On-site Search: Four Tips for Site Search Excellence
* Search can show you what you don’t know: The terms that customers input on your site can show you which products they think you should carry, as well as alternate names for products you already have, said Jay Shaffer, vice president of marketing for DirectlyHome.com, an online home furnishings merchant. He recalled seeing how Interior design gurus started calling square dining room tables “gathering tables”. Consumers who read interior design magazines and Web sites took note of the term and started searching for these items to put in their homes. Although the DirectlyHome site carries many square dining room tables, customers searching for gathering tables didn’t find any on the site. As he saw searches for this term escalate, Shaffer realized he needed to adjust the descriptions on a few products, as well as add the term to his search thesaurus.