Have you found what you were searching for?
Search & Merch: Increase conversion by optimizing your search
The perfect customer experience is currently at the top of the to-do list of retailers. In the omnichannel, the customer should be able to switch between channels flexibly and seamlessly. A key difference between a store and the online shop is that in the store, salespeople are ready to support the customer. In the online shop, these salespeople are missing.
Did you ever try to ask an e-commerce shop the way you would ask a salesperson?
There are a lot of functionalities in webshops, that seem to be a must for modern e-commerce platforms, such as auto-complete. Yet, the most important thing about the search is not the associated range of functions, but the finely tuned relevance, which gives the customer exactly the results he expects. On the one hand, it is necessary to understand what is being searched for and on the other hand, the user's context must be considered.
What needs to be considered for your onsite search?
There are many things that need to be considered in an e-commerce search, that are maybe easy to handle for a person but not for an online shop.
When a jacket comes in scarlet, how should your online shop know it’s a shade of red? And shouldn’t it be shown when your customer is looking for a red jacket?
There are different types of search queries and all of them have the potential to end up with an empty search result. While there are easy ones like product type queries, there are quite a few that are more difficult to solve such as symptom searches. Depending on the products in the portfolio, some types are used more often than others.
Search criteria in the right context
When focusing on the search experience for a user, filter and other features are helpful for the user but only if they fit the context. Maybe the weight of socks is not the right criteria to filter on, while size would be. Also autocomplete features make the user experience better, but not if they are too slow so that the user won’t even recognize them. Or the shown recommendation is just a list of 100 lines of products.
To create relevant results for a user, it is necessary to know their context. If the last few products, the user has been looking for, were summer dresses, should the shop really show men’s clothes in the next search result?
Personalization is the key, based on different factors you can anticipate things like gender, age and preferences. But using this information for your search results is also key, it can improve the relevance to the user and make it more likely for the user to convert.
Search is one of the most used interfaces in your shop, wouldn’t it be great to use it as a tool to boost your conversion?
Certain products could be boosted or items with a high margin can be highlighted. You could also change the sorting of the results, so that new products are highlighted or bury products that are no more available. Using the search for this is called Searchandising and is a trending topic in e-commerce. If you want to learn more about how to make your search a clever merchandising platform, download our free Whitepaper now!
Contents of the whitepaper:
✔ different search queries and potential errors explained with examples
✔ search functions and what to consider when implementing them
✔ personalised search results
✔ using the search as a merchandising tool
✔ KPS Search Transformation approach explained
KPS Search Transformation:
Evaluation and improvement of your search function
KPS has built a Search Transformation Process and can help you make your search a clever merchandising tool. For our customers we have improved their conversion rate after search by up to 300%. The KPS experts help you find the gaps and elevate your search to the next level. The search transformation process is split into five maturity levels, which rate the current state of your search.
The transformation starts with an outside appraisal of your search. We will test your search from the customers point of view. In a two-day-workshop our experts review the infrastructure and techniques used for the search together with your team. They evaluate the maturity level of your search and present their findings to a small audience. Based on the outcome, KPS can make an offer to help you improve your search and with that, increase your conversion rate.
What's most important?
GENERAL SEARCH EXPERIENCE
How good is the user interface, performance and appearance of your search function?
AUTOCOMPLETE FUNCTIONALITY
Standard for years, but in many cases implemented in a wrong way. How does it look in your case?
SUPPORTED SEARCH QUERIES
Does your search funktion understand what the customer is looking for?
PERSONALIZATION IN SEARCH
Does your search function put the users needs individually into the foreground?
MERCHANDISING IN SEARCH
How do your business strategy and marketing campaigns affect the search results?
MOBILE EXPERIENCE
Does your search react to a smaller screen size and shows the same results?
AVAILABLE FILTER AND SORTING OPTIONS
What possibilities are there to refine the result set with filter and sorting options?
Contact us at searchandising@kps.com to start the process and improve your e-commerce search!
