Why Onsite Search is Crucial for Mobile User Experience

onsite search ux

Improving the mobile user experience: Why your eCommerce site needs onsite search

If you’re committed to creating great mobile user experiences for your customers (both existing and prospective), then you need to get serious about search.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the search box is one of the key features in the mobile user journey. Its use indicates a specific product in mind, and an intent to purchase. Without it your eCommerce website or app is going to be scoring some pretty high drop-off and bounce rates. Not a good thing, in anybody’s book.

Issues such as context of use and screen size separate the mobile user experience from the desktop one. For instance, the user could be on the move when viewing your eCommerce site/app and unable to give it their full attention. This means they need to find what they’re after quickly and without fuss, or the interaction will be terminated and the sale lost.

As onsite search has been proven to increase mobile conversion rates by four times as much as those that don’t use search, here’s some of the things you need to address if you’re to get it right:

  • Familiarity – Place the search box where the mobile user (based on their experience of similar sites) expects to find it
  • Effective algorithm – An onsite search that delivers irrelevant results offers little more than a thoroughly frustrating mobile user experience
  • Auto-suggest – Enabling auto-suggestion limits the amount of typing required, which, on the smaller screen, can often get fiddly
  • Ignore typos – Fat fingers and fat thumbs (touchscreen vernacular, of course). Throw in the smaller screen size and you create a perfect storm for all manner of spelling errors. Keep your users on board by allowing variations in spelling to return relevant results
  • Recognise product names – Product names, codes, serial numbers; all are used by consumers to find what they’re looking for. Ensure your onsite search delivers the correct pages for users searching out specific products, regardless of how they term it

Fast, efficient and effective onsite search is essential for maintaining a great mobile user experience. Contact us to discover the ways in which user research can improve your ecommerce site.

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