Have you ever wanted to leverage customer feedback for more than just a “reviews” section on your website? Google may have the answer!

Google Customer Reviews is a free tool offered by Google. After a simple set up process, sellers can collect feedback by way of a one-question survey that is emailed to customers after checking out. These reviews are aggregated into a score, which appears in Google PPC ads, Google Shopping ads, and a badge that can be placed on the site.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Google formerly offered “Trusted Stores,” which was retired in 2017. 

Why Use Google Customer Reviews?

Google Customer Reviews (GCR) is an effective way to enforce brand reputation in the Google Search Engine Results Pages. By enforcing this reputation, the likelihood of drawing the click is increased and thereby increases qualified site traffic.

As mentioned before, the score, or Seller Rating, appears in multiple places that are beneficial to your business. If you are running PPC or Google Shopping campaigns, those ads’ reputation is bolstered by having a strong Seller Rating. According to Google, a strong Seller Rating can increase click-through-rate by as much as 10%.

Upon arriving to your website, the badge, which can be featured on multiple pages, displays your Seller Rating and provides additional proof of expertise. This can improve overall user experience and trust in a brand.

Set-Up is Easy!

The great news is, setting up Google Customer Reviews is relatively straight-forward! You’ll need a few things in order before getting started:

• A Merchant Center Account is required to implement GCR. This can be easily set up by following the walk-through provided by Google.
• You will also need to verify website ownership.
• GCR also requires the site to have an order confirmation page during checkout as this is what triggers the review email to be sent.

Once those steps are taken care of, Google Customer Reviews can be easily implemented to your site!

After agreeing to the Program Agreement, there is a snippet of code called the Survey Opt-In Module that is to be placed on the order confirmation page. It might be best to enlist the skills of one of Ecreativeworks’ developers to take care of this step. This code transmits the necessary information to Google on whether a customer wants to participate in the Google Customer Reviews (GCR) program.

• There is also the option to modify the code to also gather product reviews in addition to the rating that is collected.

Once the Survey Opt-In Module has been placed on the order confirmation page, the badge code can be placed on any page you want the badge to appear. Some ideal places would be the Home Page, Contact Us page, or a top category or product pages.

How does Google Customer Reviews Collect Customer Feedback?

Upon checkout, the offer to participate in the GCR program will appear on the order confirmation page for the customer to opt in or not.

Customers who opt in will be sent an email, which is managed by Google, asking them to rate their experience. This rating is then aggregated to become the Seller Rating.

Google previously required at least 30 reviews in a 12-month span for data to populate but in 2016 this threshold was increased to 150 reviews within a 12-month span with a composite rating of 3.5 or higher.

Will it Affect Pagespeed?

It’s best to be mindful of the potential impact of adding additional coding to a website may have. GCR is a low impact implementation: The Survey Opt-In Module is placed on a single page, and the badge code seems to be unobtrusive as well.

While neither has shown significant degradation in pagespeed, it is always best practice to monitor load time for any pages that have additional features added to them.

A Great Way to Build Brand Trust

Consumers are regularly checking reviews and ratings during the purchase process. Google has provided this tool as a simple way to set your business apart from others! While the Merchant Center Account is easy enough to tackle on your own, it might be beneficial to lean on an expert for the code implementation. Ecreativeworks is well-equipped to help you roll this great tool into your digital marketing strategy!