News

Survey says most online retailers ignoring site-search data

November 12, 2013

Global e-commerce companies are missing significant opportunities to improve the effectiveness, reach and return of their marketing and sales programs, according to a new survey of 160 global retail organizations conducted by SLI Systems.

While the survey shows online retailers’ top priorities for 2014 are their e-commerce platforms, site search and SEO, followed closely by mobile and customer-focused analytics, still 57 percent admit to not using their site search reports and information to enhance marketing programs. Only 25 percent of retailers say they integrate site search data into email marketing campaigns to better customize offers for customers, with 27 percent creating SEO landing pages populated with site search results and custom banners, 13 percent taking advantage of site search to power mobile search, and only 11 percent integrating site search with various social media channels to improve amplification.

Half of respondents say they are not doing more with site search to enhance marketing and sales programs due to limited resources, while nearly 30 percent say they just aren’t sure how to do it, and 10 percent cite their existing site search solution does not allow for integration with marketing programs. 

While half (50 percent) of retailers are not using site search data and analytics to enhance any of their business offerings or processes, 28 percent are making smarter decisions related to inventory selection using site search data, 26 percent are using site search data to enhance customer service and 18 percent are using it to augment predictive analytics practices.

When asked which site search features they have already implemented to augment the relevancy of results, the majority of retailers cited they have not implemented features such as auto-complete with graphics (55 percent), mouse-over pop-ups (59 percent), personalized search history (64 percent), refinements (43 percent) or a floating search bar (80 percent). Most retailers are merely relying on site search features they do have, such as auto-complete (62 percent) and refinements (43 percent), to do the job, a significant miss for these retailers.

The good news is that nearly half (47 percent) are planning to change their ways — and will work to incorporate more features, functionality and data gleaned from site search to enhance marketing programs in the coming new year. And 37 percent say they will work to do more with site search to help their marketing efforts during the 2013 holiday season. 

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