Customers who use your on-site search functions are critical for your e-Commerce growth. These shoppers are 7-10 times more likely to buy your products because they are looking for specific items rather than simply browsing your website. The team at Prefixbox found that 10-40 percent of your customers use on-site search, which means 40 to 80 percent of your revenue comes from these customers.
Unfortunately, many brands neglect their on-site search tools, leaving them inaccessible and unhelpful.
If you want to improve your e-Commerce site to grow your sales, make sure your on-site search tools are accessible. Follow these guidelines to create a better experience for your customers.
Make your search bar prominent
Your customers do not want to search for your search box. Often, e-Commerce designers place search tools in sidebars or high in the top right corners of their web pages. This placement signifies that the on-site search tool is an afterthought and might not generate the results customers need.
If you want customers to use your search bar, make it a prominent part of your top navigation layout. Consider centering it on your desktop layout and making it a larger field for ease of typing a search query. For mobile optimization, ensure the search bar loads quickly and is a prioritized element in a responsive design.
Prioritizing the search bar includes providing a source code tag for screen readers. It won’t get lost within your website hierarchy for customers with motor function impairments who use keyboards for navigation instead of a mouse.
Include voice search functionality
Voice search is a popular tool for customers who are blind or who have limited vision. This search technology is also popular with people who need hands-free navigation when driving, cooking, or completing other tasks. Incorporating voice search options on your e-Commerce site can increase the number of people who navigate your pages while also boosting their success rate in finding products.
Use autocomplete and autocorrect
Autocomplete and autocorrect are two tools that can make it easier for people to find the products they want. Not all words are intuitive, and your customers may have difficulty spelling your products' names while using the search bar. Some of the most common misspelled words include Caribbean, hygiene, jewelry, leisure, and vacuum – all words that could potentially apply to your eCommerce website (depending on what you are selling).
While autocorrect tools are helpful, they can also frustrate users who know what they want to type. (Think about your phone autocorrecting a romantic text about your fianceé into a message on how you love finance. It can be pretty frustrating.) There are a few ways to make these tools both accessible and easy to use:
- Leave the search terms in the box after the user selects them. Many search engines clear the search field after the customer clicks submit.
- Auto-suggest popular terms based on what people begin typing or by showing recent searches.
- Make sure your search bar can respond to misspellings and take users to the correct pages instead of sending them to an error or a 404 broken link.
These features can make your search bar more usable as a whole. All of your customers can benefit from not having to spell difficult words or having the opportunity to edit a phrase if the search goes awry.
Recommendations instead of no results
One of your top goals with on-site search is to provide an answer for your customers. Avoid bringing customers to a blank page with a message stating that the search engine cannot find what they are looking for. A few ways to prevent this include:
- Provide alternative search terms that the customer could have meant. (Ex. Did you mean to say…)
- List a few common categories and filters to help customers narrow their search.
- Highlight a few of your top products.
- If you are out of stock of particular items, mention similar alternatives.
These efforts keep customers on your page and prevent frustration. Look at the search results on the Netflix interface. As a few letters are typed, the results for shows and movies populate on the same screen as the search bar. A built-in algorithm will recommend similar shows and movies if nothing matches your search.
Give your results page functionality
Improving on-site search is important, but you also need to consider the accessible nature of your results page. What actionable steps can your user take once they view the search results?
For example, if your eCommerce brand sells swimwear, allow search users to easily filter or sort the products by size, style, brand, and color. This functionality helps customers find what they need without going through additional searches.
Keeping a consistent layout structure across your site, including the search results page, screen readers, and other assistive technologies, can more easily navigate your content. There is less new information for the technology to analyze and process, which means your customers' shopping experience will go more smoothly.
Next Step: Apply your search data
Once you have optimized your on-site search tools, take steps to apply the data from your customer search efforts to improve the user experience. A few insights you can glean from this information include:
- What are the top products that your customers are looking for?
- What categories are most in-demand?
- Where are customers getting lost?
- What keywords should you target in your marketing and SEO efforts?
- What products are you missing that your customers expect you to have?
- Which categories are too broad or too narrow?
As an e-Commerce site manager, your goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to find their ideal products. The more complicated your website is to navigate, the more customers will bounce away and to a different site. You can win more people over by constantly improving your website and learning from customers.
View Your Website Through an Accessible Lens
Your on-site search functionality is just one aspect of your e-Commerce experience. Your customers take multiple steps to navigate your website before they reach your search bar – and they continue to navigate your pages after they finish searching.
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