I recently implemented our search solution on a customer site called Thompson & Morgan, and wanted to let you know about it. It was a pleasure working on their site, and I learned a lot about plants and seeds. I implemented some cool features, and Thompson & Morgan is already seeing the benefits, as we described in our recent press release “Thompson & Morgan’s Online Shopping Experience Flourishes with Full-Service Site Search from SLI Systems”.

“Schloss Wackerbarth” isn’t easy to say and it’s even tougher to spell – but if you love hydrangeas, you should shop on Thompson & Morgan’s website (www.thompson-morgan.com) because “Scholoss Wackerbarth” is easy to find even if you don’t know how to spell it. Thompson & Morgan has been around since 1855, when they  published their  first catalogue, and now sells  seeds and plants internationally through their online store. Previously visitors may have gotten zero results when misspelling hard-to-remember plant and seed-related products as their search engine was not smart enough to understand misspellings. To remedy this, I helped Thompson & Morgan implement several new search features on its site, which ensures that their customers will be able to track down plants like “hydrangea macrophylla” (that’s another name for the Schloss Wackerbarth hydrangea!). SLI’s Auto Complete feature, which I recommended to Thompson & Morgan, plays a big part in helping their customers find products even if they’re not sure of the spelling. Auto Complete lets people type in just a few letters and see a list of product names, so they don’t have to worry about getting the name just right.

I also worked with the seed and plant retailer to add many useful refinement features that help shoppers narrow down their search results. For instance, people can see search results broken down into products or articles, which brings informative content to their attention. Customers can also search for plants and flowers by color, which is important if you’re trying to coordinate new plants with the rest of your garden. They can also see reviews and ratings right in search results, which can offer guidance on the best product to buy.

If you’d like to find out more about the work I did for Thompson & Morgan, just email me at info@sli-systems.com or call 1 (866) 240-2812.