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Get Heard, Get Prizes: Take Our Annual eCommerce Survey

Posted by Dawn MortensenAbout us, eCommerce, SEO, Site Search1 comment

Want your voice to be heard? It’s survey time again, when SLI Systems asks our network of online retailers and other eCommerce experts to weigh in on their current experiences with site search and their plans for the coming year. The annual eCommerce survey provides the industry with benchmarks on how businesses are attracting customers to their site, improving usability and increasing conversions.

If you haven’t yet completed the survey, please take 5 minutes to do so now at now at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8QL7DJB. Every participant will receive a full report of the results. Plus, we’ll enter your name in a drawing to receive one of nine prizes: eight Apple gift cards and one Grand Prize of a new Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablet.

Last year, our 2013 eCommerce Survey of more than 450 eCommerce professional revealed that more than 40 percent of online merchants were making improvements to their SEO and merchandising in order to drive additional holiday shopping traffic. When asked about plans for 2013, retailers around the world identified international expansion as a major priority. Other top priorities were improving conversions (63%) and attracting more customers (61%).

For the 2014 eCommerce Survey now underway, questions are designed for learning how online retailers are using site search to improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. We also ask about holiday plans and the year ahead. The results should be interesting – watch for them in early November.

This survey will be live only through next Tuesday, October 1, so please don’t hesitate. Please be sure to include your contact information at the end of the questionnaire for entry into the drawing. We’ll announce prize winners in October.

Thank you for your thoughtful insights, which always make our survey results valuable.

Sweet Success with Jelly Belly

Posted by Dawn MortenseneCommerce, Merchandising, Navigation, SEO, Site Search, Site Search Tips, Success Stories1 comment

Buttered Popcorn… Cream Soda… Toasted Marshmallow… most of us have favorite likes or dislikes when it comes to Jelly Bellies. And it’s nice to be able to order those favorites from Jelly Belly Candy Company’s online store at www.jellybelly.com. Jelly Belly’s eCommerce site is an important global sales channel for the company, which sells 100 other types of confections in addition to its 75 flavors of Jelly Bellies.

As highlighted in a newly published case study, Jelly Belly uses SLI Systems to improve its user experience and profitability. By optimizing site search and SEO, SLI helped Jelly Belly see a 33% increase in site conversions and a 10% increase in average order value. By using SLI’s customized product results pages and adding those links to email campaigns, Jelly Belly realized an 85% better open rate for emails.

Jelly Belly’s director of e-business Brandon Finch works closely with his Customer Success Manager at SLI to stay on top of search trends and best practices. Recently, Jelly Belly’s search data showed that their BeanBoozled product line of odd-flavored jelly beans was one of the most-searched for products on their site.

By the way, if you haven’t yet been BeanBoozled, watch out – a 1.6 ounce box contains both commonly liked flavors such as Peach or Licorice and identical-looking beans with flavors like Barf and Skunk Spray. It’s a higher-stakes trick than the one I did to my sister as a kid, swapping Watermelon Jelly Bellies for Jalepeno-flavored ones.

After learning how popular its BeanBoozled line was, Jelly Belly worked with SLI to add similar products to the search results page, so that shoppers buying BeanBoozled will also learn about Jelly Belly’s line of Harry Potter Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, which also have strange flavors. (In a handful of Bertie Bott’s, you may taste dirt, earwax, booger, cherry and tutti-frutti.)

SLI also worked with Jelly Belly to create faceted navigation for Jelly Belly’s site, with search refinement options in the left column of the page. For those really into unusual Jelly Belly flavors, their BeanBoozled results page offers refinement by Taste, with the choices of Icky, Assorted or Chocolate.

SLI’s work with Jelly Belly is just one fun example of how SLI continually works to improve each customer’s site for the best possible search results and conversions. You can read additional examples from Boden, American Bridal, PartySuppliesDelivered, Snow + Rock and others on our case studies page, or listen to customers speak in our podcasts and recorded webinars.

Reason to Party: 203% More Conversions

Posted by Dawn MortensenConferences, eCommerce, Navigation, Search Conferences, SEO, Site Search

This is first in a series of success stories on eCommerce sites that are growing their business with advanced site search. See live presentations of these stories at the SLI Theater at IRCE June 4-6.

Every eTailer knows this: You can’t get people to buy what they can’t find.

In the online party supply world, for example, a consumer has dozens of choices for where to buy a $250 life-sized Dr. Who TARDIS. If your site doesn’t appear high in Google results for this item – or if your customers can’t find the science fiction party supplies on your site – then your conversion rates will be as unpredictable as is the TARDIS’ ability for accurate time travel.

PartySuppliesDelivered.com is one among dozens of online party supply stores. With more than 4,000 products and the backing of parent company Mattress USA, PartySuppliesDelivered.com had a couple great things going for it. But there was one major problem: Customers could not find what they were looking for.

The party supplier’s original site search technology was the default search included with its eCommerce platform. It ranked search results only by the number of times the search term was found in the description, instead of ranking search results by relevance. This limited approach led to skewed results and frustrated potential customers.

To solve this problem, Party Supplies Delivered put its search function and site navigation into the full-service care of SLI Systems. As customers began to find more relevant results for their searches, the business improvements were remarkable; the bounce rate dropped 40 percent, page views increased by 132 percent and conversions went up by 203 percent. Key features like focused category pages, rich auto-complete and user-generated SEO are among the changes that are turning the business around.

“Now when customers drill into a subcategory, they really browse around; pages per visit are up 111 percent. This increases their average order too,” said Ian MacDonald, VP of eCommerce & Marketing for Party Supplies Delivered.

To learn more about how advanced site search and navigation technology helps Party Supplies Delivered, read their case study. If you’re coming to IRCE, stop by the SLI Theater at booth #501, where you can see a live demo from our customers including Ian from Party Supplies Delivered – plus get a free site critique. We look forward to seeing you there!

SLI at the Search Marketing Expo!

Posted by Kemberly GongConferences, eCommerce, SEO

Terry Costa, VP of Marketing at SLI Systems, spoke last night at the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) in San Jose, Calif., on how to improve your eCommerce site’s search engine optimization (SEO). In addition to using techniques like User-Generated SEO, he also highlighted the importance of improving the user experience of landing pages.

According to Costa, most consumers use similar keywords when searching the Internet for an eCommerce site that offers the product they want. When searching for a product on a retail site itself, they tend to vary their search phrases more. He also mentioned that the search box on an eCommerce site is one of rare places where visitors actually tell a retailer what their intent is. Matching those keywords with products they actually click-on and capturing this data is very important in improving not only your conversion rates, but also your SEO efforts.

motorcycle superstore - MBOS1

motorcycle superstore - MBOS

Costa also talked about how imperative it is that you help customers find what they’re looking for quickly once they land on your site. Focusing on the user experience by showing visitors more sorting options, refinements, similar products, merchandising information like “3 left” or “free shipping”, is important to help reduce abandonment.

It’s also helpful to show users other recommended products when they enter your site through a link from an Internet search engine. Let’s say a customer searches google for “scorpion exo 900” and clicks on the first link with that title. It will take them to a Motorcycle Superstore product detail page.

However, if that exact helmet isn’t what they want, Motorcycle Superstore uses that search term to recommend other relevant items that match the phrase, to ensure that customers see other possible items they might like.

Surveys by SLI Systems have shown that 73% of visitors will leave a site within two minutes if they are unable to find what they are searching for. By giving them other options, you’re increasing the chance they’ll stay on the site and make a purchase.

To learn more about improving your site’s SEO, email us at discovery@sli-systems.com

4 Stages of a Great Shopping Experience

Posted by steveweCommerce, SEO, Site Search

SLI Systems Blog, Guest Post

Contributed by: Steve Warren, Vice President of Business Development, Fifth Gear

Every retail transaction has a lifecycle. In ecommerce, that lifecycle includes four distinct stages, each representing an opportunity to impress or disappoint your customers. The quality of this four stage process determines a shopper’s opinion of your brand, and it means the difference between a one-time buyer and a repeat customer.

Stage 1: Identify Need and Search

We all understand what it means to identify a need. Whether the washing machine goes on the fritz, or you see an ad for those shoes you didn’t know you wanted, this is where the shopping process begins.

For up to 95% of ecommerce shoppers, the next step is an internet search. This is why search engine visibility is utterly crucial for online retailers. Unless shoppers have a prior positive experience with your brand, they’ll turn to Google to find the product they’re seeking. Your site must rank in that search or your site will be overlooked entirely. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts have real bottom line impact. We all know that SEO is a complex, nuanced and resource intensive process, so retailers should work with a reputable search firm to gain visibility. A solid SEO strategy is the best way to start a great experience with your shoppers.

Stage 2: Compare Solutions and Make the Purchase

Once customers arrive at your ecommerce site, they won’t want to wade through pages of tabs and links. For immediate engagement with your potential buyer, provide a prominent search box in the universal header of your site. The ease and convenience of on-site search gives you an advantage over competing sites, allowing for relevant product comparisons. When an advanced search tool is used, your shopper is three times more likely to make a purchase.

Next, be sure you’ve removed all roadblocks between the purchase decision and payment. Online retailers must make the purchase process simple, painless and intuitive. Ecommerce checkout design is the last interaction a customer has with your site. Make it a pleasurable experience.

Stage 3: Receive Your Order

Throughout the ordering process, you’ve communicated a brand promise: “We provide convenience and quality. We care about you.” The actual delivery of your product to a customer’s front door is the fulfillment of your brand promise.

The delivery must be timely, accurate and attractively packaged – meeting or exceeding every expectation of the product’s anticipated arrival. If the customer has questions before or after delivery, your contact center agents must be well informed, and in tune with the voice of your brand. Order fulfillment and customer support require costly infrastructure including facilities, staff, technology and vendor relationships. To ensure brand integrity while maintaining efficiencies, consider working with experienced order fulfillment providers who can deliver that brand promise on your behalf.

Stage 4: Form an Opinion

Satisfaction with the overall experience will determine whether or not there is a next-time purchase. Your company’s ability to form a positive opinion in the mind of the shopper is the final determining factor that will either bring them back again or send them looking somewhere else. Ensure satisfaction with a clear brand promise that matches your product delivery. Remove roadblocks from discovery to purchase, and fulfill that promise with a quality product.

In order to provide a great shopping experience to every ecommerce buyer and win them over for another purchase, retailers must craft each stage of the order lifecycle. Analyze these stages in your business, and you’ll find new ways to increase your percentage of repeat customers.

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