Site search is one of the most important yet most overlooked functions of any ecommerce website. Ecommerce site search engines provide your store website visitors the ability to query your database and get the answers to questions they have about your products.
A well-designed smart site search engine makes it easier for users to search your website. The best ecommerce search engine will be able to answer any questions your shoppers may have, provide suggestions, and help move shoppers further down the path to a satisfying purchase.
Benefits of Site Search in your ecommerce Online Store
Best site search feature comes with various of benefits:
Improve customer experience
Users get relevant results which increase brand trust
Personalize your shopping experience
Discover customer intent and uncover data about customers' interests
Attracts customers that are willing to buy
Enhance higher conversion rates
Analytics data can be used to improve business decisions
Ecommerce Site Search Best Practices
Ecommerce site search engines can be more than just a pretty feature to add to your website. You need it to work in accordance with your customers' expectations. Otherwise, it can be detrimental to the customer experience. These are the top practices to ensure a fully optimized search engine that directs high-intent shoppers straight through the funnel.
1. Allows for errors and autocorrect
You shouldn't expect shoppers to know product names, how they spell product names or which product they are looking for. Your site search function must be able to predict where the search will take you and start listing suggestions while the shopper types. When it found the right match, artificial intelligence (AI) discovered it.
2. Provide synonym results
Using synonyms in your search engine will make it easier for people to find the products they are looking for. This is something that you will need to manually add in some search engines based on your requirements. In others, the synonym libraries are automatically created using natural language processing (NLP).
3. Make the search box visible
Visitors won't be capable of using your site search function if they don't see it or can't locate it. There are many other ways to save space and not sacrifice site search visibility. Site search should appear above the fold and should be visible like a fire extinguisher on the track.
4. For ecommerce site search insight, consult your analytics data
Analytic data related to onsite searches should be monitored. Analytics from your search solution can provide you with a wealth of insight into your customers' needs and their shopping habits. Once you have enough data, you can draw conclusions and see if your customers' vocabulary matches what is on your product pages. If not, you can take steps to make them align.
5. Mobile search functions can be configured
Mobile devices continue to increase in traffic to ecommerce sites. Various payment methods make it easier to purchase on mobile devices, from the initial steps to the checkout. It is important that your website search works on mobile devices as well. Mobile searchers can use smart autocomplete suggestions (or query suggestions) to reduce the amount of typing required.
6. Use machine learning to deliver personalized results
Strong machine learning capabilities allow a search solution to aggregate data on products and individual shoppers, understand product relationships and identify complex patterns in order to return highly personalized results.
7. You might consider adding buttons and graphics to your search results
A good image is all that a buyer needs before they make a purchase decision. But don't stop there. To give your prospects an easy shopping experience, offer a Buy Now and Add to Cart button.
Wizzy’s Ecommerce Site Search Solutions
Ecommerce Onsite search is a powerful feature for your online store.It helps high-intent shoppers quickly find the right items. But it also provides valuable data about what your customers are talking about and how to optimize your offer for them.
Get Wizzy’s advanced machine learning-based site search engine that transforms the way shoppers discover products on your site. From a business perspective, Wizzy gives you insight into search behavior that tells you which search terms lead to more sales, which search terms didn’t lead to sales, etc.
Request a Demo at Wizzy, how an Ecommerce Site Search Software works and help to boost your business sales. As an ecommerce site search company, Wizzy understands natural language and helps visitors discover and find products quickly.