Product Attributes

Product attributes are the data points that describe your products and help Insider One understand what each item represents. These attributes define how a product appears, how it relates to other products, and how it should be recommended to users across channels.

Each product in your Product Catalog is made up of multiple attributes, such as name, price, category, and brand. Some attributes are required for Insider to function correctly, while others are optional but valuable for improving accuracy, relevance, and personalization.

For example, in an online clothing store, attributes like size, color, and gender help surface relevant variants and alternatives. In a content-based platform, attributes such as item_update_date ensure users see the most recent content first.

Why Product Attributes matter

Insider uses product attributes to determine what to show, when to show it, and to whom. Well-structured and complete attributes enable the platform to:

• Deliver relevant recommendations, such as suggesting similar products by category or brand

• Filter results accurately, including excluding out-of-stock or expired items

• Personalize experiences by highlighting products that match user interests and past behavior

The higher the quality of your product data, the more precise, effective, and engaging your recommendations and campaigns will be.

Types of Product Attributes

Insider One supports two main types of product attributes:

• Default Product Attributes

Default product attributes are predefined fields that Insider automatically recognizes and processes. They include common attributes such as item_id, name, url, and image_url. Depending on your Product Catalog Feed Type, some default attributes are mandatory, while others are optional but strongly recommended.

• Custom Product Attributes

Custom product attributes are defined by you based on your specific business needs. Examples include season, material_type, theme, or delivery_type. You can create these attributes in the Insider platform and include them in your catalog to support richer personalization, targeting, and filtering.

Default Product Attributes

Default Product Attributes are predefined fields that Insider One uses to understand, process, and display your catalog data correctly. They define the structure of your Product Catalog and ensure that each item can be properly recognized, categorized, and connected to recommendation and personalization logic.

Default attributes represent the standard set of fields available across all catalog types. Required attributes, on the other hand, are the minimum set of default attributes that must be provided for Insider One to process your catalog, and they vary based on the selected Product Catalog Feed Type.

In other words:

• Default attributes define what the system can read and interpret.

• Required attributes define the minimum data the system must receive for your specific feed type.

For example:

• In a Stock–Revenue Based feed, attributes such as price, in_stock, and original_price are required because pricing and availability directly influence recommendations and filtering.

• In a Published-Time Based feed, item_update_date is required because content recency determines relevance.

Below is a detailed list of default product attributes, including their object types and feed management compatibility:

Custom Product Attributes

While Default Product Attributes cover the essential product information, Custom Product Attributes allow you to define additional details that are specific to your business. These attributes help you enrich your Product Catalog with data that supports your unique goals, use cases, and recommendation logic.

Custom attributes are created within the Insider platform and can be included in your product feed once they are defined.

Why Custom Product Attributes are important

Custom Product Attributes make your catalog more expressive and flexible. They enable you to:

• Represent unique product characteristics such as material_type or delivery_type

• Improve personalization by tailoring recommendations to user preferences, for example by highlighting eco_friendly products

• Add advanced filtering options to recommendation widgets, such as season, theme, or event_type

By using custom product attributes effectively, you can create more relevant, targeted, and engaging product experiences across all Insider One channels.

Examples of Custom Product Attributes

How to create Custom Product Attributes

To create a Custom Product Attribute,

1. Navigate to Components > Product Catalog Management > Product Attributes.

2. Switch to the Custom Product Attributes tab and click the Create button to add a custom attribute.

3. Choose a name and type (e.g., text, number, date).

If you use the Clickstream integration method or Smart Recommender dynamic filters, JavaScript code extracts data from the website or data layer.

4. Assign to Products: After creating your custom attribute, you can start using it in the relevant products in your Product Catalog.

Use Cases for Custom Product Attributes

Here are some specific examples of how custom product attributes can improve your recommendation system:

• Fashion Ecommerce: Use custom attributes like material_type (e.g., leather, cotton) and size_range (e.g., XS, XL) to offer highly targeted recommendations based on specific customer preferences.

• Event Listing Websites: Add event_type (e.g., concert, sports) and location (e.g., New York, London) to better recommend time- and location-specific events to users.

• Eco-conscious Brands: Use a custom attribute like eco_friendly to only show products made with sustainable materials or ethical practices in the recommendation engine.

Custom Attribute Guidelines

• If a custom product attribute is no longer in use, you can make it passive from the Catalog Manager page.

• The total number of custom product attributes (both active and passive) you can create is 70.

• To keep your catalog structure consistent and help Insider One interpret your data accurately, always use a default attribute if one already exists for the information you want to include instead of creating a new custom attribute for the same purpose.

Notes on Product Attributes

To ensure smooth catalog integration and accurate recommendation performance, make sure your product attributes follow these rules and best practices:

• For all required attributes, inputs are invalid if they are 'undefined', 'unknown', 'null', or an empty string.

• Each string field can contain up to 512 characters unless otherwise specified.

• item_id can contain up to 128 characters.

• locale can contain up to 64 characters.

• description can contain up to 1024 characters.

• category can contain up to 1024 characters.

• tags can contain up to 4096 characters.

These rules maintain catalog integrity, prevent data parsing issues, and ensure Insider performs optimally with accurate and well-structured data.