Include user-generated images in your Google Product Ratings feed

[Deefer]

Did anyone else get this email from Google? It sounds good. It is being rolled out in the USA on mobile with plans to expand to other countries over the coming months.

Turn browsers into buyers with user-generated images in product reviews

A recent study shows that Google is the first place that consumers go to research a purchase that they plan to make, whether online or in-store¹. But beyond turning to search to read product reviews, shoppers are increasingly becoming inspired by images, with 50% of digital shoppers saying that images helped them decide what to buy.

To help shoppers feel more confident in their purchases, we're introducing user-generated images in product reviews on Google Shopping. You can now include review images in your product review feeds, allowing customers to visually connect with what you sell through pictures of previous customers wearing or using your products.

I see two issues with BPers taking part in this. One is that BP doesn't currently have the functionality to collect reviewer images, something I get asked a lot by customers who do seem to want to share their pics when they post a review. So I am guessing that functionality would need to be added first (which would be great regardless) and then the google product feed would need to be tweaked to accept the images, which is probably the easy bit.

This could be big for us all and great for sales. A lot of people don't consider images enough in their SEO plans but images are massively important and helpful in getting seen on Google and therefore more sales.

Do enough of us have interest in this for BP to consider it?

[DarkStarGames]

Yes, user uploaded images would be great (for products and reviews), and if that helps with SEO even better...

[Deefer]

Wow, 45 views and only 1 comment. Is no one else bothered?

This forum used to be buzzing with enthusiasm and ideas but now it is like the Mary Celeste :-(

[DarkStarGames]

Wow, 45 views and only 1 comment. Is no one else bothered?

This forum used to be buzzing with enthusiasm and ideas but now it is like the Mary Celeste :-(

The forums always been pretty dead compared to others, and maybe the enthusiasm and ideas just die off when no-one takes any notice...

Suggestions are routinely ignored, as are requests for some sort of formal suggestions mechanism, and upcoming features lists...

[Deefer]

Shame. BP used to be so good. Suggestions were taken on board quickly, our ideas and view points were respected (and implemented) and everyone used to comment because of that. I wonder if apathy has set in because none of us feel particularly listened to anymore so what is the point?

[James]

We do take suggestions on board, they are added to our internal feature suggestion list. However, we cannot drop everything we are currently working on to implement these brand new features, they must be carefully considered and there are many other features that must be dealt with first. For example, the new Country of Origin and Commodity codes, along with commercial invoices and EORI numbers. This is not a simple 5 minute change to the system, this is a large scale update which requires changes to the product database, order database and API.

[Deefer]

I wasn't suggesting you "drop everything" nor did I suggest it was a 5 minute change to the system!

[DarkStarGames]

We do take suggestions on board, they are added to our internal feature suggestion list. However, we cannot drop everything we are currently working on to implement these brand new features, they must be carefully considered and there are many other features that must be dealt with first. For example, the new Country of Origin and Commodity codes, along with commercial invoices and EORI numbers. This is not a simple 5 minute change to the system, this is a large scale update which requires changes to the product database, order database and API.

It's not a case of dropping everything to implement some random idea, it's about visibility. The problem is that we don't know which ideas are immediately discarded, which are added to a to do list, which are added to a "nice to have one day" list, and which aren't even noticed in the first place. There's rarely any feedback from the developers on feature suggestions, and for individual suggestions we have no idea if it has been ignored, discarded or taken on board.

Regarding the forum itself, on other e-commerce forums I've been on in the past the developers are regular contributors to the forum, and typically answer technical questions after a few days if there have been no other replies. Here it seems there are not enough regular forum users to keep it running in an effective way. If people are asking questions and not getting answers then they'll just stop using it...

[Deefer]

Exactly. Well said.

When someone like Google makes a change or has a major new feature like this, we want to know if we are going to be able to take part or not. We are making our livelihoods using BPs software. However, it doesn't get mentioned by BP and if one of us dare to mention it we get a shirty reply. Please remember that we are your customers.

So I have the same question as above... which list has this been added to?

I agree... this forum is dead in the water. It used to be much better but why shout into the wind. That is why no one bothers anymore.

[James]

We are looking at bringing in a voting system for feature requests in the future, it will be very similar to the Click and Drop vote system used by Royal Mail when we requested that they produce the C&D system for Bluepark.

I understand the frustration that some of you have experienced when sending feature request emails or starting forum topics, but we are trying our best to implement them if they are viable for the majority of Bluepark users and the new voting system will hopefully give you all a better level of input. We want you all to succeed using our platform and we are always looking at the newest features, but it does take time to create them.

[Deefer]

But how do we get everyone involved and interested. Apathy has set in now. The Royal Mail update was the first and last time I ever saw BP actively trying to get people's input. The rest of our input is filed in the BP bin for all we know.

The question still hasn't been answered about this particular Google update and its implementation into BP. All we know is that it will be on a voting system that itself is only being "looked at".

I hate to sound so negative but I think BP have forgotten what their USP was back in the day.