News

Abe's of Maine integrates customer feedback with site search

June 26, 2011

SLI Systems announced today that online camera and electronics retailer Abe's of Maine has improved its e-commerce site usability by integrating customer feedback and user reviews with site search results.

The new search capability, built with SLI Systems' full-service site search offering, enables shoppers to browse search results by user-generated content including product reviews and customer feedback, and makes it easier for visitors to find relevant information before making a purchase.

As a result of these enhancements, Abe's of Maine says that 20 percent of site search users are now choosing to browse user reviews, a number that is growing.

"Consumers have always based their buying choices on how their friends and other people rate products," said Sarah Marcus, marketing director for Abe's of Maine. "With the growing influence of social networks, the availability of this type of customer input online is critical. For electronics products in particular, customers want to thoroughly research their choices before they buy. Our work with SLI in bringing this content front and center in site search has benefited our customers greatly."

To power the integration of user reviews and site search, Abe's of Maine worked closely with its full-service site search provider SLI Systems, which performed much of the customization work needed to enable this capability. Additionally, Abe's of Maine has deployed Review Champion, a joint solution from SLI Systems and PowerReviews that adds search and filtering capabilities to online user reviews, and also helps increase organic search traffic from reviews.

To help shoppers find relevant reviews about items of interest, Abe's of Maine created a toolbar titled "Click to Browse by User Feedback" that appears at the top of site search results. The toolbar leverages PowerReviews' structured reviews to help shoppers make more informed purchase decisions by grouping reviews based on key product and reviewer attributes. The embeddable menu allows them to refine searches by user ratings (one to five stars), type of user (such as pro photographer or hobbyist), best uses (for instance, wedding photography), and best product features.

By integrating reviews with site search, Abe's of Maine can gain greater value from its user-generated content, Marcus said. "Research is very important to our shoppers — they rely on our site to help them identify which products are best suited to their needs. By bringing user reviews into search, we can encourage customers to spend more time on our site, which leads to improved conversions."