Is your online shop using Google Ads to promote your products? If you want to maximize your return on investment and get the most value from your advertising budget, it’s crucial to leverage Google Store Ratings.
This tool can give your online shop a competitive edge and help you stand out in the crowded digital marketplace. By utilizing Google Store Ratings effectively, you can enhance your ad performance and attract more customers.
What are Google Store Ratings?
Google Store Ratings are a feature that allows businesses to display their average customer rating and review count directly on Google search results and Google Maps. These ratings are collected from customer reviews across various platforms and aggregated into an overall score. This feature helps potential customers quickly gauge the reputation and quality of a business before visiting or making a purchase.
If you carry out a search on Google today, you may get ads as part of the search results. On some of these ads, you will notice a 5 star based rating system. Those are Google Store Ratings. They appear not only on Google Ads, but also in Google Shopping.
Google Store Ratings
How different are Store Ratings from Product Ratings?
Store Ratings, as the name implies, pertain to a specific seller, such as your online shop. However, they aren’t the only type of rating available. You will also encounter Product Ratings, which apply to individual items like an HP laptop or a Canon camera. Product Ratings hold significant importance too. Many companies that provide Store Ratings can also offer Product Ratings.
Where do Google Store Ratings come from?
Store Ratings are based on online reviews. But where does Google get this data? Well, there are 29 companies that are approved to push data from reviews to Google for use in Store Ratings. Here are the companies approved by Google for Store Ratings:
You can also obtain Store Ratings through Google Customer Reviews. While Google-approved review syndication companies charge monthly fees for their services, Google Customer Reviews is free. However, there’s a catch (isn’t there always?). Installing Google Customer Reviews on your site can be challenging, often requiring professional assistance for installation and management. So, there are still associated costs!
Which Online Review Syndication company works best?
To be fair, any of the 29 Google-approved online review syndication companies will work for your business. After all, Google wouldn’t have licensed them otherwise! However, you’ll notice that many of these companies operate in other languages. So, you may need to find those that provide services in English. From experience, we have worked with the following:
Trustpilot
Trustpilot is an excellent option for obtaining Store Ratings for your online store. Like Shopper Approved, Trustpilot is Google-approved for both Store and Product ratings, and it also provides local ratings. In terms of cost, Trustpilot is comparable to Shopper Approved.
Notably, Trustpilot is one of the few companies in the industry that still displays pricing information. Trustpilot’s lowest plan costs $199 per month. This makes Trustpilot another company worth considering.
If you are interested in TrustPilot, sign up here. They have a free trial. So, you can check them out before signing up.
Shopper Approved
Shopper Approved is a solid choice if you’re seeking Store Ratings for your online shop. It’s one of the best online review companies available. Over the years, we have referred over 300 eCommerce businesses to Shopper Approved, and many have returned to thank Planer Marketing for the recommendation.
Not a single one has come back with complaints, which assures the company’s reliability. Some of the people we’ve referred have stayed with Shopper Approved for over five years, and some even longer.
Shopper Approved offers the following:
How much does Shopper Approved cost?
Shopper Approved is one of the cheapest companies for Store Ratings. That’s important if you are a small business. Unfortunately, they have since hidden their pricing data.
So, if you want to know how much you are going to pay, you will have to get in touch. But you can expect the least priced plan to cost you around $200 per month. That’s actually a pittance considering the benefits that you can get from Store Ratings.
NB: Planet Marketing is a Shopper Approved affiliate. So, we may get paid should you sign up for this company using our link.
How do you obtain Store Ratings for your online shop?
Your online shop needs Store Ratings, but how does it work? First, you sign up with a company like Shopper Approved. Their software is then installed on your shop. After a purchase, customers are prompted to leave a review about their experience.
This feedback is shown on your shop, encouraging other buyers. This is why major eCommerce sites like Amazon and eBay display reviews—providing potential buyers with insights from their peers.
In addition to being displayed on your store, these reviews are syndicated to Google for Store Ratings and shared on platforms like Bing and social media.
Why Google Store Ratings Are Key for Online Shops
Now that you understand what Google Store Ratings are and how they differ from Product Ratings, let’s explore why Store Ratings are crucial for online shops.
1. They can help boost your CTR by up to 17%
According to Google, eCommerce businesses that show Store Ratings in their Google Ads can expect their CTR to increase by up to 17%. This translates into a potential 17% increase in sales. Clearly, Store Ratings can have a huge impact on your business’ performance.
In fact, studies by independent researchers have shown even better results. One study achieved a CTR increase of 35% through the use of Store Ratings. Those are amazing figures. It’s why every eCommerce business should sign up to get Store Ratings on their Google Ads.
2. Store Ratings increase visibility for your ads
There is a reason why people gravitate towards businesses that display Store Ratings. Those five small stars may appear to be of minor significant. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. At a superficial level, Store Ratings increase the visibility of your ads. Remember you are not the only one operating within the marketplace.
There is competition, and your competitors are probably also advertising though Google Ads. So, you will be gunning for the same keywords and your ads will appear on the same SERPs. The good news is that not every eCommerce business out there uses Store Ratings. So, you can give your ads better visibility. People are naturally drawn towards those golden stars.
3. Store Ratings help increase trust in your online shop
Much of today’s commerce takes place online. However, that platform has a number of challenges. For one thing, there are many people online whose sole occupation is simply to try and swindle people of their hard earned money all over the internet. As a result, the world has become rather wary.
The key to success in this environment is to foster trust. And one way of building that trust is through the use of Store Ratings for your eCommerce shop. Displaying Store Ratings on your Google Ads tells people that your business is trustworthy. It has already been tried by other people and they have found it satisfactory.
4. Up to 90% consult online reviews before making purchasing decisions
Are you aware that today, up to 90% of buyers will first consult online reviews before making a purchase. Not only that, but over 80% trust the feedback that is left online by complete strangers. Reviews are, therefore, quite important.
And Store Ratings are an extension of reviews. You can think of them as a graphic illustration of reviews. Instead of going through tons of feedback, a person gets all the information that they need about a company by simply looking at the five stars.
One star says a company sucks. Two say it sucks less. Three says it also sucks, but by a better margin. In fact, most people will not bother doing business with a company that has one, two or three star ratings. And as an eCommerce business, you will have to be pretty atrocious to have that kind of rating. Enter your text here…
Four stars tell a potential buyer that a company is probably good enough. 4 and a half stars say the company is great. Five stars say there is probably something wrong with the rating system. Nobody is that good, right? So, this could be taken as a sign of gaming of the system. People expect negative reviews, as I am fond of saying on this blog. One of two will actually help your business! Not that you should actively seek them!
5. Store Ratings help online shops achieve better advertising ROIs.
Marketing tends to be one of the biggest expenses for eCommerce businesses. The marketplace is crowded, and you increasingly need to pay more to achieve the same results. Of course, there are cheaper options, such as Facebook Ads. However, the cost can still be an impediment, particularly for small players.
You could also talk about SEO. However, though SEO is great, it takes time. You probably won’t achieve results for a couple of years. It can sometimes appear as if you are pouring money into a bottomless pit. Advertising provides the bridge that you need. But, you need to do everything in your power to get better returns on your investment.
One way of doing this is through the use of Store Ratings for your online shop. The increase in CTR that we noted earlier means you will be paying less for the same results. Or perhaps you will be getting better results for the same amount. It also means you don’t have to outbid your competitors to appear on number one on the advertising slot for your target keywords.
In fact, you can be placed third, but you will still perform better than the first and second-placed businesses. That’s assuming that you will be displaying Google Store Ratings and they will not be doing the same. People naturally gravitate towards those 5 stars. It’s a simple but effective way of getting noticed.
Summary
Google Store Ratings are essential for every online shop, especially if you advertise on Google. They provide a valuable way to attract your target audience and gain an edge over competitors.
To do it effectively, sign up with one of the Google-approved review syndication companies. Our top recommendation is Shopper Approved, which we’ve referred to hundreds of eCommerce businesses over the years. Feel free to explore Shopper Approved today!
