Business

What it Means When a Customer Uses Your Search Bar

From the outside looking in, search bars can seem like they’re pretty simple. If you think about the way that you use search bars, the process may seem easy to manage. You just type in a word or a phrase, and then thousands of results pop up less than a second later, at least if you’re using a popular search engine.

But those popular search engines don’t only show you articles, videos, and other pieces of information by matching up key words. In fact even something that seems simple can be a multi-faceted search process. And that means that if you ever have a search bar on your website, it’s going to be important to be as multi-faceted as you can there too.

What does it mean when a customer uses your search bar? How can you use your website’s search bar information to your business’ advantage? And how can you make the way that your search bar works even better than it already is?

What Does it Mean When a Customer Uses Your Search Bar?

When someone visits your website and decides to use the search bar, that means that they’re looking for something in particular. They aren’t just going onto your website to aimlessly scroll and browse, not if they’ve decided to put in a few key words.

In the case that your website an eCommerce site that sells clothing and fashion related items, someone using your search bar to find “earrings” in particular is here with a purpose. Because you know that they are purpose-driven, you can be pretty certain that they’re in the mood to make a purchase. In particular, they’re in the mood to buy something from you.

However, the way that a customer decides to use your search bar is going to vary based on the coding and hard work that has been put into making the search tool actually function. For example, a customer is going to be interested in using a faceted search tool much differently from a regular search bar that only searches for key words.

Additionally, a potential customer’s experience with a search bar, or your website’s navigation system in general, is going to significantly influence how they feel about your shop in a very short amount of time.

If a website visitor isn’t able to find exactly what they’re looking for relatively quickly, they might get confused and decide to start shopping somewhere else. This is especially the case if they’re a first time visitor to your online store. Rather than giving your business a chance, they’ll move on to another resource.

What Can Your Business Do With Search Bar Information?

When it comes down to what you’ll be able to do with a better funtioning search bar, there are lots of things you can do with the data and information that you collect.

For example, you can use the information to get a more solid idea of what customers are interested in purchasing from you, which items might need to be restocked more frequently than others, and what kinds of products have been trending on your website recently. This kind of information can be deciphered and ultimately be helpful to many parts of your team.

The marketing team can use this information to decide which niches would be good directions for the business to target, or which products could use a little bit of a boost. Additionally, customer service and quality control will be able to know more quickly which items are going to be most likely to be asked about, in which case you can create information that’s easily accessed.

Additionally, if you decide to use a faceted search tool, the amount of time and energy spent deciphering information on your business’ end will be greatly decreased. This is largely because customers will be able to send what kinds of products they’re looking for based on clear filters and objective descriptors that your company tags certain items with.

For example, if most of your customers utilize the faceted search tool and look for green pants from your fashion website, you’ll know that green pants will be something that your company will need to restock more often.

This is much easier than sifting through the different search queries that customers will use on a regular search bar, like “pants green,” “green pants,” and “green jeans”, even though they all want the same kind of item.

How Can I Make My Website’s Search Bar Better?

Making your website’s search bar more easily accessible can be done relatively easily, especially if you’re in the business of selling a wide catalogue of products to your customers.

As previously discussed, a faceted search tool can make it much easier for you to decipher information that your customers giving you. However, a faceted search bar isn’t only going to be useful for you on the business side of things.

This will also be useful for your customers, allowing them to find their desired items much more quickly. Additionally, if customers have an easier time navigating your website, they’ll also be much more likely to have a positive impression of your store and actually make a purchase, rather than deciding to shop elsewhere.

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