Why Should You Optimise Your Site Search?
Simply said, if site search isn’t implemented appropriately, then visitors can’t discover what they’re searching for on your website, which means they’re unlikely to convert. Similarly, customers who can’t locate answers might create expensive support requests and calls. Both of these situations result in lost time, sales, leads, and profit.
On the other hand, great use of site search can make your brand image stronger and your website easier to navigate and use. With a great experience, your customers are more likely to subscribe to newsletters, spread the word about your business, and become repeat customers.
Let’s go over some of the other benefits of optimising your site search.
Creates More Efficient Experiences for Customers
Customers are more likely to do business with you if they can easily browse your website, search for the product they have in mind, and instantly receive an appropriate response. Site search makes this happen by pulling a list of relevant results based on the customer’s inquiry and allowing them to go to a particular page immediately. This will lead to conversion and prevent customers from becoming frustrated and leaving due to unsuccessful search efforts.
Provides You Valuable Data About Customers
The only people who tell you exactly what they’re looking for in their own words are site searchers. This information gives you an idea of what customers are searching for when they search for your products and allows you to further optimise your site based on the keywords used. This data could be used to prioritize relevancy and reduce the time users spent searching through results.
Furthermore, you may find that users are searching for content that you don’t have on your site yet, which allows you to fill in the blanks and post relative content. Lastly, site search analytics can help you better understand your customer by providing you with information about exactly who they are. It can also provide insight into what products are more prevalent at certain times.
Helps Your Reach Your Most Valuable Customers
Most site searchers already know the product they are looking for, are already familiar with your brand, and are on a mission to buy that product. According to eConsultancy, 15% of visitors to a website use the search tool, but contribute to 45% of income. Users who search are also 1.8 times more likely to convert than those who do not. So, it’s important to cater to these customers and provide a great experience.
By creating a fast, easy, and efficient experience for these customers, you can provide the customer with exactly what they are looking for, possibly create a long-term relationship with the customer, and increase conversions.
Helps You with Site Scalability
As a business grows, so does the number of products or content on the website. Unfortunately, more website content can easily lead to a poor user experience if the appropriate steps are not taken. With a significantly growing website, it can be nearly impossible for users to find exactly what they are looking for without site search. With optimised site search, users will still be able to find what they are looking for and discover related content or products despite the website growing significantly.
Helps Customer Solve Issues Quickly with Little Intervention
Customers prefer to solve their own issues without reaching out to support or sending in support tickets. According to Parature, 84% of customers would prefer to use search engines to find a solution to a problem on their own.
Good site search practices improve your customer service skills by increasing your visitors’ ability to discover solutions to their problems. The most essential component of effective customer service, according to 41% of consumers, is getting concerns handled fast. Your consumers may accomplish precisely that with optimised site search. In the long run, not handling support tickets and frustrated customers will save your company time and money.