Feed Management Services vs. Feed Management Software: How are they different?

In the world of eCommerce, getting your products seen by the right customers at the right time across various online channels is paramount. The success of your ads hinges on the quality and optimization of your product data feeds. 

As you scale your online business, managing these feeds becomes increasingly complex. Many begin to explore different solutions like using a dedicated feed management tool or opting for expert feed management services.

This article will delve into: 

• What product feeds are 
• Why managing them effectively is crucial 
• A comparison between two primary approaches: using feed management tool vs. feed management services.

All this will help you decide which is the best fit for your business needs.

What is feed management?

Product feeds play a crucial role in ensuring data accuracy across channels. Your website's product data isn't static. Prices, stock levels, and product listings change frequently. Manually updating this information on every sales channel whenever a change occurs is practically impossible, especially with a large inventory. An automated product feed, typically accessed via a URL, makes it easier to manage and update your listings across platforms.

This process of organizing, optimizing, and distributing your product listings strategically is known as feed management. Effective feed management involves tasks like: 

• Improving feeds for better performance
• Keeping inventory accurate
• Syncing data continuously across various channels. 

A well-managed feed:

• Enhances product visibility
• Improves the customer experience through data accuracy
• Increases relevance to potential customers
• Offers a centralized platform for storing all your feeds.

The challenge of feed management

While the concept seems simple, managing product feeds effectively comes with its own set of challenges. This is especially true as your business grows and you expand to more sales channels.

Each channel has its own specific requirements. These include mandatory and recommended attributes, file formats, and taxonomies (product categories). Meeting these diverse requirements manually for each channel can be time-consuming. It’s also easy to make errors. 

Key challenges include:

Data transformation

Product data from your store's database might need significant modification to meet channel specifications. This involves mapping fields, combining data, changing formats, and adding or removing information.

Optimization

Beyond just meeting requirements, optimizing titles, descriptions, images, and other attributes with relevant keywords and structured information is essential for improving visibility and performance.

Data accuracy and freshness

Prices, stock levels, and product availability change constantly. Ensuring that all channels have the most up-to-date information requires frequent updates. Discrepancies can lead to customer disappointment or even account suspension.

Product inclusion/exclusion

You might need to exclude certain products based on profitability, stock levels, seasonality, or other criteria to optimize campaign ROI. Manually managing these rules across thousands of products is difficult.

Error resolution

Platforms can reject feeds or disapprove products if they don't meet quality standards or have errors like missing mandatory fields or incorrect data. Identifying and fixing these errors requires technical understanding.

For online retailers selling a large number of products or using multiple sales channels, manual feed creation and management quickly become unsustainable. Even basic Content API feeds offered by shopping carts often lack the necessary customization and optimization capabilities required for effective multichannel advertising. This is where feed management tools and services come into play.

Solution 1: Feed management tools

Product feed management tools are online software platforms designed to automate and streamline the process of sourcing, organizing, cleaning, optimizing, and distributing product data into feeds ready for various advertising channels.

They serve as a central hub for your product information, making it easier to transfer data to online platforms, marketplaces, and social media. Using a tool makes feed management more structured, simple, and saves significant time compared to manual methods.

An ideal feed management tool offers a wide range of features to make managing feeds easier. 

These include:

Reliable integrations 

Connecting to your eCommerce platform (via API or plugin) and supporting various file types (CSV, XML, etc.) for data import.

Easy data mapping and transformation 

Simplifying the process of mapping your store's fields to channel requirements. Tools often provide pre-loaded templates for various channels. They should allow for complex transformations like combining fields, modifying data, adding prefixes/suffixes, and creating rule-based conditions.

Broad optimization possibilities

Offering flexible options to optimize titles, descriptions, and other attributes, including A/B testing capabilities.

Simple inclusion and exclusion rules

Allowing you to easily include or exclude products from feeds based on criteria like price, stock, or profitability.

Automatic and frequent updates 

Scheduling automated daily or multiple daily updates to keep your product data fresh across channels. Manual updates should also be possible for urgent changes.

Feed quality control

Monitoring feeds for errors and providing reports to identify issues before upload. Some tools can even auto-correct common errors.

Wide Range of Export Destinations: Supporting integrations with numerous channels and marketplaces, and allowing the creation of custom feeds.

At DataFeedWatch by Cart.com, we’ve built our platform to simplify feed management for marketers and eCommerce teams—whether they’re managing one shop or many. What our customers value most is being able to quickly connect their products to the right channels and make meaningful optimizations without relying on developers or jumping between tools.

Not all feed management tools offer the same level of control, usability, or support. Many platforms can feel complex, limiting how hands-on you can be—or requiring extra technical help just to get started. At DataFeedWatch, we aim to make feed management intuitive, flexible, and accessible, even if you're not a developer. Here’s how we compare to other popular solutions on the market:

Solution 2: Feed Management Services (Managed Service)

For businesses that lack the internal knowledge, time, or resources to manage feeds effectively, or those responsible for multiple feeds and accounts, feed management services offer an alternative: outsourcing the entire feed management process to a team of experts.

At DataFeedWatch by Cart.com we provide such an offering called Managed Service. This is a full feed service designed to ensure your product feeds are always accurate, up-to-date, and optimized by relying on the DataFeedWatch team. 

It provides a "white glove service" for customers who need experts to handle feed management for them. While the DataFeedWatch support team can assist with most queries, Managed Service goes beyond standard support by handling tasks that require outsourcing and offering "almost virtually limitless" possibilities for customization and solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Managed Service allows your team to focus on core marketing strategies and campaigns while the DataFeedWatch feed experts deliver the technical feed management. You retain full control of your marketing strategy and campaigns.

This is what we handle for you if you sign up for Managed Service with DataFeedWatch by Cart.com:

Technical setup and customization

• We take care of the entire technical setup, including connecting your channels and managing custom labels.
• If needed, we create tailored scripts to suit your specific requirements.

Smooth migration

• Switching from another provider? We ensure a seamless transition, so you can get up and running without hassle.

Feed monitoring and troubleshooting

• After setup, we continuously monitor your feeds to catch and resolve errors, including cleaning up issues in GMC and other channels.
• We handle any technical troubleshooting to keep everything running smoothly.

Ongoing optimization

• We make regular updates, adjustments, and improvements to your feeds—all based on your approval. You remain in control, while we manage the ongoing work.

Dedicated expert support

• You’ll have a dedicated feed expert as your point of contact, who checks in regularly to offer support and advice.
• Reach us easily via chat, email, or video call during business hours.

Channel expansion assistance

• Looking to expand to new channels like TikTok or Pinterest? We guide the setup and ensure your feeds are optimized for each platform to align with your business goals.

The process for Managed Service is straightforward: connect with the team, receive a personalized proposal within 48 hours, get set up within 3 days by a dedicated point of contact, and then benefit from ongoing optimization and the ability to request tasks anytime.

Why do companies find Managed Service useful?

This service addresses the need for time-saving and expert support in feed optimization. It's ideal for those who want to focus on campaign performance without worrying about feed setup. Managed Service aims to improve return on investment by optimizing feeds to drive better campaign results. Key benefits include access to feed management professionals’ expertise, increased efficiency through outsourcing, enhanced performance via continuous optimization, and dedicated support throughout the process.

DataFeedWatch feed management services has demonstrated significant results for customers, including:

• Significant time savings in feed creation and management. 

SearchKings, for example, reported saving 28 hours a month by utilizing the Managed Service program. This allows them to save time in the setup processes.

• Contributes to performance improvements. 

A case study noted a 44% CVR increase on Google Shopping with DataFeedWatch's Managed Service. While the source attributes specific conversion rate increases (17% and 44%) to the use of AI-generated titles, the case study highlights that the Managed Service team's expertise and execution capabilities supported these optimizations.

• Enhanced speed in setup and execution. 

Feeds can be seamlessly set up for clients typically within 3 days. Requests can be addressed quickly, often within 24 hours. This expedites the feed setup and integration process.

• Described as a "game-changer" for agencies in delivering exceptional results, providing speed, efficiency, and expertise vital for maintaining a competitive edge.

Managed Service is a tailored option that releases users from the burden of feed management while keeping the user in full control of decisions and requests. It offers a clear process with specific steps and timelines. While it provides expert insights and best practices, it's important to note that Managed Service is not offering services of a Digital Advertising Agency and does not manage Google Ads campaigns or provide extensive proactive strategic advice beyond feed optimization. 

Pricing for Managed Service is based on factors like the number of shops, channels, SKU count, channel types, and the complexity of requests.

Feed management tool vs. Managed Service: Which is right for you?

Choosing between a feed management tool and expert feed management services depends largely on your business's specific needs, resources, and goals.

A Feed Management Tool is an excellent choice if:

• You have the internal team with the necessary knowledge and time to manage, optimize, and monitor your product feeds actively.
• You want full hands-on control over every aspect of your feed management process.
• You are comfortable learning and utilizing the features of the software to create rules, map attributes, and resolve errors.
• You are looking for a cost-effective solution and have the resources to dedicate personnel to feed management tasks.

Feed Management Services, specifically DataFeedWatch's Managed Service, are ideal if:

• You lack the internal expertise, time, or dedicated resources to manage complex product feeds effectively.
• You are managing a large number of products or multiple client accounts (if you are an agency) and need to scale efficiently.
• You want to save significant time and allow your marketing team to focus on strategy, campaign performance, and other core business activities.
• You need expert assistance with complex configurations, custom scripts, or navigating tricky channel requirements and errors.
• You want to benefit from the knowledge and best practices of feed optimization specialists.
• You prefer a "white glove" service where a dedicated team handles the technical heavy lifting while you retain strategic control.

Managed Service is designed to take the burden of feed management off your shoulders, providing peace of mind and often leading to significant improvements in campaign performance and efficiency. Customers using Managed Service have reported substantial increases in ROAS, CVR, and time savings.

DataFeedWatch by Cart.com: Your partner for feed management

At DataFeedWatch, we offer powerful solutions to meet different business needs. As a leading feed management tool, we provide the resources and support that allow you to take full control of your feed management and optimization. If you prefer a more hands-off approach, our Managed Service gives you access to a team of experienced feed specialists who handle everything for you.

Whether you choose to manage your feeds using our feature-rich platform or work with our experts through the Managed Service, you’ll benefit from solutions that help improve the quality of your product feeds, boost visibility across channels, save time, and ultimately drive better advertising results and sales performance.

Conclusion

Effective product feed management is fundamental to success in the competitive eCommerce landscape. It ensures your products are accurately represented and optimally displayed across all the channels where your customers shop. The choice between using a feed management tool and opting for expert feed management services depends on your unique business circumstances, including your team's capabilities, available time, and strategic priorities.

A tool like DataFeedWatch by Cart.com empowers you with control and automation, while DataFeedWatch's Managed Service provides expert support and outsourcing to free up your team and maximize efficiency and performance. Evaluate your needs, resources, and goals to determine which approach is the best investment for your business's growth.

To learn more about how DataFeedWatch's expert team can handle the heavy lifting and optimize your product feeds for you, discover our Managed Service offering today.