When delivering a product feed to a new destination VersaFeed clients have two options:
(A)
Create a "dupe" feed. — This is not actually creating another feed within the VersaFeed system, but simply sending an already existing feed to another destination. This is done by adding "Secondary Destinations" within the "Feed Settings" config.
(B)
Create a new feed. — Actually have the VersaFeed team create a new full-fledged feed. The new feed can be modeled to be exactly like a previous feed, but it will be its own separate data feed file and can be configured independently.
In general, we highly recommend that clients utilize option (B) when wanting to list their products on a new destination. There are several reasons:
(1)
Attribution management can be a challenge with "dupe" feeds. — For example, if you decide to send your Google feed to Facebook, you may already have special tagging in your URLs for tracking purposes. Your analytics or tracking systems may now have difficulty attributing where the click came from properly.
(2)
You may wish to exclude certain products from a feed later on. — In the "dupe" feed situation, both destinations will now have products removed -- even if the product exclusion was really only intended for one particular destination.
(3)
Using "dupe" feeds can be confusing. — Clients who have used dupe feeds extensively may be sending one individual feed to 10 different FTP addresses with limited documentation on why or where. Full feeds are always fully documented with a trackable history so all parties know the reason for the feed and who is receiving it.
Dupe feeds may be useful in situations where an agency simply wants a direct copy of a particular feed. Or similarly, a client wants a dupe feed for internal ingestion in their CRM. But for the majority of cases, VersaFeed does not recommend dupe feeds and instead advises clients to create a separate new feed.
Ultimately, the decision rests with our clients and agencies on which method to choose — we are happy to offer both options.