According to Statistics published Bright Local 67% of people claim that the biggest reason they are apprehensive to shop from new stores online is because they don’t trust them with their credit card details, because they don’t know enough about them. They are afraid of scammers and fraudsters. They are also afraid of paying for goods and services and not receiving the quality they were promised.
Why become a Google Trusted Store?
When Google puts their stamp of approval on your store, you are getting the assurance of the world’s biggest online leader that you are trustworthy.
Google doesn’t hand out their badge of approval to just anyone, and that’s a good thing. It means that you have to actually earn trust by being trustworthy. If it was easy to get, it would carry no weight. The result is that consumers trust Google trusted stores.
Google Trust to Google Reviews
Google has recently taken their badge of approval a step further by adding a review functionality. Why we love Google Reviews: it means that not only are you getting a stamp of trust from Google itself, you now also have the reviews and praise of your existing customers to back it up.
88% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations by their friends (according to the same survey above).
Probably one of the reasons we trust online reviews is that there are bad ones, too. If you receive poor service from a company, what do you do? You go online. The fact that there is no way to stop bad reviews from happening is actually a good thing for marketers. Because it means that the good reviews can really be trusted.
The trick is to avoid bad reviews by delivering what you promise. If you can’t deliver – don’t make the promise, and if you have a problem along the way with your shipment, use it as an opportunity to wow your customers with a great apology, a freebie, and awesome customer service – and win even more trust from your customers. Instead of posting a review about your problems, they are likely to tell the world how impressed they were with your customer service when you compensated for the problem.
Google Trusted Store – How to get your Badge
As we said above, becoming part of Google stores is not easy, and that’s a good thing.
Become a Google Trusted Store: Step One
Set up a functioning e-commerce store.
Before you do anything else, you have to make sure that your website itself is up to standard. No broken links, no slow loading, oversized images, no poor-quality images and definitely no black hat practices.
Note: You can’t become a Google Trusted Store if you sell restricted products such as firearms, medication, drugs, or escort services.
Become a Google Trusted Store: Step Two
Complete an application form and merchant setup.
If you have multiple stores:
Inside “account management” select “stores”.
Click “add store”
Complete and save your application.
From the moment you hit “send” you have a 90 day window of time to prove yourself as worthy of the badge.
Become a Google Trusted Store: Step Three
Sell your products. You need to average 200 sales a month (600 sales for your 90 day window) in order for your application to be considered. The reason for this is that Google needs to see that you are 1: a serious seller, and 2: they need to make sure you have enough real sales and real reviews happening to get a reasonable cross section of responses.
Become a Google Trusted Store: Step Four
Make sure your checkout pages are encrypted and your site is 100% secure. Your customer’s information has to be safe if you want Google to trust you. Good E-Commerce companies don’t let their clients become victims of internet fraud or phishing. SEMRUSH offers more information on how your security affects your SEO.
Become a Google Trusted Store: Step Five
Meet Google’s Customer service standards. To do this you must make sure that 90% of your orders ship within the estimated shipment dates you promised your customers. This range can’t be more than 14 days.
You also have to provide your customers with excellent customer service, reply to messages timeously, and deliver on your promises.
Google Trusted Store Standards Table:
The table below is a summary of basic requirements by Google for any E-Commerce store to be eligible for the Google Trusted Store Badge:
| Customer Service Criteria | |
| Customer Response Time | Maximum 2 x working days |
| Primary Escalation Resolution Rate | Maximum 2 x working days |
| Secondary Escalation Rate | Maximum 2 x working days |
| Processing of Refunds | Maximum 2 x working days if the item does not need to be returned. Maximum of 6 x working days after the arrival of the item at the merchant warehouse if the item does have to be returned. |
| Google Approved Shipping Criteria | |
| Shipping On Time | More than 90% |
| Transaction Volumes | 100 % |
| Trackable Shipping | More than 50% |
| Shipment Date Accuracy | 90% of shipments must have a 3 day estimated shipment date, and these should be accurate. |
| Average time from order to shipment | Not more than 2 weeks |
More information can be found on Google’s application page.
Implementing Your Google Trusted Store Badge
Once your application is approved you will receive your Google Trusted Store Badge JavaScript. This script has to be implemented on every page of your e-commerce website. What this does is allow the badge to be displayed.
You will also receive order confirmation code from Google. This you must implement on your order confirmation page. What it does is give your customers the option of free purchase protection from Google. It also allows customers to review your service and their experience with you.
Google wants to help
At the end of the day, the Google Trusted Store Badge helps you as the merchant every bit as much as it helps the consumer who is trying to make a purchase. Getting your store set up with Google should be on your to-do list.