Product Content Auditing: The Missing Step in Your Content Process

In today’s fast-paced e-commerce environment, the importance of product content auditing cannot be overstated. Yet, many within your organization may not fully appreciate the extensive effort required to ensure that quality, accurate, and optimized product content is consistently delivered to your retail or distribution sites. Moreover, they may not realize the direct impact this content has on your online sales and overall business performance.

The Hidden Costs of Errors

The process of getting your product pages live is often a complex, 2-3 month endeavor that involves multiple teams and organizations. Each step in this manual, hand-off-driven process introduces opportunities for errors and delays, which can significantly impact your bottom line. According to a 2023 report from Digital Shelf Institute, even minor inconsistencies in product content can lead to up to a 20% decrease in sales conversion rates, further emphasizing the critical need for frequent product content auditing.

Embracing Automation for Product Content Auditing

Given these challenges, it’s no surprise that more brands, retailers, and agencies are turning to automation. Automated product content auditing and monitoring not only mitigate the risk of errors but also ensure that your content is always optimized to maximize revenue. New research by McKinsey & Company highlights that companies using automated product content auditing tools report a 30% improvement in content accuracy and a 25% reduction in time spent on content management.

Choosing the Right Product Content Auditing Frequency

Determining the appropriate product content auditing frequency for your own data and your competitors’ content is crucial. Here’s an updated look at the most common product content auditing frequencies, now supported by recent insights from Forrester Research:

• Daily Product Content Auditing. These are ideal for companies looking to stay on top of dynamic factors like the Buy Box, pricing, and availability, especially on marketplaces like Amazon. However, daily product content auditing may not be necessary unless you’re operating in a highly competitive space where product listings change frequently. Recent data shows that 40% of top-performing e-commerce brands perform daily product content audits on key listings to maintain their competitive edge.
• *Tip: Best for monitoring Buy Box status (price and availability) and store-level content accuracy.

• Weekly Product Content Auditing. This remains the most common choice among e-commerce sellers. Weekly audits strike a balance between staying proactive and managing resources efficiently. They allow you to catch errors and unauthorized content changes before they significantly impact your sales. A 2024 study from eMarketer found that 65% of online sellers who audit weekly experience fewer negative impacts on sales due to content errors.
  
• *Tip: Ideal for most sellers, especially those on marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart.

• Monthly Product Content Auditing. For B2B products or any items with infrequent content updates, monthly audits are sufficient. This frequency works well for industries where the product content doesn’t change often, allowing for a focused and less resource-intensive approach. 
• *Tip: Best for B2B products and those not frequently updated.

The ROI of Automation

Companies relying on manual auditing processes often only manage partial audits, sampling a small portion of their product pages once or twice a year. This limited approach not only leaves many errors undetected but also fails to account for competitor analysis. A manual process could cost you significantly more than the investment required to automate.

With platforms like Content Status, you can regularly perform product content auditing and monitoring of your product pages across all sales channels while scaling your efforts to include competitor analysis. The time and cost savings, combined with the improved accuracy and consistency of your content, make automation a compelling choice.

Summary

Product content auditing is no longer a step you can afford to skip or perform manually. With the right tools and strategies, you can ensure your content is always accurate, optimized, and competitive. If you’re ready to take your product content to the next level, get in touch with us today to discuss the best product content auditing strategy for your organization.  

Additional Reading:

• “Product Content Auditing 101: Tools, Tips & Tricks” – Read more
• “10 Strategies for Fixing Poor Page Experiences” – Read more