The coveted Google Trusted Store logo is now available for free listings on Google Shopping.
A new tool dubbed the Shopping Experience Scorecard has been announced by Google for Google Merchant Center retailers. If these merchants produce an "excellent customer experience," Google will reward them with "a boost in rankings," "a badge," and "other benefits that will help consumers find your business" in the Google Shopping tab of Google Search.
A seller must commit to fulfilling Google's highest standards in areas such as shipping and returns processing in order to obtain this badge as well as implement the Google Shopping Customer Reviews.
The main features of a trusted Store Badge are:
- A badge on your listings that improves user trust in buying from you
- Prominence in placements on the Shopping tab
Google Trusted Stores, like Google Customer Ratings, allows retailers to gather Seller Ratings feedback. Qualified merchants could then display the Trusted Stores emblem on their websites and provide clients with up to $1,000 in Google-backed purchase protection.
The following are some of the criteria for implementing the scorecard:
- Your terms of service, privacy policy, and refund and shipping policies are all simply accessible and open.
- When submitting financial and customer information, you provide site security via https:// pages.
- Only about 10% of orders are back-ordered or pre-ordered.
- Less than 2.5 percent of your orders are canceled.
- 90% of orders are delivered on time, and at least 50% of them can be tracked.
- Within two working days, 99 percent of customer support inquiries receive a response.
When you finish setting up Google Customer Reviews, your customers will be able to see that you have completed the initial step and are ready to accept real reviews in order to achieve long-term success.
Overall, keep in mind that, despite the name change, Google still refers to a portion of this program as Google Trusted Stores; but, due to the major structure, we'll now refer to this service as Google Customer Reviews more frequently.
For almost a decade, the coveted Google Trusted Store Badge has been available. In fact, over 67 percent of consumers used Google ratings, price comparison, and reviews to assist them make a purchase during holiday season, according to Google.
In every industry, but especially in ecommerce, a positive client experience is critical. That's why Google announced that the Trusted Store logo will now be available for free shopping listings.
The Trusted Store Seal of Approval
The Trusted Store logo will be available to brands based on their Shopping Experience Scorecard, which is a positive move for online businesses of all sizes.
Earning the Trusted Store badge is based on largely on the following areas:
- Speeds of delivery
- Shipping Cost
- Costs of return
- Bounce
These metrics are compared to those of other merchants in a similar category to determine eligibility.
The following is an example of the Trusted Stores badges on mobile:
Explanation of the Shopping Experience Scorecard
If you engage in Buy on Google or free product listings in the United States, you are eligible for this program.
The Shopping Experience Scorecard maintains track of the various aspects of the shopping experience you deliver to your clients (listed above in the Trusted Store Badge section).
Google will offer your product listing prominence in Shopping tab placements and/or a badge on your listings if specific criteria of these metrics are met. To get the badging on your product listings, you must submit information for all of the categories listed.
While Google examines the data you give each day, your metric status is determined using a set lookback time. The stats are based on a weighted average of impressions from that lookback period.
By logging into your Google Merchant Center account, you can see your performance and Shopping Experience Scorecard under the Performance section.
The Badge's Advantages
It's not easy to earn the Trusted Store badge. It's all predicated on how well your customers are treated.
You'll be able to reap the rewards if you succeed in providing excellent shipping, refunds, and reviews.
Some notable advantages to the badge include:
- Increased engagement with product listings.
- Improved user confidence
- More prominent listings in the shopping tab.
- Increased brand recognition
"Merchandise displaying a Trusted Store badge is more likely to receive clicks," according to Google's early testing of the badge. Furthermore, Google claims that less well-known firms with the Trusted Stores label receive more hits and traffic.
New Reporting Tools Have Been Released
In addition to the Trusted Store logo, Google has improved its reporting tools to better understand the impact of free listings.
The new reporting tool provides merchants with information on their product listings on the following platforms:
- The total volume of traffic
- Impressions
- Rate of conversion
Inside Google Merchant Center you can find the Shopping Experience Scorecard under Growth > Shopping Experience Scorecard. Here you can implement the Customer Reviews required to capture order and feedback information used to make decisions on the status of the Trusted Store Badge.
Previously, merchants were not allowed to report on their free product listings. For example, if you were to compare free and paid product listings, you'd have no way of knowing if the free listings had a beneficial influence on your business. You may now see full conversion data from free listings, which will assist you in making better business decisions in the future.
Google's price insights tool is the most recent tool it has launched. The purpose of this tool is to assist brands in better understanding their price competitiveness.
Using machine learning, the pricing insights tool also suggests prices for each product being sold. The greatest benefit may be found in the anticipated revenue impact of price modifications.
The badge boosts participation. According to Google, "based on our early testing," the trustworthy store logo drives more clicks to merchant listings, making them "more likely to receive clicks." Google also stated that it is "observing increased traffic to lesser-known merchants."
New insights reports have been released.
To assist merchants in providing exceptional customer support and monitoring the performance of their product listings. "This new tool shows merchants the total traffic, impressions, and conversion rate of their free listings, assisting them in making decisions about future ones," according to Google.
Even with new conversion reporting on free listings, Google will break down how well your product listings are performing. There's a pricing report that compares your pricing to others in the market, as well as reports on your most popular products.
How do you get the badge?
Merchants are awarded the Trusted Store badge based on their performance against other merchants in a variety of measures, including shipment speeds, shipping and return costs, and return windows. Many of these indicators were previously reported in our earlier coverage, but Google's help manual is also available.