how to avoid losing money on site search - "cat edition" - world usability day 2015
TRANSCRIPT
How to avoid losing money on site searchJens Hofman HansenDigital business developerVertica A/STwitter: @hofman
Cat-editionWorld Usability Day, Nov 12, 2015
Why is it interesting?Because users who search convert better
Think aloud tests* 9 users on 8 sites
matas.dk, coop.dk, shop.cph.dk, ikea.dk, zalando.dk, smartguy.dk, wupti.com, coolshop.dk
Mobile & desktop 228 test cases in total
*Users did not know we were interested in search
METODE
28% of all users concluded that the web shop didn’t sell the product
#1 Can the user find
the search field?
#2 RelevanceToleranceSynonyms
Of all users only see the first search results page
And infinite scroll does not help
Guidelines
82 %
Look in the search log
T shirt (4) Tshirt (1915) T-shirt (44)
#3Auto-suggest
akaSearch-suggestAuto-complete
Type-aheadSearch assist
I more and more expect that search fields give me usable suggestions. When I typed in Nordli it said ”dresser” below and then I thought, ’I can type in Nordli dresser’. So it helped me being more precise already at the search field”
#1: Popular search queries
What did other users search for?
Inspiration and guidance
Auto-suggest
Auto-suggest
#2: Mini results Actual results Good for
efficiency and promotion of selected pages
Auto-suggest
#3: The hybrid Be careful!
Auto-suggest
Think of Performance Keyboard support
Auto-suggest
#4Facetted search
Filtering Used very rarely - 10-15% of
search cases But it is very useful
Facetteret søgning
”It is hard to be precise here. It is hard to say ‘500 kr’ is the price I want to filter on”
What did we hear about? Visibility of the search field Relevance and tolerance Search suggest Facetted search / filtering
What did we also hear about? Basic think aloud tests still
reveal huge usability problems even on established, commercial sites
User insight can easily be converted into big bucks
Thanks! Get the free (Danish) book at: http://bit.ly/1M645dA
Jens Hofman HansenDigital business developerVertica A/STwitter: @hofman