- Start Your BusinessStart Your Business
- Starting a BusinessThe tools and resources you need to get your new business idea off the ground.
- PaymentsEverything you need to start accepting payments for your business.
- Funding & CapitalResources to help you fund your small business.
- Small Business StoriesCelebrating the stories and successes of real small business owners.
- Self-EmployedThe tools and resources you need to run your own business with confidence.
- Run Your BusinessRun Your Business
- Running a BusinessThe tools and resources you need to run your business successfully.
- AccountingAccounting and bookkeeping basics you need to run and grow your business.
- Cash FlowTax and bookkeeping basics you need to run and grow your business.
- PayrollPayroll essentials you need to run your business.
- TaxesTax basics you need to stay compliant and run your business.
- EmployeesEverything you need to know about managing and retaining employees.
- Grow Your BusinessGrow Your Business
- Growing a BusinessThe tools and resources you need to take your business to the next level.
- Sales & MarketingSpread the word: What you need to know about marketing your small business.
- FundingHow to find funding and capital for your new or growing business.
- Midsize BusinessesThe tools and resources you need to manage your mid-sized business.
- Enterprise Suite BlogThe tools and resources you need to grow your own business with confidence.
- E-CommerceHow to start and run a successful e-commerce business.
- TaxesTaxes
- How to fill out a 1099-NEC formLearn how to fill out and file 1099-NEC forms for independent contractors and freelancers.
- How to file small business taxesLearn how to navigate tax season with confidence and minimize your tax liability with this guide.
- Small business 1099: What you need to know for 2025Navigate the complexities of small business 1099 forms and filings with our comprehensive guide.
- 13 documents to give your accountant for small business taxesYour accountant will need these documents to file your small business taxes successfully.
- What's NewWhat's New
- NewsBrowse the latest news, press releases, and reports from QuickBooks.
- AI Resource HubFind the latest on Artificial Intelligence.
- Small Business DataThe latest research and insights for Small Businesses from QuickBooks.
- Small Business StoriesCelebrating the stories and successes of real small business owners.
- Holiday SuccessEverything you need to thrive during your business's busiest seasons.
- AI InnovationsBrowse the latest AI innovations in QuickBooks on the Intuit platform.
- ToolsTools
- All ToolsFree accounting tools and templates to speed up and simplify your workflow.
- AI-Powered Invoice GeneratorTry out this free invoice generator to create an invoice online using Intuit Intelligence.
- Payment Cost CalculatorFind out how much you could save by switching to QuickBooks Payments.
- Paycheck CalculatorAccurately estimate pay for all your employees.

5 Important Tips from Google’s ‘Secret’ Retail Playbook (and Summary)
Google’s mistake is your gain. Google accidentally published a 108-page Playbook filled with best practices for retail and eCommerce UX design, and subtitled “Ecommerce playbook. Creating frictionless experience across the funnel.”
While it is marked “proprietary + confidential,” the PDF is indexed by the search engine giant and is freely available to access online. Since there’s no claim or clarity about its provenance, we describe it as a Secret document in this blog.
But first…
What is a Playbook?
A playbook is a book containing strategies typically used by sports teams or a play-by-play guide to help companies define their workflows, standard operating procedures and cultural values. This secret eBook certainly fits the bill as it’s filled with real-life examples and pointed advice on how to improve conversions and sales.
We combed through advice pulled directly from Google’s highest-profile retail clients and narrowed it down to 6 areas for improvement, which are most helpful for eCommerce merchants:
1. Home/Landing Page
2. Menu & Navigation
3. Search
4. Category/Product
5. Conversion
6. Form Optimization
These 6 areas were further broken down into 43 key activities. At a glance, these seem overwhelming.
So we plucked the top 5 things you can implement in your website today.

1. Home / Landing Pages: Don’t use automatic carousels
Easy to implement
High Impact
Key metric: Low Bounce Rate
Carousels are often ignored. Why?
- Reason #1: Human eye reacts to movement (and will miss the important stuff)
- Reason #2: Too many messages equals no messages
- Reason #3: Banner blindness - they look like offer banners and ads. People just skip over them.
Usability guru, Jakob Nielsen, confirmed this in tests. They ran a usability study where they gave users the following task: “Does Siemens have any special deals on washing machines?” The information was on the most prominent slide. The users could not see it – totally hit by banner blindness. Nielsen concludes the sliders are ignored.
Forever21 would have carousels that had 3 rotating offers, changing every 4 seconds.

If possible, don’t use carousels on your homepage. Stick to static images.
Think of it as giving control to the site user. Humans are most comfortable when they feel in control of themselves and their environment.
Here’s how: Show system status updates by describing causation (i.e. if you do X, then Y will happen) and by giving insight into what to expect at every turn. It’s not a problem to state the obvious.
2. Home / Landing Pages: Display a clear CTA above the fold
Easy to implement
High Impact
Key metric: Clear CTA and Low Bounce Rate
Above-the-fold placement originated from the world of print. Basically, it’s the upper half of the front page of a newspaper where the top story is usually placed.
On a website, placement above the fold is the content that’s displayed without scrolling down. Above-the-fold placement calls attention to what’s most important, which immediately draws your visitors’ attention to your CTA. This is always good for conversions.

In 2014, Google released a study, The Importance of Being Seen: Viewability Insights for Digital Marketers and Publishers, that demonstrates the impact of the fold.
The study found that ads just above the fold had 73% viewability, whereas ads just below the fold only had 44% viewability. It matters because it sets the stage for future content and provides quality expectations, not because of some arbitrary, absolute rule.
3. Make your search bar prominent & adjust search algorithms
Hard to implement
Medium to High Impact
Key metric: % traffic with searches, search depth
According to Google, users that search are 200% more likely to convert on average. When Lyst replaced the search icon with a search box, it enabled users to locate the search function more easily. Changing the search placement increased usage by 43% on desktop and 13% on mobile.

But if used incorrectly, site search can lead to a bad user experience.
- 22% of searches give zero results
- 85% of searches don’t return what the user is looking for
- 80% will abandon the site
You can avoid these situations by providing auto-suggestions and implementing spelling corrections within search.

4. Add urgency elements
Hard to implement
High Impact
Key metric: Conversion Rate (or CVR)
Urgency is a powerful motivator if done well. There are 3 ways to create urgency on your website:
1. Quantity limitations (Only 3 tickets left at this price)
2. Time limitations (Discounted tickets until February 1st)
3. Contextual limitations (Valentine’s Day is around the corner, get her a gift now)

5. Add urgency elements
Medium to implement
High Impact
Key metric: Conversion Rate (or CVR) and Exit Rate
To get customers to convert, remember:
- Add a “Continue to Checkout” CTA in cart at the bottom of checkout
- Auto-determine credit card type vs having customers pick from a dropdown
- If delivery date is important, move it to the start of the checkout process
- Not to redirect after adding to cart. Instead, use a modal with options

Also...
- 5% of users will abandon checkout if the retailer does not offer guest checkout (according to Google’s Playbook)
- Upsell in the cart

But importantly, limit exit points during conversion flow. Only allow users to go to the homepage, back to the cart, or to contact support when they’re checking out. Do not provide a menu.

For a visual summary of all 43 key activities, check this graph by Dan Barker.


Try our inventory management software with a free 14 day trial
Helping our customers automate and own their workflows, so that they can focus on growth.
Explore what you can do with QuickBooks
Explore what you can do with QuickBooks
See profit at a glance
Get expert help
Looking for something else?
Firm of the Future
Topical articles and news from top pros and Intuit product experts.
QuickBooks Support
Get help with QuickBooks. Find articles, video tutorials, and more.
Call Sales: 1-800-285-4854
© 2026 Intuit Inc. All rights reserved.
Intuit, QuickBooks, QB, TurboTax, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc.
Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc., licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. For details about our money transmission licenses, or for Texas customers with complaints about our service, please click here.
By accessing and using this page you agree to the Website Terms of Service.









