Local businesses are facing a lot of difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic. As the Covid-19 has forced lockdowns around the globe, local businesses are experiencing a huge reduction in their sales. Many businesses have started to sell gift cards as a way for consumers to offer extra support amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Google will soon allow the business owners to feature links to gift cards and other donation methods on their public business listings. Google’s initiative will help businesses to offer extra support during the crisis. You can see these business listings on Google Search and Google Maps. The business owners will now be able to add links to campaigns, asking the consumers for gift card purchases and donations, to these public business listings.
Business owners will also be able to share an additional message with the consumers in their posts to inform them how the donations and funds will be used by the businesses.
If you are a business owner, adding gift card links to your public listing will allow the consumers to buy gift cards for your business. These gift card links can go to a provider supported by your business, or directly on a page on your business website.
The donation links which you have featured on your public listing will redirect the consumers to a fundraising page. The consumers will be able to donate to your business on those fundraising pages. These donation links can also go to a supported provider just like the gift card links.
If you want to add these links to gift card purchases and donations, and the messages informing consumers how the donations will be put to use, visit the Google My Business platform. You can add these links from your Google business dashboard. However, Google will not make them available for public use until later this month. Google has not yet shared the finished design which the end-users will encounter.
Moreover, the new feature will only be made available to a subset of businesses at the roll-out, as Google is working to ‘protect against misuse.’ This shows that the company does not want the feature to be misused for personal benefits, and aims at helping the struggling businesses. The company does not plan to charge any fees from business owners or customers. However, the third-party partners may charge any fees.
At release, Google has partnered with GoFundMe and PayPal for funds and donations. According to Google, business owners can directly link their gift card offerings with one of the company’s eligible partners. Google’s eligible partners include Clover, Toast, Vagaro, and Square.
The company is initially rolling out these donation links to Google business listings in countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the US. The company plans to make these donate links available to more merchants, partners, and countries in the upcoming few weeks.
Read next: Google’s New “Grow With Google” Program Could Help Those Laid Off Due to Coronavirus
Google will soon allow the business owners to feature links to gift cards and other donation methods on their public business listings. Google’s initiative will help businesses to offer extra support during the crisis. You can see these business listings on Google Search and Google Maps. The business owners will now be able to add links to campaigns, asking the consumers for gift card purchases and donations, to these public business listings.
Business owners will also be able to share an additional message with the consumers in their posts to inform them how the donations and funds will be used by the businesses.
If you are a business owner, adding gift card links to your public listing will allow the consumers to buy gift cards for your business. These gift card links can go to a provider supported by your business, or directly on a page on your business website.
The donation links which you have featured on your public listing will redirect the consumers to a fundraising page. The consumers will be able to donate to your business on those fundraising pages. These donation links can also go to a supported provider just like the gift card links.
If you want to add these links to gift card purchases and donations, and the messages informing consumers how the donations will be put to use, visit the Google My Business platform. You can add these links from your Google business dashboard. However, Google will not make them available for public use until later this month. Google has not yet shared the finished design which the end-users will encounter.
Moreover, the new feature will only be made available to a subset of businesses at the roll-out, as Google is working to ‘protect against misuse.’ This shows that the company does not want the feature to be misused for personal benefits, and aims at helping the struggling businesses. The company does not plan to charge any fees from business owners or customers. However, the third-party partners may charge any fees.
At release, Google has partnered with GoFundMe and PayPal for funds and donations. According to Google, business owners can directly link their gift card offerings with one of the company’s eligible partners. Google’s eligible partners include Clover, Toast, Vagaro, and Square.
The company is initially rolling out these donation links to Google business listings in countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the US. The company plans to make these donate links available to more merchants, partners, and countries in the upcoming few weeks.
Read next: Google’s New “Grow With Google” Program Could Help Those Laid Off Due to Coronavirus
