10 eCommerce Site Search Best Practices

Looking to improve the search functionality on your eCommerce site? You’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll cover key best practices to enhance your site search and boost sales.

Site search is crucial for any online store. Yet, research shows that 39% of eCommerce sites fail to support non-product queries, 49% don’t recognize symbols and abbreviations, and 36% lack support for thematic searches. Addressing these gaps will improve the user experience and help drive conversions.

In this article we will describe the top 10 ecommerce site search best practices to ensure your customers have the best search experience.

What is eCommerce Site Search?

Let’s start by explaining what an eCommerce site search does. It’s the process by which visitors find the products they need on your site. Think of it like a personal shopper who knows exactly what you’re looking for, even among thousands of products. In the past, this meant typing in keywords until you found the right item.

Today, site search is much smarter, often powered by AI to correct errors, recognize synonyms, and refine results based on user behavior.

Now, you may be thinking, “But my eCommerce site already has a search bar, isn’t that enough?” While a basic search bar is a start, optimizing your site search is crucial to ensuring it’s user-friendly, accurate, and efficient. Without this optimization, customers may struggle to find what they need, leading to a frustrating experience and missed sales.

How Does eCommerce Site Search Work?

When customers search for products on an eCommerce website, the site search engine plays a critical role in delivering relevant and accurate results. The functionality of site search can be broadly categorized into two approaches: in-house site search and third-party solutions. 

In-House Site Search

An in-house site search refers to a custom-built search engine developed and maintained by the eCommerce business itself. This solution is designed to work specifically for the website’s needs and can be tailored to fit unique product categories, branding, and data structures.

However, while an in-house solution offers complete control, it also comes with some challenges:

• High Development Costs: Building and maintaining a custom search engine requires significant resources, including development time and ongoing maintenance.
• Limited Features: Most in-house systems lack advanced features like natural language processing (NLP), AI-based recommendations, or typo tolerance, unless additional investments are made.
• Scalability Issues: As your store grows, the in-house solution may struggle to handle the increasing volume of searches, resulting in slower performance and poor user customer expectations, in-house systems require constant updates and improvements, which can be time-consuming and expensive.

Third-Party Solutions

Third-party eCommerce site search solutions, like Doofinder, provide ready-made, AI-powered search engines that integrate seamlessly with your website. These solutions offer a host of advanced features and ongoing support, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations while improving their site search experience.

Key advantages of third-party solutions include:

• Advanced Features: AI-powered personalization, natural language processing (NLP), typo tolerance, and real-time results are built-in, improving the accuracy and relevance of search results with minimal effort.
• Faster Setup and Implementation: Third-party providers offer easy integration with eCommerce platforms, allowing businesses to quickly implement a search solution without extensive development time.
• Scalability: As your business grows, third-party solutions scale effortlessly, ensuring consistent performance even during peak seasons like holidays.
• Continuous Updates and Improvements: Third-party providers regularly update their technology, incorporating the latest advancements in search algorithms and user behavior analytics, so you don’t have to worry about staying up to date.

The Importance of eCommerce Site Search

Site search is crucial for eCommerce businesses because it directly influences whether customers find the products they’re looking for—or even discover products they didn’t know they wanted. A seamless and efficient site search experience can lead to higher engagement, increased sales, and an overall better customer experience.

Especially because over 50% of eCommerce sales can be traced back to customers who use a website’s search bar.

A good eCommerce site search can lead to the following:

• Higher Conversion Rates. Effective site search helps customers quickly find what they’re looking for, leading to increased likelihood of completing a purchase.
• Lower Bounce Rates. When users can easily find relevant products, they’re more likely to stay on your site longer instead of leaving immediately.
• Improved Average Order Value (AOV). By offering personalized recommendations and complementary products during search, customers are encouraged to add more items to their cart.
• Increased Customer Satisfaction and Retention. An intuitive and personalized search experience builds trust and makes customers more likely to return for future purchases.

eCommerce Site Search Best Practices

Now that we have discussed the importance of a good site search on your website, still, not each site search is created equal. In order to ensure that results are relevant, accurate and genuinely helpful, there are multiple best practices you can follow. 

1. Visible and Integrated Search Box

Your site search bar should seamlessly blend with your business’s brand image and website design. By integrating your site search into the look and feel of your website, you can create a seamless and user-friendly experience for your visitors, making it easier for them to search for and find products on your eCommerce site. 

A well-designed and well-placed search UI with helpful features can improve user engagement, optimize conversions, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

To encourage users to engage with your site’s search functionality, consider adding clear and concise placeholder text like “Search for products” or “Find articles” within the search box. Research indicates that implementing such placeholder text can significantly boost user interaction.

2. Mobile Optimization

With nearly 40% of searches coming from mobile devices, optimizing your site search for mobile is essential. Mobile users prioritize speed and simplicity, so ensure your search bar is easily accessible, preferably at the top of the screen.

Incorporate autocomplete and search suggestions to help users refine their queries quickly. Streamline filters and sorting options with collapsible menus or swipeable tabs to save screen space. Lastly, prioritize fast load times to prevent users from abandoning their search, enhancing the overall mobile experience.

3. Error Recognition (Typos & Synonyms)

Customers often make mistakes while typing or may use different terms to search for the same product. In fact, up to 9% of searches contain spelling errors.

Your site search should be able to adapt to these variations to ensure that your customers can find what they’re looking for.

4. Filtered Search Options

Implementing filtered search options such as by category, price range, size, color, shape, etc., can help customers narrow down their search results and find products more easily based on their preferences.

By providing convenient and effective filtered search options, you can help users discover products that meet their needs and increase customer satisfaction.

5. AI-Powered Search

AI-powered search technologies can really improve your search experience! They can give you helpful suggestions as you type, offer search prompts to guide you, and show you personalized results based on your behavior and preferences. It’s like having a search engine that understands exactly what you’re looking for!

a) Autocomplete

Autocomplete is a useful feature that you may have seen when searching for things on a website. As you start typing in the search bar, the feature will suggest search queries that match what you’re typing. This can help you find what you’re looking for faster and with less effort. 

For online shoppers, this feature can be especially helpful in finding relevant products quickly and improving their shopping experience overall.

b) Suggestive Search

This site search feature offers suggestions or predictions for search queries as you type in the search bar. It’s designed to help you find relevant search results more efficiently by offering suggestions based on what you’ve typed so far. It’s like having a search assistant that understands what you’re looking for and provides helpful suggestions along the way.

c) Personalized Search Results

Have you ever wondered why online search results seem so perfectly tailored to your interests? It’s not just coincidence—AI technology is at work behind the scenes. By analyzing your past search history, browsing patterns, purchase behavior, and even demographics, AI personalizes the search results to match your preferences.

In fact, studies show that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that offers personalized experiences. This is why your search results feel more relevant and meaningful, as AI adapts to your unique needs and interests with every interaction.

d) Recommendations

Another great site search best practice is programming product recommendations to appear on specific product pages. This searchandising tool can be programed so that higher-priced products are recommended to encourage upselling, and related products are recommended to encourage cross-selling. 

This can really boost your customer’s average order size and your overall sales.

6. Multilingual Search Support

Offering multilingual search support is essential in today’s global eCommerce market. It allows customers to search in their native language, improving the relevance and accuracy of results.

Studies show that 72% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if the content is in their preferred language. By implementing multilingual search, you can enhance the user experience and expand your reach to a wider customer base, boosting sales and satisfaction.

7. Support for Audio and Visual Search Queries

As voice and visual search continue to grow in popularity, it’s crucial to ensure your site search supports both audio and visual queries. This allows customers to search for products using images or voice commands, making it easier to find what they’re looking for—whether they’re on the go or unsure of the exact search terms.

a) Voice Search

Audio search is a technology that lets users search for products or content on eCommerce sites just by speaking, rather than typing. It’s super convenient, personalized, and innovative, making the whole user experience better. Plus, it can improve the accuracy of the search results and give eCommerce businesses an edge over their competitors. 

b) Image Search

Image search is basically a visual search engine. Instead of typing in words, you can just upload or take a picture to search for products or content. The technology behind it uses image recognition to analyze the images and give you relevant results.

8. Integration of Marketing Tools in Site Search

By integrating marketing tools like promotional banners and boosting capabilities into your site search, you can really make specific products or sales promotions stand out. This can help drive more sales and improve your overall merchandising strategies.

It’s a great way to leverage your site search to optimize your marketing efforts and boost your business!

a) Banners 

Banners can be a powerful tool to promote products, deals, and promotions to users who are searching for products on an eCommerce site. They can also be used to cross-sell or upsell products to users who are looking for specific items. 

For instance, if a user searches for a particular query, you can display a banner that promotes related products or brands related to that query.

b) Boosting

Another great site search best practice is the ability to prioritize search results based on your business goals. By boosting a particular product in the search results, you can give it more visibility and increase its chances of being sold. 

You can also fine-tune the search algorithm to rank products with specific attributes, like product name, brand, or category, that are associated with the product. This allows you to align your search results with your business objectives and optimize the user experience, helping users find what they’re looking for more efficiently. 

9. Analyze and Implement Search Insights

Collecting and analyzing search insights and data in real-time can be incredibly valuable in understanding customer search behavior, popular search terms, and trends. This information can help you optimize your site search and make data-driven decisions for your eCommerce business. 

a) Useful Graphs

Analyzing your customers’ search data using graphs can be the best way to gain insights and make effective business decisions. 

By examining metrics like the total number of searches, search geolocations, click-through rates (CTRs), and conversion rates, you can gain a deeper understanding of your customers and optimize your online sales. 

These data points can help you identify trends and patterns, such as which products are most popular in specific locations or which search terms result in the highest CTRs and conversions.

b) User Search Behavior

Accessing data on your customers’ search behavior can be a highly valuable asset for your online business, particularly when it comes to ordering new products and creating promotions. With an advanced eCommerce site search, you can gain insights into your customers’ top searches, top clicks, top opportunities, and searches that did not yield results. 

This information enables businesses to refine their search functionality, optimize product offerings, and enhance user experience, ultimately driving higher sales and customer satisfaction.

10. Use A/B Testing to Improve Search Performance

A/B testing is a powerful method for optimizing your eCommerce site search. By testing different versions of your search functionality—such as layout, filters, or search suggestions—you can identify which changes lead to better user engagement and higher conversions.

In fact, 72% of marketers say A/B testing helps them improve conversion rates by allowing them to make data-driven decisions. By continuously testing and refining your site search, you can ensure that it delivers the most relevant and effective results for your customers, ultimately driving more sales and improving user satisfaction.

eCommerce Stores Using Site Search Best Practices Examples

Now, let’s see these site search practices in action by taking a peek at some websites that have optimized their site search feature.

1. Grape Tree

GrapeTree has implemented key eCommerce site search best practices. When you open the search box, it instantly shows personalized product recommendations based on past searches. The interface matches the site’s branding, popular searches are displayed, and the search box offers autocomplete suggestions, creating a smooth and intuitive user experience.

2. Craftier

When you begin typing in Craftier’s search bar, it instantly provides autofill suggestions along with additional options below, saving you time. Additionally, a variety of search filters appear, allowing you to quickly narrow down and find the exact product you’re looking for.

3. Glamira

Glamira, an online jewelry store, offers an innovative visual search feature. Simply upload an image, and the site will instantly display similar products, saving you valuable time. This feature is especially useful when customers aren’t sure of the exact search terms for a particular item, making it easier to find the perfect match without the guesswork.

How Can You Implement These Site Search Best Practices?

From integrating your site search into your website’s design to utilizing AI-powered search technologies, there are several site search best practices to consider. However, it can be overwhelming to implement all of these features manually. 

That’s where Doofinder comes in – Doofinder is a powerful eCommerce site search solution that contains all of the features and best practices mentioned in this article.  By implementing Doofinder, eCommerce businesses can expect to see a 20% increase in their conversions. 

Want to try it out on your website? 

Sign up for a 30-day free trial or request a free demo video to see Doofinder in action!