Is the store really closing down or just relocating somewhere else on the platform?
Google Trusted Stores is being retired by the online mega-giant and given a new name, Google Customer Reviews, according to Marketing Land. The merchant account holders were informed last week of the changeover, and the accounts will transfer automatically under the new name. The new GCR will be free. Its function will be to mitigate customer reviews and will be featured through the Google Merchant Center.
Members of the merchant class will be allowed to display their GCR badges on their own websites but will have to add the survey option as well to remain compliant. The Google survey will request the customers to rate their purchases after the order is received. Merchants will hve the option to display how they are rated.
Google Trusted Stores offered essentially the same service for free, except it included a certification program that will not be in GCR. Trusted Stores was launched in 2011, but did not become available to all US merchants until 2012. It became part of Adwords in 2013.
In the Trusted Stores program, merchants had to meet a minimum number of orders, 200 per month and had to provide evidence of prompt service replies to customers. Google has not revealed if these will be requirements in GCR, nor if the consumer protection extended in Trusted Stores will be part of GCR.
For the unknown aspects, more details will be forthcoming on GCR in the coming weeks. .
For more information, go to http://marketingland.com/google-trusted-stores-shut-transition-google-customer-reviews-208370.
