Reader’s Note...2. Mobile site search Mobile product finding is not intuitive 8 weeks 7 3. Search Results Sorting options are inadequate 4 weeks 9 4. Personalization Moderate product

© 2016 RealDecoy All Rights Reserved The Site Search Experts

Reader’s NoteThis sample report contains a set of 5 recommendations.

A complete report will include a prioritized roadmap of 10

recommendations and an accurate estimate on the amount

of time it will take to implement each proposed improvement.

.


Sample Report: Site Search

Health Check


The Site Search Experts

About RealDecoy Why Improve Your Site Search Experience?

• RealDecoy is the profit-driving connection between your

customers and your product content.

• We help B2B and B2C brands maximize their investments in

e-commerce, site search and content management.

• E-commerce analysts and companies topping the Fortune

and Internet Retailer lists consider RealDecoy to be an

authority on site search.

• Guess, Harvard Business Publishing, The Home Depot,

Lands’ End, Samsung, and Office Depot are among the

many brands personalizing site search experiences thanks to

engagements with RealDecoy.

• Learn about RealDecoy and how we can help you connect

more loyal customers to more of your product content. Visit

www.realdecoy.com.

• Increase conversions, average order values and loyalty.

• Reduce operational expenses and the cost to serve

customers.

• Personalize your customer-facing site search application and

experience so your visitors find the products they’re looking

for, discover other products they didn’t know they need, and

to return to purchase more often.

• Structure your product content for a customer’s point of view

and ensure your site visitors have a fast and frictionless

product-finding experience, drive revenue and save money

with fewer contacts per order.

• Manage complex data sources and product categorizations,

multiple languages and currencies, and search experience

on difference devices.

http://www.realdecoy.com/


Summary

How does the Site Search Health Check Work? Recommendation Rankings

• RealDecoy's site search experts conduct a 10-point inspection

of your site search experience, including search taxonomy,

product content quality, personalization, and mobile

experience.

• The Site Search Health Check includes: a prioritized roadmap

that explains where you’re losing money, how to achieve

incremental improvements, and the amount of time it will take

to implement each proposed improvement.

• This report helps you understand where you are currently

losing money and what you can do to increase revenue,

search volume, conversions, average order value, and repeat

business.

SeriousSite does not follow best practice

Major Site has significant functionality flaws

MinorSite somewhat follows best practice

Well DoneSite follows best practice


Priority Current State Time to Value Page No.

© 2016 RealDecoy All Rights Reserved

Health Check Summary

1. Product taxonomy Taxonomy does not accommodate key data types 6 weeks 5

2. Mobile site search Mobile product finding is not intuitive 8 weeks 7

3. Search Results Sorting options are inadequate 4 weeks 9

4. Personalization Moderate product content recommendations 4 weeks 11

5. Type-ahead Basic predictive text observed 2 weeks 13

Recommendation Validation


Traditional taxonomies (i.e. product categorizations) offer a type

of “drill-down” approach to help site visitors quickly narrow their

searches.

For example, a B2B buyer searching for “Mr. Muscle Oven

Cleaner” might look at several product categories expecting to

find “Cleaning” as the starting point toward a path to purchase:

Cleaning > Chemicals > Grill, Range and Oven Cleaners > Mr.

Muscle Aerosol Oven Cleaner. Traditional taxonomies are made

up of static product categories that contain textual data.

A more dynamic and intuitive approach is a "faceted" taxonomy.

This can accommodate data types such as dates, numerical

ranges and geographic coordinates.

Time to value: 6 weeks

1. Intuitive Product TaxonomyApply a faceted product taxonomy to improve site search UX

Implementing an intuitive taxonomy improves website

navigation. Customers find product information faster and more

reliably. This leads to increased sales and better customer

relations.

A Forrester research report found that "poorly architected

retailing sites" sell only half as much as sites with taxonomies

structured to be intuitive to website visitors.

Another study of e-commerce sites showed that users find

desired information only 34% of the time with a simple search,

but 54% of the time with some form of taxonomy.


Best Practice


[Brand Name]

Example: Intuitive Product Taxonomy Apply a faceted product taxonomy to improve site search UX

Image of website

current state



When faced with an inadequate product finding experience,

users are likely to turn to another external site (e.g., web search

engines, social media sites, review sites, etc.), that may lead

them to your competitors. Here are some recommendations to

consider –

• Design the homepage to display a selection of primary

navigation categories or images that allow users to infer the

diversity and breadth of your site’s product catalog. Also,

display the most important slides as static content on the

homepage.

• Enable and offer “thematic” product browsing – make it very

easy for users with common thematic purchase patterns to

find their products.


2. Mobile Site Search Use primary navigation categories and “thematic” browsing

Many online shoppers will draw false conclusions about a

(mobile) website’s product catalog when they can’t find what

they are looking for, when in fact the issue is a poor (mobile)

interface or feature set. Such misunderstandings are critical.

Not only do they typically lead to abandonments here and now,

they also negatively affect future sales.

According to the Baymard Institute study, “The State of Mobile

E-Commerce Search and Category Navigation,” navigation and

product browsing, search, and cross-navigation and

compatibility, are the sub-components of product finding with

the worst performance on mobile devices.


Best Practice


[Brand Name]

Example: Mobile Site SearchProvide primary navigation categories and “thematic” product browsing

Image of website

current state



Sorting options allow the user to change the order of search

results so they can view the most relevant results first. The

more values you have related to the search, the more sense it

makes to offer different sorting options.

B2C brands such as American Apparel, David’s Bridal, Sears

(CA) and Coach provide extensive sort options and are the

best-in-class in this regard. In terms of B2B, Grainger leads

sellers when it comes to on-site product sorting. Some of the

most common sort options include on-sale, new, in-store, best

match, earliest available, brand A-Z/Z-A, and discounted.


3.Search ResultsProvide adequate sort options

87% of searchers find what they want within the first five search

results. In fact, businesses can increase on-site conversions by

up to 26% and shopping cart visits by up to 20% by

implementing adequate and relevant sort options.

In terms of B2B, 56% of the Top 16 Distributors offered minimal

or no sorting/filtering options of search result lists, according to

the “2016 Search Analysis Report” by Justin King, founder of

EcommerceandB2B.com.


Best Practice


[Brand Name]

Example: Search ResultsProvide adequate sort options

Image of website

current state



Customization delivers what site visitors ask for. Personalization

takes it to the next level and continues to drive conversions

through contextualized product content recommendations.

Personalization is a means of meeting the customer's needs

more effectively and efficiently. This makes interactions faster

and easier, for greater customer loyalty and the likelihood of

repeat orders.

For example, AutoZone uses “the customer’s vehicle year,

make and model to actively filter parts shown to those

compatible with the customer’s vehicle” as outlined in

Forrester’s report, “Personalization and the Rise of

Individualization.”


4. PersonalizationPersonalize product detail pages

One of Forrester’s top success factors for customer-obsessed

businesses in 2016 is personalization. Forward-thinking

businesses are transforming site search into an intuitive virtual

agent that responds to each site visitor’s buying intent, with

personalization.

Personalization can increase site search usage by up to 27%.

This can boost conversion rates by up to 25% and triple

revenue per search.

According to a Forrester webcast entitled “Digital Store Trends

2016,” 77% of consumers have chosen, recommended, or paid

more for a brand that provides a personalized service or

experience.


Best Practice


Image of website

current state

[Brand Name]

Example: PersonalizationPersonalize on product detail pages



Type-ahead allows site visitors to progressively search for and

filter through text using a search box.

As people type text, one or more possible matches for the text

are found and immediately presented to them. This immediate

feedback often allows the site visitor to stop short of typing an

entire word or phrase.

This useful feature improves the search experience by reducing

the effort visitors must expend to find what they're looking for.

If the right technology is implemented in conjunction with

product content that is optimized for product search relevancy,

type-ahead suggestions will reflect site search data and serve

the products most likely to match, first.


5. Type-AheadOptimize type-ahead for site search

In one case study conducted by Econsultancy, implementing an

intuitive type-ahead function yielded an 18% lift in conversion

rates from all types of traffic to the retailer's site.

New research in the world of data management strongly

suggests that type-ahead search lowers bounce rate, by getting

more people to the products they seek, faster. On average, site

searchers find their intended targets in 33% fewer keystrokes.

This lops off 2 seconds from the average search session.

The Home Depot, Office Depot, Grainger (US) and Acklands-

Grainger (Canada) are setting the gold standard for type-ahead

implementation.


Best Practice


[Brand Name]

Example: Type-aheadOptimize type-ahead for site search

Image of website

current state


RealDecoy Contacts More Connection Points


Richard Isaac

President & CEO

[email protected]

(613) 454.5510

• RealDecoy’s Site Search Best Practices by

Email: www.realdecoy.com/ebook/

• Blog: www.realdecoy.com/world

• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/realdecoy

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Let’s Discuss Next Steps

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Reader’s Note...2. Mobile site search Mobile product finding is not intuitive 8 weeks 7 3. Search Results Sorting options are inadequate 4 weeks 9 4. Personalization Moderate product

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