How many times have we witnessed e-commerce executives and CEOs rave to customers and shareholders about how large their product offerings have grown? They talk about the breadth of their product portfolios and solutions available through their digital channels. It is not uncommon to see sites, both B2B and B2C, with well over a million SKUs. This is all well with good intentions, but there is something that often makes this an epic train wreck for customers: Finding a product. It has become clear for many customers in recent years, that humble search box with a cute little magnifying class icon can sometimes be a make-or-break deal for their purchase. A real conversion dependency for product specialists. To this point, seldom do we find an executive team rant about how easy a customer can find a product on their digital storefront. Despite the current tools available for search, ease of search continues to be a work in progress with search conversion.
Yes, YOU need to design it. Not the customer.
In order to get to the next level, we need to know about what problems a customer encounters and design a solution for them. Merely asking customers what they want does not work. Why? Because customers often cannot envision a shift in the daily paradigm. They cannot easily envision a breakthrough. In the end, they are not responsible for designing site search. It is up to the owner of the digital storefront to do the design. Think back to the famous Henry Ford quote, “If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Know the search technology gap
There are now more search technology platforms available than ever. Some of the search technology out there today is downright impressive with tons of capabilities. There are entire books and websites dedicated to the search capabilities of Nutch, Lucene, SOLR, Elastic, Algolian...etc. It becomes even more impressive when these search technologies are coupled with data analytics technologies like Hadoop. Many search platforms offer speed, high relevancy, ease of product setup and a plethora of options for customization. When we look to the future of search technology, there are a lot of exciting things ahead with AI, voice recognition, and innovative architectures. However, to leverage these technologies, no matter how advanced, still requires a familiarity with the basics. In other words, before moving to the Search 102 course, be sure you know the essentials of site search first.
Three essential items for site search and site conversion...
Beyond Google Analytics and DAM tools such as Adobe’s Marketing Cloud, we can zoom in on just three basics that can have a huge impact on conversion as it relates to site search.
1. Place a priority on conversion with the top results page and use the three “C’s” – In the search results, and search preview, make sure you are displaying the product image, pricing, any review ratings, and an attention grabbing description. In this age of digital, it is amazing how many companies have tossed sales copy aside for lean “mobile friendly” product pages. The danger here is assuming customers know a product’s brand. Example: Not every customer knows the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero, or the difference between pure cane sugar and Sugar In The Raw. If you have paid a shit load of money on PPC ads to get customers to your site, the last thing you need is a customer leaving your site to get basic info you could have easily provided. This is not the time to get lazy or cheap on content. In addition, follow the three “C’s” of conversion: Copy, Copy, Copy. Great sales copy is not just an eyeball magnet, it is a money magnet.
2. Page tune the product results – Virtually every search platform allows for results orientation. Make sure you are promoting the right products for top searches. This means taking the time to make sure you are page tuning the results actively. Yes, this sometimes means doing things manually or even getting a small script implemented into the search rules. What is your guide for which products to promote and page tune towards? Your analytics. Make sure your analytics dashboards are in full use here. The stats and numbers speak volumes when it comes to what a customer is doing on your site.
3. Get the product details correct and test it – Oh boy, here is an opportunity. It is amazing how many digital storefront owners place a low priority on this critical detail. No search technology can fix this for you. It is on you to get it right. How will a customer be able to find anything if the product number or SKU is incorrect? The answer is simple: They will not find it. I often recommend to clients a test plan with testing on product data. We spend time to test software. Why not test data? A product missing critical data can be worse than a software bug. You can still make money with a minor software bug running. However, if the product is a no-show in the search due to incorrect data, the odds of getting conversion dollars disappears. Ouch. This is like leaving money on the table. Test your product data for correctness. The money invested in this testing has been proven to get a return on investment.
By following these three steps, you can start to take control of the basics of site search and the conversion process. None of these three items require new search technology that is not offered today. They simply require a due diligence and commitment from the organizations that run them. As a digital executive, this is an opportunity to invest in something that has proven to gain bottom line results over time. Be sure you place focus in this key area. Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it does grow online.
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About The Author:
Brad Beiermann is a nationally recognized technology executive, author, and speaker with specialization in e-commerce, Agile, mobile, and start-ups such as Cimstrat.com, ProfessorString.com, HienoteDirectory.com, and others. He has considerable experience as a digital technology management consultant with Fortune 500 companies and the entrepreneurial community. He can be reached at bradb at cimstrat dot com.
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