DATA FEEDS

Contents

Adacado Data Feed Requirements

In Adacado, a data feed is required to dynamically populate your display ads with product data such as product image, title, and price. for creating dynamic ads. It enables the generation of product data for dynamic display ads, including product image, title, and price, in your ads. If you prefer to create static ads, no data feed is necessary. Learn more about creating static ads.

Supported Feed Types

Adacado supports the following feed types:

• CSV (including Google Sheets URLs)
• Google Sheets URL (CSV)
• Google Product Feed (RSS XML)
• TXT (as long as values are consistently delimited)
• Shopify (via Adacado Inventory Connector)

Feed Hosting

Host your data feed through: 

• Public URL (HTTP/HTTPS)
• FTP Server (FTP/FTPS)
• Shopify (via Adacado Inventory Connector)

NOTE: SFTP is currently not supported.

Data Format

Ensure that the information in your feeds strictly adheres to Adacado’s specifications for seamless processing. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the specified data format for each field relevant to your business type.

Examples of Data Feeds by Business Type

Explore examples of data feeds in a Google Sheet (CSV) for various business types:

• Retail
• Auto

Data Feed Acquisition

Explore three ways to acquire data feeds: Feed Providers, E-commerce Platforms, and DIY.

Feed Providers

• Explore specialized feed providers offering tailored services for creating product feeds aligned with your website’s content. 
• Utilizing a feed provider adds flexibility and ease of use, making it particularly beneficial for websites with a high volume of products or services that frequently change.

E-commerce Platforms

• Leverage the tools provided by established e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento to efficiently create and manage product data feeds.

NOTE: Shopify merchants can explore our direct integration option.

Make Your Own

• For advertisers with a limited number of products, services, or messages/offers, crafting your own feed using a spreadsheet is a common and cost-effective option. 
• For example, host your feed on Google Sheets for streamlined management of product data.

Understanding Product Data at Different Levels

Adacado provides flexibility in managing product data at different levels: advertiser products, accessible across all campaigns within an advertiser, and campaign-specific products, involving a separate data feed. By default, each campaign is set to use the full set of advertiser products.

Advertiser Products

• Global product data for all campaigns within an advertiser.
• Setting up a data feed for the initial campaign of an advertiser automatically saves the configuration in the advertiser product settings.
• This results in the generation of advertiser products, accessible to all campaigns within the advertiser.

NOTE: Any alteration in the data feed configuration at the advertiser level impacts all campaigns using advertiser products.

Campaign-Specific Products

• Tailored product data for specific campaigns.
• For each campaign, you can switch between using campaign-specific products or advertiser products as needed. 
• To use entirely different product data from advertiser products for a specific campaign, choose the “Add and use products only for this campaign” option and configure a separate data feed on the campaign product settings page.
• If you wish to continue using advertiser products but limit them to specific items  (e.g., the Dress category only) for your campaign, use the filtering option available on the campaign product settings page to add custom filters, ensuring that only the desired subset of advertiser products is used.

NOTE:

• Any modification in campaign-specific data feed configuration solely affects the corresponding campaign.
• To revert to using advertiser products in a campaign, select “Use product from advertiser” in the “Change Data Source” field. This action immediately replaces the previous campaign-specific products with the advertiser’s products in the campaign.

Data Feed Configuration

Follow these steps to seamlessly configure your data feed and generate your product data in the Adacado platform.

Step 1: Access Product Settings

• Initiate the campaign setup by adding a creative.
• Navigate to the “Product Data” tab or select it in the campaign drop-down menu. 
• For the initial campaign, the data feed configuration and product data are automatically saved at the advertiser level.

Step 2: Retrieve Your Data Feed

Choose data feed protocol/source.

Feed URLs with HTTP/HTTPs:

• Choose this if your data feed is accessible through a URL beginning with “HTTP” or “HTTPS,” or if you are using a Google Sheet.
• Click “Fetch Sample” after entering the feed URL.

Feed Hosting on FTP:

• Opt for this option if your feed is stored on an FTP/FTPS (Explicit TLS).
• Enter your credentials, including the host address, username, password, and file path.
• If your data feed file is in the root directory of the FTP, simply enter the file name and extension into the “File Path” field. For files located within a sub-directory, here is an example: subfolder-name/data-feed.csv
• Click “Fetch Sample” after entering the feed URL.

Step 3: Validate the Selected Data Delimiter

After fetching a sample of your data feed, ensure the correct data delimiter is selected.

• A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters that specifies the boundary between separate regions, like a comma or a tab to separate distinct values.
• If your file format is CSV/Google Sheet (comma-separated values), “By comma” will be automatically selected. If you choose “Custom,” you will need to manually enter the delimiter.

Step 4: Map Your Data Feed

Map your product information by associating Adacado’s predefined data fields with your feed’s columns/headers. This step is crucial as it determines the product information available for ad content and product targeting.

IMPORTANT: If using a Google XML feed, the system will automatically map your data; skip this step.

Data Fields

Adacado uses predefined data fields tailored to the advertiser’s business type (e.g., Retail, Auto, Real Estate, Hotel, and Service) for mapping. The table below illustrates examples of which data field should be used for mapping columns or the header names in your feed.

NOTE: If you wish to show prices with a currency symbol or decimal points, ensure that your data feed includes these details in the price value for each product.

Mapping Data Fields

When fetching your data feed, Adacado attempts to automatically map relevant data fields. Ensure all necessary data for ad content and product targeting is mapped. You can add, move, or remove data fields as needed.

Click “Save Changes” after making changes.

IMPORTANT:

• Ensure the mandatory field, Product Link, is mapped.
• Mapped data fields make product information available for display or use in ads, depending on your creative and product targeting options.

Step 5: Set Up Your Data Feed Schedule

Schedule your data feed to run at specific intervals and times to ensure up-to-date product information, especially for large inventories with rapidly changing stock. 

• Adacado automatically processes your feed daily by default.
• The feed update schedule aligns with the advertiser’s timezone setting.
• Click “Save Changes” after making adjustments. 

NOTE: 

• When working with a feed provider, coordinate to establish the expected completion time for the feed update. 
• Schedule the data feed run after the update finishes on the feed provider’s side. For instance, if the update is completed at 9:00 am, it is recommended to schedule the data feed run after 9:00 am, such as 9:30 am.

Step 6: Select Process Options

Complete the process configuration by setting the alert level and processing limit.

Alert Level

• Default setting: “No Alerts.”
• Specify the threshold number of products to trigger a notification email if the database’s product count falls below the alert level after feed processing. 
• Useful for detecting empty or inaccessible data feed files.

Processing Limit

• Default setting: “Process All (No Limit).”
• Choose whether to process the entire feed or limit the number of products processed.
• Product costs incur when processing more than 5 items from your feed. Limit the number of products for testing purposes.

Step 7: Save and Process Your Data Feed

Finalize your data feed setup by saving the configuration and processing the feed to load your product data into Adacado. Click the “Save” button at the bottom right and choose either “Save and Process” or “Save Only.”

Save and Process

• Select this option to generate product data immediately and incorporate it into your advertiser/campaign.
• The data feed configuration is saved to the product settings page, and the feed is processed promptly.
• Verify that product data has been processed correctly.
• If you’ve chosen a creative template, ensure the intended product data displays in your ad as expected.

Save Only

• Opt for this option if you only want to save your data feed configuration and process your product data at a later time.
• This option incurs no product costs since no product data is generated immediately.
• When ready to process your data feed and generate product data, access the product settings page where the data feed configuration has been saved.
• Click the “Save” button and choose “Save and Process” to initiate feed processing.

Data Feed Management and Monitoring

Discover essential features for managing data feeds in Adacado. From applying filters to monitoring system alerts, these tools empower you to optimize data feed setup and enhance campaign effectiveness. Explore advanced functionalities for detailed control and real-time insights.

Replace Data Feed

To update your existing data feed with a new one for your campaign, follow these steps:

• Determine whether your campaign is using advertiser products or campaign-specific products. 
• Update the corresponding data feed configuration by replacing the current data feed URL or FTP credentials with new ones. Follow through with the entire configuration process.

IMPORTANT:

• Replacing the current data feed with a new one will instantly remove all existing products and add new products to the product list.
• If the campaign is using the advertiser products, any modifications in this configuration will directly impact all campaigns within the advertiser that use advertiser products. However, campaigns utilizing campaign-specific products will remain unaffected by changes made to advertiser products.

Filter Product Data

Advertiser products can be used, whether filtered or unfiltered, for each campaign within the advertiser. You have the flexibility to set up distinct filters for each campaign on the campaign product settings pages. 

Filtering criteria can be customized based on the data mapping of your advertiser products. To explore the process of adding data filters to advertiser products, refer to our detailed guide.

Manual Data Feed Run

For a quick update of your ads with the latest information from your feed, follow these steps to manually run the feed and update product data:

• Navigate to the product settings page.
• Click the “Reload” button located at the bottom right.
• After completing the manual feed run, review the updated product information on the “Products” page. 

Validate Data Feed Runs

Ensure successful data feed processing by checking the bell icon next to your account name in the header. It provides information about the status and timing of recent data feed runs.

Delete Data Feeds and Product Data

To discontinue using product data and prevent accruing product costs, explore options for deleting data feeds and products within the Adacado platform. Refer to our detailed guide for the deletion process.

Monitor Adacado System Alerts

Stay informed about potential issues related to your data feed that could impact your campaigns’ performance. We send email alerts for various issues, including:

• Broken product image links
• Data feed processing failure
• Data feed low product quantity 

Learn more about Adacado System Alerts and how they relate to potential data feed issues.

FAQs

Q: How do I create a URL for my CSV file?

If you’re unsure where to begin, we recommend using Google Sheets to create your CSV data feed. Check out our guide here for detailed instructions.

Q: How do I create an image URL?

For creating image URLs for your products or services, explore various options. Find more information in our guide here.

Q: Can I have multi-tabs in my CSV file?

CSV files support only one tab. If you are using Google Sheets and need to use multiple tabs, check out our guide here for instructions on utilizing multiple tabs in a Google Sheet.

Q: What do I do if my images are not working?

• Image processing may take some time. Allow the system some time to process your data.
• If your image doesn’t appear in your ad or product list:
  • Check Image URL: The image is likely either inaccessible or does not exist. Verify that your image URL is a direct link. Ensure it leads directly to the image rather than a web page with the image. The image URL needs to be publicly accessible so that Adacado can download the image and add it to your product data.
  • Test accessibility: If the image is still not visible, consider placing your images on another server, such as Dropbox, S3, Google Cloud Storage, etc. Test the image’s accessibility using the image download tester on the “Products” page on our platform. The product image download error message and image download tester are only visible if none of the first 10 product image URLs in your feed are functional.

• If your image doesn’t appear in your ad but appears in the product data list
  • Server Access: Your image may exist, but we cannot access the image from our cloud provider or downloader due to a restriction on your side. Allow access (at least) to our download IP 104.196.66.163. Some web servers block proxy requests, so update your web servers to allow downloads.
  • User Agent: For the rest, we use a Chrome user agent with a recent version to minimize common issues with accepting our download requests for images in your ads.

Q: Why is my Google Sheet Product Feed not working?

If your Google Sheet Product Feed is not functioning, ensure your Google Sheet’s share settings are set to “anyone with the link.” This setting is crucial for Adacado to access and retrieve the data from your Google Sheet.

Q: I updated my feed, but my ads still show the old info. What is happening?

Double-check that your data fields are correctly mapped. Incorrect mapping can lead to outdated or inaccurate information being displayed. If mapping is correct and changes are not reflected, force a manual data feed update.