U2’s Billboard chart topper “I still haven’t found what I’m
looking for” makes for a great anthem for love and longing,
but it’s not exactly what customers look for in digital
commerce experiences. And it is this challenge (and inherent
opportunity) that kicked off our conversation in
Driving Product Findability: Part 1.
Here, we saw the role of taxonomy in making products
“findable” by customers. Good taxonomy makes products easier
to find through navigating through the site. But as discussed,
we also saw that using taxonomy, or browsing, may not only be
the path customers take to find the products they want. In
fact, most customers use a hybrid approach including browse
and direct search. So, while you refine product taxonomy for
easier navigation, it is equally significant to fine-tune
internal site search capabilities to drive findability. And
this is what Part 2 of our series is all about.
What is Internal Site Search?
In its simplest form, site search (aka on-site search) is a
functionality that enables users to search for products or
services by typing in keywords in a search bar and running a
search. Good internal site search is usually tailor-made for
specific webpages making it a rather subjective facet to
master. Not only does site search make it easier for customers
to find what they're looking for, it also enables them to
discover products that they might not be aware of. Ideal site
search, however, works on the core principle of enabling users
to find what they're looking for in the most intuitive and
speedy way possible.
What's in it for Customers?
Nearly 50% of shoppers feel that easy findability is key to
their online shopping experience (HubSpot).
So, there's no doubt that customers rate site search as a
crucial factor in the buying journey. But why does search
become so important in this context?
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Better Search Relevancy Drives UX
Fine-tuned internal site search doesn't just give customers
a search functionality, it also improves their experience
with relevant results. This is achieved with a mix of
matching - providing relevant results for search terms that
could include alternate phrasing or typos; and ranking -
providing the most relevant results from a collection of
similar results
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A Seamless Buying Experience
Most businesses have a large collection of products listed
online in a variety of formats and categories. Most
customers won't spend the time to figure out the taxonomy if
it doesn't make sense to them in the first shot. In this
case, they will skip directly to the search bar and look for
the products they need. This is why businesses need a
well-functioning search bar that's easy to spot and has
intuitive features such as autofill to make the customer
journey seamless.
What's in it for Businesses?
A happy customer leads to a happy business. However, the
benefits of good site search manifest in ways beyond this
simplification. Businesses can reap a number of quantifiable
outcomes as a result of well-structured site search.
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Improved Conversions, Reduced Bounce Rate
43% of visitors have a tendency to go straight to the
search bar when they shop online (Forrester).
With healthy site search, businesses can ensure that once
customers hit the search button, they find exactly what
they're supposed to - a step closer to converting a search
into a purchase. Then again, cutting out the instances of
inaccurate or unsatisfactory search results also directly
reduced the chances of customers bouncing off to other
pages.
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Expanded Scope for Improved Site Search
As a self-feeding system, good site search practices lead to
even better site search outcomes. It helps businesses
understand users and markets better. What are they searching
for? Which products have been trending? Good site search
analytics (which is built into good site search practices)
help businesses capitalize on these opportunities. These
insights also enable businesses to better understand content
gaps, and fill them in with relevant content that customers
are looking for.
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Improved Product Discoverability
A businesses may have a product range that's as endless as
the universe, but this means nothing if customers don't find
these products. Optimized site search doesn't just ensure
that products are easy to find, it also makes a whole lot of
other products and content discoverable to customers. This
requires, not just a thorough use of keywords, but also a
robust search mechanism that can sift through all the layers
of indexing to find the right content set.
Site Search Best Practices:
An Econsultancy study states that conversion rate jump from
2.77% to 4.63% when site search is optimized. This is a
whopping 80% increase that most businesses would give an arm
and a leg for. Thankfully, getting site search right doesn't
require businesses to go that far. Here are some of the top
site search best practices that can drive findability from the
ground-up:
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Optimize the Search Box:
Design the search box in a way that it is easy to spot and
consistently placed across all pages of your website. When
customers land on a page, the first thing they look for is
the search box, especially if the site is cluttered or
confusing. Again, the box must be large enough to encourage
search, have the right icon (the magnifying glass in most
instances), and a prompt such as “search here” to encourage
the user to run a search.
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Build in Strong Error Tolerance:
This requires the use of a built-in mechanism that takes
into account typos and other variations. For example,
whether it's "board games" or "games board", "balck" or
"black", or any other possible variation, the search engine
should be trained to offer relevant results on every
occasion.
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Refine Synonym Search:
This is yet another way to get rid of no-result pages from
the equation. For example, one customer may search for "lady
shoes", another may use the term "women's shoes". If synonym
search is optimized, the website will give results for both
these terms. Easier said than done, this practice requires a
nuanced understanding of industry standards and also
customer search behaviour to eventually drive conversions.
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Make the Most of Autocomplete:
This feature guides customers to the most relevant or
in-demand products as they start to type. Including this
feature also ensures that even if the website doesn't have
an exact match, it suggests matches that are close enough to
lead to conversion.
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Factor in Mobile Search:
With the increasing number of mobile shoppers, it is
imperative for site search to be optimized for mobile
search. This means an optimized results page with not more
than 2-3 products on display, refined faceted search and
better search bar visibility, all play a vital role in
making better shopping experiences for mobile users
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Optimize for Natural Language Processing (NLP) &
Semantic Search:
Customers often search for products in a similar way that
they would ask for it at a store or physical outlet. The
result: colloquialism and conversational word use that a
conventional search engine may not be able to capture. With
NLP, site search engines can interpret abstract questions
and requests and produce more accurate results, in line with
customer expectations.
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Provide Relevant Results:
This may sound like a no-brainer, but many eCommerce sites
tend to mess up this aspect. While the first few results may
be relevant, this accuracy drops in subsequent items. This
is exactly why businesses must ensure high accuracy and
result cut-off parameters to give customers what they're
looking for in a descending order of relevance
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Tackle Zero Search Result Pages:
No matter how good an internal site search engine is, a “no
result” page is inevitable at some point. This can easily
lead to site abandonment. In this case, it is imperative for
the website to push engagement with the customer. How is
this done? By suggesting alternative approaches such as “try
searching with different words”, “check your spelling”, or
“try looking in other departments”. Then again, you can
always populate the page with similar products to encourage
further engagement.
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Finetune Content:
From product titles and descriptions to category names
(within the taxonomy), attribute nomenclature and schema,
you can leverage content to drive better site search results
in an organic manner. This requires a mix of industry
expertise for keyword selection, SME in taxonomy and schema
design for indexing and a robust dictionary for synonyms and
other similar variables.
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Design Faceted Search into the Mix:
Giving users the ability to tailor results, or faceted
search, entails filtering and sorting options that make
search engine result pages (SERPs) more palpable for users.
While this is a highly successful site search tactic, not
many sites offer it yet, making it a great tool to gain a
competitive edge. Similarly sorting options (ex: sort by
price, sale, relevance, new items etc.), give users another
useful lever to get refined search results.
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Optimize Site Search with Analytics:
You can track everything from top performing queries and top
performing products based on clicks or conversions, to
number of filters used and no search results. A
comprehensive overview of these metrics drives better
decision making and can help you optimize site search even
further.
Customers who run an on-site search are 2-4 times more likely
to convert; so, it comes as no surprise that as many as 68% of
surveyed eCommerce companies in the study are looking to
improve their site search capabilities. With such a direct and
tangible impact on business outcomes, site search is not just
a “good to have”; it is a “must have”. Even in saying that, it
must be finetuned and in keeping with customer expectations..
Wondering what’s the best way forward for your business to
achieve this? Get in touch with our experts at Amaze PXM to
learn more:
Schedule demo today
