{"id":97006,"date":"2021-09-25T15:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T22:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=97006"},"modified":"2021-09-30T15:22:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T22:22:31","slug":"site-search-solutions","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/site-search-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Increase Your Website Sales With Site Search Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ever since eCommerce became a mainstream business, website owners have wrestled with the thorny problem of getting more website sales from the same amount of website traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many ways to do this but what if there was an easy way to stop your website visitors from leaving your site so quickly? There are multiple options to add to your eCommerce that will help you increase your visitor retention rate and multiply sales at the same time, do you want to know more about one of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to Econsultancy, up to 30% of eCommerce visitors use the internal site search to find what they are looking for.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to discover more about eCommerce site search.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal Site Search Is Your Low Hanging Fruit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The best way to obtain extraordinary results in the shortest time possible is to use the low hanging fruit approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking the low hanging fruit means doing the obvious or easy things to your website to make progress with the minimum amount of effort. It is a simple concept commonly overlooked in the general stampede for more advanced tools and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ecommerce<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Striving to gain more visitors and increase sales by generally improving search engine results is expensive and overlooks one obvious flaw in the overall marketing plan \u2013 the search results returned on your website! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Site Search Definition:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An eCommerce site search solution<\/em><\/a> is a search engine that is either built-in or integrated into your online store, and its job is to find the products the user is looking for by matching the user\u2019s search keywords with the products in your store. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Site search encompasses more than just the search box; it also refers to faceted search (where you augment traditional search techniques by applying multiple filters), product ranking, synonym management, and autocomplete functions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common Search Problems Associated With eCommerce Websites<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As your eCommerce store product catalog grows, it becomes more challenging to provide navigation that matches the increased number of SKUs. Dropdown menus can become cumbersome and breadcrumb trails elongated. The more products a store has, the more difficult it is for customers to find the product they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an eCommerce site owner, you should search for the products yourself and study the results (usability testing<\/a>). Imagine how frustrated your customers are when using the standard search tools accompanying a typical eCommerce website if you have difficulty finding what you need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ecommerce<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at some of the standard site search problems: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Zero Results Page<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    \u201c<\/strong>Sorry! No Results Found!<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"living<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    A page that returns zero results is the most frustrating search result a user can receive. It’s a bad experience, and to understand what is causing these empty result sets usually involves a lengthy session with Google analytics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The remedy is to discover what searches are causing \u201cno results\u201d pages to display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There isn\u2019t a report inside of Google Analytics by default, but there are ways to configure it to track this. Depending on the eCommerce platform you are using, you may have access to preconfigured reports that give you this information\u2014all very time-consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whenever possible, relevant search term suggestions should appear on the \u201cno results\u201d page. Also, explain to the user how they can improve their search query \u2013 by checking for typos, trying different or fewer keywords or simply checking the spelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Leaving the page blank is absolutely the worst option and the quickest way to send your visitor(s) to your closest competitor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Misspelling Errors<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Online shoppers often make spelling mistakes (especially when using mobile search), and missing out on sales or conversion opportunities is expected due to the frequency of human error.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      According to a recent eBay analysis <citation>, among the most common misspellings are \u201cshear\u201d for \u201csheer\u201d; \u201celegent\u201d for \u201celegant\u201d; \u201ccorderoy\u201d for \u201ccorduroy\u201d, and \u201cstripped\u201d for \u201cstriped\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      When you find common misspellings like these on your website, you can create landing pages with a curated set of products and set up redirects to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Of course, it\u2019s not possible to cover for every possible search that will happen on your site, making a certain number of \u201cno results\u201d searches due to misspellings inevitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"results<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
      1. No Synonyms (Fuzzy Matching)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Site visitors often use different words to look for the same item: \u201cpants\u201d and \u201ctrousers\u201d; \u201cgowns\u201d and \u201cdresses\u201d; \u201ctee shirts\u201d and \u201ct-shirts\u201d. You\u2019ll want to program common synonyms into your search and enable \u201cFuzzy Matching\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Display Related Or Similar Products: <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Displaying related or similar products in a search result set (for example, a \u201cred blouse\u201d if the \u201cblue blouse\u201d is unavailable) is a powerful way to provide product alternatives and keep the customer shopping even if they don\u2019t give a perfect match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Cross-selling and upselling are both powerful ways to increase your overall site revenue. If you\u2019ve used Amazon to shop, then you\u2019ll know that they place great emphasis on providing product comparisons and alternatives to keep the visitor on the page and engaged with the buying process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The Benefits Of Improving Your Site Search<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Too often, users face bad or off-target search results that make the purchasing experience one to forget. Don\u2019t let your users down by making it difficult for them to find what they are looking for!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Custom site search eliminates consumer pain points by providing timely and relevant search results augmented with visual aids and voice commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Ranking the search results by best match is the most common method of presenting a result set to the user. However, adding filters and facet sets will significantly enhance the user search experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          If you have always considered site search to be a bland afterthought, then think again! The following benefits and features will massively enhance your eCommerce website usability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n