Stop Losing Online Sales. Add Filtered Search

Posted on by Greg Carter in Articles | News | Comments Off

Save the Sale with a Filtering Menu

Having only a search box on a webstore is for losers! That is, “money losers”.

Search boxes can make us losers. Money losers, that is. Your e-commerce platform can be made even better by adding a navigation menu that allows your users to filter down based on your product attributes. This type of navigation is seen on all the top online stores, including Grainger, Home Depot, Amazon and eBay. So if filtering menus are nothing new, why do so many suppliers include only a search box? Because they’re not thinking “outside the box” (sorry).

: Customer has flexibility to search by Keyword or Product Attribute. Increases Sales Conversions.

Too many website’s include only search boxes for finding SKUs and Model Numbers. However, while researching this article, we found that up to 40% of supplier site searches are done using product attributes (e.g. size, type, etc.). Let’s face it, “No Matching Results” is a sure way to disappoint customers. Complement data services with filtering tools for e-commerce stores that take advantage of our rich, detailed product attributes. Electrical Marketing can help with data services and filtering tools.

More Sales, Fewer Returns

A Filter Menu puts the power of search refinement to the customer. They’ll only see products that match their desired attributes and descriptions. This means more sales conversions and fewer product returns.

According to an article by Sherice Jacob in Kissmetrics, a nationally recognized expert firm for providing Customer Intelligence & Web Analytics: “People expect their product searches to return filterable options. Raise the bar by allowing shoppers to optionally include (or exclude) attributes including size, type, style, power rating, etc.”

Intelligent Autocomplete

Autocomplete is also a good time saver for site search. According to Kissmetrics, adding smarter search (including autocomplete features) e-tailers can increase their conversion six times over a static search box.

Industrial/Electrical supplies include more product variations, sizes, types, etc. than many other types of businesses. Our buyers aren’t always experts. It’s incumbent upon us, sellers, to make it easy for our customers to do business with us. More than ever, they have other choices for where to take their business.

For more information on combining data attribute services with developing an interactive Filtering Menu for your site, contact us. We are Electrical Marketing.