In my last post on list, grid and hybrid views, I discussed the pros and cons of list and grid views and offered a new alternative – the hybrid view for search and navigation pages, which takes the best of both and combines it into one.
Today we’ll take the discussion a step further and, using the hybrid view as an example talk about using site search pages as landing pages for any campaigns your are running.
The key to these pages is they allow you to easily and dynamically create a landing page that is tailored to any phrase that is important to your customers. They are updated to include the latest products, prices and other content like reviews. Also important – and perhaps a bit more difficult – is presenting relevant product information above the fold that creates an engaging user experience. This is where the previously discussed hybrid view comes in.
Here are some tips for how to optimize the page for website visitors, using the site of our customer Sports Unlimited as an example:
- Display relevant product information above the fold — we refer to this as “Auto Merchandising”
- Include keyword specific clickable banners at top of page displaying related brands and categories
- Offer standard landing page options:
- Display the keyword at top. This provides what is called an information scent that should reaffirm to the visitor that they are on a page that is relevant to what they are looking for.
- Offer “sort by,” “view” and “pagination” options at the bottom
- Include related, user-generated phrases at the bottom
- Include relevant refinement options to narrow selection by gender, category, brand, etc.
- Offer product options to select quantity, color, size and call to action (i.e. “add to cart”) button (see image below point #6)
- Use “mouse over pop ups” to offer more information, oftentimes a larger image
- Use AJAX search to provide the WOW experience – which can be seen by clicking on any refinement option from this page (AJAX delivers a fast, streamlined experience when clicking on refinements or going back and forth within the search results):
The ‘Riddell Revolution Youth Football Helmet’; is in position #1 as more people have selected this product than any other when searching for ‘revolution football helmets’ on the Sports Unlimited site. A different helmet may be # 1 tomorrow, or next week if the preferences of the site’s visitors change.
http://sporting-goods.sportsunlimitedinc.com/search#w=revolution%20football%20helmets&asug=rev
This special type of dynamic landing page has resulted in increases in revenues and average order value. They can be used as landing pages for many types of campaigns, paid search, email, display advertising.
If you have any questions about this or comments to share, please feel free to comment below.
