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SLI Blog
SLI and eTail visit Washington DC
This week SLI Systems will be in Washington DC exhibiting at the eTail East conference.
If you are at the conference and would like to see a demonstration of our Site Search, Site Navigation, or User-Generated SEO products please see us at booth #55.
Related Searches with Search Results
Aaron Wall spotted Google showing Related Searches below search results. This is his image.
I really like these – we’ve been generating them for almost a decade. They made their first appearance on the original snap.com (which later became NBCi.com) using our GlobalBrain technology. We now show them on most of our customer’s site searches. Here they are on the Travel Channel:
Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Land asks how Google generates these. I’m guessing that they are popular search terms used to find that particular URL. As Barry pointed out, if you search for one of the suggestions, get more links, you’ll see the URL from SEObook ranking top.
This type of related search is reasonably popular on the site searches we host for our customers. Typically we will see about 5-10% of people who search will click on one of these links.
American Bridal Podcast
This week we posted another interview with Shirley Tan from American Bridal. Hear how Shirley started the American Bridal 14 years ago as a mail order catalog and has grown it significantly over the years. One of their secrets is their unique product collection which Shirley puts a lot of effort into. She has managed to turn her passion for shopping into valuable business skill. Shirley shares some of the lessons she’s learnt as they’ve grown. I’m sure any retailer will find that it’s time well spent listening to her story.
Lighting by Gregory Sees Sales Light Up with SLI
Last week we announced that Lighting by Gregory, one of the largest lighting and ceiling fan distributors in the U.S., has seen some impressive results from using our Learning Search site search and Site Champion user-generated SEO solutions. In fact, they’ve seen a 40% increase in their online conversion rate since deploying our technology.
With more than 150,000 products in their e-commerce inventory, the lighting retailer needed a robust, intelligent search solution that would give visitors an easy way to find what they’re looking for and not deliver items with little or no relevance in the search results. The company also needed something that returned results lightning quick and that could help customers further refine their searches. Their previous site search from Google just didn’t cut it. (Don’t get us wrong, we like Google and think their Internet search engine is a powerful tool (as does practically everyone else!), but site search is not their sweet spot. It IS ours, as Lighting by Gregory’s results show.)
Lighting by Gregory initially underwent a 30-day free trial, a standard offer for any new customer, and saw how quickly SLI went to work for them. They signed up immediately after the trial ended and have continued to see positive results.
As Lighting by Gregory learned, site search users usually bring in more revenue on average per visitor than those who opt to simply navigate the site. If your site search isn’t delivering the results it should, we’d love to go to work for you too.
Interviews with PC Universe and DMV.org
We’ve recently posted two more interviews on the Ecommerce Podcast site: One with Patrick Colletta of PC Universe and one with Raj Lahoti of Online Guru.
PC Universe are an online store with a large catalog (tens of thousands of products). This brings their own set of challenges. Patrick gives us a background on the company, the technologies they’re using and talks about the difficulties of maintaining accurate product descriptions for tens of thousands of products.
Online Guru’s main site is DMV.org – the unofficial guide to the DMV. In the interview with Raj he talks about how he started the company with his brother and how they’ve grown it to be one of the most popular sites in the US. It’s a fascinating story of a young entrepreneur who has a wealth of opportunities ahead of him.
ExactTarget’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits Miami and Boston
This week SLI Systems will be visiting Miami, FL and Boston, MA as the last two cities in the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1 seminar series.
For more information on this event and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
Central Vacuum cleans up their search
I spotted a new customer of ours, Central Vacuum Stores, blogging about their powerful new search. I’m always pleased to see a happy customer.
June Newsletter – New Tools for Faster, User-Friendly Search
Our June newsletter contains details on some of our recent product enhancements that you may find useful. Recent product improvements include the release of our Auto Complete feature (read the blog post The benefits of Auto Complete for more information), our redesigned merchandising console, and improvements to the speed of our core search technology.
For more information read our site search newsletter.
The benefits of Auto Complete
We recently released an autocomplete feature that’s been picked up by many of our clients. This uses previous user’s searches (in aggregate) to automatically create keyword suggestions, which are then displayed in order of popularity. It is really fast too. Head over to surveillance-video.com if you want to see it in action.
Prior to the release we had trouble estimating how often people would use it. We couldn’t find any usage stats out there we could use as a baseline. While it is still early days, it is currently being used 20% of the time, and on average people are saving themselves from typing about eight characters each time. Saving a few keystrokes is great, but the real benefit appears to be helping people use search terms that are hard to spell – spelling suggestions are required much less often on sites with this technology. This means more people are finding what they want the first time, which has to be a good thing.
July 2008 – Do Slow-Loading Web Pages Scare Away Your Customers?
Telescope: Everything You Need to Know About Search
Welcome to this edition of Telescope on Search, our monthly newsletter devoted to
search. Our goal is to offer a regular, quick-browse e-newsletter with useful
information, tips, and news of the latest developments on Site Search, Search Engine
Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and site usability. If you have any feedback
or questions please direct them to newsletter@sli-systems.com.
In this issue:
Do Slow-Loading Web Pages Scare Away Your Customers?
| Shaun Ryan
CEO, SLI Systems
Slow page-load times are never a good thing when your revenue depends on site visitors finding the information they need as quickly as possible. Now slow load times can also negatively impact your search marketing efforts – Google recently incorporated page load times into its Quality Score metrics for Google AdWords campaigns(if your Web pages load slowly, you may pay more for your ads). |
The time it takes to load a Web page is a make-or-break element of an e-commerce site. For site visitors, a positive experience is a fast experience. If they are searching or browsing for products, and pages load too slowly, they can’t view as much merchandise – which means they’ll buy less, or nothing at all. Keynote’s recent U.S. Holiday Impact Study, which measured service levels for online retailers over the 2007 holiday shopping season, found that when sites slow down significantly, customers are more likely to abandon their product searches.
Fast performance isn’t just about the speed of the page load – it also encompasses the time it takes to navigate through information. In addition, fast page loading is particularly critical when it comes to search, as site visitors tend to scan search results, instead of actually reading them line by line.
At SLI Systems, we’ve contributed to the goal of faster-loading pages with recent improvements to the speed of our search. For companies with complex search needs, gains in page-loading speed can be significant: One of our customers with a complex search has been able to improve average page load times from 2 seconds to less than half a second.
Here are some other strategies to consider if you are trying to improve the speed of your site;
- Check for good page weight, especially for images – make sure images are formatted appropriately.
- Provide height and width tags for images so the browser can present the page while loading the images.
- Regularly review the performance of your site – check from home where you may have a more typical (i.e., slower) Internet connection.
- Ensure that your site hosting is appropriate for managing your site traffic needs.
- Check for newer versions of software (for example, Web server or e-commerce platforms) for performance enhancements.
- Consider options that may improve performance, such as accelerators or caching.
- Confirm that your web server/platform is compressing HTML/JS/CSS – this can reduce the amount of network traffic required, therefore making the page load faster.
Partner Spotlight: Weblinc
We’re excited this month to focus our Partner Spotlight on Weblinc, which has developed flexible and scalable e-commerce solutions on its WebLinc Direct platform for hundreds of companies over the last 14 years. WebLinc services include graphic design, branding, information architecture, database development, back-end integration, and checkout/cart functionality. WebLinc’s user-friendly Product and Content Management System (PCMS) allows even non-technical staff to create and manage discounting and promotion tools, as well as merchandising.
SLI and WebLinc have worked together to build e-commerce storefronts for many customers, including Oneida, and Heronswood. “SLI search, and the expertise and commitment to service that the SLI team brings to the table, make them one of our most trusted partners,” said Darren Hill, chief strategist and co-founder of WebLinc. “SLI is easy to work with, and they offer our joint clients outstanding value for unique, intuitive functionality.”
If you’d like to learn more about how SLI and WebLinc can help you build an effective and profitable e-commerce storefront, please contact us.
SLI Systems & Customers in the News
Below are links to recent press releases and news articles highlighting our Learning Search service:
Press Articles:
Conversions Surge by 40% with Lighting by Gregory’s New Site Search Solution – Internet Retailer, July 25, 2008
Podcast with Shaun Ryan (CEO of SLI Systems) – Practical Ecommerce, July 22, 2008
Press Releases:
DMV.ORG Chooses SLI Systems’ Learning Search to Create “Positive Experiences” for Online Visitors and Drive Greater Advertising Revenues– August 18, 2008
Lighting by Gregory Achieves 40% Higher Conversion Rates with SLi Systems Hosted Site Search – July 22, 2008
Blog Posts:
Site Search: Nice Feature or Not?– August 19, 2008
DMV.org Relies on Search To Drive Visitor Satisfaction– August 8, 2008
Related Searches with Search Results– August 1, 2008
Lighting by Gregory Sees Sales Light Up with SLI– July 29, 2008
Central Vacuum cleans up their search– July 18, 2008
Podcasts:
Shirley Tan of American Bridal– July 30, 2008
Raj Lahoti of Online Guru– July 14, 2008
Patrick Colletta of PC Universe– July 10, 2008
If you have any comments or suggestions for future issues please email us at newsletter@sli-systems.com.
New Zealand Retailers Association eCommerce Seminar Series
This week SLI is exhibiting at the New Zealand Retailers Association eCommerce Seminar Series being held in Christchurch on July 2nd and Auckland on July 3rd.
ExactTarget’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits Seattle and San Francisco
This week SLI Systems will be visiting Seattle, WA and San Francisco, CA as part of the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1 seminar series.
For more information on the various cities and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
And the winner is…
We had a great time at the Internet Retailer Conference last week in Chicago. It is very stimulating talking to so many people, including online retailers, industry experts, and the other vendors. SLI sponsored the opening reception on the Monday night and we gave away a MacBook Air (from our Cupertino neighbor, Apple) – this created a lot of interest. The winner was Shirley Tan of American Bridal. Conincidentally Shirley is an existing customer of SLI Systems. She was very happy to win the laptop.
ExactTarget’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits the OC
This week SLI Systems will be visiting the OC, Orange Country, CA as part of the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1 seminar series.
For more information on the various cities and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
Internet Retailer Conference
Next week we’re traveling to Chicago for the Internet Retailer Conference. We’re exhibiting at booth #655 (near the front of the exhibit hall).
We’re also hosting a series of presentations with our partners – CORESense, PowerReviews, WebLinc, ExactTarget, Trinity Insight, and DMinSite will demonstrate how their leading technologies along with SLI Systems advanced site search and navigation solutions can help your ecommerce site jump to the next level.
If you would like to find out more or to request a meeting please visit our Partner Solution Zone page.
GC Expo – London, UK
Next week on June 10 – 11, we will be exhibiting at the GC 2008expo at Earls Court, London.
GC 2008expo is the leading public sector IT event in the UK. It’s the exhibition and conference where public servants come to see the very latest technologies in action and to discover the solutions to the challenges they face within government.
If you would like to learn how SLI Systems site search and navigation solutions can further advance your on-line presence we would be excited to see you at the GC Expo stand #704.
The need for speed
We strive to continually improve the service that we offer our customers. One part of that is ensuring that the search and navigation pages load quickly. The graph below shows how the average time (to serve the complete search page) for one of our customers has improved over the last 12 months.
Even though this customer has a complex search, we thought 2 seconds was a little slower than we would like. We’re much happier with it sitting below half a second.
The changes that you can see are improvements to our algorithms and the configuration of our servers. They are examples of improvements that all of our customers receive the benefit of (with no additional cost to them).
April / May Newsletter – Using site search data for more
Our April and May newsletters contain a two part article on using your site search for more than just people visiting your web site or e-commerce site. We discuss using site search for search marketing, customer service teams, in-store kiosks, targeted emails and more.
Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween now using SLI
Today we’re announcing that Spencer’s and its sister company, costume retailer Spirit Halloween are using our Learning Search and Site Champion services. Spencer’s sells humorous gifts and Spirit Halloween sells costumes.
The two e-commerce sites (the company also operates brick-and-mortar locations around the country) see their biggest traffic around Halloween and Christmas. It’s important that we are able to handle these seasonal spikes to ensure that their customers can always find just the right products.
Jay Greenberg, director of ecommerce for Spencer’s, had been an SLI customer at his previous position at Franklin Electronics, and was so happy with our service that he advocated using us at his new company. We’ve seen this several times – when individuals move companies. For me this underscores the importance of ensuring that our customers receive the best service that they can.
You can read more details about Spencer’s and its choice of SLI here: Spencer’s and Spirit Halloween Improve Customer Experience on the Web Using Learning Search and Site Champion From SLI Systems.
YouTube Search Suggestions
Last week You Tube announced that they will optionally show you search suggestions as you type. I really like this feature – it helps people formulate queries in an intuitive and familiar way. Most browsers have a similar functionality that will show previous queries you have entered – so people don’t have to learn anything new to use this.
My main complaint is that it is not on by default. You have to click on the advanced link beside the search box and select the option. So very few people will use it. I’ve also see some suggestions that don’t have any results – they need to make sure this doesn’t happen. However these are minor complaints. I’m sure this is a trend we will see more of.
ExactTarget’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits Toronto and Minneapolis
This week SLI Systems will be visiting Toronto, ON and Minneapolis, MN as part of the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1 seminar series.
For more information on the various cities and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
Some passion about site search
Steven Seiller wrote an article outlining the 11 things he hates about site search. He makes some good points and captures the passion that people feel when site search isn’t there, can’t be found, or doesn’t work. You need to have site search, make it highly visible and it should be flawless. This is not easy to do and the disappointing thing is that if you do it well most visitors won’t notice it (people notice things that don’t work properly) – but they will be happier and will get more from your site.
I may sound like a broken record here – but if you want to improve your site search we would love to show you what we can do. Contact us and we’ll try to dazzle you.
Search Log Junk
Avi Rappoport did an excellent post on search log junk. This is the set of queries that aren’t very useful when you’re analyzing search logs, mostly from crawlers, hackers and spammers. We see a lot of these types of queries and constantly trying to block them and remove them from our reporting – so we can extract useful information. I hadn’t seen anyone talking about this before – but it is something else you need to be aware of when you’re trying to extract the valuable information that is in search logs.
ExactTarget’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits Cincinnati and Chicago
Next week SLI Systems will be visiting Cincinnati, OH and Chicago, IL as part of the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1 seminar series.
For more information on the various cities and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
Watch Now – Strategies for Optimizing Search-Driven Revenue
 |
There is no question that search drives revenue: it brings customers to your site, it connects customers to products, and it can be used to trigger relevant offers on your site. Making the most of your search opportunity isn’t simple: you have SEO, paid search, paid inclusion, advertising, site search, and site merchandising. All seem to have different paradigms, tools, reporting and lingo, and making trade-offs can be a challenge. But there are steps you can take to optimize your customers’ search experience, and reap increased and more profitable revenue as a result. |
Watch this free webinar to hear:
- How marketers manage their search campaigns and tools, based on a survey of marketing executives
- How a leading retailer achieved 10x expected incremental revenue through automated user-generated search optimization
- The impact of recommendations and personalization on revenue
- A practical approach to testing online campaigns
- Whether search results pages convert better than category pages.
Takeaways: At the close of this session, you will:
- Compare your own search-driven revenue results to our benchmark (Sue is presenting her survey results)
- Understand better how to automate search optimization for the long tail of searches
- Be able to apply proven tactics for testing email and PPC campaigns
- Gain useful insights on your products and services based on the language of your visitors and customers
Speakers
- Ed Hoffman – VP of Worldwide Field Operations – SLI Systems
- Sue Aldrich – Senior Vice President, Senior Consultant/Analyst – Particia Seybold Group
- Jay Greenberg – Director, eCommerce – Spencer’s
Exact Target’s Route 1 to 1 seminar visits Atlanta and New York this week
SLI along with Salesforce.com and Omniture are sponsoring Exact Target’s Route 1 to 1 seminar series titled “The New eMarketing Essentials”. This 13 city seminar tour will help put email, analytics, CRM and search solutions to work in ways that will help your marketing investments perform better.
This week we will be in Atlanta, GA on Tuesday April 22 and in New York City on Thursday April 24.
For more information on the various cities and to register visit the Route 1 to 1 site.
PowerReviews vs Bazaarvoice
Jay Shaffer, the VP of Marketing for our partner PowerReviews, wrote an interesting post last week about their competitor Bazaarvoice (who is also one of our partners). It’s interesting because Jay is openly accusing Bazaarvoice of trying to copy some of the PowerReviews capabilities. It’s a very aggressive approach to this sort of problem.
While not taking sides in this issue (as they are both our partners), we typically try not to be so openly critical of our competitors in these situations because we don’t want to highlight them or tell them what they’re doing wrong.
As to the validity of what Jay is saying – I’ll let you read his post and talk to each company to decide for yourself. Because they’re both partners of ours I’ll remain neutral. We do have customers who are happy with the service from each of these companies. As far as I know they are the only vendors out there who will help you implement reviews on your site (let me know if I’m wrong). We have some customers who implement reviews themselves – as a rule I would recommend against this – the experts will do a better job (it applies to site search as well – but I’m biased about that). However I do recommend having reviews on your site – there are many benefits.
I doubt Bazaarvoice will respond directly – they probably don’t want to have a public slinging match.
Site search conversion data from Coremetrics
Last week Coremetrics announced that they making free ecommerce data available to their customers for benchmarking. Their announcement included some sample data including the fact that 15% of consumers used site search, resulting in a conversion rate of 5.6%. The conversion rate is interesting when compared to some of the other conversion rates in the sample data: from natural search traffic the conversion rate is 1.66%; from comparison shopping engines and affiliate networks it is 1.97%; and from direct load it is 3.29%.
This is yet more evidence showing that the conversion rates for people who use site search are relatively high.
As to the question around the value of the benchmarks – I think they’re still worth having even though it is hard to compare because of the variety of ways of measuring metrics like conversion rates.
SMX Sydney recap
For those of you who couldn’t make it – here’s a recap of day one at SMX Sydney by Neerav Bhatt. Neerav wrote up SLI as one of the vendors with interesting products and snapped this picture of the intrepid traveller Ed Hoffman.
