eCommerce Success Open Secrets #1: eCommerce Search Optimization

eCommerce Success Open Secrets #1: eCommerce Search Optimization

Better eCommerce Sells.

Search on eCommerce stores are terrible. They truly suck, and no one is perfect. Even eCommerce giants like Amazon, frequently fall short of producing relevant search results. (Searching “Left-handed electric guitars” is a genuinely bad experience on Amazon.)

The Irony is that eCommerce search drives 30-60% of eCommerce transitions. The ecommerce stores that are able to put in the unappreciated, unglamorous, thankless, drudge work of reviewing, nurturing, and optimizing ecommerce searches will see a substantial financial benefit.

• Prioritize Top Searches: Review your top 100 eCommerce search results. Often times, the search terms will cluster into related terms: misspellings, brand name typos, SKU number variations, etc. Find and fix search results for those clusters. You probably won’t have to do this 100 times and it will result in better results that will pay off in better revenue.
• Zero Result Searches: Make sure that your zero result searches go somewhere relevant. Searches with no results are an indication that someone wants something. Finding and fixing ‘no result’ searches allows you to connect your customers to a potential transaction.
• eCommerce Search Engine Merchandising Tweaks. While you’re working on #1 and #2, take a look at the quality of your search results. Many times, the ‘natural’ results of your eCommerce search won’t be quite right. Use the merchandising tools to refine the results. Promote the more relevant SKUs and demote the less relevant ones. It will payoff in the form of ongoing, longer-term revenue and customer satisfaction.

Why Don’t eCommerce Stores Do This?

Inadequate Staffing: One simple answer is that many stores don’t have the time, knowledge or resources to focus on this. Many eCommerce teams are short-handed. There’s always something urgent that pulls away the time and attention of an eCommerce team. Promotion codes need to be created. New products added. Email campaigns need to be written and tested. The eCommerce store needs to be optimized.

Insufficient Product Knowledge: most eCommerce professionals, particularly at companies with limited experience in eCommerce, don’t have a very deep product knowledge. They often know that better eCommerce search will help them improve sales, but they don’t have the product knowledge to make improvements. More mature organizations will tend to have Category Managers who are responsible for Managing a product category and improving performance.

Insufficient Resources: This is a catchall bucket that generally boils down to money. Many organizations are run very lean and the time and support needed from other departments is often not available. Need product knowledge? Customer Service, Sales, Product Management, R&D departments will often have people with that knowledge or know where to go to get what’s needed. Unfortunately, these departments often don’t have the time to help.

Getting Help Will Pay Off

Consider hiring 3rd party support. Third party support may not be as knowledgeable as your own staff, but they are technically knowledgeable and, if hired for a specific project, have the time and focus needed to make meaningful, revenue driving improvements to your eCommerce and eCommerce search.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Kilometer Marketing can help your company improve it’s eCommerce performance, reach out to us. We’re happy to help.