How To Implement Intelligent Search For Your E-Commerce Website

E-commerce platforms offer thousands of products to their customers in multiple categories and sub-categories. When a customer visits your website and searches for a product(say shirts), the results will show all the shirts available on the website.The issue arises when a consumer searches for a specific product but cannot locate it. It leads to customer frustration, resulting in low conversions for the business. Despite having the best design and a never-ending list of products, this problem occurs due to low product discoverability. 

What problems do your customers face due to poor search features?

1. A poor search system can result in dead ends. A customer searching for an item available on your website may land on an incorrect product page due to a wrong keyword.

2. There’s a higher chance of customers getting identical results. For example, a customer searching for ‘Shirts’ can get results that include ‘shirt’ with just spelling changes.

3. Similarly,a poor search system will show the same results repeatedly, and doesn’t allow different variants and types of products to show up in the results.

4. Imagine you’re searching for Nike shoes, but your search is showing ‘Puma shorts’ that are unrelated to what you’re looking for.

5. When a customer browses for an item, products belonging to an unpopular brand or category might show up in the search results.

How Fynd Platform helps its sellers in developing intelligent search?

As shown above, a poor search can harm your online business. Fynd Platform works toward developing seller-centric solutions that help in enhancing business outcomes. Our search tools assist merchants in developing an intelligent search that not only boosts product discoverability but also enables product-specific promotions.

These are 3 options available on the Fynd Platform to develop intelligent search:

1. Autocomplete Search

2. Keyword Mapping

3. Search Re-Ranking

Let’s explore how these options help sellers in simplifying product search.

1. What is auto complete search on Fynd Platform?

The auto complete feature of the Fynd Platform allows you to write predictions for the keywords written by your customers. When customers visit your website and type ‘laptop’, the auto complete will provide relevant searches for laptops. The predicted search can be accessed by clicking on it directly.

How to create an autocomplete search?

1. Access the autocomplete feature by - Fynd Platform > Sales Channel > Settings > Search > Autocomplete

2. Place yourself in the shoes of your customer and think about keywords accordingly.

3. Jot down all the keywords a customer might use to access a specific product you’re selling.

4. Now add all the keywords a customer might use to search the product in the Words section.

5. In the Display field, add the prediction shown to the customer.

6. In the Link Type section, you can add a link or page that needs to be linked with the autocomplete search.

7. Upload an image to show it in the search results.

That’s how you can create Autocomplete search results and enable that on your website. If a consumer searches for a ‘laptop’, your website will now showcase products you want to display rather than no results or random searches.

2. What is keyword mapping, and how to enable it on the Fynd Platform?

Often we see customers searching for products not just by their name but with some attributes attached to them. If they are looking for shoes, the search will be ‘shoes under 1500’. Assigning the list of products to a keyword or a group of words is known as keyword mapping. Let’s understand how to do that on Fynd Platform:

1. In the Words section, write the keyword customer searches for the most. (e.g. shoes under 1500) you can add more related words that fit the same group.

2. In this example, the keyword used is related to the price of products. Click on the price filter from the dropdown menu and enter 1500 as the maximum price.

3. You can also set the sorting of products from High to low or vice versa.

4. Select the category to which the product belongs.

5. You’re all set. Now, if the customer searches for ‘shoes under 1500’, your website will display searches under these price ranges.

3. What is search re-ranking, and how to boost products with it?

You have a diverse product portfolio as a seller of stylish goods and accessories. The problem occurs when your new stock arrives and gets listed on the website. When a customer search for an item, old products are displayed first in the search bar. It leads to low discoverability, and your new products get shadowed over old products. As a result, it is critical to re-rank the search and prioritise products belonging to a specific brand/category above others. Let’s understand how to achieve this:

1. Access Search Re-Ranking by - Fynd Platform > Sales Channel > Settings > Search > Search Re-Ranking

2. Write keywords for which you would like to re-rank results.

3. Under the ‘Boost The Keyword(s)’ section,select brand or category.

4.  If you select ‘Brand’, then under ‘Brand Name’,click on the brand whose products you want to boost and show it first in the search results.

5. After selecting the brand name, click on Add and then Save.

6. Now, if the customer writes ‘Shirt’ or any of the keywords added in the search re-ranking panel, the selected brand shirts show up first.

7. Follow the same process to boost products based on category.

All three search options are enabled on your website to allow intelligent search. The difficulties discussed in this article are common when customers visit e-commerce websites. Customer dissatisfaction with poor search translates to negative reviews and revenue loss. Fynd Platform provides a unique yet simple solution to this problem by enabling intelligent search.

Fynd Platform strives to simplify its solutions to assist sellers in efficiently configuring their websites. If you’re struggling with implementing intelligent search and need support. Feel free to get in touch with us at support@gofynd.com.