How to Set Up Google Product Ratings

The main requirement for displaying product ratings is to have at least 50 product reviews. Then there are several ways to participate in the program:

• Set up the transmission of product review data through an approved aggregator. So, if you collect product reviews from one of the third-party aggregators from the Google list, you can easily join the program. The aggregator will give the appropriate instructions, or you can contact the aggregator’s representatives for help. Here is a list of approved aggregator companies.
• Submit a request to participate in the program and start uploading data to Google Merchant Center. This method is relevant if you want to transfer data yourself, or if you work with a third-party service collecting reviews with the required functionality.
• Sign up for Google Customer Reviews and start collecting reviews there. The advantage of this method is that it is free and easy to implement. Also, participation in the program gives you an opportunity to get a seller’s rating. The disadvantage is that your products must have a GTIN-code. It also takes time to accumulate enough data.

Now let’s take a closer look at the technical aspects of the second and the third methods. In the first one, the issue can be resolved through representatives of a third-party aggregator and does not require detailed instructions.

You can apply to participate in the program through the Merchant Center interface. To do so, go to the Manage Programs section, find the Product Ratings program and click Get started.

Fill in the form to participate in the program. If you are using a not-google-approved third-party review aggregator, select Other in the third-party service selection and enter its name in the field below.

If you collect reviews yourself and plan to upload them independently as well, select the following settings.

The application processing will take some time. After submitting and processing your application, Google specialists may ask about the quality of the reviews. It is vital for them to understand that the collected product reviews belong to real customers. If you collect reviews through a third-party service, the service usually matches the review information with the customer’s details. And only the reviews from real buyers receive verified status. Also, remember that transferring the product rating this way, after your application is approved, may take several weeks. In our case, it’s been 4 months since the approval for connecting the program through a third-party service for collecting reviews (not from the Google list), until the product ratings started to display.

This method takes less time to implement but has several things to consider. First, the Google Customer Reviews program allows you to collect store reviews. These reviews provide an automatic seller rating extension once you have accumulated 100 reviews in the last 12 months (and met the other requirements described in the Product Rating VS Seller Rating section above). Second, Google Customer Reviews also collects product reviews to show product ratings (not seller ratings) in your ads. But for this part of the program to function, your products must have an implemented GTIN code. To get started, connect the program through the Merchant Center interface.

To connect to the program, the website URL must be confirmed in your Google Merchant account and its ownership rights declared. Here‘s an instruction for this step.

After successful registration, a new section will appear in the settings, dedicated to customer reviews.

In the client reviews section you will find two codes:

• The main code. This code must be placed on the thank you page after purchase on your site. To collect product ratings within this program as well, add the following snippet to the standard code of the survey module:

"products": [{"gtin":"GTIN1"}, {"gtin":"GTIN2"}]

The snippet above needs to be placed in the code after the code snippet:

"opt_in_style": "OPT_IN_STYLE"

• Icon integration code. This code will display the membership image (optional) on your website.

Below is the expanded code of the Google Customer Reviews program for Shopify. It has several advantages over the standard code of the program, as it allows you to change language settings, specify the time when a review request is sent, and also allows you to request feedback only from the new customers who are visiting the thank you page for the first time.

{% if first_time_accessed %}
<!-- BEGIN Google Customer Reviews -->
<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js?onload=renderOptIn" async defer></script>
<script>
  window.renderOptIn = function() {
    window.gapi.load('surveyoptin', function() {
      window.gapi.surveyoptin.render(
        {
          "merchant_id": XXXXXXXXX,
          "order_id": "{{ order.name }}",
          "email": "{{ order.email }}",
          "delivery_country": "{{ shipping_address.country_code }}",
          "estimated_delivery_date": "{{ order.created_at | date:'%s' | plus:604800 | date:'%F' }}",
          "products": [{% for item in order.line_items %}{"gtin":"{{ item.variant.barcode }}"}{% unless forloop.last %}, {% endunless %}{% endfor %}]
        });
    });
  }
  window.___gcfg = {
  lang: '{{ shop_locale.iso_code }}'
};
</script>
<!-- END Google Customer Reviews -->
{% endif %}

Before using this code, you need to customize it. Below are the highlighted code elements where you need or can make changes:

1.  Shop_locale.iso_code – This object sets the language value for the survey form, according to Shopify settings. For example, en_US. You can replace the Shop_locale.iso_code element with a static value if you want to display the survey in a language other than the Shopify settings. See the local country code reference to set the static value correctly.
2. XXXXXXXXX – replace this value with your Merchant ID.
3. Change the value of 604800 in estimated_delivery_date to the actual number of days that users receive their order. After this time, your client will receive an email with a proposal to evaluate the order. The value 604800 is 7 days, specified in seconds.
4. If you want an email asking for feedback to be sent to the customer every time they are on the thank you page, then remove the {% if first_time_accessed%} and {% endif%} elements from your code.
5. products – This element will collect reviews for specific products. You don’t need to make adjustments, but keep in mind that for this item to work properly, you need your products to have a GTIN code.

Place the corrected code on the Shopify thank you page: go to the Settings (1) section and select Checkout (2).

Place the tag in the Additional scripts.

At least two weeks after the code is implemented on your website, the data will be displayed in the “Customer Reviews setup” section in the Merchant Center.

The fastest way to make sure that the tag is functioning properly is to have a look at the thank you page for an existing order. When you visit this page, a pop-up survey will appear. Check that the value of the parameter estimated_delivery_date is correct for the order you are checking. If you are using {% if first_time_accessed%}, remove it temporarily so that you can view the status of an existing order.

To get to the thank you page for an existing order in Shopify, go to the Order section in your Shopify account. Select an order and click on it.

In the upper right corner of the order page, find the More actions drop-down menu (1) and select the View order status page (2) action.

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