Continuously improving your search function on your furniture retail site can dramatically increase conversion and help furniture shoppers along their entire journey both online and in-store. Here are four tips to improve your search that will allow customers to find your products faster and easier.
When shoppers look for a large appliance, for example, a refrigerator, they might search for facets like brand, specific dimensions, finish, new features, or even smart-tech add-ons. They may not spell what they are looking for correctly, or could use regional slang that might impact how they search. Make sure that on the back end, your shoppers can search for as many options as possible for your products so that results are relevant to your shoppers’ intended purchase.
Enabling faceting abilities on your furniture ecommerce site is a great way to enable a better search experience. Although it’s an incredibly useful tool for customers who don’t exactly know what they’re looking for, only 40% of ecommerce sites have faceting abilities, according to a Baymard Institute usability study.
Despite proper planning, you can’t always predict how customers will search. If a “no search results,” happens, what shows up on your site? If a blank page with a sorry message appears, you’re missing a huge conversion opportunity for your furniture shoppers. Don’t lead your customers to a dead-end. Instead, suggest other relevant search terms. Shoppers will be more likely stay on your site if you nudge them in the right direction. We call this the “Did You Mean” functionality.
Main pages for all categories, but especially among big sellers like living rooms, provide a great opportunity to get people started, particularly as they are beginning their furniture shopping journey online and researching different styles according to their vision. Rather than driving people down into different categories or styles right off the bat, consider using that main page to help shoppers customize their furniture the way they want with a buying guide. You can also include helpful content like posts from your blog, financing offers or other sales and promotions you have going on.
Because over 80% of shoppers research furniture online before purchasing, it is all the more important to make the most of your furniture ecommerce website – especially as the millennial generation becomes a more dominant buyer of furniture. Make it easy for undecided shoppers to browse for the pieces, brands and styles they have in mind before going into product pages.
Terms like “Free Shipping,” “Financing,” your store location and other basic offerings you may provide to your furniture shoppers are important to plan for as part of search functionality. While you’re fresh off of Memorial Day sales, Labor Day is not far behind. Shoppers might have seen a promotion you offer in-store and want to find it online, using the search function. Don’t disappoint them and miss out on a conversion opportunity using the promotions you have in place year round, and especially in preparing for the upcoming holiday season.
When it comes to what works in furniture ecommerce, Blueport Commerce is dedicated to helping furniture retailers capture their ecommerce opportunity online and in their stores through our platform and by partnering with best-in-class strategic partners like HawkSearch. And, by the way, we’re hiring, so if you want to be part of a team where the kind of work you do matters, join us.