Trusted Stores Program Released to All US Merchants

Google announced that they are opening up their Trusted Stores program to all U.S. merchants who want to apply.

Becoming a Google Trusted Store will entitle you to display a badge on your site showing that you are a trusted store. Then when your customers click the badge a pop-up will display how Google has graded your shipping reliability and customer service.

In order to get this badge and for Google to give you a grade, you must add Google Trusted Stores code onto your site and let it run for 28 days. During those 28 days Google will monitor your site's shipping habits, and ask customers to review your customer service. If you perform well enough, Google will start displaying the badge on your site with both grades available to those who click on it. Additionally, in the future, you can look forward to seeing a Trusted Store badge with your store's ads on Google.

The shipping grade appears to be based on your on-time delivery percentage, and your average days to delivery. Your customer service results appears to be based on how many days on average it takes to resolve most issues, and what percent of users actually need help.

However, Google badge or not, any marketer should know that focusing on these types of services as a merchant makes a huge difference in building trust with customers. We also have a feeling it will be one of the factors Google considers when ranking people within their new paid inclusion Google Shopping experience. Get started here http://www.google.com/trustedstores/merchants/.