More work to be done on site search, retailers told

Even well into the present era of e-fulfilment, many retailers are still failing to provide their customers with the complete site search functionality, according to one recent study. Inflexible ecommerce sites are proving a continued inconvenience to many actual users.

This is all the more of a travesty given that past statistics have suggested those using site search to be more likely to purchase than those simply using standard navigation. Reasons for this include buying intent - these visitors know what they want and are determined to find it. Such users, having gathered all of the necessary information, are also in late stage buying mode. They are loyal and want to take the path of least resistance.

That path of least resistance can be provided by a convenient search box on the ecommerce site, users choosing it over standard navigation given their expectation that it will deliver instant results. However, a recent buyers' guide to ecommerce platforms also found dissatisfaction among retailers about current site search technology.

Despite 56% of companies rating high quality site search functionality as critical, a mere 21% thought that they had a good current solution. For all of the acknowledged importance of site search, many sites fail to provide the best possible user experience in this regard, perhaps due to dependence on ecommerce platforms that fail to match their requirements.

Recognised issues with site search in ecommerce include no site search at all, as well as the failure to allow search by product name or model number. The latter ought to be basic best practice, given how many consumers will otherwise simply assume from the lack of results that given products are not in stock. Nor do all sites deal with simple misspellings, with even a single wrong character in a product's name often sufficient to return no results.

In contrast, the most successful retailers will often study their site search data to identify common misspellings, so that their results can be optimised for those terms. Ecommerce site search should also be able to cater for alternative product terms, specifically those that online shoppers actually use, rather than just the exact jargon used for the given product by the website.

Users' frequent preference to refine the search query they initially entered should also be recognised by ecommerce sites that leave the search query in place on the results page. Finally, faceted search is another imperative feature of the most successful ecommerce site, enabling users to drill down to the most relevant results on the basis of certain features and characteristics.