In a highly competitive eCommerce environment today, all of your customers expect fast, accurate, and intuitive searching of product(s) on your site. For merchants using Shopify as the platform for their online store, searching is now much more than a tool to find items; it has become an essential driver of conversion for any retailer using the Shopify platform. Therefore, if you want to increase site engagement, decrease bounce rate, and increase revenue from your Shopify store, you’ll want to optimize the way your site searches for products.

Unfortunately, most Shopify stores still rely on the default function of the built-in search tool, which does a very poor job of analyzing the intent behind the query…handling variations of words…and ultimately, finding the best products nearest your customer’s intent. Optimization of search on Shopify is one of the most impactful ways to increase the overall quality of the shopping experience.

Why Shopify Search Optimization Matters

Numerous studies have shown that customers who use the site’s internal searching functionality to locate what they wish to purchase are more likely to make purchases than those who browse through the site manually for products. By using the search functionality, customers will spend more time on your Shopify store, which increases the likelihood of them purchasing your products.

Alternatively, when a customer performs a search but does not find what they were looking for (due to poor search functionality), the customer will leave the site, resulting in the following consequences:

• Unrelated or no results returned in either case will invariably cause that customer to leave the website.
• Will frustrate customers, resulting in them having no confidence in the ability of the website to fulfill their order
• Wasted sales opportunity

In summary, improving search functionality on Shopify will allow merchants to more effectively capture customers’ search intent and convert that intent to an actual sale through the discovery process.

Common Limitations of Default Shopify Search

Shopify provides basic-level functionality from a built-in search engine, but as merchants continue to grow an online store, the following default search limitations will become more evident and affect conversion rates:

• Relevance ranking is limited.
• No typo/alternative spelling correction or error handling.
• No handling of synonyms and related terms.
• No advanced search filtering/merchandising controls.
• Low-level analytics of search usage/behavior statistics.

As merchants add more products, the limitations of the default Shopify search will functionally cause issues that will be visible and affect a merchant’s ability to convert customers.

Key Ways to Improve Shopify Search

Provide Relevant Search Results

Having a smart search system enables you to deliver the correct search results based on what the customer was trying to search for so that they don’t see a “no results” page as a result of a possible typo or the word being cut off.

Use Autocomplete and Instant Suggestions

By allowing for autocomplete search suggestion options of products/categories/popular products, you can quickly try and find a product with less effort, as well as ensure that you will lead that user to high-intent products (e.g., products that are in demand).

Prioritize Product Relevancy and Ranking

With advanced search options, you can control the search result priority with items you want to show first (e.g., best sellers, available items, highest margin).

Create Smart Filters & Facets

Create filters based on attributes (ex., price, category, brand, size, in-stock) to help quickly narrow down results for customers in larger stores.

Analyze Search Behavior

Understanding what customers search for (or don’t find) can provide you with valuable insight into your business. By using search analytics, you can determine where content is missing or not as well as what products are trending or need optimization.

Enhancing Shopify Search with Expertrec

Expertrec transforms a basic Shopify search function into a fast and easy-to-use solution that increases your chances of converting visitors into buyers. You can find the Expertrec service integrated into Shopify stores that utilize their standard search.

Key Features of Expertrec

• Relevance ranking based on AI algorithms
• Typo-tolerant search and synonym matching
• Instant searches with product auto-complete features and instant product previews
• Advanced filtering and merchandising capabilities
• Search analytics and insights.

By providing an improved way for customers to search and locate products, Expertrec can help Shopify merchants increase their conversion rates without changing their existing store format or workflow.

Business Impact of a Better Search Experience

Merchants that have invested in advanced search solutions for their shops have experienced:

• Higher conversion rates for customers purchasing through the use of search
• Higher average orders from search users than from all other types of checkout
• Lower bounce rate
• Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Search optimization has a direct impact on revenue generation and is one of the highest ROI improvements any Shopify store can achieve.

Conclusion

Enhancing Shopify’s existing search capabilities is now an absolute necessity to scale your eCommerce business. Your customers will have a better chance of finding the best products to meet their needs quickly and with confidence using fast, intelligent, and personalized searches.

Using Expertrec’s tools, Shopify merchants can evolve beyond basic search to provide shoppers with a modern, high-performing shopping experience, resulting in quantifiable sales results.