I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read.

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=168230

Jeff

Firstly, the difference in platforms is partly to blame. To master a keyword campaign, a marketer must become familiar with only two platforms: Google’s and Overture’s. Currently there are 5 strong shopping comparison sites out there with another 10 right behind. For an online retailer to effectively manage 5+ different platforms while juggling thousands of SKU’s is not an easy task. As with MA, others have realized this issue and attempted to integrate management of product feeds into one platform that can control all product being distributed to all of the CE’s being utilized. Without an integrated platform, a merchant is typically buried in their office, juggling datafeeds all day, and generally cursing the moment they first heard of a CE.

Secondly, advanced techniques have been long in developing as Brian pointed out. Without product level bidding and tracking, only broad brushstrokes are possible instead of the pin-point accuracy that has allowed online marketing to become the most exact and precise type of advertising available. Without product level bidding or at least the ability to quickly and easily identify and then extract non-performing products, a merchant is hoping to paint a masterpiece with a broom instead of a paint brush. Additionally, other techniques like day parting are not possible with anywhere between 3-24 hours of average delay in processing new product datafeeds. Either a backend tool should be implemented, or faster upload->processing->posting times for new data feeds.

Thirdly, categorization and product identification must be improved upon. A good example would be using the fastest growing CE, Shopzilla. A search for “pink ipod nano case” brings the following category choices before a customer can view an item:

pink ipod nano case MP3 Player Accessories
pink ipod nano case Computer Cases & Bags
pink ipod nano case PDA Accessories

Which is the best? I don’t know and neither will the merchant without detailed tracking to test each category placement and ultimately decide which option brings in the highest level of profitability. Most merchants believe categorization is a black or white decision. However, going back to the points on understanding the subtle complexities of CE’s, the best categorization for the pink nano case will only be known after AB testing is performed.

To wrap up, CE’s have not reached their full potential but seem to be on the right track. Transparency, advances in detailed control like product level bidding, and proper placement are all good steps. In short, more empowerment and more education will equal more success for everyone involved.

IMO, the only thing that keeps retailers playing ball is fear of “not being there” and therefore not earning purchase consideration. Just ask them!

Hello, JP. Nice to see you here. Equally brilliant. Of course, the compliments come from affiliate marketing’s #1 fear monger/Dr. Death and lead conspiracy theorist

Seattle-based Mercent (www.mercent.com) is also in the game of providing SKU-level transparency.

Oh — and let’s not forget partnering with adware vendors!

http://www.revenews.com/jeffmolander/archives/000768.html

Perhaps Ben Edelman will turn his guns at Nextag once he’s done with Yahoo.

Product-level bidding is just one piece of an effective strategy with the CSEs. Here are some other ideas for a retailer to improve its effectiveness.

1. Make sure all of your products sent to the CSEs actually appear. Bidding strategies are worthless if your important products don’t appear because your product identifiers don’t match those in each CSE’s product catalog. For soft goods, make sure your products appear in the right categories so you’re not paying a higher category CPC rate than you should.

2. Take control of the CSEs by measuring product-level effectiveness. You have insight that the CSEs just don’t have, including product margin, conversion rates, average order value, related cart sales, and lifetime value of a customer. Some retailers choose to share some of this key data with the CSEs through their tracking pixels, but knowledge is power. Take control of the CSEs by using this insight instead of sharing it.

3. Use a combination of bidding, suppression and promotional strategies. Product-level bidding is one strategy, but it is limited to six CSEs and that isn’t likely to change soon (despite the efforts of Brian, CI and others). Product-level suppression is available to every retailer, and is often the most effective way to control the CSEs. Product-level promo text is offered by many of the CSEs, but is only used by a few retailers. The white paper includes some additional strategies as well.

It is this combination of strategies that will result in an effective marketing program, and now there are tools available to make it easy to implement these strategies. As more retailers assert this control, the CSEs will respond with the transparency that Brian and JP described.

The successful CSEs will adjust to these shifts in market dynamics and find ways to make even more money than in the past. And retailers that get an excellent return on their advertising dollars will be happy to pay.

One company, Merchant Advantage claims they are the only provider of detailed product level performance marketing tool called Channel Management. Do you have any knowledge to how well this work?