Google Brings Loyalty Offerings To Merchant Retailers

Google just released a new set of loyalty features for stores. These features make it easier for brands to show off member-only perks right in Google Ads and Shopping. These changes include personalised pricing, free shipping, and targeted ad optimisation, are meant to help businesses get closer to their loyal customers and keep them as customers. Let’s list the things that stores need to know:

What is a Merchant Retailers?

A merchant is a person or company that takes money and sells goods or services. The term includes a lot of different types of people, from street vendors to Amazon sellers who run warehouses.

You are a seller when you start a business or build an online store. By selling a product, you’re also creating an experience, running the business, and making money.

The merchant name is the business name that is listed with the government. It’s on digital payment platforms, receipts, and bills. People often think of this name as the brand’s personality, and it has an impact on everything from SEO visibility to customer trust.

About the Merchants Program

Google lets merchants who already have a loyalty program show off its benefits. Loyalty is an add-on tool in Merchant Centre that lets them do this. Some of the loyalty perks you can offer are free delivery, points that can be redeemed for cash, and special prices just for loyal customers. You can also show off the benefits of your reward program in your free listings and Shopping ads on Google Search, the Shopping tab, and Wallet, among other places. Keep in mind that desktop and mobile interactions may be different. For setting up the program in Merchant Centre, you don’t have to pay anything extra.

Why this is important

Getting new customers is important, but keeping old ones is even more important in today’s competitive shopping world. Google says that for 61% of people in the U.S., a personalised loyalty program is the best thing about a customised shopping experience.

Loyalty programs are becoming more important in deciding what to buy, especially during busy shopping times like the holidays. Google’s new loyalty tools come at the right time to meet the needs of both customers and retailers.

What’s Different for Stores?

1. Making loyalty benefits stand out in ads and listings

In Google Search, the Shopping tab, and Wallet, retailers can now offer member-only prices, free shipping, and point awards in both free product listings and paid Shopping ads.

Shoppers might see a “member price” next to the normal price or a note that says loyalty members get free shipping. This makes the benefits clear before they even click.

2. Google Ads Loyalty Goal

Google has added a goal for loyalty to Google Ads. Advertisers can change their bids and funds to focus on shoppers who bring in the most long-term value (LTV), not just one-time sales. To put it simply, Google’s Smart Bidding will now reward your loyal customers if they’re worth more over time.

3. Customised Notes in Performance Max Campaigns

Retailers who use Performance Max campaigns can now add personalised loyalty notes for logged-in users based on their loyalty level data. This real-time personalisation format makes ads more relevant to loyal shoppers. When Sephora US used these personalised comments, their click-through rates (CTR) went up by 20%.

Where you can find loyalty features?

Right now, you can get these reports in the US, UK, Germany, France, and Australia, among other places. Beta tests are also going on in Canada. And Mexico and Brazil.

Who can Use these Features?

You can only use this at stores that already have loyalty systems in place. To set it up, do these things:

• In Google Merchant Centre, turn on the “loyalty add-on.”
• With the “loyalty program” property, you can add specifics to your product feed, such as a member price, free shipping, or points.
• Make sure that the perks you give for being loyal include at least a 5% discount, which is five units of your own currency.

Customer Match lets Google show known-member personalisation in Shopping ads for U.S. businesses. Google is also using this information to test free ranking personalisation.

Benefits for The Retailers

1.      Stand Out During the Shopping Trip:

Customers who buy from Google often see discounts on shopping results pages. This can make your listings more appealing as soon as shoppers find them.

2.      Drive More Engagement:

Sephora’s example shows that personalised content that is based on loyalty can lead to big increases in click-through rate (CTR) 20% higher when loyalty benefits are clear.

3.      Better for long term:

With the loyalty goal, your ad spend is aimed at long-term customer trust rather than just short-term sales. That means smarter bids that try to build customer value over time.

4.      Improve retention and engagement:

Personalised annotations can help bring back customers who have stopped buying by telling them of the benefits they used to get.

A Quick Look: How to Get Started

For an easy execution flow, here it is:

• In Google Merchant Centre, turn on the reward add-on.
• Make the levels of loyalty and the rewards (like discounts, points, and free shipping) very clear.
• Add the needed properties to the product feed using “loyalty program.”
• You can use Customer Match lists to connect known members in qualifying areas, like the U.S.
• You can use personalised notes in Performance Max or Shopping ads.

Try out the new approach for bidding based on loyalty goals and keep an eye on the results through Merchant Centre reporting.

Effects in the real world and larger trends

Google is changing search and shopping so that they are useable for keeping people, not just finding new things. These updates make that approach stronger.

Retailers are under a lot of pressure to keep customers as the cost of getting new ones goes up and shopper’s loyalty changes a lot, especially among younger shoppers.

The best retailers to gain are those that have strong first-party data and loyalty programs. Google’s features for loyalty award this level of maturity.

Conclusion

Google’s new reward programs are a big deal for stores that already have loyalty programs. The tool helps people find you and lets you reward your best customers at every touchpoint by adding loyalty to search and shopping results. With tools like personalised price, shipping notes, and LTV-focused bidding strategies, you can keep customers and make more money in a modern way.

To make this even easier to use, would you like a one-page quick setup guide or real-life examples of feeds and ad campaigns? Please let me know, and I will be glad to assist you!