Google’s various continuing efforts to grow its ecommerce business includes work on helping the sellers they feature present as appealing a presence as possible to potential customers. One of their focal points has been the Trusted Stores program, for which Google announced some new features.
The information provided to visitors to a seller with the Google Trusted Stores brand includes ratings on customer service, shipping, and return policies. At the Inside AdWords blog, Google noted seller ratings include data from Gogle Trusted Stores as well as StellaService, which Google chose to licenseearlier in 2013.
The availability of such ratings may help an online seller make a sale. Google contends that the AdWords customers opting to display seller ratings in their ads typically see more click-throughs from those ads. Google also said higher ratings generally bring higher click-throughs.
Seller ratings show up on AdWords contextual ads, and on the Product Listing Ads that Google has been nudging advertisers toward over the past several months. The company has done the same thing with its Trusted Stores program, which is a free certification for retailers who qualify to have the Trusted Stores brand on display.
To date the Trusted Stores effort has been US only. However, Google has disclosed the program has begun expanding internationally, with sellers in the UK, France, Germany, and Australia trying out a pilot Trusted Stores program in those countries.
But merchants who wish to participate in Google Trusted Store should remember that means providing Google with unprecedented access to data: not only must they place javascript code on their website in order to display the Trusted Store seal to visitors; they must also allow Google onto the order confirmation page, where Google can see the Order ID and the estimated delivery time, and merchants must send Google tracking numbers to show the items have shipped.
Google also recently provided other tips in time for holiday shopping, reminding readers of its Inside AdWords blog about the “Shortlists” feature it added last year. Similar to the wish lists found on other sites, these shortlists can be saved and shared with others. Shoppers add items to them while they browse, and the product details are saved to the list as they do so.
For sellers appearing in Google Shopping, this means it’s important to keep the product data feed up to date so shoppers have the most accurate information available. There will be plenty of online shoppers this holiday season; according to Google, 89 percent of consumers will use the internet as part of their shopping activities this year.
