Using a product feed with Enrichment Automation (EA) is an effective way to keep your product offering in digital catalog updated. To ensure the EA can process your feed and create products, it’s important to follow best practices when setting up the feed.
Data file or a data feed?
When to use a feed: | When to use a file: |
When data is dynamic and changes during the Flipbook’s lifetime | When data is static during the Flipbook’s lifetime |
Typically, the source for your feed file is the same that you use in other areas of your business, such as your CMS, or e-commerce solution.
Use an approved data feed format
Appropriate file types for creating data files, or feeds, can be:
.xml
.csv
Google Merchant feed
JSON
Include all the relevant data fields
Ensure that all the relevant data fields and properties are included, consistently, in your product feed, for example:
Product IDs or SKUs
Product name
Product description
Product variations, such as:
Color
Size
Product price
Product images, including separate images for each product variant.
💡 Avoid nesting data in your product feed. A flat data structure ensures that your data can be read by your Enrichment Automation.
Make sure your products are easily identifiable
Use a unique identifier for each product, such as a SKU, and ensure it remains consistent when updating data.
Be consistent with data specifications you include for all products in your feed.
Write unique, helpful, descriptive, and keyword rich content in appropriate fields (such as description fields).
Follow data feed specifications, if using, for example, Google Merchant Center.
Update your data feed at a regular cadence, to ensure the most up-to-date information is used.
Use valid Unicode characters, and maintain the same ID for the same product across all countries and languages.
Links to products in your product feed
Use your verified Branded Domain name.
Use HTTPS.
Use an encoded URL that complies with RFC 2396 or RFC 1738.
Use an appropriate update cadence
Choose an appropriate update cadence based on how often your product feed changes:
On request: Generates the feed when a visitor loads the URL, ideal for frequently changing data like prices or stock, but may slow Flipbook load times for large feeds.
On schedule: Generates the feed at set intervals (e.g., twice daily), offering faster Flipbook loads with slightly less up-to-date information.
📖 See our full guide on data requirements for Enrichment automation, here: