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The Buzz from IRCE 2015

Posted by Tim CallanConferences

SLI has been at every IRCE for the past 11 years, but this year was especially exciting as we hosted a live podcast from our booth, over-packed a room at Lawry’s for an invitation-only retailer dinner, revealed our latest merchandising solution and shared cocktails and e-commerce tips among many new friends, as well as existing customers.IRCE SLI Podcast

The SLI booth was buzzing with activity – and with the enjoyment of free margaritas during the Tuesday night cocktail hour! Throughout the show, we offered live demos and taped podcasts with customers including Dollar Tree, Yarn.com, Carolina Rustica, Steiner Tractor and Zachys Wine and Liquor. Subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed to be sure you don’t miss these podcasts, which offer advice and success stories from top retailers.

Hundreds of retailers approached us, seeking to understand how SLI can help them increase top-line revenue. Many wanted to hear about SLI Landing Page Creator, which makes it easier than ever to create SEO-friendly landing pages that display learning-based search results. Retail Touchpoints offered a nice write-up on how 2 Wheel Parts supply is using Landing Page Creator in PPC campaigns and other promotions.

We had many discussions about the increasing importance of video and other non-product content for retailers; there was a great deal of interest in how we integrate this content into the rest of the online purchasing experience. (We happen to have an e-book on this topic, “How Creative Content Convinces Online Shoppers to Buy.”)

Other retailers were interested in SLI Mobile, especially after seeing the effect of Google’s “Mobilegeddon” algorithm change in April. We also met up with long-time industry partners and established new partnerships at the show.

In short, IRCE 2015 was a great success. We look forward to working with both our newest customers and our long-time fans to ensure the rest of 2015 is filled with rising revenue.

10 Years of IRCE, and This One Could Be the Best

Posted by EdHoffmanConferences, eCommerce, Site Search

As IRCE prepares for its 10th annual e-commerce conference and exhibition next week (June 10-12), I look forward to my 10th year of attending on behalf of SLI Systems. SLI will have a strong presence at IRCE – we plan to give the thousands of retailers gathering in Chicago the message that the quality of their site search makes an enormous difference in whether shoppers decide to buy or bounce from their site.

To showcase the difference that better search delivers for our clients, we’ve created the E-commerce Accelerator Theater at IRCE. Throughout the show, visitors to the theater (booth #601) will hear representatives from successful e-commerce businesses share how they have increased conversion rates and per-visit value by optimizing their site search. Visit our IRCE 2014 page for a complete schedule of speakers from businesses including Harry & David, Internet Retailer, Silver Star Brands (formerly Miles Kimball), Carolina Rustica, ReNew Life, Steiner Tractor, Zachys Wine & Liquor, JAM Paper and eImprovement.com.

Chicago is a great backdrop for the quality content and excellent networking opportunities that the Internet Retailer and IRCE teams put together each year for the industry’s biggest conference and exhibition. We’re taking advantage of some of Chicago’s best attractions for our retailer-only show events. On Tuesday night, we’ll take retailers out for a fabulous dinner and drinks at Lawry’s Prime Rib Restaurant — space is limited, so RSVP now. On Wednesday night, we’ll serve cocktails and offer an unforgettable experience at Tilt!, for those daring enough to peer out over Chicago at a 30 degree angle, from the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building. Please note that this is not the Chicago observation platform that cracked last week – thankfully. We’ll continue taking RSVPs for these events until space fills up, or until noon on each event day.

One of my favorite parts of IRCE is meeting retailers and sharing how SLI can make a significant impact on the user experience and revenue. If you’d like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with me at IRCE, submit the mini-form on our IRCE page and I’ll make it happen. If you’re missing the show, you don’t have to miss out on the expert advice our sales directors can provide – just sign up for a demo or free site search critique at your convenience.

 

Overcome the Limitations of Solr Search

Posted by Tim CallaneCommerce, Site Search, Success Stories

If you’re like the vast majority of online retailers, you will face the need to re-platform at some point. Maybe you’re in the middle of one of these initiatives now, or are about to get started. Or perhaps you recently completed a re-platform. Whatever the case, you may be less than satisfied with the merchandising, indexing and customization capabilities of the default Solr search that comes with your platform.

Thankfully, it’s a cinch to implement an advanced site search that addresses the shortcomings of Solr and integrates quickly and easily with your platform – new or old. Upgrading your search offers your customers a much better experience on your site, which leads to stronger brand loyalty and more sales. Here are a few examples:

e.l.f. Cosmetics, a well-known U.S. consumer brand, experienced disappointing results from the search that came as a default feature of its e-commerce platform. The company knew it had a problem because customers often abandoned the site after conducting a search and the customer service team was tapped out by calls from visitors who couldn’t find what they wanted. Additionally, e.l.f. had a difficult time getting visibility for non-product content like videos and blog posts.

Once e.l.f. implemented SLI Learning Search, it was able to take advantage of features like Rich Auto Complete and Learning Recommendations to get more products in front of visitors. The e.l.f. team was also able to offer detailed refinement capabilities to help customers narrow down the field of search results. Plus the new search indexed the educational content the company wanted to showcase.

As a result, e.l.f. saw a 21% increase in per-visit value on its e-commerce site. With SLI powering its mobile commerce site, e.l.f. also saw a 4x higher conversion rate on mobile for site search users.

Thompson & Morgan is one of the UK’s largest seed and plant retailers. This longstanding consumer brand recently re-platformed and decided to try the default Solr search. Unfortunately, the company soon realized that the Solr search was creating a poor user experience, as demonstrated by the negative customer feedback it received. A previous user of SLI Learning Search, the company’s e-commerce team decided a switch back to SLI was necessary to keep customers happy.

According to Clare Dixey, e-commerce manager of Thompson & Morgan, SLI’s implementation with its new platform was swift – the new search was live within six weeks. And the results are significant: the 21% of site visitors using site search now account for 47% of total site revenue, and the conversion rate for site search users is 74% higher than the site average. Plus, the negative customer feedback about the site’s search function has turned to praise.

Dixey attributes the impact on Thompson & Morgan’s business to SLI’s ability to continually improve relevancy through its learning-based approach, as well as the SLI Auto Complete feature, which helps customers with particularly difficult-to-spell product names. Additionally, rich merchandising capabilities allow Dixey’s team to create custom landing pages for specific terms.

Zachys Wine & Liquor is a specialty retailer of high-end wine and spirits. The company recently began a re-platforming initiative and found that its reliance on SLI to power its search has smoothed the transition. The company also uses SLI Rich Auto Complete and refinements to improve the search experience, and gets a traffic boost from the SEO-optimized landing pages created by SLI Site Champion.

These are just a few examples of retailers that were able to use advanced search features to create a more engaging online experience and, in some cases, ease the move to a new platform. Other retailers have even delayed the need to move to a new platform because of the site improvements they were able to achieve with advanced site search. You can read more about the possibility of extending the life of your current platform in the white paper “Site Search vs. Re-platforming.”

If your platform’s default search is causing you unneeded aggravation and lackluster results, perhaps you need an upgrade. With the ROI benefits you can expect, not only will your customers thank you, but your bottom line will, too.

Results Pour In As Zachys Improves E-Commerce Experience

Posted by SLI SystemseCommerce, Success Stories, User Experience

Do you have a favorite online store where you shop for specialty items and always find something that fulfills your desires? For lovers of high-end wine and spirits, Zachys Wine & Liquor is a popular destination. Because Zachys’ customers largely know what they’re looking for when they visit the site, they don’t spend lots of time browsing different pages and products. As Zachys’ E-commerce Director Victor Castro explained, customers tend to search, find what they want, and purchase — 1, 2, 3 — which also means if they don’t see something that grabs their interest right away, they’re gone.

Zachys knows the importance of delivering site search results that are right in line with shoppers’ expectations, which is why the company turned to SLI Systems not long ago. Since implementing SLI Learning Search, Zachys has seen 33% more visitors use the search box, and conversion rates and per-visit values for search users are twice those of non-search users.

zachys RAC for blogZachys also uses SLI Rich Auto Complete and learning-based navigation pages to boost those results, and now sees Rich Auto Complete results producing a 10x higher conversion rate than the site average.

For long-tail search terms that tend to have higher conversion value, Castro’s team uses SLI Site Champion to create dynamic SEO-optimized landing pages. The optimized landing pages get higher rankings in Google and Bing, which drives more high-converting traffic to the site. Another key to Zachys’ online success is the use of extensive refinement options in search results, along with merchandising banners for popular terms.

If you want to learn more about Zachys’ e-commerce success using SLI, read the Chain Store Age article or the press release. And if you need to put in place a strategy for generating higher revenue from search and navigation, similar to what Zachys has done, feel free to reach out to us at discovery@sli-systems.com.