A guide to Google Grow My Store: Google’s tool to help you increase your sales

Implementing an online strategy for your e‑commerce can be quite the challenge.

And it’s easy to end up feeling overwhelmed with so many details to pay attention to.

But what if we told you there was a tool that could help you?

One that’s specifically designed for e‑commerce shops and that tells you everything that can be improved on your website to get more clients.

What if, on top of that, it was completely free?

Lucky for you, this tool does exist – and it’s called Google Grow My Store.

If you’re still unfamiliar with it, give us ten minutes of your time because this post is going to tell you what Grow My Store is all about and how it can help you give your sales a huge boost.

Are you ready to grow? 😉

👉  What exactly is Google Grow My Store?

Take a closer look at the tool’s name itself: Google Grow My Store.

And just as the name suggests:

Google Grow My Store is a new tool from the tech giant aimed specifically at helping online stores increase their sales.

What it does is analyze different aspects affecting the customer experience on your website.

And if it spots any problem areas, it tells you how to fix them.

All you need to do is access the tool, enter your website’s URL, and specify if you own a physical store.

To start with, Grow My Store will run a basic test on your website. However, what’s even more interesting is that you can request to be sent the advanced analysis by email (for free).

Let’s take a look at what that includes.

👉  The 8 aspects that Google Grow My Store analyzes on your website (and how to get an A+ on all of them)

The full report of Grow My Store comprises 22 points, which are divided into 8 categories.

And we’re not just going to tell you what they are – we’re also going to give you all the tricks so that Google awards you the highest score on all of them.

Let’s get started.

✅  1. Product information

Products are the essence of every online store, which is why product cards are the first things Google Grow My Store analyzes.

The report includes four sections.

➡️  A. Product details

First off, the basics: the card content.

At this stage, the tool tests if your product cards are properly filled out with relevant information (including specific details such as size, color, weight, etc.).

We’re confident you’re good to go on this one.

But be careful because it’s not only about having all the fields completed on the card. Your cards must also be optimized to increase your conversion rate (with tricks like the ones we explained in this post).

➡️  B. Product ratings / reviews

The next step is to check if product reviews are enabled.

Why?

Because user opinions have been shown to influence 90% of purchase decisions.

We told you about this in an earlier post on product reviews, where we also explain how you can use them to boost sales in your online store.

➡️  C. Product search

As you know, a good internal search engine can prove very effective when it comes to turning visitors into new clients.

However, as the report explains, it’s important for users to be able to apply search filters so they can easily find the product they’re after.

And if Google says so, there must be something to it. 😉

If you’d like to see the difference having an advanced search engine makes compared to the default option, you know you can try Doofinder free for 30 days.

➡️  D. Product prices

The only thing the report says on this score is that your product prices have to be published. Since we know you have this part covered, let’s take it a step further.

How?

For example, by implementing different pricing strategies to increase sales.

You can also create product bundles to increase your average checkout price.

You can’t say we aren’t giving you options here! 😉

✅  2. Store information

You’ll only see this section if you indicated you own a physical store.

Grow My Store analyzes three aspects here (let’s go over them briefly):

1. Store opening hours: whether or not the opening and closing times are published on your website. Even though it’s not specified in the report, we advise you to include this information on your Google My Business card.
2. Directions to store: that is, apart from showing your shop’s address, it must also be displayed on Google Maps.
3. Geolocation: this point’s a bit trickier. It studies if you’re using your clients’ location to direct them to the nearest shop when they do a search through geolocation (“hardware store downtown”, for example) or with Google display ads.

One more thing: don’t forget that the basic details of your physical store on your website (name, address, phone number) must be the same as those published in business directories (e.g. Yellow Pages), as this favors the local SEO.

✅  3. Personalization

Next up is “Personalization” or, in other words, whether or not users have the chance to customize and configure their experience as customers of your online shop.

It’s divided into two points:

1. Personalized accounts: apart from the convenience of having your own account, Google says “users appreciate being sent personalized content”. Of course, this can also be implemented into your email marketing strategy if your subscribers are properly segmented. 😉
2. Wish lists: in an earlier post, we told you that wish lists were a very powerful tool to improve the shopping experience and to foster client loyalty.

All eCommerce platforms include an option that allows your clients to create an account. However, you’ll need a plugin to enable wish lists.

✅  4. Frictionless shopping experiences

In this section, the report emphasizes how easy you make shopping for your clients.

Specifically, it checks on two aspects:

1. Click & Collect: It may be enabled if you own a physical shop. With this option, users shop for a product online but pick it up at the store (a simple but effective way of becoming an omnichannel e‑commerce).
2. Online ordering / effortless returns: This strange concept simply refers to whether your return policy prioritizes convenience for your customers or not.

Keep in mind that if you don’t own a physical store, you’ll only see the second point.

✅  5. Flexible fulfillment

This section addresses different logistic issues, including:

• Basket: whether your customers can check and modify the products added to the cart from different devices.
• Next-day delivery: users are getting used to receiving their orders within 24 hours. That’s why Google advises you to offer this service even if at a higher price (but be sure to hire a reliable delivery company).­
• Free returns: the report recommends taking care of the shipping of returns, as far as possible.
• Multiple payment methods: basically, if you allow your customers to pay through virtual POS, PayPal, etc. Here are all the payment methods you can implement in your e‑commerce (and their pros and cons).

In essence, what Google’s trying to tell you here is that the fewer setbacks the purchase process incurs, the more likely users will be to buy from you.

✅  6. Customer service

Needless to say, good customer service is crucial to getting more sales and fostering loyalty among your existing clients.

And Google knows this quite well, which is why it’s such an important section in the report.

Specifically, it surveys these four aspects:

• Contact phone: is it easy to find?
• Live chat: especially for those doubtful potential clients thinking about shopping for a product. Apart from a web chat, here you can offer different support channels such as WhatsApp Business or Telegram. And if they’re trying to reach you outside your business hours, you can leave it to a chat bot. 😉
• Returns policy: not only if it’s easy to find, but also if it’s written in an easy-to-understand manner.
• Social media: more and more businesses are using social media as another customer service channel, so Google checks if the links to your different social media profiles are published on your website.

For reference, you can also check out these tips to improve your customer service even more.

✅  7. Security

In this section, Google analyzes if your web is properly encrypted according to the HTTPS protocol (the lock to the left of the URL).

This protocol prevents hackers from accessing confidential information from your clients, like their bank details.

And this isn’t just important to instill confidence in your clients. If your website’s unprotected, your SEO positioning may be negatively affected.

✅  8. Mobile

Did you know that over 92% of users (in Europe and the Americas) surf the Internet on their smartphone?

This explains why Google has created an entire section dedicated to mobile. 😉

This section includes two points:

• Mobile speed: as you know, a slow website makes you lose customers. And this is particularly relevant for mobile phones since they’re always slower than laptops and computers.
• Mobile friendly: that is, if the design of your e‑commerce is optimized for smaller screens, as explained in this post about mobile marketing.

Remember, tools like Google Search Console give you lots of information to improve the user experience of your online store on mobile devices.

👉  What’s your score on Google Grow My Store?

You may have seen that the report only includes very general aspects.

That’s because those are the areas that every online shop needs to focus on to improve their sales.

So if Google’s has drawn your attention to one of them, you know what you have to do: put the tips we’ve given you into practice and make sure your site offers a top-notch user experience. 😉