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activities on their website that are most critical to converting and growing loyal visitors and customers.\u00c2\u00a0 Consider internal site search \u00e2\u20ac\u201c According to a Google report on internal site search<\/a>, 90 percent of companies report that search is the No. 1 means of navigation on their site and 82 percent of visitors use site search to find the information they need.\u00c2\u00a0 Given that 80 percent of visitors will reportedly abandon a site if search functionality is poor, enhanced ![\"\"](\"file:\/\/\/C:\/Users\/randall\/AppData\/Local\/Temp\/moz-screenshot.png\")
internal site search functionality may be your highest return investment opportunity.<\/p>\nThe ROI Can Be Compelling<\/strong><\/p>\n As we noted in a previous entry, Website Redesigns Gone Good<\/a><\/em>, we helped a client to implement enhanced search capability that resulted in a 35% decline in the volume of search abandonment.\u00c2\u00a0 For our client that represented over 100,000 consumers each year who were far more likely to make a purchase and who left the website experience more satisfied and more likely to return \u00e2\u20ac\u201c also helping to drive a 20 percent increase in web site driven revenues.\u00c2\u00a0 eFollett.com, who provides access to over 1,400 online bookstores across the United States and Canada, installed a new site search engine and grew web sales by 23%<\/a>.<\/p>\n So where to start?<\/p>\n STEP 1: Analyze how visitors to your site use your current site search<\/strong><\/p>\n No surprise here – given our emphasis on analytics and understanding site behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 If configured properly, any reputable analytics solution should provide extremely valuable information.<\/p>\n In addition to helping you to identify where your current search and site navigation is falling short, analyzing your search traffic can also help you develop a better understanding of your website visitors.<\/p>\n STEP 2: Research best practice internal site search features<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitor websites or the websites for market leaders in related industries can often be very helpful in this regard.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the most common enhanced features include:<\/p>\n STEP 3:\u00c2\u00a0 Identify Opportunities for Specialized Searches<\/strong><\/p>\n Look for opportunities to develop specialized search capabilities for important product lines or content types.\u00c2\u00a0 This necessitates really understanding how visitors search for specific types of products or content.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, one of our clients who offers artificial Christmas trees, dramatically increased conversion by providing a more structured search that allows visitors to easily select attributes like the size, color, and lighting of the different trees offered.\u00c2\u00a0 OfficeMax offers an entirely different method for searching for printer ink that allows the visitor to select the brand and model of your printer.\u00c2\u00a0 You can also significantly reduce customer support costs by providing customer support content via search.<\/p>\n STEP 4: Evaluate SaaS (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Software as a Service\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) Internal Site Search Offerings<\/strong><\/p>\n The SaaS model allows websites to provide powerful search capabilities to your visitors without visitors ever knowing that a 3rd party is providing the functionality.\u00c2\u00a0 The SaaS model can provide several benefits, including:<\/p>\n There are dozens vendors in this space, but the following are some of the leaders in the space: Not surprisingly, each of these vendors (and the others not listed here) has strengths and weaknesses and should be evaluated in the context of the information you gather in Steps 1 through 3.<\/p>\n\n
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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Endeca<\/a>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Omniture SiteSearch<\/a> (Mercado)
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 SLI<\/a>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Celebros<\/a>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 EasyAsk<\/a><\/p>\n