Learn How to Target Both Online and In Store Customer Moments with Google Partners Connect 8/16

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If you are a current retailer or business and are wondering how you can drive up sales, then be sure to pay close attention to the steps from the recent Google Partners Connect event on 8/16. One of the biggest problems that retailers have been complaining about if the recent decline in foot traffic at stores. What is happening is that more customers are using online shopping than ever before. You have to be there for your customers wherever they are: both online and in store.

As a retailer, you need to make an online strategy that helps to drive your mobile website to better connect with customers. Even though foot traffic has declined with retailers, this does not necessarily make it a bad thing. In fact, when people actually do shop at a store, they are spending more money. People are now 25% more likely to make a purchase in store, since they are shopping less. In store, people are also spending 10% more on purchases than they were before.

The good side about customers being connected with mobile is that they are prepared before they even get into the store. The can learn all kinds of information about your business from it’s location to it’s current sale items. Stores are assuming people want to be educated in stores, but people are doing that themselves with online research and learning about the hottest trends. Mobile queries have increased by 25%, which makes it so important for retailers to be present on and offline.

Mobile has now become the center of shopping whether it is researching, browsing or in-store shopping for an item. Retailers need to be there for both online and offline moments to connect with their customer. Since trends are driving customer behavior, a retailer must build towards these trends to grow their business. They would rather want the retailer that is there for them in their moment of need rather than be loyal to a particular brand. They also would rather receive a personable and tailored message from a retailer than a one-size-fits-all message.  The shopping experience should also be seamless, since 53% of users leave a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Make sure the shopping journey is a great experience so you will have return customers.

The power of online shopping with Google is helping retailers to be discovered by new customers from all over. When you are present for your customers, you are 3 times more likely to engage in top positions. If you plan ahead for big events like holiday shopping, you will be better prepared to handle more customers. Plan ahead large promotions and sales, such as planning Christmas promotions right after Halloween ends. Make your whole inventory available on Google shopping during your campaign, to make sure you aren’t losing any business. Stand out by offering promotions like free shipping or coupons. For marketing, remarketing, customer match and marketing similar audience will increase conversion rates. By planning ahead for new customers and offering them a seamless experience online and in store, you will be sure to keep customers and target many more.

Comparing Google Pagespeed Insights and Test My Site with Google

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Our score from The new Test My Site web application by Google.

Google Insights analyzes web performance, gives feedback and suggestions to improve your web page. This test lets you enter your website URL and gives you your performance on both mobile and desktop. If there are problems that need your attention, a yellow exclamation point will pop up telling you to ‘consider fixing’ and will show a list of the things to improve on. A checkmark in green will highlight the aspects about your website that you have passed. Google released a new site performance application called Google Test My Site. As both interfaces provide advice to website users, there are still many differences that separate both website apps apart.

 

With both the pages, the scores remain the same. Test My Site has the option to email your test results, but Google Insight does not. Test My Site also has pretty visuals, such as bright colors and interesting videos, making it user friendly. It also displays your results on one page, where Google Insights displays results on 2 different tabs – one for mobile and one for desktop. To test if your site is mobile friendly on Google Insights, the website will have you click on a link and send you to another page.

Our results from Google Insights with scores and explanations of how to fix results.


What was nice about the old site, Google Insight, was that it displayed all of your scores right away, and was not separated by large tabs and graphics. They also explain how to fix the issues they identified on your site, where the new site does not. This can be frustrating to any user wanting to get right to the changes Google is recommending, like implementing browser caching, but not having ready access to resources and recommendations. Insights will show you, for example, if an image is too large what size to make it.

This highlights that the new Test My Site web app is for non-technical users, while the pagespeed insights is the more useful resource for developers, so we hope they don’t take it away!

Since more people everyday are using the internet, page speed is becoming increasingly important. Page speed can determine if a user stays or leaves your website. Whether you have large graphics and videos, or issues with Javascript, you need to consult to consult with a high-end tool like these that monitor your website performance. Once you find out that your website is lagging with page speed, the next step is developing a plan to improve issues.