Let’s start with a real talk!
Is it website design, product page optimization, personalization strategy, or something else entirely? What truly makes an e-commerce store stand out?
Marketers and website managers often need to pay more attention to the big things rather than the little ones. If you are running an e-commerce store, you know well how much money and time you have had to invest in designing a perfect interface, but never focused on the site search. Yes, 61% do this. They only use the search bar as a checkbox or placeholder. It upshot poor search results and user experience that left e-commerce websites behind.
80% of shoppers exit a brand’s site because of poor search (Nosto)
From larger to smaller e-commerce businesses, analyzing user intent, handling merchandising, and understanding user expectations has become a science. To understand this science, the implementation of a robust site search tool on your e-commerce site is important. The most crucial practice is to implement the best e-commerce site search strategy that enhances the user experience and improves conversion.
This blog post will reveal the 7 best e-commerce site search strategies that, if implemented correctly, can effectively boost your e-commerce business.
So, let’s get the ball rolling.
Importance of eCommerce site search
Before we dive into strategies we have to understand the importance of e-commerce site search, of course, one will not go towards a solution without knowing about certain pros.
When it comes to the e-commerce industry, site search is important because discovery-based shopping and personalized recommendations are becoming increasingly popular.
Here are some reasons why site search is important for e-commerce:
Personalization opportunities
Site Search data provides valuable insight into customer behaviors, and lets e-commerce stores enable personalization. Personalized search results enhance user experience and gain customer loyalty.
Refined search bar
Clear search with filters and sorting options, lets merchandisers refine site search results based on various attributes such as color, price range, brand, etc. This feature lets users meet specific criteria that, make the shopping experience smooth and satisfactory.
Analytical and insight
The fundamental aspect of making an e-commerce site search optimized is by focusing on analytics and insight. This robust feature lets users find popular products, trending searches, and analyze customer behavior.
Competetive advantage
The difference between successful and unsuccessful e-commerce stores is only one, optimization of the site search. It sets the site apart by providing a superior user experience. E-commerce stores with ineffective site search capabilities need to satisfy their users’ needs which ultimately leads to potential sales loss.
Customers are more likely to choose a platform that gives them what they want by providing an efficient user experience.
Time-Saving
In psychology, people highly value two precious commodities in our fast-paced world: Time and Money. Yup, you heard accurately.
E-commerce shoppers often prefer to save time by directly searching for specific products rather than navigating through various categories and menus.
An effective site search function reduces the time it takes for customers to find and purchase products, leading to increased conversion rates.
Now, let’s move toward the best e-commerce site search strategy that leads to boosting conversion.
Strategy 1: Implementing advanced site search algorithm
There are several site search tools in the market, and choosing the best one depends on how much efficiency you want on your e-commerce store and what is your price range for buying that tool plan. Reasonable price with effective functionality, no doubt every e-commerce owner wants that.
When we talk about the convertopia site search algorithm it means customers can have access on every feature of the tool in one one-month freemium plan, so they can study the tools and measure the results accordingly.
Buying a third-party site search tool like Convertopia is often the smart solution for both ranges of businesses small and big. The most important purpose of third-party search tools is to bring intuitive search solutions and deliver satisfactory results.
Convertopai Brief Overview:
Convertopia site search algorithm is user-friendly, responsive, and efficient for every big and small size business. This site search algorithm is based on API and works at the backend of the e-commerce store. It effortlessly lets merchandisers put keywords in product names, descriptions, and SKU details to personalize each product according to user behavior. Moreover, with its reports and analytics merchandisers can get insight analysis of user behavior, how they search, what they search for, and what they need. With promo banners, product spotlighting, promoting products by SKU, and Promoting products by attributes merchandisers can personalize the shopper experience and give them exactly what they want.
Strategy 2: User-Friendly Auto-suggestions on e-commerce search bar
A powerful factor to give shoppers a unique shopping experience is reducing their time of typing and giving them relevant suggestions under the search bar. The smart search feature auto-complete offers quick query suggestions and provides instant results to users.
Autocomplete is a must-have feature for any e-commerce site. It truly boosts the conversation if the search tool is working efficiently and accurately. As the user enters the search bar, it seems like as search bar is talking with them by providing relevant suggestions in the dropdown. This user communicates with the search engine allowing the tool to provide the most relevant results.
Strategy 3: Personalization in site-search
Many brands take their e-commerce website for granted. Every customer meets their demand quickly, and personalization has become popular among businesses that are determined to take their conversion to the next level.
When it comes to personalization in any e-commerce store, the most important thing is to get to know user behavior.
If you’ve had a bad search experience on an ecommerce website and really who hasn’t? Of course, you know the misery! How frustrating it can be. But the ultimate goal of your business is to drive sales and it’s only possible if your site search doesn’t frustrate users. Here are some tips you can follow in personalized e-commerce site search:
- Use the Promo banner and Product spotlighting to promote top products
- Make a category or group of related products, so when customers search for a certain product they can find variations that lead to the enhancement of cross-selling.
E.g: If a female customer searches for red heels, the merchandiser can group all red heels in one category which gives the customer variable products.
- Add reviews on products for social proof
- Categorize products on base of size, color, and fit
Strategy 4: Don’t let the user reach the “no-result” page
Sooner or later, customers at your e-commerce website are going to access the “no result page”. It happens for a variety of reasons including inaccurate search terms, misunderstanding of how your site works, or any number of other reasons. If users consistently see the no result page, it leads to dissatisfactory results.
Customers who visit e-commerce sites don’t like to waste time on the “no-result page”. That’s why your site page should be optimized with a no-result page template.
The natural human reaction is frustration when they come across a result page that is not optimized and doesn’t provide them with what they want. They can jump off immediately to a competitor’s website making you lose a potential customer.
But at the same time, a no-result page could be turned out as an opportunity to propose similar items to your customers. You can propose items that are as simple as possible to what they are supposedly looking for. They might just be a click away from finding what they can on your website. Also set in the proposing alert, whenever that missing item is available in your store.
Bonus point:
A great idea is to use reports and analytics which we will discuss further as a strategy, to analyze what customers are looking for in your e-commerce store, then you can add those keywords in your product description, and rearrange your data accordingly.
Strategy 5: Continuous Monitoring and Optimization
When an e-commerce website gives customers exactly what they seek, that’s where the power of a fine-tuned e-commerce website is revealed. But giving this experience to your customers isn’t a one-time effort, it’s a continuous process of monitoring and optimizing the site search.
Think of your site search as a trend, that continuously evolves to meet the needs of their customers. By adopting a continuous analyzing, monitoring, and optimization strategy, you can make sure that your site search provides personalized results tailored to every customer need.
The following are best practices to keep in mind while doing the optimization of your e-commerce search bar:
- Track key metrics, trending keywords, top-selling products, conversion, and bounce rate. These analytics will reveal what customers looking for on e-commerce site search and how they behave on every search query. The merchandiser will get to know about customer interaction and find out where the site search is not performing better.
- Add keywords in product description according to user’s interaction demand, spotlight or add promo banners on top-selling products, and run different tests to find out what works best for your e-commerce site search.
- Make sure every search query, even those with no exact matches leads towards helpful suggestions as mentioned in the fourth strategy so visitors don’t get disappointed at your store.
Time To Get Started With These Best Strategies!
These best strategies are mapped out for a better understanding of merchandisers. The freedom to choose the best site search tool, implement auto-complete suggestions, understand the power of personalization, and a built safety for “no result” trials, all points lead merchandisers towards choosing the best site search solution and implementing these points into actions.
Track, analyze and optimize your e-commerce website with these best strategies to optimize your site search and enhance customer conversion. You’ve all these strategies, the only remaining question is: how high will you take your conversion?
Bonus Tip: Convertopia is offering free trials with all top-notch features that let merchandisers take their e-commerce conversion to a new height.