Consumers have varied buying behaviors as some consumers are certain of what exactly they want whereas others may need recommendations and some are just casual browsers. Gaining consumers is essential for business growth, and putting your product in front of as many eyes as possible is the most effective way to do so. 85% of shoppers surveyed say product information and pictures are important to them when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from.
A customer begins the process of product discovery with a query and ends it with the targeted product. In a simpler way, product discovery is an experience that enables customers to easily identify the products they’re looking for. Furthermore, a good product discovery experience enables shoppers to not only find the products they’re looking for but also introduce them to new products they may want. The idea is to reduce any discrepancy customers may feel between the stages of searching and buying.
In this article, we discuss the importance of product experience and ways to improve them in your online store.
Product discovery bridges the gap between a shopper’s intent and an online retailer’s product. It is considered to be one of the critical components in the eCommerce market that can facilitate brands with more opportunities including-
Boost conversions– A good product discovery solution enables faster conversions as well as repeat purchases by providing shoppers with the appropriate products they are looking for. Product discovery effectively converts customers into buyers rather than merely generating more traffic.
Improve customer experience– An effective product discovery process seeks to display the most relevant products to the consumer so the customer experience is enhanced and thereby increases customer loyalty. Moreover, it provides innovative ways for customers to explore and shop for products in an online store. It can positively impact a customer’s overall buying journey.
Increases cross-selling and up-selling opportunities– eCommerce market is flooded with plenty of products and brand choices. This may hinder the intended organic product discovery journey with irrelevant recommendations. An effective product discovery experience including product recommendations reduces the complexity and narrows down the choices which greatly impacts consumers buying decisions. Smart and relevant cross-sell and up-sell as a part of the product discovery experience results in repeat purchases, increased cart size, and high customer satisfaction.
Site search is one of the key components of a product discovery process. A well-accessible site search assures quick and easy product discovery. A well-tuned search option leads high-intent shoppers through the funnel without complexity. Errors in search results often lead to problems such as reduced conversions and a decline in customer satisfaction. With the use of auto-correct, spell-check, auto-suggestions, synonyms, trending searches, mobile search features, and others, customers can be led to the relevant and precise product page. According to a study, site searches can lead to conversion rates up to 50% higher than average. Some of the key benefits of having a good site search are, enhanced customer engagement, search-to-product relevance, and data-driven decision-making through analytics. The ultimate goal of an optimized site search is to make the product discovery experience simple and accurate.
Product recommendations are an effective strategy to help customers find products that they might be interested in or likely to consider based on behaviour and intent. An effective product recommendation not only improves the conversion rate but creates room for cross-selling and up-selling. Some of the popular product recommendation types every eCommerce store must include are ‘customers also viewed’, ‘customers also bought’, ‘similar products’, ‘often bought together’, and ‘customized product recommendations’. Online retailers can strategically place these recommendations on the home page, product pages, and even on the checkout page to ensure higher visibility. Product recommendations help customers find new products easily and introduce their customers to more categories and products in their online store.
Product hierarchies with well-curated product structures enable customers to find the product with ease. Shoppers are becoming more precise while finding products and therefore one would expect easy site navigation along with well-loaded filters. For instance, Product tags are an important factor in the product discovery process. It facilitates product discovery for online shoppers, thereby increasing engagement. Similarly, having neat, crisp, and well-defined categories on an online store makes the sitemap journey easier. Visitors would be more interested to explore if they find the right product hassle-free. Some of the key factors to why well-curated categories improve the product discovery process include-
Any customer would enjoy a shopping experience that’s relevant and personalized to them. A personalized search experience is one of the defining features to boost product discovery which can be achieved through comprehensive and optimized product information. A shopper’s historical search data, location, and demographics can be used for this purpose. According to Epsilon, 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase when retail stores offer personalized experiences. Personalized experience allows faster product discovery thereby improving customer satisfaction.
Consumers lose interest upon seeing no-result pages and may leave the site. When this happens, turning no-result pages into relevant recommendations can grab consumers’ attention even if they don’t discover exact matches. Addressing ‘no-results’ on your online store is crucial as an empty ‘No Results’ page offers nothing to visitors and negatively impacts the brand and its revenue.
The most usual way to discover new products online is to do a basic Google search. It enhances your visibility in search engine results and brings product content in front of the relevant customers. Some of the common ways to optimize your search rankings include focusing on the most relevant information and incorporating high-volume keywords into product titles, images, and descriptions. With more visibility on search engines, you will be able to stay ahead of the game. Optimized content and product catalogue assures that you appear high in search results.
Prioritizing site speed is critical to discover a product online. As per a study by Skilled, 79% of consumers are less likely to buy again if they come across an unsatisfactory web performance. Slow-loading websites also negatively impacts a searchability and thereby losing a potential customer. According to a statistical study, if a website doesn’t load within three seconds, 40% of online users will leave the site. Therefore improving site speed and navigation can positively impact a product discovery experience.
A hassle-free, convenient, and faster product finding is the key to enhance a product discovery experience. The end goals of an eCommerce retailer is to enhance customer satisfaction and boost conversions. The key to accomplish this is through higher visibility of the right products to the customers. Using Tagalys site search, category, and product recommendation solutions retailers can improve their product discovery experience. To know more about our solutions and features, get in touch with us now.
Vanja S
Sheike
"Tagalys makes merchandising effortless. Their data driven sequencing and sorting drastically improves our effectiveness. Tagalys takes the guesswork out of merchandising and product recommendations."
Ryan R.
Camilla
"I love that Tagalys listens to customer needs and has an innovative + agile team around them which can support addressing those needs and adding improvements to the roadmap."
Rafaelle C.
Blue Bungalow
"Tagalys is the powerful and reliable data-driven solution that we were looking for when it came to search & merchandising for our Shopify Plus store. There is no limit as to how custom you can get with your merchandising, which is exactly what we were after!"
Tiarne Warren
Meshki
"The dedication of Tagalys team is evident from the feature developments. I appreciate their effort in understanding our business needs and feedback. We have saved numerous working hours and achieved great performances."