When it comes to site search and e-commerce, displaying relevant data is key to driving Return on Investment (ROI).
While that may sound obvious, there are plenty of retailers who are missing on key opportunities to leverage data to improve product findability and of course conversions on their sites.

According to a recent E-Commerce Times article, retailers can help customers find exactly what they are looking for by taking available data - such as product information, shopper profiles and buying preferences, shipping options, and user ratings - and incorporating this information into site navigation.

Customer-generated recommendations are also key to improving customer retention since your customers want to learn what others have to say about your products. Retailers should seek opportunities to display product ratings and relevant discussions about product purchases and experiences with your brand via search results. The benefits go far beyond improving search functionality on your site by helping to link and build your customer community.

Tying promotions to site search can also help retailers to better target promotions because the promotions displayed are relevant to product search results. According to E-Commerce Times, this means "higher conversion rates and larger average order values."

Increasing search capabilities also increases findability and when linked to SEO best practices can make your site more visible to search engines. The result is more targeted traffic which means helping customers looking for your products find those products quickly.

By looking carefully at available data, retailers can create opportunities to use search in ways that create better shopping experiences for customers by providing all relevant information a customer needs in order to make a purchase. The key is to use targeted selling techniques to ensure you are providing relevant data to help your customers commit to the purchase decision.

Recently, Caroline Zenss from our team talked about website best practices and how retailers should design sites that match the needs of their customers. Site usability and best practices for site search are tightly linked because in both instances you are looking to provide the best and therefore most predictable shopping experience for your customers.