Site Search for eCommerce - Why you need it?

January 28, 2017

Elza

A few of our readers asked us to share more details on the basics of why they need to have Site Search. They have a multitude of reasons ranging from fewer SKUs to less monthly visitor traffic. Hence they feel it may not be important. So in the interest of these readers, let's get back to the basics.

Interested and want to skip reading - SIGNUP NOW and see your visitor engagement improve.

What is Site Search for e-commerce?

When you visit a physical store with the intent to buy something, there is a good chance you talk to the store assistant. You share your intent (Search query) and he/she replies with whats available (Search results) with options (Filters) to drill down. This is the basic real-world experience that a site search engine is expected to provide an online visitor

site search shopping assistant

No matter how many SKUs your store has in stock. There will be always visitors who have no time and want to ask/search for what they seek to buy. Our data suggest between 5% to 15% of your visitors will prefer to search Vs. browsing listing pages to discover products. Now while the numbers may be small, these visitors contribute to almost 20% to 40% of the overall revenue. More details about these benefits can be found here.  Interestingly, we noticed that in the 5% to 15% who search, almost 60% of that data came from visitors on a mobile device. On a mobile phone, only 2 to 4 products are visible per scroll. Menus are also mostly hidden. Hence Search is the fastest, easiest way to discover products.

How I wish you could see the raw data to be fascinated at how online visitors engage in retailer stores in today's mobile world. But if Search was not a critical path to revenue, why do the leading eCommerce store globally place an emphasis on it? Why do they clearly provide a call to action on their header across all pages, inviting visitors to search? This ancillary data should make you think about the same needs for your business. Interested already - SIGNUP NOW and see your visitor engagement improve.

walmart search

And the why behind this push to make visitors search are the benefits. We have spoken earlier on the benefits of good site search but thought we back our claims with some masked data to validate these claims.

Fashion retailer - Client A

search benefits 1

Food retailer - Client B

search benefits 2

Jewelry retailer - Client C

search benefits 3

As you can see from the data, no matter the size of the retailer, there are always visitors that want to search and when delivered with great search experience become customers. Search conversion is always 2x or more than conversion across other listing pages. This not only helps improve overall conversion rate but also improves cart value, revenue per visitor, time to transact therefore overall revenues. Do not wait until its late and forego revenue. Start with a free plan from Tagalys if you have less than 5000 searches a month and deliver the best search experience and improve your business metrics almost instantaneously. Increase profitability.

We will soon be talking about the different types of site search engines and what may be most applicable to you. one size does not fit all and we at Tagalys have an engine that is best suited for your business.

Tagalys maximizes conversion rate & gives merchants visual control of products displayed in Site Search, Category Pages & Product Recommendations at their online store. To know more about our solutions and features, get in touch with us now.

Trusted by retailers worldwide

Vanja S

Sheike

"Tagalys makes merchandising effortless. Their data driven sequencing and sorting drastically improves our effectiveness. Tagalys takes the guesswork out of merchandising and product recommendations."

Ryan R.

Camilla

"I love that Tagalys listens to customer needs and has an innovative + agile team around them which can support addressing those needs and adding improvements to the roadmap."

Rafaelle C.

Blue Bungalow

"Tagalys is the powerful and reliable data-driven solution that we were looking for when it came to search & merchandising for our Shopify Plus store. There is no limit as to how custom you can get with your merchandising, which is exactly what we were after!"

Tiarne Warren

Meshki

"The dedication of Tagalys team is evident from the feature developments. I appreciate their effort in understanding our business needs and feedback. We have saved numerous working hours and achieved great performances."