The Power of Product Tagging in E-commerce
The Power of Product Tagging in E-commerce
Product tagging and metadata is crucial in the world of e-commerce. Not only can it keep enormous catalogs of products organized, it can be leveraged in ways that decide how, when and where a product is presented to a customer to increase conversion. But what is it? If you’re a photographer or work in a studio, you’ll probably be familiar with the term metadata but might be curious about product tags and how any of this can have an effect on sales. So, we’re here to shine a light on the metadata ‘need-to-knows’ and how product tagging can impact your e-commerce sales.

The difference between metadata and product tags

Every digital image you take is packaged into a file with information such as capture date, time and camera settings held in the background, this is metadata (Not sure where to find image metadata? Right click the file and go to ‘Properties’ or ‘Get info’). A Product tag is metadata that’s added later, usually via Product Information Management (PIM) software, and provides information about the item to help describe and categorize it. This can include attributes such as color, material, features, and pattern.

Product tagging is an essential step in the world of e-commerce. Without the additional data, your site's functionality would resemble a pile of products that neither you or your customers can sort through. But the benefits don’t stop there…

The power of product tagging

Consumers are preferring to shop online more and more, with 87% of shoppers now preferring to begin their search in digital channels (source). But the web is awash with competitors, so you need to be doing everything you can to draw people in and bring your A-game when customers land on your site. Tagging products consistently not only benefits the organization of product catalogs, it has the power to encourage new customers and revolutionize the e-commerce experience that you offer.

Here’s a few examples of how metadata and product tagging can benefit your e-commerce site:

  • Better SEO performance: Many people don’t know which retailer to turn to when on the lookout for a specific style, so they’ll Google inspirational search terms such as ‘floaty floral dress’ or ‘lightweight gray shorts’ to get started. Rich descriptive tags within product metadata increases your SEO rating, aiding the organic discovery of products and driving customers to your site.
  • Personalized content: Customers expect more from shopping online than ever before, so anything that feels personal to them will elevate their overall experience, encouraging increased spending and return visits. Product tags can be used to drive accurate product recommendations, offering suggested styles at key points of the customer journey based on their site behavior.
  • Better search: If a customer searches for a particular style and gets presented with completely unrelated results, it’s likely that they’re going to bounce and never come back. With tagging, search results, suggested styles and the search terms that can be used are all improved; helping customers discover those “OMG I need that” pieces, as well as the styles they came for!

The challenges of product tagging in e-commerce

It’s clear how product tagging can benefit your customers and ultimately boost your e-commerce sales. But the process of tagging products manually can be labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Analyzing each product for its attributes and assigning the appropriate tags distracts creative minds from doing more important work and costs money in staffing. Thanks to the nature of fashion e-commerce, it’s a never ending task that requires monitoring and management to avoid inconsistency or inaccuracy.

So, does the reward outweigh the cost? How much money and manpower do you invest to get your metadata and product tags working wonders? Before you start to crunch the numbers, we may be able to help…

Transforming Fashion E-Commerce with Pixelz's AI Image Tagging

We’re always looking for new ways to support the creative teams we partner with, so we’re super excited to announce the launch of our AI-Based Image Tagging service, a solution designed specifically for fashion e-commerce brands and retailers. This new feature automates the process of identifying and tagging key product attributes from images, facilitating a seamless shopping experience and dramatically improving the workflow from shoot to site. Our new AI-based image Tagging feature is designed to revolutionize the way fashion e-commerce platforms manage their online catalogs. Through an intuitive interface within Pixelz’s Platform, you can now enjoy:

  • Automated tagging of product images with high accuracy.
  • Tags can be directly embedded into image metadata, with support for various file formats or through an API. (Coming soon)
  • A centralized platform for easy review and adjustment of tags. (Coming soon)

If you’d like to learn more about how Pixelz can help you streamline your workflows while increasing creativity, productivity and sales with AI tools, read more on our AI tools page.