In this video here, we're going to learn how to set up our shipping and return
settings in Google Merchant Center.
First, let's start with our shipping settings.
Open your Google Merchant Center account by going to merchants.google.com.
Go to "Tools and settings", "Shipping and returns".
Click "Add shipping service". 🛳️
It's going to ask you your shipping service name.
You can name it whatever you like, it won't be seen by shoppers.
Select the countries that this service will apply to.
You can add as many as you like here.
Select the currency that your rates are in, click "Next".
It's now going to ask us for our order cut-off time.
This is the time where you stop processing orders for the day.
We then add in our handling time.
This is the period following the cut-off time, until the order is actually ready for shipping.
The transit time is how long it takes generally to ship the product to the customer.
Click "Next".
Next, it's going to provide us all these different options for
how we actually handle shipping with our website.
You need to select the correct option for your store,
and what matches your shipping page, and how you actually ship your products.
You can also switch the advanced settings to see things like size and weight.
Firstly, you can do free shipping over a certain amount.
So, if someone spends $100 they could get free shipping.
So, if someone spends a $100 you may still charge $15 for shipping.
You can select free shipping to ship all your items for free.
You can do range based,
which means the shipping rate is going to be based on the actual order value.
You can also click this button here, to have several ranges so you have tiers,
for how much your shipping costs depending on the order value.
You can also just do flat rate shipping, so every order is shipped for say $20.
You can do based on the carrier, so depending on your location it's going to pull in
the carrier services and the pricing for each.
Make sure to put in your origin zip code, any percentage adjustments, or flat adjustments to.
If you need to add a shipping service based on the size or weight of your products,
you can click this button here,
This allows you to use the advanced settings in the shipping settings.
You can then create different shipping rates based on a multitude of factors,
based on order price, order weight, number of items, destination.
I won't go into too much detail here but you can play around with this for yourself.
Honestly, from a business perspective I do recommend you look into doing free shipping.
Once you've chosen your shipping click "Save".
I want to offer some advice from a marketing perspective.
If you can offer free shipping for your customers do it.
9/10 shoppers say free shipping is their biggest incentive to shop online,
and orders with free shipping have 30% higher average order values.
It's becoming a stronger expectation for people as time goes on, with 61% of people
saying they're somewhat likely to abandon their cart if free shipping isn't offered.
There's no getting around how powerful free shipping can be for your sales.
Now, let's set up our returns policy in Google Merchant Center.
Next we need to set up our return policy information, but to start
this we need to make sure we enable the Shopping ads in Google Merchant Center.
So go to "Growth", "Manage programs" and then click "Get started" under Shopping ads.
Once you've done this, you now see this page right here,
but we can add in our returns information now.
Go to "Tools and settings" at the top.
Go back to "Shipping and returns", and you'll now be able to see return policies at the top.
Notice here that Google shows an example of how they plan to
show your return policy information in Google Ads.
Here are the steps to enter when adding your policy.
Click "Add policy" to start.
Add your country, you can add any of the 120 countries listed here to be covered by the policy.
Click "Next".
Add your policy URL.
Go to your website and get the URL of your returns and refunds page.
Paste it into this box.
It's going to ask you "Do you accept returns from these countries?"
If you do click "Yes".
If you don't click "No".
It's going to ask how customers can return your products.
You can say in-store, add a kiosk or by mail.
I'm going to put by mail.
Here we just add in the actual options for how we actually operate as an ecommerce store.
I'm going to put download and print, and download and print.
Click "Next".
It's going to ask us how many days do customers have to return the product.
You can have a lifetime guarantee or put in a set number of days.
I'm going to put in 90 days.
You can also extend the return window during certain times of year, like the holidays.
It's really up to you.
I'm going to click "Next".
It's going to ask you what product conditions that you allow for returns.
I'm going to select all in this case.
Click "Next".
It's going to ask what currency applies to this policy.
This is for if you're selling to multiple countries with multiple currencies.
I would just put in your main currency here.
If there's a restocking fee you can add that in here.
There's none for us.
It's only going to ask you how much customers will have to pay for return shipping.
You can add in your own policy details here.
In my case I'm going to make it free.
Click "Next".
It now shows a summary of what was added and we can click "Done".
If you have multiple policies for multiple countries you can continue adding them in here.
A common problem that I see people making,
is they'll set up their returns policies in Google Merchant Center,
and forget to update it, once they've updated their actual policies on their website.
So keep Merchant Center in mind as the platform where you're officially stating
your policies to Google, and to remember to always keep it updated with your business.
I'll end this lesson by echoing my earlier advice regarding free shipping.
Your shipping and returns policies should be regarded as part of your marketing.
It may be expensive to offer perks such as free shipping, or a 90-days no questions
ask refund policy, but this is how many businesses have found enormous success.
Two famous examples are...
1. Zappos, a shoe retailer that offers free shipping and free returns.
2. L.L.Bean, an apparel outlet that had lifetime guarantees on its entire catalog.
Stores that we work with tend to have greater success
with these customer friendly approaches. by far.
Shoppers are incredibly attracted to stores that minimize the risk of a bad experience,
and Google knows this.
That's why they're asking for this information and putting it on your Google Shopping Ads.
So guys, that's how we set up our shipping and returns in Google Merchant Center.
If you have found this video useful, please hit the like button and let us know down below.
This video is also just one of the videos in our free Google Shopping course on our website.
It's 100% free, no sign-up required.
It shows you how to set up, optimize, and scale your Google Shopping Campaigns.
I'll leave a link down below so you can go and access the rest of the lessons in the course.
Thanks for watching guys, I'll see you in the next video.
Bye for now.