Over the past years, our team has run over 1,000 A/B tests across customers to identify actionable, easy-to-implement improvements for ecommerce sites and execute them for tangible results. For the purpose of this post, we’ve separated the findings from our exclusive research into two key areas: algorithmic and UX updates.
Follow along to see how you can audit your ecommerce search and product discovery platform for a seamless customer experience and improved KPIs. At the end of the post, you’ll find a complimentary, downloadable checklist you can use to facilitate the process.
Algorithmic Audit
The algorithmic audit is all about analyzing the quality of your search results. Here are some areas where you can start:
- Identify zero results returned. Do shoppers often search for something, but to no avail? “No results” pages frequently occur due to misspellings, synonyms, and miscategorization of SKUs, among other factors. Track “zero result” searches in your product discovery dashboard.
- Identify irrelevant results for long-tail queries. Are the results attractive to the shopper based on search history? If a shopper searches “womens red dress for summer wedding,” will they receive a list of climate-appropriate options? Or what if they’ve previously shown an affinity for Apple products in your online consumer electronics retail store? Are Apple products first in the results page for the long-tail query “13 inch laptop?”
- Identify facet-based search issues. Do shoppers receive attractive results when they search for products with attributes (color, pattern, size, brand, etc.)? For example, if a shopper searches for “gluten free bread,” are the results purely gluten free? Or do you find that most gluten-free searches end in Browse, since the customer’s initial search is unsuccessful?
Pinpointing these digital snags can be the starting point to improving the quality of your search and enhancing the overall customer experience.
Impact of algorithmic audits
Countless global B2C and B2B ecommerce companies have found a way to improve the quality of their search results automatically: via an AI-first search and product discovery built for ecommerce.
A solution built upon advanced ecommerce AI fixes poor search quality out of the box. It solves for bad or incomplete synonyms along with empty results, learning from user queries and interactions to always return attractive results site-wide during each session. This helps brands worldwide meet critical KPIs:
And because these companies no longer need extensive resources for manual workarounds, their ecommerce teams are able to dedicate more time to strategy.
UX Audit
This part of the audit is about visual capabilities on your ecommerce website.
The following audit questions will ensure your UX is optimized across three key areas: Search, autocomplete (i.e., Autosuggest), and Product Listing Pages (PLPs).
- Is your search bar prominent? Sometimes brands may choose to optimize for a Browse experience vs a Search experience. But if this isn’t your case, not displaying a search bar prominently could indicate an under-optimized user experience.
SwimOutlet’s distinctive blue search bar at the top center of their site is hard to miss — and A/B tested to increase RPV.
- Do you have zero-state autocomplete? Zero-state autocomplete refers to when a user clicks on the search bar, and a dropdown menu appears. Products displayed in this section can convert users before they officially begin their search experience.
This healthcare apparel retailer fills their zero-state autocomplete with popular products, which can spark ideas for new searches and increase AOV.
- Do you include product images and counts? For each search suggestion in autocomplete, include images and count to help customers better visualize the product and see if it’s in stock.
A single word kicks in Autosuggest for this German home & living ecommerce brand, with the algorithm offering up stock counts and images to better guide shoppers.
- Do you display the price in autocomplete? Likewise, adding prices to products in autocomplete is also an area for UX optimization — assuming it aligns with your brand image.
Target AU prominently displays product prices in larger font in their Autosuggest, helping shoppers compare prices easily.
- Are your PLP product cards high quality? As in, do they include large, high-quality images; accurate pricing with clearly labeled discounts (if applicable); details on material or ingredients; etc.? The goal here is to place the most important product information front and center so customers don’t have to dig for it.
A global beauty brand makes it easy for shoppers to find the information that matters most to them, such as price, integrity of ingredients, reviews, etc.
- Do you offer the opportunity to add to a wishlist or cart? Whether users are looking to buy immediately or in the future, savvy ecommerce brands ensure there are easily accessible add-to-cart or wishlist buttons from the PLP, without users needing to click into the product description page (PDP).
Princess Auto offers users a “Quick Shop” option from the PLP. When clicked, users can add the product to their cart or wishlist from the pop-up window.
- Do your product cards include badges? Badges are a new visual labeling system incorporated into product cards that can be used to indicate promotions, trending items, new arrivals, etc. A/B testing proves that badges help shoppers make faster purchasing decisions.
Badges such as “Popular” and “New” help reduce decision fatigue, helping shoppers make quicker purchasing choices.
- Does your site display content on the PLP? Do you display articles, blog posts, FAQs, product specs, guides, or other educational content on the PLP? This ensures shoppers can educate themselves, and their experience isn’t purely felt as transactional.
A European home improvement brand surfaces relevant articles and content results for user searches, in a separate tab from products.
Impact of UX audit
Similar to algorithmic enhancements, global ecommerce brands have reaped significant ROI and improved the customer experience by simply making adjustments to their UX:
Get a Full Audit of Your Search and Product Discovery Experience
These algorithmic and UX enhancements are the tip of the iceberg in terms of enhancements you can make to your overall search and product discovery experience. For the full list of optimizations, download our checklist here — no email required.
Strapped for time? Reach out to a Constructor product discovery specialist, who will perform a full audit of your site for both algorithmic and UX opportunities — completely free of charge. Get started here.