Searching Up Close and Personal

In our last entry we discussed the holiday shopper that needs some guidance with their general search entries through helpful navigation tools and an open-minded merchandising tool.  Today, we shall delve into the searches of those customers that want to give their search more direction with the use of abundant description as part of their query.

At the extreme level, you could get a search query that reads “11” red and white chimney stocking”.  Here, 11”,  red, white, and chimney are all adjectives that describe the stocking, also known as attributes of the product.  They are all being typed into the search box.   Clearly this customer is not fooling around and wants to see and buy this stocking, aka, get in and get out, without having to navigate his way around.  

 A good site-search tool should automatically read the adjectives that have been typed in and associate them with the corresponding attributes that filter out the appropriate products.  Pulling up stockings other than those of chimney Christmas stockings would deter the buyer from his purchase, just causing him more unnecessary navigation which he tried so hard to avoid by typing in all those adjectives.  Or even worse, the search getting confused by the abundance of adjectives and not offering any products at all.  Now, the search correctly reads the size attribute, 11”, the color attribute, red and white, and the use attribute, chimney.  A site-search that is not properly programmed to read the query details and filter out the correct products according to the designated product attributes risks losing customers. 

But wait!  As you know, just ‘cause it is now December 26^th, does not mean your shoppers are near done.   They are out and online for their after-holiday blow out sales…and search therefore accordingly.  As part of their typed in queries, they often will include the words “sale,” “discount,” “clearance” to add onto the title of the product for which they are searching.  Therefore, these words must be recognized through the site-search and included in your thematic categorizations. 

If we delve further into the sales category, we see that another advantage to having a good site-search tool is being able to differentiate regular sale items from holiday sale items.  You are able to zero in your customers to the relevant products, special motivational prices they like to see, attractive holiday UI…it’s the whole package. 

So, as we mentioned in our last Christmas blog, get creative with your site-search and start thinking like your customers, the ways in which they could possibly search for your products.  It can only expand your range of customers and increase your sales.

Interesting times!

Well, Google (through Google Commerce Search) became a direct competitor in our neighborhood. Welcome

Rather than talking a whole lot on how the Google product is a “1.0” and pointing out all its limitations (like some of our fellow bloggers have done), I’d like to say something else – our customers are smart, and so is Google.

Nobody expects a “1.0” to provide the same coverage as do products that are out there 5, 6, 8 or more years. However, a newcomer has the advantage of bringing a new point of view and learning from other people’s mistakes. This is why we at Celebros are not quick to judge but rather look to learn.

For clients looking to make an immediate investment the choice is clear. Our products and services provide a complete answer to your needs and are proven through numerous deployments. In the longer run however – clients are looking at Google’s doings with interest and so are we!

(Holiday) Thinking Outside of the (Search) Box

As the second installment of our Christmas season blogs, I present you with a challenge:  Think like your customers…all of them.   A holiday can be referred to in many different ways and inspire a myriad of thoughts that your customers often type into a search box, hopefully some of which you may happen to sell. 

Holiday/Occasion	Query Synonyms	Comments
Christmas / New Year	Christmas	Optimized to return gifts, National Brands, Favorite Combos, and samplers
	Xmas
	Holidays
	New Year
	Christmas time
	Noel

Often, those who have a general idea for what they are searching will type something like “fun things to do on Christmas”,  “Christmas presents” or “Holiday presents” …some expression or phrase that communicates their shopping conundrum.  In these circumstances, it is extremely important to have your merchandizing tool sensitive to read different forms of expression.  You can have toys come back for a “fun” search, or have a “presents” / “gifts” search bring back an eclectic selection of items from clothing all the way to kitchen items.   Refinement options can then allow the customer to specialize their gift, for example according to the person for whom they are shopping or brand for which they are searching.  

For a customer who types in “Christmas time”, you must make sure to look beyond the product titles as many would simply not include the word “Christmas”. With an effective merchandising tool, you have the power to decide what products constitute relevant Christmas products, or, better yet, which products fit into the varied Christmas queries your customers are conducting.

Mother Nature decides to vary her holiday gifts according to geographic location.  Some cold up in the north, some hot sun and clouds in the south, a bit of a mix over on the west coast…hence, your customers are probably also varying their gifts and shopping needs according to the geographical area in which they find themselves.  Why not set your merchandising tool to create best-selling product campaigns for particular geographical locations?  Sometimes trends such as Ugg boots that sell in NYC have a hard time picking up in Nashville, Tennessee.  Hence, you target your search engine to bring back best sellers for that customer’s specific area first, before that of others. 

Although we may all put our pants on, one leg at a time, we don’t all buy the same pants, nor do we refer to our pants in the same way.  Here we realize the importance and impact synonyms have on a merchandizing tool.  One of your customers might be typing in a general search for “pants,” while the next is looking for “trousers”.  And the one after that is in need of “slacks”.  Come Christmas time or New Year’s, you have people from every corner and background referring to items in every which way.   Make sure that your site-search engine can tune in and understand the wishes and wants of all your customers. 

Here we discussed proper handling of generic search queries customers undergo.  Stay tuned for our next search optimization post discussing how to handle your more detail-oriented customers that can’t help but type it all into the search box.

‘Tis the Season to Be Social

Two months till black Friday, three months till Christmas morning, that time of year when shoppers are in the giving spirit, throwing caution to the wind, and pushing their credit card limits to the max…or at least that is the goal.   And they certainly do not like going at it alone.

This Christmas is about Social Shopping. The e-tail world has been introduced to a new level of social interaction amongst customers. The wind blowing from social nets is hitting online stores, calling for online retailers to incorporate a social dimension to their online search!  Trust us, we’re not making this stuff up.

The results are in.  An E-tailing Group study reveals that 67% of online shoppers buy more when friends give a nod.  Customers enjoy getting approval on their purchases and knowing what’s popular.  A shopper searching today doesn’t want yesterday’s style—she wants what’s hot right now. With Social Shopping technology, you can help out your customers figure out what to buy and help out your business by knowing what to stock.  Even Santa needs a little help every now and then… Some tools that were introduced this year help retailers do just that – make shopping a social experience:

• Social Search Cloud provides customers with a cloud of popular searches, products, and brands of choice, revealing the community taste  immediately as you enter the online store.
• Social Sort, gives customers the ability to arrange search results by social feedback, including top sellers, ratings, reviews, popularity, and more.
• Share with Friends permits customers to refer products they find to their friends via e-mail and social networks. Shoppers sitting miles away can now shop together and exchange impressions at the click of a mouse.

Customers no longer feel they are shopping alone and gain confidence with their product choices, making that extra click to the checkout page. 

On the retailer side, advanced reporting lets the retailer get a head start on analyzing product popularity and identifying trend leaders, essentially  reading shopper vibes and voicing shopper buzz as it forms!

Of course, it goes without saying, none of the optimum online search essentials should be left behind.  As we noted in a previous blog of ours last year (155 Sleeps Away – Get Ready to Sell) there is a list of basic action items that an etailer should consider in the months leading to the Christmas season.  Just to jog your memory a bit, some of the mentioned items in the link above include sprucing up your UI, adding an auto complete solution to your search box,  suggesting cross-sell items based on your customers’ product choices, and adding more refinement options to further zero in your customers on the products they seek.  If your customers can’t find the products you are stocking, they cannot purchase them.

Lastly, it is important to remember, as mentioned in Latitude blog, that the success of online Christmas shopping will impact shoppers activity and likeliness to come back to your site.  So if you follow the checklist above and let Santa be social, you are in for a good new year of repeat business

Sales in Site…Search

Well, well, well…look what we have here.

“A solid site search program that produces relevant results with just a few clicks has become top priority for online merchants.”

This is an excerpt from this month’s FEATURED ARTICLE in Internet Retailer Magazine, America’s #1 source of information on e-business strategies for retailers and direct merchants.

Now, I’m not one to gloat, but essentially we have been shouting out the same thing since the beginning of the millennium.

I quote again, “…improved sales show enhanced site search can be a recipe for success.”

Which is the first retailer they use to demonstrate this point? ReadingGlasses.com, a Celebros customer, who experienced a 20% increase in average order size since upgrading their site search and navigation with our technology!

And this is only one example of hundreds of other retail success stories, many with even higher percentages of site-search performance.

Adding site search was second only to targeted e-mail among initiatives online retailers plan this year to improve web site performance, according to a survey by the E-tailing Group Inc. It was selected by 69% of retailers responding, up from 65% last.

Bottom-line. If your shoppers cannot find it, they will not buy it. We said it. Internet Retailer’s writing it. Sales numbers prove it. Now, come on people, believe it!

Automatic Satisfaction

Ever find the solution to all your problems to be so obvious that it was staring right back at you? Okay, well let me introduce you to AutoComplete.

Before you even finish typing the product name of what you wish to find, AutoComplete has already found it for you!  AutoComplete automatically presents a pop-up of completed terms or expressions that fit what you started to type. The product you had in mind or needed some guidance to find pops out! You are just one click away from your desired product.

Built on proven search technology, AutoComplete is adapted for your sites’ products and shoppers. Its results are based on the history of their frequent queries combined with products listed in your product catalogue.

AutoComplete makes searching a different experience, more interactive when suggestions of search terms are presented to you. You are being guided towards not only what you want, but also what’s popular. Your site will now have a true top-of-the-line modern search!

Online shopping complicated? Boring? Not anymore!

Hitting Winners

Okay people.  The tennis grand slam season has begun…that time of the year when it’s actually cool to wear white from head to toe, strawberries and cream are the “it” dessert, TVs are set to 24 hour tennis in the background to life’s dramas and good times.  When a crowd of people gather to watch a tennis game, they seek intrigue, some good thought-out points with a lot of creative execution.  When the game is exciting, the spectators are willing to stay longer, act livelier, and cheer on louder.  If they don’t get those satisfying points, they either leave the stands or change the channel, and are on to the next game of top players that can get them the excitement they desire.  This means less ticket sales, less advertising money…bottom line, less event revenues.

 Similarly, a good site search works the same way.  Your clients are the spectators.  They want an exciting search, one that will bring them the satisfying points, the products they seek.  Each query they type in, they want an ace, a one click winner.  While they could navigate their way around, hitting the ball back and forth, clicking over here and arriving over there, only to arrive back at the at the baseline, it is so much more efficient when the product is found instantaneously, when the point is won with no hurtles at the net, no tough calls…just a plain and simple winner.  More winners…more revenues.

We all think differently, we all have our own passions.  The human brain’s ticking source is triggered by something unique in each one of us.  With a superior site search, the technology is designed to think like your customer, no matter from where they are coming, taking into account previous search behavior, typed in queries, and, consequently, create concepts for products the customers are telling you they want with the vocabulary and train of thought they are using.

You always want to anticipate a winning match…if not, your business may just be left sulking on the sidelines…Invest in your Site Search and come out a winner

Onsite search converts 50% better

An interesting research was just posted by one of our UK partners – Screen Pages (see also coverage by e-consultancy). They reviewed 39 sites to find out that shoppers using the search box to locate a product are much more likely to buy – 50% more! Furthermore, guided search (which is what we do J) gets much more people to use the search box (and generates much more sales, as the people using the search box buy 50% more)!

We at Celebros are always amazed by the amount of retailers who make huge investments in their site but seem to forget that if users can not find a product, they can not buy it. And the next store is just a click away!

A good real world salesperson excels in pointing customers to the product that really fits them after a few words of conversation. Not necessarily what they say they want but rather what suites them best / is within their budget / is on sale / gives the best value.

A good online store excels in exactly the same way! e-shops should make sure they quickly take the user to the right product page regardless of the interface: navigation menus, promotion ads or the search box. This is exactly what guided search does. Working behind the scenes and building on an intimate knowledge of the product catalog, we find the most relevant offers and help the user reach them through either interface and in one or two clicks!

And a last note – being in the middle of a hard recession, guided search getting 50% more in sales, is a matter of life and death for every site. Simple as that!

Free Site Search Solution for Mercado Customers

As you may have already heard, especially if your online store is serviced by Mercado Software, Mercado has basically closed-up shop, having let go over 100 employees in total.

While a bare-bones staff stayed on, it has now been reported that Omniture will be purchasing certain assets of Mercado.  The deal, however, is not final, and it could take quite some time until operations are fully merged and synchronized, potentially leaving Mercado customers in the lurch, particularly in light of the impending Christmas season.

Recognizing the time-sensitive nature of eTailers’ needs, Celebros is offering Mercado clients the opportunity to benefit from Celebros Salesperson for a free 45-day trial.  Not only is the trial period free of charge, but implementation is quick and painless.

Contact Celebros at sales@celebros.com for more information.

Terms:

* No setup or data migration charge

* MLA will be equal to Mercado’s MLA

* Offer valid through November 30, 2008

Shop.org Annual Summit in Vegas

The last show of the year that will include Celebros attendees (in the US)  is behind us. The Shop.org Annual Summit was hosted at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV last week.

While at the show, we got a chance to meet with several existing clients such as Richard Slater from HappyMothers.com and Bobby Lyons from SkinStore.com.

There were several unique inclusions to the show. For example, one-on-one critique sessions were available with industry experts. During the breaks, Fit  for Commerce provided expo hall tours to attendees. Many many attendees then wrapped up the day at the evening network event at the LAX night club.