Our Merchandising Consultants have been preaching to you that you need to pay attention to not only failed searches, but also your Top 100 successful keyword searches. What does this exactly mean? What should I be looking for in my reports? How should I approach analyzing my data when it comes to “search”? What defines a “successful” search?

The primary purpose of the Quality of Search (QoS) testing that our consultants teach you is to ensure that the results we’re returning are as relevant as possible – indeed a very important part of the optimization process, but that’s just the beginning. Basic QoS testing directs you to look at your Top 100 Searches sorted by ”Instances” or the number of times that a particular term has been entered into the search box on your web site.

Now if you really want to optimize site search you need to sort and analyze these reports in a variety of ways – slicing and dicing the data. You may be surprised by what you find when you start looking at your internal search reports from various angles, not just instances. Consider looking at your top searches by conversion, orders, AOV, visits and total revenue. You’ll be surprised by what you learn.

Next you need to run through the customer experience. What is the customer seeing when they search for these terms? Are they coming into the site from a Google search and have landed on an internal Search Results page? Is the messaging clear and the refinement path intuitive for that customer so he or she can narrow the search accordingly. Where are shoppers falling out after they have executed a search?

The data is there, but what you do with the data determines whether your site search is optimized or only randomly relevant. The process is not completely scientific or mathematical – rather, it’s a blend of art and science. This requires that your merchandisers and analysts engage in equal amounts of right brain/left brain activity – balancing intuition and creativity in terms of what is a great shopping experience, with analysis and metrics-based merchandising.

We’ve found that one of the most critical determinants of Auto-Ranking success is ensuring retailers properly set the “Best” and “Worse” values in the attribute files driving their ranking formulae.

What do the “Best” and ”Worse” values mean to me and my data?

The Best and Worse values are, simply put, your top and bottom of the range for that the particular metric or data point. So, in the case of conversion, perhaps the range is from 0.00% to 10.5%. In the case of inventory the range could possibly go from 0 to 100,000 units.

Why are these values so important?

These values are very important because they will then determine where a particular product’s metrics will fall within the established range for that metric.

In the case of conversion you would want your Best and Worse Values to only range from 0.00% to 19.99%, for example (you’d want to use the highest number you’re likely to experience). This will give you a true ranking of the Conversion metric.

On the other hand (and not best practice), if the conversion range was set at 0.00% to 100.00% then all the actual conversion data will appear to be ranked quite close. The deltas between a 4.5% conversion and a 6.5% conversion will appear to be less than a 2% difference when it really is a much bigger difference from a conversion perspective. The conversion scores of 2.5%, 4.5%, and 9.9% are just too close together to range them from 0-100. They must be ranged must closer to produce good Auto-Ranking results.

Remember – it’s all relative. Your merchandising strategy depends in large part on the numbers, but the key to really taking advantage of them is to understand what they really mean relative to business goals. Take the time to check on the Best and Worse values that you are setting in your data feeds – it will really pay off.

First, let me dispel any myth that the Europe is still trying to catch up to the US as far as eCommerce goes. Due in no small part to some pretty savvy merchandising, UK eCommerce has experienced significant growth in the past two years (one retailer I know says online sales now represent more than a quarter of his total revenue!).

So what stands out for me in terms of online merchandising in the UK? One consistent characteristic I noticed was the use of “what’s new”.

It’s clear that British shoppers are still very interested in what’s hip and trendy. The British invasion doesn’t only refer to music. Whether it’s the hot new trainers (sneakers or tennis shoes for us Americans) or a recent vintage of a South African wine, the English shopper is truly swayed by “What’s New”.

We’re seeing these products presented to the customer at the top of their pages with prominent merchandising zones that highlight the newest products available in the catalog(ue). This not only provides a great conversion tool for merchandising, but also provides “stickiness” to your site. While a “Best Seller” will stimulate a sale today, a “New” product will not only provide merchandising benefits today (conversion), but will also act as a customer retention tool that inspires the shopper to return to your web site to see what else is “new”. (And hopefully they will come back soon!)

I am also seeing quite a bit of tagging of new products in search results so that if you don’t have the space dedicated to a merchandising zone, your customers will be able to scan through either search or browse results to easily find the newest items. You will recognize these tags as a simple starburst or highlighted text on the product thumbnails to pop the new products on the page.

Taking this one step further, we have quite a few customers who have indicated to us in their data feed that a product is “new” or “fresh”. Once this data is in place we can then apply a business rules to sort the results accordingly through both search and browse. The end result is a dynamically generated user experience that pushes your newest products to the top of the search results.

So, if you want to boost not only conversion and sales, but also provide some lift to customer retention and visits, then take a lead from the UK and get trendy.

Cheers!

The dust has settled on 2008, and many of retailers experienced significant challenges in achieving their goals during the past 12 months. While a handful are merely trying to stay afloat, there is a refreshing abundance of customers who recognize the opportunity in 2009 to rise above the competition by offering enhanced user experiences that engage the customer and drive conversion rates. They also realize that in order to stay ahead of the pack that they need to be savvy about the tools they have invested in.

As I read through my field notes here are the highlights of what I expect we’ll see in 2009 - two themes we’ll be building on in future posts:

Metrics, metrics, metrics: It is no longer sufficient to monitor a few parameters: the almighty AOV (average order value), conversion rates and gross margin are still very important, but we can dig deeper. Most of today’s retailers and online merchants have the tools to mine their data at least one or two levels deeper and make changes to their marketing or merchandising based on this insight. For example: Is “Search” driving better conversion rates than “Browse”? If not, why? Do product views translate into purchases? And if so, are shoppers buying what you want them to buy? If we can recognize a customer or the segment they belong to, can we provide them a “personalized” shopping experience?

Products, products, products: In the last month at least three customers told me that one of their KBRs is to grow their catalog by at least 50-100%. This is great - offering more products, to a hopefully larger audience, in the hopes of driving more revenue. BUT how do you expose all of these products, how does the customer find the needle in the very large haystack? The answer is retailers need to leverage both their merchandising smarts and the right merchandising tools to not just sell ANY other product, but the RIGHT product that not only meets your customers needs, but also the business objectives of you the retailer.

As I said, the dust has now settled on 2008 and retailers are now more than a quarter into 2009. I don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that online is going to continue to be the winning channel for retailers. The smart retailers I work with are looking for those quick boosts that will give them that edge and deliver the numbers. I look forward to sharing more observations with you. My next post will look at what’s going on in the UK merchandising world.