit. Not only are your forms succinct, does the button at the end of your form tell your customer what to do or does it just say the catch-all “SUBMIT” – use action words instead: Get the Case Study, Get Started, Watch Demo. The example below is from Mint (online budgeting tool):

5. Easy to find contact information

Can interested leads easily find how to get in touch with you? Do you have a clear “Contact Us” page or is your contact information available in your header? Don’t lose potential customers because they didn’t know how to reach you! Include physical address, phone number, email, social media accounts (if you have them!), plus an optimized contact us form! This is an example from Floral & Bloom (a floral and event designer):

We hope these 5 simple tips help your website become a lead gen machine!