How understanding site search can improve your eCommerce solution

Ever dreamt that you could look through your computer and tap into the minds of your users to see what they were really looking for on your site? Well, believe it or not, there's a way to do just that through site search analytics.

We chatted recently on the blog about the power of site search and how it can help you drop your bounce rates, improve your conversions and create a stellar user experience all through a site search functionality that's tailored to your users. But did you know, analysing the results of site search & responding to these results by giving your site some TLC can really help you improve your user experience and boost conversions?

Utilising Site Search

Your digital experience, whether that be a website, app or type of software, is a living, breathing conversation with your audience, and just like a conversation, you need to understand what your target audience is interested in to keep them engaged. The content you show on your homepage and even in search results should have a detailed strategy behind it and work to engage and convert your audience.

So, instead of looking at site search as an add-on to your site, start viewing it like this - the results are literally your audience telling you what they're interested in and actively looking for. Your customers are talking to you, but how are you responding?

Both of our favourite site search functionalities, Sajari and Site Search 360, give you access to in-depth analytics and allow you to tap into exactly what your users are looking for, whether they can find it or not and what they do next, as well as their behaviour patterns and trends while on your site.

Once You've Got Site Search Functioning, Here Are a Few Things to Think About…

Your most popular searches. In a nutshell, this metric tells you what people are searching for the most. Can you put these products or services on your homepage or rank them first in search indexing to improve conversions? If your audience is searching for something you don't offer, is it time you did?

Searches that Give No Results.

Just like the above, searches that return no results could be an indicator that people are looking for content, products or services that you don't currently offer. Could this be time to tap into a new market?

Additionally, this can occur when you don't have synonyms and alternatives set up correctly. Semantic search can be a great help here as it considers the meaning of the search, not just literal matches for the words to return searches that are meaningful for your audience.

Both Sajari and Site Search 360 have synonym and semantic search functionality to help your customers find the right things from their first search.

Ineffective Searches.

If a user makes a search and then doesn't click on any of the results, this is considered an ineffective search. In this case, you may want to consider whether your search indexing could be improved or if you can include more relevant content to give your audience what they're looking for. This is a great first place to start when looking for ways to strengthen your content strategy, boost your SEO or use it in your marketing content.

Time After Search and Site Exit metrics.

These metrics can also help you to understand if people are finding what they're looking for on your site and in your search indexes. You can also set up some more detailed metrics in Google Analytics such as goal completions to understand if site search truly is leading to higher conversions.

Of course, all of this wouldn't be possible without implementing site search in the first place, so if you're after a site search functionality and help with analytics, let's chat!