Sunday, July 15, 2012

Google Trusted Site

Link to apply to become a trusted store
Google Trusted Stores Customer Support Link
Google Support.com merchant eligibility requirements link


The GOOGLE TRUSTED STORE BADGE SHOULD BE LOOKED AT AS ONE OF THOSE AWARDS YOU SEE WHEN YOU WALK IN YOUR LOCAL BANK. It's the type of thing that should just give customers that little bit of added comfort when dealing with strangers. It's stressful to deal with people that we don't know. It's common. It's stressful to part with your hard earned money. It's common. Now put those 2 together and guess what? I'm not a professional psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I bet, it's STRESSFUL....sites doing the right things in the first place, will have no problem getting their badge without stressing it. (come on, now that's funny right there!)


My overall synopsis of what stores need to be able to show they do on a high percentage of orders:
  1. Ship items ordered within the time-frame specified and agreed to at time order was placed.
  2. Low average time for products to ship
  3. Customer problems resolved quickly and without additional escalation 
  4. Low number of customers needing assistance in the first place


From what I can see, becoming a "trusted store" isn't anything that is complicated, extremely difficult, unfair at all with the application process. I do think that using broad teams such as "high percentage" instead of using a steadfast 90% cut-off has it's positives and negatives regardless. I'll explain.


Small business and new businesses who are already at a disadvantage in the marketplace can be punished unfairly using either of these examples in certain situations. Store A, who is new, started off today with 100% customer satisfaction in every category, but only has 2 sales. A new customer makes a purchase but is unhappy with the color he wanted being sold out but picked another and ordered anyways. When it arrived he didn't like the other color at all so he called store A to complain and ask for the return policy information because he wants store to send the original color he wanted. After the obvious apology and explanation the customer is still unsatisfied and decides he is going to file a complaint with google even though this seller has done NOTHING wrong. The seller has also offered a full refund upon receipt of the product but customer refuses.  Customer leaves negative comments, falsely claiming that wrong product was sent to him, leaves 0 for scores and now refuses contact. Store A now has a total of 3 sales completed and a satisfaction rate of 67%....Certainly not a score I would find acceptable to be eligible for the Trusted Seller Program under current guidelines. Store A loses the Trusted Seller tag and status and must remove his badge from his website. 

Now, when a seller is looking for products and sees Store A and Store X have them both for the same price but Store X has 100% satisfaction and is a "trusted seller". It's a no brainer, why would I buy from Store A? 

All in all, in a matter of days, 1 sale, 1 customer, 0 mistakes=the loss of his hard earned status as a trusted seller and the loss of future sales which is unable to be quantified exactly but it's an obvious next step and a probable outcome.


Using the other type of requirement actually has the same outcome here since store A obviously isn't near the 90% threshold. Store A would have to earn himself another 7 customers that have 100% satisfaction and be willing to report that to google before he will be able to attain that 90% minimum. 


If we go back to the stated requirements google has chosen to use as of today, I believe another 2 positive 100% satisfactory sales would earn him back his badge if I was being objective. The thing is that the wording is making the minimum requirement subjective, and that's going to cause problems. It could cause A LOT of problems down the line if the mighty arbitrator of the Badge isn't very very careful about who's in and who's out. It shouldn't be a popularity contest, should have nothing to do with your previous relationship or lack there of, with google, it's partners or affiliates. 


It's bad enough we basically have pay to play going on in everything from sports leagues, law firms, medical clinics, and even court rooms, let's get it right from the start on this one and be as transparent and open as possible with the customers AND the merchants, we are in invested in making this system work effectively and efficiently. Let's make it happen.



2 comments:

  1. It is apparent that you know nothing about business and quality management when it comes to customer service.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, i'll share a little secret with you and everyone else out there....the kinds of people who actually take the time to leave a comment to a post and include things like EVEN A SIMPLE FIRST NAME, I take seriously....Anonymous huh? For your sake i'm really hoping your just some embarrassed loser and your parents didn't actually name you Anonymous Boy ?

    ReplyDelete