Before including your products on Data Feeds it is important to be aware of the listing requirements of the various feed destinations. You can view the Shopping Providers Recommended Inventory File Content table for a list of data points that are typically required for most shopping providers, but as a best practice you should visit each provider's site to view their specific list of data requirements.

• Adding Data Points to Inventory  - If you do not currently have data for certain required data points you may need to add a new attribute to your inventory and populate that attribute with the values accepted by the provider.  
  
  View the  Using Inventory Attributes page for details.

• Using Business Rules and Lookup Lists to manipulate inventory  - If you already have a similar data point in your inventory but your values do not match the provider values, you can utilize a business rule or a lookup list to transform your value to match the values required.  
  
  View the  Business Rules and Lookup Lists pages for details. 

Tracking pixels must be installed on various pages of your website to capture traffic, order and event data. The pixels are JavaScript and HTML code and are very similar to others you may already have on your site. Each pixel is a 1x1 image that is invisible to the user. For active campaigns, once the pixel is installed you should expect to see reporting in ChannelAdvisor within 24 hours. Below is a list of the tracking pixels that can be installed on your website.

Please Note:    If you do not have the access or knowledge to make these changes to your website you should contact your web developer or whoever makes changes to your site. 

• Natural Search Pixel (Required) - This pixel captures inbound traffic information.
• Order Tracking Pixel (Required) - This pixel captures order and conversion information which is used to measure the effectiveness of each campaign.
• Event Based Pixel (Optional) - This pixel allows you to track different actions on your site and measure them as part of your overall search marketing program

View the Implementing Tracking Pixels page for additional information. 

To create a product feed ChannelAdvisor has provided a simple guide that walks you through each step of the process. Whether you are creating a feed designated for a Comparison Shopping Engine or a Flex Feed designated for any other destination you will need to complete each step of the guide starting with the first step of designating the feed destination.

1. Begin by navigating to your  Feeds > Product Mapping > Feeds  view.
2. Select the ' New Feed ' button.
3. Choose a feed destination site (Comparison Shopping or Flex Feed).

View the Selecting Your Feed Destination page for additional information.

Selecting your inventory to be included in your shopping and flex feeds is an important step in the feed creation process that involves the use of  labels to assign your inventory as well as a process called Reference Field Mapping. 

1. Simply select the appropriate label assigned to the inventory to be applied to your data feed
2. Choose to customize your label using the Inventory Selector

For additional details view the Selecting Inventory to Include with Your Feed page.

Templates determine what data from your inventory will be sent to the various feed destinations and in what format that data will be sent in. You can create and assign a template to a feed as part of the feed creation process. The  ChannelAdvisor Merchandiser is a tool that allows you to map your template to your inventory.You will also have the ability to utilize some advanced mapping options, such as  business rules and lookup lists that will allow you to dynamically manipulate your data in order to optimize how your data appears on the various comparison shopping sites. 

View the Mapping the Feed Template page for additional details.

This step in the process is where you can configure the settings that your feed will run on. You will need tom complete the following settings to complete this section of the guide:

1. Assign a Schedule - You have the ability to determine when your feed is sent and when to stop sending your feed by completing the schedule section of your settings. 
2. Enter Provider Account Manager Information - This information can be used to contact a Provider Representative if needed, troubleshoot issues.This information is optional, but recommended.
3. Enter Provider Estimated Cost - Estimated Cost is a value used to approximate the costs for Providers that do not send Actual Cost Data.  The rate information entered here will be used for Performance and Reporting information. 

View the Configuring Feed Settings page for additional details.

In order for your data to be sent to your designated site you must take the final step of previewing and activating your feed.  

1. Previewing Your Feed - It is always a best practice to preview the information you will be sending to any provider.
• Navigate to your  Feeds > Product Mapping > Feeds  view. 
• Click into an existing feed.
• Enter your email address.
• Select the  Create a Full Feed Preview  button.
• Depending on the size of your feed, it may take some time to complete your preview feed.  Once your preview feed is ready, you will receive an email address notification.
• You may access your feed preview on the Feed History page.
2. Activating/Deactivating Your Feed -  If you have completed all of the necessary feed configurations you will have the option to activate your feed.  A Feed can be activated or deactivated in three ways .
3. Validating a Feed -  After you have made your feed  Active , it will be sent to the site configured in your Feed Info section.  Be sure to login to the site destination to validate that the feed was received and can be processed.  If there are errors you will want to resolve them and re-send your feed.

View the Making Feeds Active page for additional details.

After activating your feeds you will need to monitor and manage your feed performance. There are sveral tools available that can assist you with this important step.

• The Feeds Dashboard - Located in the Feeds > Performance > Dashboard view, the Dashboard is the hub for managing your feeds data.  This view provides an overview of data feeds that you send to the various sites, alerts associated with your account, and information on the inventory you send to ChannelAdvisor. The content of the inventory section varies depending on whether the data was sent from an external source or an internal source. 
  
  View the Feeds Dashboard page for additional details.
   
• Managing Feeds view the Feeds View - Located in the  Feeds > Product Mapping  view, the feeds view will serve as your primary location for managing all of the Shopping and Flex Feeds from your account. You can perform a variety of feed management tasks from this view.
  
  View the  Using the Feeds View page for additional details.
   
• Resolving Feed Errors  - Feed errors can be viewed directly from the  Feeds > Performance > Dashboard  view. Within the  Feed Status  table you can click on any non-zero value in the Errors column to open details about the error. Clicking on the error link will take you to the  Feeds > Product Mapping > Feed History  view where you can see details on the errors contained in the feed.