Nosto: E-commerce Search Report 2023

Site search has long been important to e-commerce shoppers. A recent study showed that almost 7 in 10 people go straight to the search bar when visiting an online store, and this is more common among younger consumers than older ones. In an age where improving the digital customer experience is key, 76% of consumers agree that good, fast and accurate site search makes online shopping easier.

Despite the importance of site search, brands are clearly failing to meet expectations, as 8 in 10 consumers surveyed in North America and the UK have left a site due to poor search results.

There are alternatives to simply showing zero search results: the majority of respondents (56%) are likely to continue shopping at an online store if alternative products are suggested.

83% of consumers believe online stores could improve their site search functionality in at least one area. The most frustrating thing about site search is that too many irrelevant results are shown (41%), which has historically been the top complaint. Many are also frustrated by products being shown despite being out of stock (32%), with nearly 7 in 10 agreeing that they wish search results only showed products that are in stock.

E-commerce professionals acknowledge that their search capabilities are limited. About 76% of searches have no tolerance for errors, nearly two-thirds do not provide personalized results (66%), do not recommend alternative products when search results return zero results (65%), and are unable to merchandise their search results (64%).

As a result, the majority see an opportunity to upgrade. More than four in five say making search results load faster (83%), offering alternative products (82%), providing more relevant results (82%) and providing context within the results (81%) would improve the experience.

As a result, approximately 84% plan to invest in continuous improvements to their website search.

Finally, there appears to be a need for better measurement of site search performance metrics. More than 4 in 5 do not measure the most popular search terms that lead to zero results (81%) or the click-through rate per query (81%).