On-site search data provides you with great insights on the activity of your audience, allowing you to tailor your marketing campaign according to their behavior and interests. Site search is especially useful for ecommerce brands that want to know what their consumers want. However, a recently released study shows that majority of these brands do not use or do not know how to use and integrate this data to their current online marketing campaigns.
The Survey Results
Site search systems provider SLI Systems released the results of their 2014 Global Ecommerce Site Search Survey, and the results show a big potential market for ecommerce SEO. The survey, which featured 160 global ecommerce professionals, revealed the following statistics:
- 57% of ecommerce brands do not use site search information to customize their online marketing. Only 25% answered they integrate site search data into their marketing strategies.
- Those who do not use site search data in their marketing campaigns cite two main reasons for not integrating the data into their current strategies. 50% of respondents say they have limited resources, while 30% do not know how to successfully integrate the information they gather from site search to their marketing campaigns. 10% say their current system does not allow integration.
- Of the respondents who use site search data, 27% have created search engine-optimized landing pages featuring customized banners and site search results. 13% use the data for mobile search, and 11% integrate the data with social media channels to increase engagement and cross-platform promotion.
- 47% are planning to integrate site search data into their marketing strategies in 2014. Meanwhile, only 36.9% of respondents say they will incorporate site search data into their holiday marketing strategy. 35.6% said no, while a big 27.7% are unsure of what to do.
The specifics of site search features ecommerce brands do and don’t use can be found in the graph below:
What This Means for You
The number of ecommerce brands not using site search data is alarming, but the potential market for our partners is big, with 47% planning to incorporate site search into their strategies by next year. Having a solid ecommerce web design strategy is the perfect way to help these brands reach their audiences effectively and improve their marketing plans significantly.
The following tips can help you get started:
- Use eye-catching, unique, relevant copy to relay and reinforce their brand message.
- Customize search results to promote specific products your clients would like to highlight in their ecommerce website.
- Create unique landing pages for different groups of products.
- Make products easy to find using synonyms and long-tail keywords.
- Use reporting and analytics to spot trends and marketing opportunities for the future.
- Keep testing what methodologies work and what strategies need tweaking. A/B testing is very important in ecommerce, and according to the study, only 21.2% are currently using it.
- Make your in-site search results page visual and informative.
The good news for our partners is we offer ecommerce solutions that will help you utilize site search data for the maximum benefit of your clients’ marketing campaigns. Log into your dashboard to order our ecommerce solutions or talk to your account manager to learn more.
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