The Search Results Page: E-Commerce Design Patterns

Problem Summary

Example: www.tesco.com/electrical/
 

Solution:

1. What was searched for? List the keywords used by the customer for this search (could be achieved by 3 below). 
2. How many search results? State how many search results were found. Distinguish clearly between the total number of search results found and the number of results displayed on the page.  
3. Keyword persistence Have the keywords persist in the search box on the results page.
4. Refining the search results Make sure the search results can be narrowed further either by 'search-within-search' or by exposing key differentiating for the customer to select.  
5. Sorting the search results Enable customers to sort the search results in different rank orders, such as by price or alphabetically by brand.  
6. Highlight best/popular/bargain results Help customers to make a choice by highlighting the most popular or best-priced search results.
7. Show product images This helps customers differentiate products better than descriptions of features. 
8. Describe key features/benefits What does this search result (product) offer and, more importantly, how does it differ from the other search results (products).
9. Availability and delivery For some customers, availability and delivery information can be as important as price.
10. Buy direct from search results page If I've found what I'm looking for and am happy with the offer - don't get in the way of me buying it!

Rationale:

1. What was searched for? It is all too easy to mis-type a keyword string, which of course, could explain why the search results are not quite as expected. Also, customers are increasingly shopping online with several web sites open at the same time - in this situation, a search results page may only be useful if you can recall what you were searching for! 
2. How many search results? For many customers search is an exploratory process and the number of search results can often give an instant indication of how well this exploration is progressing - over 100 results - too many; 40 to 60 results - getting there; 10 to 20 results - good.
3. Keyword persistence Regardless of how well search works, customers will often not get exactly what they were hoping for at the first attempt. By having the keywords persist in the search box on the results page, the search can easily be repeated with minor modifications to the search term. Without keyword persistence, customers may have to re-type similar keyword strings repeatedly. In other words, keyword persistence leads to customer persistence in their use of search to find what they're looking for!
4. Refining the search results This allows customers to find what they are looking for by successive approximation - a strategy much more likely to lead to purchase than attempting to get it right-first-time. One of the main barriers to purchase, for customers using search, is getting too many search results. Choice fatigue is known to make customers defer purchase decisions.
5. Sorting the search results Letting customers sort the search results into different rank orders may be all that is needed to let them focus their attention on those products of greatest interest. Note, a particular form of product sorting is a product comparison table, where individual products can be selected and then compared side-by-side.
6. Highlight best/popular/bargain results Faced with numerous search results, customers will often welcome guidance on best buys. Showing the most popular products can be appealing to customers because it is a form of endorsement-by-peers. 
7. Show product images Even small images can give an impression of products that words cannot convey. Customers can differentiate products from their images (e.g. ovens with glass doors in the Tesco example above) and can make an initial judgement on whether they like the look of particular products. An image can also help a customer recognise a product they have seen previously. 
8. Describe key features/benefits This is one of the most challenging things to get right (as we described in detail in Online Retail 2004 ). In order to present many search results on a page, the space available for each is constrained. Yet in that space, you need to try to provide enough information for customers to learn the key differences between the products shown. Our earlier research into widescreen televisions on 4 leading retail sites revealed that the 'short-description' of products (as used in a search results page) described only 4 differentiating features. As a result, up to 37% of the products had identical feature descriptions.
9. Availability and delivery Customers find it immensely frustrating if they have to click through to the product details page only to find that this product is not in stock and hence cannot actually be purchased.
10. Buy direct from search results page In our previous benchmarking analysis of e-commerce sites ( Online Retail 2004 ), only 2 out of 13 sites had this feature on their search results page. A similar analysis undertaken for this design pattern found that this figure had increased to 9 out of 15 sites (including 10 of the sites studied in 2004). So most e-commerce sites now offer customers the ability to add-to-basket directly from the search results page.  

Author: Mike Baxter | Last modified: 2nd June 2006