Best practice guide for optimising delivery and return configuration

High-level overview of the features of delivery and return configuration

When submitting your products to Merchant Center, you'll also provide information about how much you charge for delivery and how long it'll take for customers to receive their orders. Your delivery settings are used across Google features, including Shopping ads, and free product listings. Delivery speed and cost are two of the most common reasons why customers abandon their shopping choices, so you'll want to make sure that your delivery settings are accurate and up to date. When you submit your product data to show Shopping ads or free listings, you may also choose to provide information about your return and refund policies. The return policy is a key factor for people who are making a purchasing decision, and showing your policies on your ads, listings and Gmail may help the performance of your products.

This article will provide you with the best practices for setting up delivery and return configurations. This article will cover everything from carrier-based delivery costs and speeds to free delivery thresholds and return policies.

On this page

• Benefits of optimising delivery and return settings
• Best practices for delivery configuration
• When to and who should use delivery configuration
• Best practices for return configuration
• Pitfalls to avoid when setting up delivery and return

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Benefits of optimising delivery and return settings

• Reduce item disapproval: Accurate cost shown can prevent offers from being disapproved.
• Reduced basket abandonment: Fast and accurate delivery information can reduce the chances of shoppers abandoning their baskets due to unexpected costs or long delivery times.
• Increased click-through rates: Shoppers prioritise delivery information when making online purchases. Displaying clear delivery details can increase click-through rates.

Improved product visibility: Annotations like 'Fast and free delivery' and 'same-day delivery' can make your products stand out on search results pages.

Best practices for delivery configuration

For offer-level delivery settings

• Use the delivery attribute to specify delivery speed and cost for individual products. This attribute is useful for overriding account-level delivery settings when necessary; for instance, for bulky or fragile products.
• Include all relevant delivery charges. This includes charges for shipment, delivery, handling, logistics or carriers.

For account-level delivery settings

• Set up delivery settings at the account level first. This creates a baseline for delivery costs and speeds for all products.
• Ensure that the delivery rates in Merchant Center match those on your website. This helps avoid inaccurate delivery cost warnings or item disapprovals.
• Use a supplemental feed to add the delivery label[shipping_label]attribute to group products for each target country if using delivery services for multiple target countries. The item IDs should be identical to the primary feed.
• If using weight-based delivery services, add the delivery weight [shipping_weight]attribute to each product in the feed.
• If a product's weight exceeds the supported value for a particular delivery service, use the delivery label [shipping_label]attribute to configure alternative delivery rates.
• Overestimate delivery costs if an accurate cost cannot be provided. Matching or overestimating the cost that users would pay is recommended. However, excessive overestimation may negatively impact product performance.
• Submit a shipping price in the target country's currency according to ISO 4217. For example, submit $1.01 USD instead of $1.0012 USD.

Avoid submitting conflicting information if the delivery attribute is submitted multiple times. For example, avoid submitting two different prices for the same region or service class.

Leverage helpful tools for delivery configuration

Best practices for return configuration

Pitfalls to avoid when setting up delivery and return

Common delivery issues

• Inaccurate delivery costs: When the delivery costs in Merchant Center are lower than those on the website during checkout, an account warning or suspension may occur. The delivery costs provided in Merchant Center may not match if changes to the website are not updated in the product data.
• Mismatched delivery currency: If the currency of the delivery costs does not match the currency of the products, products may be disapproved.
• Missing delivery weight attribute: When using a weight-based delivery service, the shipping_weight attribute is required on the feed for each product. If the shipping_weight attribute is missing, products may be disapproved.
• Shopify delivery sync issues: Changes to delivery settings in Shopify may not always sync correctly to Google Merchant Center. Refer to Delivery best practices (for Shopify users) to learn more.

Common return issues

• Ensure that the return policy in Merchant Center matches the return policy on the website. Discrepancies between the return information provided in Merchant Center and on the online shop can result in rejection of the return policy. For instance, if the website's return policy states a 25% restocking fee for cancelled orders, the Merchant Center policy should also reflect this.
• Create a separate return policy URL that is not part of the FAQ or terms and privacy. The return policy should be accessible to all users without requiring them to log in, sign up or provide personal information. It should be a separate landing page to ensure proper recognition by the system.
• Include all necessary details for verifying the return policy. Even if the return policy information in Merchant Center matches the website, the return policy might be rejected if crucial details are missing. The website should clearly outline the handling of returns and refunds, including the time frame for accepting returns, return methods, return fees and other relevant information.
• Ensure the consistency of return policies throughout the website. The return policy should be consistently displayed across the website, including the footer, returns page and web banners.
• Set up the return window properly. A return window needs to be established in the return policy in Merchant Center.

Opportunities to show relevant annotations

• Fast and free annotations: Display 'fast and free' badges on eligible products that meet Google's delivery speed and cost requirements. Learn more about free and fast delivery.

• Same-day delivery/Next-day delivery annotations: Showcase same-day delivery options for local and online merchants by setting up same-day delivery services in Merchant Center.

Related links

• Set up your return policies for Shopping ads and free listings
• Use the delivery policy tables to optimise your delivery settings