10 ways to improve the UX of onsite search results
A site search tool that is effective is highly important for ecommerce as it is a way for shoppers to navigate sites and find your products.
In fact 30% of visitors will use the site search tool including even highly experienced and motivated shoppers who know exactly what it is they’re looking for.
Here are 10 ways to improve the UX of search results pages;
Consistent position of your search box
Simple, leave it in the same place across all pages in case they are taken somewhere new and want to search again.
Provide filtering options
An obvious point and one that a vast majority of retailers adhere to, however some still fail to provide filtering options which are essential for a shopper to drill down to exactly what they’re looking for.
Offer different views
A range of views to see the many angles of your products, on clothes, for example, will help customers know exactly what it is they’re purchasing and will enhance their shopping experience.
Accuracy and relevance of results
Most importantly you need to ensure the accuracy of returned results to users, otherwise customers won’t trust the tool and will find another way (another website) to locate their desired product.
Reviews
Product reviews are proven to have a massive impact on conversion rates with one report showing that 88% , while 60% are more likely to purchase from a site that has customer reviews on.
A star rating is very easy to display next to products within search results and offers an element of social proof that will encourage some shoppers to investigate further.
Correct misspellings
It’s common for people to make spelling mistakes when searching for items, so site owners should compensate for this by using predictive text while the user is typing, and then showing suggested results when errors occur.
Don’t return ‘no results’
This will only prompt the customer to try one of your competitors, if you don’t currently stock the product, offer them alternative products that may still be relevant to their search term. This shows that you’re trying to help them and also increases the chances that they’ll stay on your site.
Add a CTA or quick view option
If a shopper already knows they want what they’re looking for, they’d appreciate being able to add an item to their basket directly from the search results or quickly view the product details in an overlay without navigating to the product page.
Present results by gender
To avoid clogging up the search results page with irrelevant products consider split the results out by gender.
Include product information for complex products
For electronic items or high spec products it is useful to include a product summary in the search results to aid the customer’s decision making.
