A: All the difference.

This might just be the single most important component in a successful eCommerce strategy and the key to driving significantly more revenue.

It is essential to get the usability of the search box within eCommerce sites right. Up to 30% of visitors will use the site search tool and these will be highly motivated shoppers who know exactly what they’re looking for. Shoppers who use the search box will buy more:

Search functionality should be prioritized when developing redesigns, whether for mobile or desktop sites. So, what are the most important considerations for your search box?

Accessibility and consistency are key here.

Ensure the search box is positioned prominently and where it’s expected to be; don’t make users search for the search box. The diagram below shows that usually, this is in the top-right of your eCommerce site.

from ‘Where’s the search? Re-examining Users Expectations of Web Objects’ study by A. Dawn Shaikh and Keisi Lenz

Usability studies have shown that placing elements on the right gives instant access to the browser scrollbar. Having said this, with eCommerce giants such as Amazon opting for a top-center search box, this is also now a common location.

If your site uses a modern NLP search engine, the chances are your customers will find what they’re looking for the first time they search. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for traditional keyword search boxes. For this reason, it is important for the search box to remain in the same place on every page. The search box should be accessible in the navigation bar menu at all times.

The North Face demonstrate this consistency by making the search box available from any page on their site, including non-product pages:

“Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don’t have to worry about what will happen. Instead, they know what will happen based on earlier experience.”

— Jakob Nielsen

The components of a search box may seem predetermined, but there are surprising variations in the composition of search boxes. Once again, it is important that users find what they would expect from a search box, that is, a text entry field plus a button or icon to click and execute the search. It is possible for a user to press the ‘enter’ key to execute, but the presence of a button serves as a reminder that there is an action to take after typing a query.

If your site necessitates more than one entry field on a particular page, make sure that the search box stands out as different from any other fields.

It is not necessary to display advanced search options by default in the search box.

It isn’t quite the case of ‘the bigger the better’… but almost.

A large search box is easier to spot and therefore click. Ensuring an appropriate field size also makes a search box user-friendly. A search box that limits the visible characters too much will conceal a user’s search, leading to shorter, more vague queries. Jakob Nielsen, usability consultant, recommends an ideal width of 27 characters.

For mobile pages where space is more restricted, the search box could be condensed to a magnifying glass which expands when selected.

The search button itself is most commonly labeled ‘search’, but might be labeled ‘Go’ or something similar:

The universally recognized magnifying glass icon is used increasingly to label the search button. It gives a visual clue as to what the text area is. A simple, schematic magnifying-glass icon should be used, without too much graphic detail to speed up recognition.

Every site’s branding and themes are different, but the colors used in the search box should be such that it stands out against its background. For example, if the website background is light in color, consider using a colored search box, and vice versa.

The microphone icon reminds users of voice search functionality, and mobile eCommerce retailers, in particular, should build a microphone into their search experience. Though voice search functionality is a great addition, a microphone icon is worthless unless the search engine is intuitive and understands conversational requests.

Revisit this EasyAsk blog from earlier this year for further detail about the use of the microphone icon.

Some search boxes are left completely blank, but businesses are increasingly using placeholder text in their search box to inform and invite their users.

Inform the shopper of the capabilities of your search box by upgrading the placeholder text from the traditional ‘Search’ text:

Limit the text to a few words for maximum effect.

Auto-suggestion or ‘Search As You Type’ (SAYT) function can guide a shopper by helping them formulate their query. This function shows a list of useful queries as the shopper begins to type. Look out for our future blog post on this topic.

Search box UX is an extensive and important aspect of eCommerce site design. Shoppers who search are looking for something they want to buy, so they need to be able to locate and use the search box with ease. Having optimized your search box, have you also ensured that your site-search technology can provide relevant results when your shoppers actually use your search box?

EasyAsk technology can.

“While I acknowledge that there is a need for art, fun, and a general good time on the web, I believe that the main goal of most web projects should be to make it easy for customers to perform useful tasks.”

– Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability

The post 5 Ways to Optimize Your Searchbox appeared first on EasyAsk.

Consumers visiting the mobile site for Travers Tools Company Inc. searching for a specific drill bit now need only ask for it.

The retailer recently launched an updated m-commerce site that enables consumers to speak their site searches. The service, from site search provider EasyAsk, lets shoppers touch a microphone icon then say what they want into their smartphone to see a list of results.

“The industrial supply business is very competitive and what sets us apart is our industry knowledge and our ability to provide the right tools and parts for our customers,” says Bruce Zolot, president, Travers Tools. “EasyAsk search helps us ensure that our customers find what they are looking for quickly on our site and now just as easily on our mobile site. Shoppers can speak what they want into the search box and see what they want immediately.”

Shoppers can use their Apple Inc. iPhone 4S or a smartphone using Google Inc.’s Android operating system to speak their search queries. Consumers see a microphone icon next to the search box that prompts them to speak into their device.

“A consumer might be in a hardware store and see a tool they want,” an EasyAsk spokesman says. “Maybe they think it costs too much, or they want to see if they can get a better deal online. They pull out their Android or iPhone and go to Travers Tools and touch the search box microphone icon. They say ’Jet bandsaw‘ or ’Jet bandsaw over $1500.’ They can speak their search as they would describe it to a salesperson– the more info, the tighter the search results. The list is short and accurate, which is critical on smartphones with little screen space.”

EasyAsk uses what it calls natural language search—software and algorithms provided by EasyAsk that seek to understand what the consumer wants to buy and returns appropriate search results, the company says.

This natural language search engine can better understand the intent behind shopper requests than other search engines, EasyAsk says. “Try ’not stripe dress shirts under $80‘ for example,” the spokesman says. “Keyword-based search engines would return stripe shirts for $80 and possibly underwear and dresses. People can get around poor search on a desktop, but won’t on a mobile device.”

Travers Tool, No. 826 in Internet Retailer’s Second 500 Guide, already uses EasyAsk for its e-commerce site. The site search tool on the retailer’s desktop e-commerce site supports multiple search methods, such as the ability to view results within a category and narrow the results to specific items using a single results page, and also recognizes synonyms for search terms common to the metalworking industry. The results also reflect the current pricing and inventory amounts.

Travers began using the EasyAsk site search technology after consumers began telling the retailer they couldn’t find items on its e-commerce site as easily as they could in its print catalog. Given that the site offered a search box, those complaints represented a clear sign that that the search tool, which was supplied with its information management software, wasn’t working.

The EasyAsk system connects to Travers Tool’s back-office system that manages the flow of inventory and tracks product costs for the retailer’s more than 100,000 SKUs. This ensures that shoppers get up-to-date inventory and pricing information.

“Keyword-search back-ends won’t cut it,” says Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk. “Even Google understands this. They’re in the process of evolving closer to natural language with semantic search. If your search box can’t understand the intent behind shoppers’ requests now, you’ll be irrelevant when that request comes from a mobile device. Mobile users can’t navigate as easily and will quickly abandon the site if it requires multiple searches. They either see it and get it, or move on.”

This article originally appeared in Internet Retailer: https://www.internetretailer.com/2012/06/14/tool-retailer-lets-mobile-shoppers-speak-their-searches

The post Internet Retailer: Tool retailer lets mobile shoppers speak their searches appeared first on EasyAsk.