Have you ever wondered how your online store compares to that of others in your industry, or maybe you’re scratching your head trying to figure out how to get new customers? Well, now there’s a free Google tool to give you these insights and more!
eCommerce store owners now have access to Grow My Store which is part of the Think With Google suite of tools. Grow My Store is designed to:
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- Let you see how your store stacks up to others within your industry;
- Point out areas where your site can use a bit of improvement;
- Give you access to personalized market and consumer trends designed to help you get new customers;
- Provide you access to other Google tools and expert advice.
To use Grow My Store, simply visit https://growmystore.thinkwithgoogle.com/ and plug in the URL of your eCommerce store.
You’ll then provide a few pieces of information about your business such as whether you’re selling online only or also have a bricks-and-mortar location, which industry you’re in, and more. This information is used to give you a customized report with tips that are relevant to your industry.
After providing that information, Google will visit your website and come back with a few snippets of information to pique your interest.
In order to get the full report, you will need to create a profile and link your Google account.
In just a few minutes you’ll get an email from Google with a link to the full report which first shows how your site compares to the industry average. In the site we used as a test, it outperformed the average by 22%.
Then, the report breaks down how your site is doing in key areas such as:
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- Product information – it takes into consideration product descriptions, reviews, search and search filtering, and how clearly you display your pricing. (The store we used as a test does have product reviews onsite, however, Google did not detect them when it ran the test.)
- Personalization – it looks to see if you offer a customer login/personalized account, wish lists, favorites, and want lists. (The store we used as a test does not have wish lists or favorites, however Google detected them when it ran the test.)
- Fulfillment – it looks to determine how easy it is for customers to add/remove and view items in the cart, your shipping methods, return policy, and which payment methods you accept.
- Customer Service – it looks to see which ways customers can contact you including by phone or live chat, again it looks at your return policy, and determines whether or not your social media accounts are linked to your site.
- Security – it looks as to whether or not your site is being loaded via HTTPS.
- Mobile – with Google encouraging site owners to adopt a mobile-first mentality, it’s not surprising that mobile speed and friendliness is a metric in this report.
Within each of these areas, you can click to receive more detailed information on why each metric is important. Additionally, this is where you can see trends within your industry and what others in your segment are doing as well as what customers are expecting.
Google also provides additional tools you can tap into as well as helpful articles for you to improve your site to help you better compete online.
You can share your report with others in your organization or with your developer should you have questions or would like them to help improve your store.
Of course, we encourage all our clients to take advantage of this new free resource from Google and feel free to contact us at support@yourstorewizards.com with the results if you have any questions or concerns with what is in the report.
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.