12 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Online Store’s Search Tool

Your Ecommerce site can drive more sales, increase revenue per customer, and dramatically improve your customers’ shopping experience.

Site search is key.

In this article, we’ll explain what site search is and how it can benefit your online store.

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What Is Site Search and How Does It Work?

Ecommerce site search works like a Google search engine for your online store. It lets your customers enter an item or search term in the search box and view relevant results from your website.

The benefit of a search tool is that it helps your customers find exactly what they want, when they want it. Most customers use search when they’re ready to buy, so an effective search tool gives them a quick way to find and purchase what they’re looking for.

Features of Ecommerce Site Search Engines

Ecommerce site search solutions typically share a few common features:

1. Basic site search: Produces search results closely related to the query. The most basic type of site search matches products and pages more or less exactly to the customer’s query. The downside of this approach is how often a “no results” page appears.






2. Semantic search: More advanced search engines handle queries using synonyms and language structures to provide more accurate results.






3. Faceted search: Adds a set of filters, or facets, to the initial search results. A simple example of faceted search is the ability to select products in a specific color.






4. Product ranking: Lets you give more weight to certain products you want to sell more often or move out of inventory.






5. AI-powered: These engines understand customer queries more intuitively and tailor results based on user behavior and preferences. This not only improves search accuracy but also increases conversion rates and customer satisfaction by making navigation easier and helping users find products more efficiently.

These features are becoming increasingly common in Ecommerce search engines. Together, they help provide a more comprehensive Ecommerce site search solution.

The Power of Online Store Search

Here are some figures that show how important search functionality is on your Ecommerce site:

• Visitors who use Ecommerce site search convert 180% more than those who don’t.






• Visitors who use search on an Ecommerce site account for nearly 14% of all revenue, even though they make up slightly less than 6% of users.

Despite its value, many websites don’t offer useful search functionality. As many as 70% of websites don’t provide relevant results for product-type synonyms. They have a site search box, but their search tools don’t work as well as shoppers expect.

Shoppers Leave a Site After a Poor Search Experience

According to research by Forrester, 68% of visitors leave an Ecommerce site after receiving poor search results. This is a major problem because BigCommerce research indicates that as many as 72% of sites fail to satisfy customers through the search box.

If your site is driving visitors away, you can take steps to fix it right away.

Start by reviewing what site search is and how it works, then explore our 12 tips for creating a positive search experience for your users.

Types of Search Queries

Customers can create a wide variety of search queries for an Ecommerce search engine to handle. However, it’s helpful to break them down into the four most common categories:

1. Exact search: These queries occur when a customer enters exactly what they want to find in the search box. Exact searches are common, but they can also lead to no-results pages if individual keywords don’t exactly match the products. Examples: “Nike shoes size 11,” “red storage box,” “small Rubik’s Cube.”






2. Product-type search: These searches are broader because they don’t use a specific brand, but rather a broader term such as “TVs” or “men’s shoes.” They can provide more matches, but they can also overwhelm customers with too many results.






3. Problem-based search: This happens when a customer searches for a solution rather than a product. An Ecommerce search engine should be able to match products, descriptions, and details with relevant blog posts and help articles to answer these queries. Examples: “Remove grease from clothes,” “How to organize Lego pieces,” “How to squeeze lemons.”






4. Non-product search: Some customers want to find information about your company, such as your return policy, shipping times, or company history. Ecommerce sites can add this information to their search functionality to meet these user needs.

Query Qualifiers

Qualifiers are additions to searches that intentionally narrow the search results. Customers use them to find specific items, such as “4K TVs.”

Some of the most common site search qualifiers include:

• Feature search: Searches for a specific attribute, such as size.






• Thematic search: Searches for items with a common theme, such as a holiday or event.






• Compatibility search: Useful for technology and electronics, such as a USB-C cable.






• Relational search: Searches based on connections between products.






• Subjective search: Searches based on opinions, such as “beautiful picture.”

These qualifiers can make searches much more complex. However, a tool that uses the large amount of available search data can return very good results even for these complex queries.

How to Get Started With Site Search Tools

The best place to start improving results for your customers is with your existing Ecommerce site search data. You should try to answer this question: “How are customers already using search in my Ecommerce store?”

Based on your existing data, you should try to do a few things:

1. Address the searches customers are already making. If many searches don’t return results, try to fix them or find a solution that lets you do so.






2. Tailor your search results to guide customers to products more effectively. Use natural language processing and search suggestions to handle more complex queries.






3. Set up mobile search features because nearly everyone is mobile-first now. This is especially true for B2C brands.

Those are just the basic steps. Now, let’s explore 12 more search optimization techniques you can use to adopt Ecommerce site search best practices.

Start With These 12 Ecommerce Search Optimization Strategies

Now that we’ve covered some site search basics, let’s focus on twelve ways you can improve your site’s search experience for customers.

1. Predictive Autocomplete for Faster Results

Build an autocomplete feature into your search engine to help customers complete their search queries faster. This is especially useful on mobile devices because it saves time and effort when typing on a phone or tablet.

Best practices for predictive autocomplete in site search:

• Make autocomplete as effective as possible by intentionally connecting common user searches to product pages.






• Highlight the difference between customers’ search queries and suggestions.






• Track search history and data to remove irrelevant results and suggestions.

2. Add Text to the Search Box to Encourage Searches

We’ve explained why Ecommerce site search is so important, so let’s cover a few ways to encourage customers to use it more often. First, add text to your search box. This has been shown to encourage people to use the search bar.

Ideas for search bar text:

• Use common search queries to populate the search box. These will serve as starter ideas for many customers.






• Populate the search box with an invitation, such as “Find your perfect product…”






• Make the text disappear automatically so the customer doesn’t have to delete it.

3. Make the Search Box Large Enough for Typical Queries

The second user interface tip is to make your search box large enough for typical queries. This prevents parts of your customers’ queries from disappearing as they fill in the text box. Small text boxes aren’t user-friendly for long queries.

Benefits of longer search boxes:

• Helps customers view and review their entire query.






• Encourages conversions by making search more prominent.






• Provides more room for search box text to attract the customer’s attention.

4. Implement Tooltips, Suggestions, and Search Prompts

Offer tooltips and suggestions to new visitors. You can use cookies and tracking to identify first-time visitors.

Examples of site search suggestions and tooltips:

• Use floating tooltips to suggest search ideas while visitors browse.






• Create a pop-up video explaining how to use site search.






• Offer searches for common questions on a help page for first-time customers.

5. Natural Language Processing for More Intuitive Site Search Results

Generative AI is quickly becoming the de facto standard for search engines. One reason Ecommerce site search engines fail to return good results is that they don’t understand the structure of human language.

6. Error Tolerance to Display Related Products

Provide autocorrect suggestions during the search process to prevent spelling errors.

7. Sell More Products Through the Search Tool

Use “searchandising” to display relevant products to customers who use site search.

Searchandising tips:

• Highlight current promotions and sales.






• Display popular products related to the search query.






• Use data analytics to understand which products your customers search for most and highlight them.

8. Optimize No-Results Pages

No-results pages don’t have to be dead ends that cause customers to bounce immediately.

Strategies for no-results pages:

• Provide suggestions for improving the search.






• Offer related products or popular categories.






• Include links to relevant help articles or blog posts.

9. Personalize Results Through Machine Learning

Use user data without being intrusive. Your search engine can understand an individual user’s behavior and modify search results based on analytics data.

10. Use Redirects to Promote High-Converting Pages

Customize site search redirects to send shoppers to pages you choose.

Benefits of search redirects:

• Direct customers to high-converting products or categories.






• Improve the customer experience by guiding customers to what they’re looking for.






• Increase sales by highlighting popular or promotional products.

11. Help Mobile Users Find Products Faster

Optimize search for mobile devices. Enable and optimize voice search for your Ecommerce site.

12. Use Data to Make Better Decisions

Data is the best friend of anyone optimizing Ecommerce search solutions. Search analytics reports provide powerful insights to maximize “searchandising” opportunities.