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Crucial E-commerce Site Search Metrics You Should Keep an Eye On

Argoid Tech Team
eCommerce search metrics
Tags :
E-commerce
5 min


You might believe that factors such as product selection and order fulfilment speed determine an eCommerce site's overall success or failure. However, while these factors are vital, they take a back seat  in comparison to the fundamental backbone of the user's buying experience: eCommerce search. It is critical for an eCommerce company to analyze and optimize its site search in order to create a better experience for site visitors and convert them into paying customers.

In this post, you'll learn how to assess the performance of a search engine for eCommerce sites, as well as the key eCommerce site search metrics to monitor.

What is eCommerce Site Search?

An eCommerce site search solution is a search engine that is built-in or integrated into your online store, and its function is to match the user's search terms with the goods in your store to discover the products the user is looking for. Site search relates to faceted search, product ranking, and synonym management, as well as the search box itself.

eCommerce search engines are comparable to Google search in certain ways. The distinction is that Google searches for content and text, whereas eCommerce searches for organized attributes, which include filtering and sorting.

Why does eCommerce Search Matter? 

On-site search is a powerful feature for your eCommerce store because it not only helps your high-intent shoppers quickly find what they want, but also collects valuable data about what your customers want, how they talk about those products or services, and how you can tailor your offer specifically for them.

B2B buyers value search speed, relevance, accuracy, and presentation, which should be prioritized in every new eCommerce site build. Conversion rates are affected by poor site search or irrelevant search results. After their initial search, just 20% of search users submit another query, and 21% simply leave the website in despair.

We've gathered all the industry's best practices and are sharing them with you here to ensure that your site produces better results. We will look at the various elements that are influenced by eCommerce site search and give insight into some eCommerce search metrics that will help you stand out. 

3 Factors that are Directly Influenced by eCommerce Site Search

eCommerce search engines aren't just decorative additions to your website. It must work the way your customers expect it to or the customer journey will deteriorate. Here are some recommended practises for establishing a properly optimized site search that smoothly guides high-intent consumers.

Number of transactions 

Examine the number of transactions through your site search to see if the site search is effective. Because they already know what things they want to buy, most search users have a high purchase intent. Effective eCommerce site search solutions should connect customers to the things they're looking for smoothly. If search conversions are high, you should pay closer attention to the quality and accuracy of search results.

A visitor who performs a site search is more likely to be nearing the end of their purchasing process. They may just wish to compare pricing, verify availability, or learn about shipping costs before deciding which goods to purchase. Because it may boost client loyalty and retention while also increasing site usage, site search can be a moneymaker.

Screen Pages looked at the results of 21 clients and discovered that, with the exception of one, the average income from site searches was much greater than visitors browsing the catalog. That was true even though, in one noteworthy case, searches were completed by less than 10% of users yet accounted for roughly 40% of the site's income.

Source

According to some case studies, site search optimization raised conversion rates by 43 percent. Search visitors converted at a rate of 4.63 percent vs. 2.77 percent on average on websites, making it 1.8 times more successful. A direct outcome of site search technology, according to most retailers, was an increase in revenue. 

Browsing Percentage

Browsing percentage refers to the number of people who browse through your product catalog instead of using the site search tool. If your browsing percentage is lower than the search percentage, it is a clear indicator that more people rely on your eCommerce site search to help them find the right products. You also need to note the conversion rate for each source.

More than 4.5 billion people across the world use the internet to look for anything and everything, and 87 percent of customers start their product searches there. These statistics illustrate the influence that a site search may have on an eCommerce site. It provides a seamless and lag-free experience for customers, eliminating the need for them to go through your whole product inventory to discover what they want.

If the conversion source chart above reveals that conversions from search are low even when visitors spend more time looking, it's a clear indicator that the search results aren't up to par. It might be because of irrelevant search results or a problem with the results page's UI/UX. In the next part, we'll look into click-through rates.

If search activity is significantly lower than browsing or catalog navigation, you can be confident that search conversions are low simply because your visitors are not naturally inclined to utilize a search while looking for goods of interest.

Source

In the above image, we can see that even though the search percentage is lower than the browse percentage, the conversion rate for people who use the site search is 45% while for people who browse is just 15%. 

Click-Through Rate

A click-through occurs when a user selects a product from a list of products on a search results page. A click-through rate of 100 percent indicates that a user clicks on at least one product following each search query. This indicator will tell us how many visitors click on the products in the search results.

If the number is high, it indicates that the search results are of good quality. If the number is low, either the results we offer users are insufficiently relevant, or another factor, such as product pricing, is preventing visitors from clicking on the product.

8 eCommerce Site Search Metrics to Watch Out for

Tracking the site search metrics is essential to understand if your eCommerce site search is actually working . You should consider evaluating these eight basic indicators to assist you figure out what is working for you and what needs to be improved.

Search Exit Rate 

The percentage of page views that occurred during a visitor's most recent session on your website is known as the exit rate.

Search exit rate is a search analytics metric that tracks how frequently people execute a query and then depart the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) without clicking on any of the results. The search exit rate is similar to the bounce rate for an eCommerce search engine in many respects. Because consumers are unable to locate what they are looking for, a high departure rate shows that the eCommerce search engine is generating inferior quality results.

If the exit rate on search result pages is near to or equal to your website's usual bounce rate, it's a solid indicator that your site search needs to be improved. Your search result pages should have among of the lowest departure rates on your site because people who are looking have a specific goal in mind and will only go if the results are irrelevant or there are no results at all.

Search Relevance

The degree to which the search results fit the users' search phrases, queries, or purpose is referred to as search relevance. The difference between a good site search and a terrible site search experience is relevance, and it can make or break your business.

Relevance has remained a key underlying criterion for assessing the effectiveness of eCommerce on-site search. When people search for items on your website, the goal is to offer results that are as near as possible to what they're looking for. The most important measures for determining relevance are recall and accuracy. While optimizing either alone will not increase conversions, striking a solid balance between the two will.

When people come to your site, the search tool is likely to be the first thing they see. It's the initial point of contact between your company and potential customers. If your users conduct a search and do not receive relevant results, they are likely to abandon your site. That's why you need a powerful search engine like Argoid’s AI-based search console, which is powered by innovative technologies to deliver relevant results. An effective site search demonstrates trustworthiness and professionalism, whereas a poor or ineffective search may frustrate your consumers.

Site Search Accuracy 

Users ask questions, in the same manner, they would to a salesperson or a friend, and they expect to receive meaningful responses. Your eCommerce on-site search should be able to account for this and give accurate results for customers to ensure a smooth customer experience. 

Besides analyzing search accuracy, it's critical that the content of the website be constructed in such a manner that natural language search engines can accurately match the queries. Try performing typical search searches to see how your material is ranked and then tweak it over time to see how it changes the results.

Null-Result Rate 

The null-Result rate is one of the most important eCommerce search metrics. A null result, at its most basic level, is a result that lacks the expected content: the intended result is missing. Visitors that get such results after conducting a search are more likely to abandon your site and, most times, never return. As a matter of thumb, anything beyond a 5% null-result rate shows that there is potential for improvement.

Null result site search result pages should be avoided at all costs, especially if they are caused by typos or unrecognized synonyms (below 5 percent should be the goal). When you use a self-learning search engine, this problem is minimized. Even if you utilize your eCommerce platform's built-in search tool, updating your product metadata may help you decrease null results.

Site Search Conversion Rate vs. Visits without Search 

eCommerce on-site search conversion rate gives you a clear picture of how many conversions you are getting from customers who are using your site search tool. Site search conversion rate is one of the major eCommerce search metrics that you need to follow closely to fine-tune your site search engine for better results.

Comparing it with the visits without search gives you an idea of how much more or how low a customer who is using your site's search engine is likely to convert. If the number is too low, you need to tweak your search engine to provide the users with better results.   

Percentage of Searches with “Next Page” Clicks

Some customers are patient and eager to find what they want on your website. So they go to the next page of search results and delve a bit deeper—and most likely find the things they want to buy. However, this does not apply to all consumers. Most people will abandon their search after the first page of results.

Go to the second page of the search results page after identifying the queries that visitors input. They most likely didn't locate what they were looking for on the first page, indicating that your eCommerce search engine didn't provide enough relevant results.

The Average Order Value of Visitors Using Search versus Those Who Don’t

The average order value (AOV) is the average amount of money spent on each transaction by each client with your shop. Using this simple technique, you can figure out what your average order value is: Average order value = total revenue/number of orders.

You'll need to persuade consumers to add more things, or more costly items, to their basket in order to boost your average order value. Customers may use the site search to find related goods, increasing their average order value.

Percentage of Transactions/Revenue Coming from Search Users

The percentage of transactions coming from search users shows how much your site search has contributed to your total revenue. If the Revenue coming from users who rely on your site's search engine is more than those who don't, it is an indication that your search engine is working and helping you generate more revenue.

If the Percentage of transactions/Revenue coming from search users is lower, then you need to further optimize your search engine to show better results and provide and more lag-free user experience.

Final words

 A well-optimized site search may help you increase site usage, sales, and conversion rates, as well as boost your branding, loyalty, and retention. According to research from eConsultancy, up to 30% of all eCommerce site visitors are searchers who arrived with a specific product in mind. That is, they aren't just seeking anything; they already know what they want and are prepared to buy; all you have to do is provide them with suitable answers to their inquiries.

In fact, searchers have a 50% greater conversion rate than browsers. As a result, a successful eCommerce search will result in a considerable increase in sales and income.

With its hyper-relevant search results, Argoid's quick, accurate, and AI-based search console helps improve client retention. Some features of Argoid's search engine include:  

  • Highly customized, tailored, and precise search results at one click
  • Smart word driven
  • Contextual Spell checker
  • Smart Ranking
  • AI-Autosuggest

If you’d like to learn more about how Argoid's search engine for eCommerce can improve the overall relevance of search results and reduce null results by better interpreting misspellings and other language-related behavior, talk to us today.

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