Moving Beyond Basic: Deciding When to Level Up Your Search Capabilities
Advanced search can increase engagement, drive conversions and average order value, and create more loyal customers.
Attracting and retaining attention is challenging but crucial for your business. Especially when you've got about 15 seconds to convince a website visitor to become a buyer.
An advanced search solution can help your brand attract and retain customers, keeping them engaged longer and fostering loyalty over time. Despite this, many brands overlook the search experience as a priority, deferring it to future optimization plans.
Leading up to a launch, there are a number of competing priorities. Postponing adding an advanced search is, to a degree, understandable. However, as your business expands, your product inventory grows and you're offering more content to your audience, the importance of optimizing your users' search experience becomes evident.
Advanced search gets pushed down the priority list because typically, you have the option to use your ecommerce platform’s built-in search functionality for basic search. However, built-in search also typically comes with limitations that you need to consider: lack of features, minimal AI capabilities (if any), lack of personalization, product catalog size restrictions, and the list goes on.
There are two large buckets of users commonly seen on commerce sites, and implementing an advanced site search serves both types: those looking for specific items and those open to discovery. The former knows what they’re after and wants to save time, hassle, and frustration by going straight to what they need and buying it; the latter only has a vague idea and wants to engage more deeply, whether it’s through recommendations or product comparisons. Each of these groups benefits from improved seek-and-find methods.
Knowing When to Upgrade to Advanced Search
Every organization has different needs and priorities, and that means there’s no one answer for when to make the investment. But there are some clear signs that indicate your search isn’t performing for your business as it should.
When your customer feedback is poor and website data shows a decline in conversion and engagement.
According to PwC, 32% of customers will leave a brand they love after just one bad experience. Moreover, nearly 80% of American consumers point to speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service as the most important elements of a positive customer experience. If you are getting feedback that your website is hard to navigate, and if average order value is flat and conversion rates are declining, you should look into a search solution with more capabilities. Advanced search will help you improve the customer experience by learning to understand consumer intent and making their experience seamless.
When your revenue needs a boost and you are looking to accelerate time-to-value.
According to Algolia’s B2C State of Search 2024 report, 61% respondents use search and discovery technology to achieve their revenue targets and they are seeing a direct correlation between improved revenue and powerful site search and discovery capabilities.
To optimize revenue and performance, gaining access to comprehensive search analytics is essential. These insights, such as customer search behavior, click-through rates, and conversion tracking, may not be readily available with the basic search functionality provided by your ecommerce platform. With real-time search analytics and clear, actionable insights typically offered by advanced search solutions, you’ll be able to adjust your strategy quickly and capitalize on revenue opportunities. This is true particularly during peak times (like Black Friday, July 4th, and other seasonal opportunities), an advanced search solution can effortlessly manage them while maintaining excellent performance and user experience. Additionally, many advanced search solutions offer merchandising capabilities, assisting you in setting up campaigns and promotional strategies.
When you notice that you are not able to pivot quickly and scale with your current search solution.
Meeting the demands of the future is not a nice-to-have anymore. To stay ahead is a hard task and the ability to move quickly and be flexible is important. Based on this report, 64% of respondents stress the importance of AI in providing precise search results. This highlights the need to utilize advanced solutions with the latest AI features.
On the flip side, with advanced search, you’d want to choose a vendor dedicated to search excellence and able to integrate easily with your existing tech stack. While basic search solutions suffice for features like typo tolerance, sorting, and filters, staying ahead requires investment in feature-rich AI-powered solutions offering advanced functionalities such as geo-based results, semantic search, inventory-aware search, personalization, dynamic re-ranking, query optimization, and voice search while investing in an ongoing state of innovation to ensure you stay ahead.
For established businesses embarking on a composable journey, flexibility is important because you’re most likely using multiple systems. It's crucial to ensure that your chosen search solution can effectively address your integration and customization requirements.
Moving to an advanced search can seem like a luxury in the full picture of a commerce experience, but the reality is search plays a pivotal role in not only enabling customers to discover and purchase the items they want, but also in building loyalty through engaging, relevant experiences. While out-of-the-box search solutions provide core functionality, they don’t offer the flexibility and innovation that truly drives results for businesses.
Composable commerce enables the selection of best-of-breed specialty solutions, allowing these tools to supercharge one another by integrating and speaking to one another to create a harmonious system. Moving beyond basic with advanced search solutions, such as Algolia AI Search, can be a great next step to drive your business forward.
Valeriia Pierzinski
Product Marketing Manager, Algolia
Valeriia has always been fascinated by technology and its potential to enhance lives. In her role, she merges a passion for technology with a dedication to assisting others in reaching their goals.