#BeLikeAmazon: Site Search

Responsible for 36 percent of online Black Friday sales in 2015, Amazon is a dominant force in ecommerce (of course), but smaller shops shouldn't miss out on the opportunity to be like Amazon.

While not everyone is a fan of the fourth most-visited site in the U.S., what Amazon offers is a glimpse of what today's consumers have come to expect in online shops - elements like personalization, wish lists (check out: #BeLikeAmazon: Wish Lists), flexible shipping options and sophisticated site search (to name but a few).

When it comes to site search, retailers have plenty of options to guide users toward products they are looking for, products they may be interested in or products merchants deem suitable for them.

Auto-Complete

Made popular by Google, 82 percent of the top-grossing ecommerce sites offer autocomplete suggestions - making this an expected feature for all online shops. Most site search offerings provide this functionality, including Swiftype (standalone or WordPress Plugin), WooCommerce Predictive Search, Instant Search, SLI Systems and others.

Mobile Search

It's no secret that consumers are browsing on their phones for purchases they are considering. When retailers make it easy to buy, those same shoppers are starting to convert at higher rates on their mobile devices. Mobile site search is one way in which to provide a better mobile experience and plenty of providers are available to help. Coveo for Sitecore, for example, has an optimized user interface (UI) for mobile devices and apps. Coveo automatically detects smartphone and tablet browsers to ensure the site search experience is rendered appropriately for individual shoppers.

Filtering

To provide more relevant results, enterprises should opt for site search that allows users to filter the suggested search options down by category, price or other options that can help the visitor accomplish his or her goal. Site search provider Nextopia presents this functionality by complementing the site search bar with the ability to filter results by price, gender, size, color or any other feature applicable to the products.

Add Identifiers

Unlike Amazon, ecommerce retailers can add identifiers (pictures, price, etc.) to site search in order to grab a user's attention (and clicks and dollars). In the example above from Nextopia, users are presented with product matches that include an image, title and even star ratings. Want to be like Amazon (or better)? Don't miss any of this #BeLikeAmazon series or other ecommerce news coverage. Sign up for Website Magazine's ecommerce express newsletter now!