Product Data Options & Considerations

Product Data is one of the most critical components that drives the PowerReviews solution.

You can inject your Product Data into the PowerReviews solution in two ways: a feed file or a JavaScript Feedless Beacon. Both methods are robust and reliable, and in use by large numbers of our clients. Learn more about these Product Data delivery options and considerations below.

Product Data Delivery Options

Feed Files

• Product Feed
• Google Merchant Product Feed in the following formats (note that PowerReviews will need to confirm we can map and parse your file):
  • .txt: TSV
  • .xml: XML
  • .zip: Zip, compressed TSV or XML

Feedless

• Asynchronous Feedless JavaScript Beacon code integrated on your website

Product Feed vs. Feedless: Business Considerations

We recommend defining and reviewing your high-level business objectives and considerations, and then evaluating these delivery options in that context. Below are some considerations to get you started. Please contact your Implementation Team or Account Team with any questions or to discuss further.

• What resources do you have available to do the work (web developers and/or data analysts/engineers)? If web developers are limited, consider a Product Feed. If data analysts are limited, Feedless may be a better fit.
• What existing investments (such as a Google Merchant Product Feed) do you have that can be leveraged? If a Google Merchant Product Feed exists, PowerReviews can use it if we are able to map and parse the file.
• What eCommerce platform are you using? Some can seamlessly send the required information via the JavaScript Feedless Beacon while others natively cannot.

Product Feed vs. Feedless: Technical Considerations

Feed Files

Pros

• You can leverage existing Google Merchant Product Feed/investments for a single source of product truth, reduced implementation efforts, ongoing maintenance costs, and quicker time to launch.
• This is a fully auditable process combined with PowerReviews Portal tools, which enables 100% control of the product catalog in the PowerReviews solution.

Considerations

• If you're considering leveraging an existing Google Merchant Product Feed, PowerReviews will need to review your file, whether TSV or XML, to confirm that we can map and parse it. Your file may need to be restructured or may not be supported, so please ask us to validate your existing file.
• This method requires coordination of potentially separate resources beyond your web development team to create and deliver files, ensuring all products are in the PowerReviews solution at all times.
• You should never run Feedless in combination with a Product Feed, as any data different from Feedless will cause data conflicts which in turn can cause UGC collection and display issues.

Feedless

Pros

• This is a more hands-off approach in the longterm, requiring asynchronous JavaScript code implementation on your product display pages (PDPs) by your web development team.

Considerations

• When a product has variants, PowerReviews works to ensure page performance by passing a maximum of only the base product and three randomly selected variants, even if the product might have many more (ie., permutations of colors, sizes, etc.). The up-to-three additional variants add to the page load size, which is primarily driven by the length of each corresponding 'Description' value, so you should this factor into your solution decision.
• Some eCommerce platforms are known to not have the native ability (or easy ability) to pass the required product information dynamically and we therefore recommend implementing a recurring Product Feed instead. These eCommerce platforms include, but are not limited to:
  • Big Commerce
  • NetSuite - Suite Commerce
  • Woo Commerce
• Feedless relies on site traffic and pixel fires to send Product Data to PowerReviews. Very low-traffic sites might have an incomplete product catalog captured if PDPs are not browsed frequently; UGC would not be collected on orders if the PDP had not been previously hit. The probability of this is low, but it could happen. (High traffic eCommerce sites show 99.9%+ product coverage.)
• By extension, Feedless is not recommended for brand sites or Syndication-only applications where shoppers are not browsing your site.
• Similarly, Product Data for new products added may not be immediately available for things like product name and product image appearing on the WAR form, or Syndication UPC matching, as PDP traffic is a requirement to collect the Feedless data.
• If you have a low-traffic site but have a mostly static product catalog, PowerReviews can do an initial feed import to get 100% of products loaded, but this would need to be done any time you add a new product.