Our export channels sometimes send feedback on the feed that you have created for that channel. For example, your feed could be missing brand information for some products, or the size of your products might be missing. In this article we summarize the common points of feedback and refer to pages explaining how to handle this feedback to improve your feed. Scan through the document to find the feedback point that you received and then read through the explanation on how to implement the feedback!
1. Color
A lot of our channels require color information for your products. You may not always have this information in a separate field, but often the color is mentioned in the title or the description of your products. There are two methods to retrieve this color from your product's title or description.
Method 1: Search for a list of colors
You can easily search for a list of colors in your titles and descriptions using the search for value rule. Follow the link to find more information on the search for value rule, and an example on how to use it to extract colors.
Method 2: Specify where Channable can find the color
If you always specifically mention for example "color: green" or "color: yellow" in your product information (e.g. description or title), you can use the split text rule to look for the word "color:" and then set the color field to the word that comes after "color:". Also, a lot of web shops choose to mention the color of the product on the end of the product titles. In this case you can also use the split text rule to take the last word of the title (e.g. split on space).
2. Size
For a lot of channels the size of your products is required information. If the size is missing in your feed, the export channel might contact you with the request to add this information. If you don't have the size of your product available in a separate field, it will most probably be present in either your title, description or some field containing specifications. If this is the case, you can often use one of the two methods below.
Method 1: Specify where Channable can find the size
For a lot of web shops many different size notations are possible (e.g. 36, XL, 120cm x 150 cm, 3XL etc.). In this case its best to specify where Channable can find the size in your product information. The easiest way to do so is to always have "size: " before you mention your size in for example your product description. We can then let Channable copy the part that comes after the "size: " part in your description to the "size"-field. To do so you can utilize the split text rule (the example in the linked page also describes extracting the product size from the description).
Method 2: Search for a list of sizes
If you have a limited amount of possible sizes (e.g. XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL), it's easiest to use the search for value rule to search for the size of your product in the title or description. You can follow the exact same steps as in the search for value tutorial, just list the possible sizes instead of colors and choose the "size"-field instead of the "color"-field.
3. Brand
The easiest way to add the brand for your products is to search for your brands appearing in e.g. the category, title or description fields. You can easily follow the search for value tutorial for this, just list the possible brands instead of colors and choose the "brand"-field instead of the "color"-field.
4. Categories
Categories are important for a lot of our export channels and often a point of improvement for product feeds. There are few possible scenarios in case you receive feedback on your categories.
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Categories for all items are missing from your feed or are invalid.
To fix this feedback, first go to "Feeds > [your feed] > Finalize" and check if the field "category (internal)" is connected to the category field for that specific feed:If this is not the case, connect the category (internal) field in the finalize step. When you have connected the field you can simply go to "Feeds > [your feed] > Categories" and add categories for all your items. You can either add categories separately or generate categories until 100% of your products have been assigned a category for your export feed. By using the categories step you also assure yourself that you are using valid feed categories.
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Only some of your items are missing a category.
In this case, first check the finalize step of your feed to find out which field is connected to the category field for that specific feed. If the field connected is called "category (internal)", just like in the screenshot above, you can simply go to the categories step of your feed and add categories until all your items have been categorized. Another option is to exclude all products that have no category (internal) with a simple rule like the one below:
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Some of your products are placed in incorrect categories.
This problem is a bit more difficult to fix. The best way to tackle this problem is to ask your export channel for some examples of products that have an incorrect category assigned to them. You can then use a "check rule" at the end of your rules to find out what category (internal) was assigned to the products. You've then got two options to assign the right category (internal) to the products:
(a): Set the specific products with the wrong category (internal) to the right category using a "set category rule". This works well if the number of products with the wrong category isn't that big, or when it's easy to select the products that are in the wrong category.
(b): Find the mistake in your categories mapping. A lot of times when your items are placed in the wrong category, there is something wrong with the categories step of the export. To fix this it's best to first find out which (internal) category is assigned to the item after all your rules are applied; use the "check rule" to find out. Then go to the categories step and find the categorization in which items you received feedback about are placed. One of these self created categories is selecting your product for some reason. Maybe your categories are too general or maybe you made a mistake in choosing the filter or value in the category?
5. Subcategory
Some export channels require the last part of the category path (e.g. "Sneakers" in Clothing > Shoes > Sneakers) to be added in the "finalize" step of your feed. In order to do so, first add a new field that you name "subcategory", for example. Then you can use the split text rule to select the last part of the category path by splitting on ">" and then selecting the last part:
To find out if splitting the subcategory from your category path has worked out like you wanted it to, you can always click the yellow "selected products" button and check out the subcategory field for your products.
6. Material
If you need to add the material for your products and you don't have this information in a separate field, you probably have to find it in the product description or some specifications field. In this case you have two options; searching for a list of possible materials or specifying where Channable can find your materials.
Method 1: Search for a list of materials
If the number of possible materials is limited (under +/- 30 different materials), you can easily search for a list of materials in your titles and descriptions using the search for value rule. You can follow the exact same steps as in the search for value tutorial, just list the possible materials instead of colors and choose the "material"-field instead of the "color"-field.
Method 2: Specify where Channable can find the material
If you always specifically mention for example "material: 60% Cotton" or "material: 70% Elasthane" in your product information (e.g. description or title), you can use the split text rule to look for the word "material:" and then set the material field to the word(s) that come(s) after "material:". Also, some web shops choose to mention the material of the product on the end of the product titles. In this case you can also use the split text rule to take the last word of the title (e.g. split on space).
7. Gender
Some channels might ask you to specify which gender your products are for. If your products are all for the same gender (or if all your products are unisex), you can easily create a new field and use a simple rule like the one below to set the gender for all your products:
However, in a lot of cases you can't set the same gender for all of your products. In this case we need to find the gender information from other product fields. A lot of times, the category or product type information coming from your web shop contains this information (e.g. "men shoes" or "women > clothing > shoes"), in this case you can tweak the rule above to check for these values. An example of how this can be done is described in the "set to value" rule.
8. Group sizes together
For most export Channels, you need to send every variant of a product (e.g. every size of a shoe) as a separate item in the product feed. However, some channels (e.g. Fashionchick & Spartoo) require that you send products with all available sizes listed in the "size" field. To meet this requirement you will need to group all sizes of the products using the "group products" rule, how to use this rule is explained in detail in the "group products" support page.