The search box for an e-commerce website is not just useful, but essential!
Did you know that there is a 6 times higher conversion rate when people use the search box facility? Well, this is the truth of the matter and not only do you need to have a search box facility on your website, but you need to ensure that it’s the best search box possible. You may think a search box is only just a small function of your website, but this is not the case. Please take a look at the following tips to ensure your website users are in search heaven;
1. The search box has got to be large and obvious to see.
2. Rich auto-complete with suggestions popping up relevant to what’s typed, even actual product suggestions images with links.
3. It needs to be accurate e.g. the search term ‘Red Dress’ should not have any old dress appear just because it has the word ‘dress’ in the search term.
4. Save search data so you know what people have been trying to search and therefore understand the demand for products
5. Create landing pages for known search terms you don’t exactly cater for, alternatively suggesting relevant alternatives instead.
6. Have search results retrieve useful info as well as products e.g. fb and blog content
7. Have floating filters so that when people scroll down a long page of products they can still access and use the filter.
8. Rather than use text filters all the time, why not add a box of colour for colours or an actual image of a product category e.g. chairs. Images and colour will attract people to use the filter and speed up the shopping process.
9. Remember to personalise your product results by showing recently viewed and suggested products relating to the recently viewed.
Last but not least, remember there are 3 types of shoppers and they each enjoy searching in a different way:
1. Experts = Search box
2. Inspiration Seekers = Ideas section
3. Problem solver = Filters
For more on e-commerce and designing a web strategy, please visit our website.
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