5 ingredients that make product catalog optimization effective

Product catalogs are not new. In fact, they are older than you might believe. According to Wikipedia, one of the earliest recordings of a product catalog is in 1667, when William Lucas, an English gardener, mailed his customers a catalog featuring prices for his plant seeds. Since then, catalogs have gone digital, but retailers still share them with their audience with the goal of making a sale.

In the digital age, ensuring your catalogs reach your audience goes beyond sharing them across online platforms. The online space comes with other methods that can increase audience reach. And just like search engine optimization helps online content rank higher in search engines, product catalog optimization helps product catalogs increase in efficiency.

In what follows, I will offer some information about product catalog optimization and go into the benefits of implementing it through online product catalogs. I will also cover the most important elements that can help you optimize your product catalog. Last but not least, I will share some great interactive product catalog templates you can find on Flipsnack to understand better how product catalog optimization looks like in an interactive digital catalog.

What is product catalog optimization?

Product catalog optimization is the process of implementing strategies to enhance and refine product data across digital platforms. This is achieved by ensuring that every element of the digital product catalog is optimized for user engagement and satisfaction, and online availability. Online product catalog optimization is not just about aesthetics; it makes products easier to discover and increases the likelihood of purchase.

Digital catalog makers online provide various features and interactive elements that facilitate this process. Still, just like having Adobe Premiere Pro on your PC doesn’t make you a motion designer if you don’t know how to use it, having a digital catalog doesn’t mean you’ve implemented any product catalog optimization techniques. Understanding the process and knowing how to implement them correctly gives you the tools to do it successfully.

What does your business gain from product catalog optimization?

It is important for any retail business, regardless of the domain, to facilitate purchasing options for their customers. For any retail business venturing online, a digital product catalog means extra exposure for your business and extra engagement opportunities for your customers. 

By implementing digital product catalog optimization strategies, your business will benefit from the following advantages:

1. Increased product visibility and audience reach – with the help of a good SEO strategy, you can increase your online product catalog’s visibility in search results
2. Lower costs – the production, distribution, and management of brand-consistent catalogs are cheaper, easier, and faster thanks to online product catalogs
3. Greater engagement and increased sales – a product catalog that is well-optimized and interactive will generate more engagement and more revenue
4. Better sales strategies – an online product catalog offers great statistics about views, devices, engagements, and other relevant catalog information you can use to improve your sales strategy
5. Extra time – accessing, editing, managing, and sharing your product catalogs is easier, takes less time, and allows you to spend more time on other parts of your business.

In order to gain these advantages, retailers need to take a closer look at their current product catalog and understand how to optimize it correctly. Digital presence in today’s online market goes beyond just having your products online. Online content, regardless of its form, needs to be optimized so that it quickly reaches potential customers when they start their search. This can significantly impact your business, seeing as more than 30% of global consumers start this search on Google or Bing.

Through product catalog optimization, you can influence how easily potential customers encounter your products online. To make it easy for customers to purchase your product, you need to provide them with comprehensive and compelling information that answers all their questions. This information should be organized logically, with the most important details mentioned first.

Each of these elements serves different purposes and is suitable for different types of publications. Some provide extra information (text, visual, audio), and others facilitate the selling process (product tags, shopping lists). Let’s take a look at the 5 ingredients that make product catalogs awesome. 

How to implement product catalog optimization in Flipsnack

I’ve offered some information about the advantages an online product catalog brings. Now, let’s see which are the 5 ways to implement online product catalog optimization techniques in Flipsnack:

1. Provide informative and engaging content 
2. Include high-quality media elements
3. Bridge the gap between retailer and customer
4. Give customers a one-stop-shopping experience
5. Take product catalog optimization to new heights

Let’s take them one by one.

1. Provide informative and engaging content

In the realm of online commerce, product catalog optimization plays an important role in enhancing user experience, and boosting sales. When crafting your digital product catalog in platforms like Flipsnack, integrating product tags and captions becomes indispensable for an effective optimization strategy. Product tags, as interactive elements, empower your publication by providing detailed information such as product description, pricing, and a compelling call to action. Including up to three images per product tag, along with the option to embed URLs, not only enriches the browsing experience, but also expedites the purchasing process. Moreover, the product tags are easy to personalize. They allow adjustments in color and opacity, ensuring seamless integration with the overall design, accompanied by a pulsating effect that draws attention. This strategic use of product tags is a cornerstone in online product catalog optimization, simplifying the buyer’s journey and enabling direct purchases from the catalog.

The caption tag is a powerful tool in your catalog, offering extra information when needed. Whether it’s placed on a product to share its story or design, the tag’s minimal and stylish design fits any catalog. This multifaceted approach, incorporating both product tags and captions, not only simplifies the browsing and purchasing experience but also contributes significantly to the overall success of product catalog optimization.

2. Include high-quality media elements

Having access to extra information is essential, but sometimes the reader might be interested in more than the text. The information you share can be visual as well, and this is where the spotlight and popup frame features come in handy. 

While the caption feature is used for text, the spotlight feature is used for images, and the popup frame feature is used for all sorts of elements. How is this beneficial for your online product catalog? Once again, it is part of the product catalog optimization techniques, and it provides potential buyers with as many product images as possible to showcase all product variants. 

Because of the limited space, we often feature images at a smaller size and resolution. The image spotlight feature solves this problem, as when the user clicks on it, a new larger, and clearer image is opened as a popup. 

In this case, when the picture from the catalog is clicked, a larger, higher-resolution version is opened. Perfect for spotting every detail. 

The popup frame is also great for “hiding” content directly on the page. Instead of embedding an element on the page, you can use the popup frame feature, and clicking on it will reveal the content.

For example, you can place the popup frame on top of a product, and when the user clicks on it, a video featuring the product will appear—either that or an audio description or even an image slideshow. There are lots of elements you can include in the popup frame, depending on your needs.

3. Bridge the gap between retailer and customer

Forms are an essential part of an online product catalog, as they can help you extend your subscriber list, and that’s why they’re an integral part of the product catalog optimization techniques. There are two ways you can use them in your publications. You can either add forms at the beginning of the publication, thus locking the document until an email is introduced, or you could add them at the end. 

The former option might be counterproductive, as readers might not appreciate you forcing them to share their email addresses. The latter may be the better option. If you deliver a high-quality online product catalog, the readers will be more than willing to receive your publications in the future. Regardless of the method, the information the user enters is saved in a CSV file, which you can download and use. Now all you need to do is send them your publications. As I already mentioned, the statistics feature will then allow you to see how people interact with your documents.

Here is the lead form in action. It contains an editable call to action and the submit button. 

4. Give customers a one-stop-shopping experience

Shopping links are essential for any online product catalog, especially since the pandemic changed the dynamics of online sales. Any e-commerce business knows how important their online presence is since most of us are shopping mainly online now. The ultimate goal of an ecommerce product catalog is to increase sales and one of the best product catalog optimization techniques that can help you achieve that is simplifying the selling process.

Once you have finished the catalog design, you can add shopping buttons and shopping areas inside the catalog. Then you can customize them with product information such as price, quantity, and currency. You can also include images and create custom CTAs for each product. You decide what information to include for each product.

Calls to action aren’t just important for business – customers want and expect them.

Kyle Martins

Additionally, you can also change what happens when a customer clicks on one of these elements: either open a popup window with the product information or add the product directly to the shopping list.

Regardless, the shopping list feature speeds up the selling process. Your clients can create and download the shopping list directly in the catalog during the browsing session. Once they download the list, they can send it to you either for a quote (depending on whether you included product prices or not) or as a purchase order.

5. Take product catalog optimization to new heights

Last but not least on our product catalog optimization techniques list is the automation feature. Let me explain – depending on the size of your product catalog, adding, editing, and updating products can be a daunting task if the catalog contains hundreds of products that you’re adding manually. 

Flipsnack offers a solution to that problem — automation. The process isn’t complicated: you connect your data source to Flipsnack, create dynamic fields, and then drag and drop the products into their respective fields. You can even design branded templates or use one from Flipsnack. This way, you won’t need to worry about the design. The only variable that changes is the information from your database. 

There you go; these are the 5 most important elements you can use for your product catalog optimization. Take a look at this embedded product catalog that features some of the interactive elements I mentioned.

Digital product catalog templates

Since I’ve offered information about the 5 most important elements that can help with your product catalog optimization, it is time to see how you can use these elements when designing your publication in Flipsnack. You can choose from a large selection of product catalog templates, which you can then edit in Flipsnack’s Design Studio. If you feel inspired, you can even create your online product catalog from scratch. 

That said, let’s explore some of the interactive templates you can use in Flipsnack. I’ve made a selection of 5 examples, but there are others as well. In order to see the interactivity features, you will need to click on “Use this template.”

Beauty products catalog template

This beauty products catalog template offers many of the interactive elements used in the product catalog optimization strategy. And you can even see how well automation can be used to update the catalog directly. You can then add GIFs, stickers, and even videos of new collections to make full use of the benefits a digital product catalog can bring.

Fashion wholesale catalog template

This fashion wholesale catalog template is a good example of using the elements we’ve discussed. We have everything here: product tags, captions, slideshows, the shopping list, pop-up frames, and a plethora of other different interactive elements. All these elements come together beautifully to showcase these products in a very fashionable way.

Luxury goods wholesale catalog template

This example is a luxury goods wholesale catalog template that showcases how you can beautifully add classy, elegant products into a flipbook. This catalog template incorporates elements like the shopping list that allows you to add valuable information like product prices, images, or descriptions in pop-ups or directly on the page. Plus, it has the product tags we’ve mentioned as part of the product catalog optimization strategy.

Interactive home appliances wholesale catalog

This interactive home appliances wholesale catalog makes full use of the elements I mentioned in the article. First of all, we have a table of contents. Then there are product tags. There are also captions for the product, the shopping buttons, and finally, the contact details. There isn’t any more to add here.

Editable home decor catalog template

Visually, this editable home decor catalog template is very appealing. It uses a nice color pallet, and the pages aren’t too crowded with text and images. Regarding the elements, it uses the shopping buttons, videos of products, slideshows and a lot of other interactive elements that can make the shopping experience very engaging.

There you go. These were just some examples of interactive catalog templates you can use in Flipsnack. There are more to choose from, and they are suitable for a large variety of needs. 

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

In conclusion, the journey of product catalogs from the 17th-century handwritten records to today’s digital counterparts shows their enduring relevance in e-commerce. Product catalog optimization, a central strategy in this digital world, involves refining product data to enhance user engagement and satisfaction across online platforms. Aside from the mere aesthetics, optimization ensures that products are easily discoverable, and that leads to increased efficiency and, ultimately, higher sales.

As you have seen, the benefits of product catalog optimization for businesses are diverse. It extends product visibility and audience reach through effective SEO strategies, reduces costs associated with catalog production and distribution, fosters greater engagement, and yields valuable insights for improved sales strategies. In the realm of online commerce, where over 30% of global consumers initiate their product searches on search engines, optimizing online product catalogs becomes paramount.