Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My company is thinking about offering Google Checkout as an option during the checkout process.

I am interested to know if anybody else has had any experience with this service and if they saw an increase in their conversion rate due to offering this method of transaction.

With the increasing news reports of websites being hacked and credit cards being stolen it would seem that some people are very leary of sending out their credit card information over the internet.  Although our site offers full 128 Bit SSL encryption I would assume that most shoppers still are skeptical about the security of their information.

In addition, most people are concerned about "fly-by-night" e-tailers who may not even be in business tomorrow.  Being associated with a recognizable name like Google would go a long way in perhaps legitimizing our company awareness.

Anyways, those are my thoughts and I am very interested in yours.

Thanks!

 

 

 

Hi TruckStoreUSA,

You may have noticed this forum topic on Google Checkout. It may not answer your specific question about increasing conversion rates, but make certain you check it out.

How about it? Anyone have experience in Google Checkout increasing conversion rates?

Speaking as a customer not a retailer, I would not use Google checkout, that company IMO has entirely too much personal information and they are the best in putting two and two together. I would rather use a system like PayPal that has NO OTHER personal information. They know I bought a widget in store X but that`s it, not enough to put any info on me. Google knows what you search for, what companies you buy from, what emails you send, who you associate with, what news you read on-line and on, and on, and on.

If a website was to give me Google checkout as the only option to pay, I would not buy there. Google is a great company but too much of a good thing is no good. 

I am not really sure about conversion rate yet as it is too early to really tell.  They don’t charge for processing credit cards this year, so that is a plus.  And they give the appearance of a more trusted web site than an unknown or new site would give at the time of purchase.  It is true Google does collect a lot of personal information on the web in general, but I am not sure this isn’t the case elsewhere with other services.  I am a firm believer in giving the customer a lot of ways to pay for their orders at your web site including phone numbers.  The easier it is in their eyes the more likely they are to purchase.  It is just like when you offer free shipping when they purchase over a certain amount and it stimulates them to purchase more.  It is a good psychological tool, it is easy to install and it could be the reason someone buys.  So far I like it.

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

No other personal information? PayPal has both my credit cards and 2 of my bank accounts! Do you not think PayPal is tracking your purchases too?

Personally (and as a consumer), I hate PayPal checkout. When I use my email address, of course it tells me that`s a PayPal account and I must log in. And then when I log in and happen to want to use a credit card that`s not on file, I have to go through the whole process of adding the credit card and verifying it. And of course PayPal asks me if I want to use a credit card (they push direct bank transfers) or spams me with their own credit card with every purchase. It`s a giant pain.

As for the original question, I totally agree that from a consumer standpoint, using Google checkout increases confidence in the purchase due to the large name.

I`m not scientifically solid on Google Checkout, but I do shop a fair amount online. I don`t think that many people are freaked about having their personal info grabbed just by shopping. It`s a problem, but not a definitive issue when it comes to converting me from "just looking" to "I wanna buy!"

Rather, I think it`s about the site itself. No shopping cart is really going to convert me to a buyer, on its own. That being said, I didn`t know that the "search" function on a store is usually built into the shopping cart. So a bad shopping cart that won`t allow me to easily find a product WOULD prevent me from buying.

I got a note from Tinderbox that they`ve updated their site. I happen to like their Silver Flints, for my lighter. First thing I did was try to find those flints on the site. I never found them. If it weren`t for the fact that I already know they carry them, I wouldn`t buy anything. It`s a really bad shopping cart, and the content description for their products isn`t providing keywords.

Does Google Checkout have that search function? How good is it? That`s the only thing I can see about a shopping cart that would "cause" a conversion to a buyer. The rest is ALL up to the marketing on the site, ease of use, ease of navigation, pictures, explanations, and overall organization.

It`d be like saying I only shop at Wal-Mart because I really, really like their checkout counters! In fact, in most cases, it`s the checkout line that`s the reason I eventually try to avoid various stores. The lines are too long, the person doing the checking out is an idiot, and they never have enough people to handle the customer load. But I have yet to go to any store because I`m fascinated by their checkout machines! :-) Y`know?

Hi Nikole,

Agreed, PayPal as well as all other companies collect info on their users, any one of them on it`s own IMO is OK. If Amazon knows what I buy there, so be it. The issue I have with Google is that they know everything I do, from humorous e-mails to purchases, from business searches to what newspapers I read, if I read a paper in South Africa they know it and they keep that record. There is no doubt in my mind that someday they will know better than I do if a particular headline will make me click on that link. :-) Too much of a good think you know ... Don`t get me wrong I don`t avoid them, just don`t want to hand it to them...

Completely agree with Craig and Bert. I also agree with you that name recognition increases confidence in making the transaction but like Craig doubt that anybody will decide to make a transaction based on Google`s checkout.

Cheers,