After the user interface and design of your e-commerce mobile application, the second thing which is most noticeable by the user is the search functionality of your mobile app. In an e-commerce mobile application, it can be the significant factor which decides the conversion rate. Nearly 88% of the customers search their products with an e-commerce mobile application.
In most scenarios, the customers who are visiting your app already know what they are going to purchase, and they directly head to the search box of your app. Henceforth, the search functionality on your app should be up to mark. Often a slight spelling mistake can make you lose your customers.
A single typo error can result “We do not find any such item”, however major e-commerce giant such as Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, and others have overcome this problem. Your e-commerce site is in trouble if your search bar can’t suggest the correct alternatives. A smart search is not limited to correct a spelling mistake.
In this article, we are going to mention what should be the essential features of search functionality on your app, and other necessary steps that you can take.
Why a good search is highly important?
Search is the first thing by which a user interact with your app, so the retailers must ensure they get it right first time to avoid customers getting irritated by inaccurate or badly-ranked results and moving on a different site. You would be surprised to know that the customers who use an onsite search box result results in 2.4% average conversion rate against the 1.7% rate of customers who don’t. This alone point is enough to convince why a search feature on the site is well worth the effort and a minute cost.
1. Avoid a “No results for your search” page:
When a customer enter a query in the search, the first priority of yours is that they should never see a “0” results for your search” page. If there is a case that the query doesn’t match with any result, then you can show any complementary product or cross-sells. Obviously, there are more chances of sale when you showcase a product rather than presenting a blank screen.
You should be also prepared for the typo errors, spelling mistakes, and unnecessary spaces between words like “bluejeans” or “playsuit”. By anticipating misspelled or hastily-entered search terms as well as potential phonetic differences across languages, retailers can increase their chances of producing more relevant results.
2. Focus on the search bar:
You can see that on FootSmart, the search box is of different color from the theme of the site which can easily grab the attention of the user. The search bar is a start of the e-commerce shopping experience, so make sure it doesn’t get neglect by the user. Putting text inside the box, such as “Enter keyword,” lets visitors know at a glance what is expected.
3. Filters in the result page:
The function of search is not limited to only showing the results page. After finding out the results, the user should be able to customize it. For e.g. in a men’s clothing website, if someone searches for the “t-shirt” then after finding out the t-shirts in the store, the user will require customization such as “color”, “size”, “sleeves”, etc. For this, you need to apply the filters as per the attributes of the product.
4. Support to Longtail semantic searches:
Long-tail semantic search from a user shows that the user’s main intent is to shop on your site. For e.g. a user who searches for “men’s t-shirt in white colour with half sleeves of size M” is more likely to convert than someone who is browsing for “men’s t-shirts”. According to a study, sites with a semantic-based search engine have a low 2% rate in shopping cart abandonment, compared to as much as 40% on sites with plain text search.
5. Intelligent Autocomplete:
Autocomplete is also a very user-friendly option for the shoppers, and it is also getting smarter. It acts as a time-saver. It is a suggested solution that quickly suggests relevant recommendation to users as soon as they click in the search box. Its primary goal is to find out user intent and provide relevant keyword suggestions so users can easily navigate to the best possible Search Result Page.
6. Include smart breadcrumbs:
Displaying unnecessary breadcrumbs on your site is also very irritating to the users. For e.g. Home > Search > Your Search Result. The users want to filters their results through breadcrumbs and pick and choose what features they want, without erasing their search and initiate from the beginning.
You can see that despite searching for long sleeves, the user can still see options such as Short and sleeveless. So the point is that you should don’t restrict the users to only their search results but also allow them to refine their results.
Wrapping Up:
At Amplework, the best mobile application development company, we are expert in meeting such custom requirements. We develop your e-commerce mobile application like no-one else.
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