7 Consumer Behaviour Trends for eCommerce: #1 “I need to find what I’m looking for… NOW!”
“I need to find what I’m looking for… NOW!”
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In today’s online world, user expectations are higher than ever. Consumers know what they want, and they want those things now. If site visitors can’t find what they need instantly, they will quickly bounce off the page, costing the site a potential sale. Providing meaningful experiences has become a priority for e-commerce companies. Here are four ways e-commerce search has changed:
1. Customers search from multiple platforms
Today’s users access sites from a variety of devices, including mobile phones, personal laptops, work devices, and smart speakers. Often businesses will invest time and money into improving the online site search experience and neglect these other platforms. No matter where users start their search, they will only continue to interact with the brand if it’s easy—and even enjoyable—to do so.
2. Helping users search
Users don’t always know what they need and, even when they do, they sometimes don’t know the perfect keywords to search. And when users do know what to search, they often make mistakes or typos. Here are a few ways e-commerce site search helps guide customer search experience:
- Query Suggestion – As the customer types and specify their query, the website displays popular queries that are known to return results. It also speeds up the searching process, increasing sales up to 24%.
- Federated search – Federated search allows retailers to display relevant editorial content like blog posts and how-tos alongside products in the search results, inspiring shoppers by guiding them into their purchase.
- Typo Tolerance – Typo tolerance takes the human errors of search into account by allowing users to make mistakes while still finding what they’re looking for.
“Research shows 48% of consumers spend more when their experience is personalised. ”
Mat Blandineau, Product Marketing Manager at Algolia
3. Personalised search results for each customer
Though two different customers might enter the same query into the search bar, they may not be looking for the same type of results. More e-commerce sites are moving toward personalised results, which allows previous behaviors, user profiles, and preferences to influence the relevant content or products the customer sees.
Research shows 48% of consumers spend more when their experience is personalised. Leveraging personalization helps to satisfy user expectations, which in turn increases engagement and conversions.
Standardisation of the seach bar
As the search has become a cornerstone of the e-commerce site, businesses have begun to realize the importance of adopting some basic design best practices.
Some practices that have helped to streamline the user experience include placing the search bar in the same location on every page, including a magnifying glass for better visibility, and including placeholder text (or microcopy) within the bar to encourage users to search.
To meet the demands of modern online consumers and keep them engaged, retailers need to invest in a search as a service partner that can provide the search and discovery tools that users expect.
To learn more about Algolia and eCommerce search, click here!