Website search 'leads to increased consumer purchasing'

16 May 2007

The quality of a website's own search facilities could have a direct impact on sales figures, it has been revealed.

A report from the Aberdeen Group questioned major online retailers and found that 70 per cent said that users taking advantage of on-site search functions were more likely to change from browsers into consumers.

The study also revealed a link between fine-tuning such features and retail success with 62 per cent of the most successful sites saying they were constantly looking at ways to improve their search facilities based on user experiences and promotional offers.

"These metrics show that leading companies are thinking about their search tools as a way to serve up products and inextricably link their merchandising processes to their product discovery tools," the report noted.

Last month analyst Tal Rubenczyk, writing for e-consultancy.com, stressed the importance of website search tools acting in the fashion of a salesperson rather than a conventional search engine.

Category: Natural search