The Benefits of Advanced Parametric Search in E-Commerce

Intelligent Search Mechanisms to Add Value and Enhance Customer Experience

You have a lot of products available on your webshop. To those familiar with your site and business, or those more patient browser-type shoppers, looking for what they want is easy.

But that’s not everyone.

While your product may not be for everyone, you don’t want to deter potential buyers. At the very least, your homepage should be easy to navigate and people should know within the first couple seconds what it is your company offers. Another step that you can take to enhance your webshop and ultimately convert more shoppers is having a good site search function.

At Digital Vantage Point, one of our key search mechanisms is Parametric Search.

What is Parametric Search? It’s a guided search that gives you the ability to restrict a search based on properties of the item you’re looking for. We can give our shoppers a wide range of custom search options. For example, customers can search by a specific attribute like colour, style, size, or designer/manufacturer. Searching for multiple criteria simultaneously allows customers to be really specific and help narrow down a massive product catalogue, efficiently and effectively.

On the business end, having this feature can lead to an increase in conversions, more brand loyalty, and better customer relationships. There is also the opportunity for more upsells and cross sells as well as impulse buys, positively impacting your bottom line. For the customer, it’s empowering as they can shop any way their wish, leaving them with a positive shopping experience.

When your business is online, you will encounter many different types of shoppers. Webshop features that accommodate your customers will add tremendous value.

Some customers arrive at your webshop with a clear goal and they know exactly what it is they want. When they can use parametric search and find it fast, they get instant satisfaction. However, some customers may not know exactly what item they’re looking for or what it’s called. How does parametric search help them? It can actually help them zero in on what it’s called by filtering for attributes. The parametric search tool helps customers the same way a salesperson would. Instead of conversation and trying to divine the answer, the parametric guided search with its list of attributes caters to the customer’s needs.

This guided search tool makes our webshops more interactive, dynamic, and engaging because the more time a customer spends on the website, the more chance we have to share our story. The customer will interact with the website and learn more about the company, brand, and products. Even if no purchase has been made, the customer should be left with a positive impression – the webshop was easy to use to search for items, and they can quickly browse other products that interest them specifically.

Business Benefits

The parametric search attributes are managed entirely within the NAV environment. Because Nav-to-Net™ is highly integrated on many levels, managing content, product descriptions, and by extension, parametric attributes, is simple. You can expect to save time and effort when managing your webshop with efficient content management right within NAV and a user-friendly interface. On the business end, it helps users improve inventory control and knowledge, minimize effort normally exerted in tedious, extensive, and slow manual processes. and reduce errors and inaccuracies in product management.

Parametric search also offers the opportunity for upsells and cross-sells, or profile selling, based on a customer’s behaviour on the site. This is a win-win situation where the business could potentially benefit from a greater volume in sales. The customer is being offered personalized recommendations based on what the customer clicks on and searches for; they can be exposed to products that are similar, related, or often purchased alongside. For example, a simple search for fitness equipment can lead to athletic wear, shoes, etc.

Personalization Aspects Add Value

If we go a level deeper into the benefits of parametric search, it’s not just accommodating the customer and providing a more efficient way to shop; it’s empowering. Given the option, the customer can now find whatever it is they are looking for specifically and buy it right then and there. But this is just one option. If they search for a particular item and are shown related products, this allows them the possibility to browse. Having personalized recommendations show customers they are valued and important.

Parametric search is basically another facet to “personalization”, leading to brand engagement and loyalty. This feature puts the ball in the customer’s court because they are choosing how they want to interact with your website and how they want to browse the product catalogue. It’s about personal relevance. This parametric search capability for your e-Commerce website adds value to your business.

At Digital Vantage Point

Nav-to-Net™ offers parametric search, an intelligent and efficient site search to enhance the customer experience. For more information on how you can make a positive impact on your business, feel free to request a demo or talk to us at sales@dvp.net.

One of our customers, Capel Rugs, has parametric search for their extensive inventory. Check out their site and see how they leveraged the Nav-to-Net™ solution.  http://www.capelrugs.com/