How Can eCommerce Search Enrichment Help Boost Revenue?

eCommerce Search Enrichment

If customers can’t find a product within a search or two, they’ll assume you don’t have it. If that happens again for another product they’re looking for, the customer will likely leave entirely with the takeaway that you don’t meet their needs.

The average eCommerce transaction has 4.41 items in the cart, but if they have trouble finding even one of them, potential customers might leave entirely instead of converting. But the problem isn’t always about available products — it’s often about how data is structured, searched, and displayed.

eCommerce search enrichment aims to solve this problem by leveraging additional data about the user, like past searches, intelligently applying filters, and benefitting from enriched product data.

The result: potential customers will easily find what they’re looking for, and if you don’t have it, they’ll still find the closest equivalent you offer. And yet, 71% of sites require users to search by the exact phrasing or industry jargon the site uses, which potential customers won’t always know.

So, how can search enrichment benefit your entire eCommerce business? Keep reading as we break down the moving pieces of search enrichment and the rewards it brings to eCommerce stores and marketplaces.

What is eCommerce Search Enrichment?

At its core, eCommerce search enrichment aims to provide accurate, personalized results to visitor searches that encourage clicks and conversions. The nuts and bolts of search enrichment require enhancing each listing’s data, adopting the right search technologies, and intelligently leveraging user data.

When done successfully, visitors have a much lower chance of believing you can’t meet their needs if you can. And even if you don’t have exactly what they want, they’ll be recommended instead if you have any similar products.

Core Components of eCommerce Search Enrichment

eCommerce search enrichment helps customers find what they’re looking for, but the behind-the-scenes components aren’t simple. Rather than basic search technologies based mainly on keywords used for searches, search enrichment leverages the following methods to fine-tune results:

  • Product data enrichment: Data enrichment in marketplaces calls for strengthening each product’s tags, description, attributes, and other necessary details to help search engines provide more accurate results. Thanks to new tools that streamline and improve every listing’s data, this practice doesn’t have to be a time-intensive manual process.
  • Personalization and recommendations: Treating every search as it exists in a vacuum leads to static, possibly inaccurate results. Instead, leveraging available data about the user, including past searches, previous purchases, and individual information like clothing size, can go far in displaying applicable products every time. Recommendations are also included in search results based on the same data.
  • Visual search: Computer vision has come a long way, and along with it, visual search has become increasingly popular and often expected. A picture is worth a thousand words; sometimes, searching with an image or screenshot is easier than figuring out how to search for it with text.
  • Multisearch: Multisearch calls for letting customers search however they like. This capability includes visual search and extends to texts, voice, or even video. As a result, searching for the right product can be much easier and even fun. You’ll also enhance the accessibility of your store to those who may need or prefer extra options beyond text.
  • Automatic product filters: A dropdown with product filters is a powerful way to help users sort through a large catalog of products. Making a wide range of filters available is necessary — you can go a step further with automatic filtering based on user data. For example, if you sell apparel, you can automatically filter out products that are too large or small. You won’t waste user attention on products that simply don’t make sense for them.

Business Benefits of eCommerce Search Enrichment

What benefits can your business expect after enriching searches? While an ongoing process, there are several valuable rewards you’ll likely experience soon after you get started. So, let’s break down the top business benefits that make search enrichment well worth the time and resources. 

Enhance Customer Experience

Easily finding what you’re searching for begins the customer journey with a frictionless experience of finding what they’re after. With that positive start, they’re ready to click through to the product listing and learn more about your product.

What about without search enrichment? You risk requiring the customer to search repeatedly to find something that should’ve appeared the first time. They might get frustrated and leave, and if not, you’re still fighting an uphill battle to win them over.

Boost Conversion Rates

Visitors who can quickly find what they’re looking for are primed to make their purchase. It’s like if you’re hungry on a road trip and there’s a fast food restaurant right off the highway — it’s easy to become a paying customer.

Extending that metaphor, what if you have to drive all the way into town and look around for a restaurant with a drive-through, and then you start wondering if there even is a good option for you in the area. You’ll pretty quickly head back to the interstate.

A frictionless experience of finding what you want naturally leads to continuing the buyer’s journey and becoming a customer. There is no need to look elsewhere to find what you need because you already found it. 

Gain a Competitive Advantage 

Competition in the eCommerce space is increasingly challenging. Enterprise eCommerce search enrichment is a significant competitive edge, where winning a customer often means higher value carts and repeat business.

However, the competitive edge isn’t just for enterprises; stores and marketplaces of all sizes will be more appealing than the rest when offering a seamless search experience. Search enrichment creates a better user experience, helping convert and retain customers while keeping them away from competitors. 

Best Practices for Effective eCommerce Product Data Enrichment 

One critical component of search enrichment is product data enrichment. Managing and enhancing all available product data effectively allows searches to parse structured and unstructured data.

So, let’s explore vital best practices to manage and optimize product data to help enrich user searches.

Start with Best-Selling Items

What are your main products, which are the cornerstone of your revenue? These products are an ideal starting point for enriching product data with optimized descriptions, rich tagging, and keyword-rich details.

Additionally, look for any missing or incomplete data in these products, which can harm search results and off-site indexing. Flesh out product data with every possible data point to give users and third parties the best chance of understanding everything you offer.

From there, move down your product catalog based on sales volume, carefully optimizing the same product data relevant to the individual item and category.

Prioritize Data Management and Integrations

A strong policy for how eCommerce product data is captured and managed is critical to search enrichment success.

  • Create processes for high-quality data capture, storage, and optimization. New products should follow these processes, and any products should have updated data.
  • Sanitize data to make sure all recommendation and search algorithms work effectively with the entire catalog. Data sanitization, or cleaning, requires removing outdated, incorrect, or incorrectly structured data, creating uniformity. 
  • Integrate and automate data management when possible. If configured correctly, automation can sidestep human error and significantly improve efficiency in mundane, repetitive tasks.

Additionally, APIs are able to get a wealth of eCommerce data from outside sources to complement your own data. Implementing the right data integration platform like Cluster gives you access to consumer preferences, market trends, competition pricing, and future predictions. 

Understand User Preferences

One powerful utility of search enrichment is delivering personalized results, which requires product data enrichment tailored to meet the needs of specific audiences. Evaluate your existing customers or leverage third-party data to align specific tags and product metadata with audience segments.

Your segments will vary based on your market but should typically align with expected preferences. For example, if you sell sporting goods, customers who search for sport-specific equipment should be shown more items related to the same sport. 

As you enrich product data in alignment with these segments and preferences, you’ll create more intelligent recommendations and search results. 

eCommerce Search Enrichment is Critical to Stay Competitive

If visitors can’t find what they want on your site, they’ll go to your competitors next. And you’ll be fighting an uphill battle to win them over if they find what they’re looking for from the competition.

eCommerce search enrichment calls for going beyond the legacy methods of exact keyword queries and leverages the latest technologies behind advanced personalization, product data enrichment, and multi-search capabilities.

Cluster is an industry leader in product data enhancement, market data integrations, and core search enrichment utilities. Our expertise and significant data estate in the eCommerce industry allow us to offer powerful insights that keep you ahead of your competition.

Are you ready to take your site searches and user experience to the next level? Contact us today to learn more about how Cluster gives you the tool to boost conversions and retain happy customers.

What Is Digital Shelf Analytics: Components, Metrics, & Best Practices

Digital Shelf Analytics

eCommerce businesses face a highly competitive, dynamic landscape of consumer trends, competition, and overarching market forces. Succeeding in this environment is challenging, and the difficulty is only increasing.

Marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart are where much of the battle for customers plays out — on digital shelves. In brick-and-mortar stores, a customer might consider several options on the shelf based on pricing and branding, then pick one and head for the cashier.

But digitally, customers have a wealth of data at their fingertips: reviews, price comparisons, brand reputation, and alternative solutions to their pain points.

So, how can an eCommerce business consistently win customers over and create lasting success? Digital shelf analytics — analyzing historical and real-time data about your products, unlocking new insights to refine listings continually.

We’ll be diving deep into what digital shelf eCommerce analytics means and how you can make it work for your operation.

What is Digital Shelf Analytics?

Digital shelf analytics are eCommerce businesses’ KPIs to track, refine, and predict their product’s success on eCommerce marketplaces. Purpose-built platforms like Cluster provide digital shelf analytics measurement, evaluation, and data-driven insights — allowing brands to refine or adjust strategies to boost sales.

KPIs and the components behind them create the baseline for understanding past and real-time performance. From there, the right platform analyzes the available data and provides valuable insights to optimize product lists, branding strategies, and ultimately boost revenue.

But what exactly is the digital shelf? Let’s briefly zoom out and explore the environment being analyzed by these purpose-built platforms.

Defining the Digital Shelf

The digital shelf is the online equivalent of the physical shelf in retail stores — it’s where brands compete to be picked by customers. Unlike physical shelves, digital shelves don’t always have a linear customer journey, like grabbing an item and going to the cashier. 

Instead, customers might add your product to their cart, explore other options, forget about your product, see your brand on social media, and finally return to the cart to check out. That example is still a relatively short customer journey; higher ticket items can take much longer to close the sale.

Digital shelves also include a range of touchpoints, like search engines, social media accounts, and your seller page, which generate a wealth of data that must be analyzed with digital shelf analytics software.

Core Components of Digital Shelf Analytics

A successful digital shelf that consistently makes sales and boosts revenue requires strategically refining several components of your products. A few of the core components to monitor and optimize include the following:

  • Individual listings: The heart of any product is its listing, the home of information, images, and specs about the product customers are looking for. Improving the different components of each listing has a significant impact on digital shelf analytics.
  • Product reviews: Reviews are powerful and critical user-generated content that gives your product social proof. Earning positive reviews takes time, as well as delivering consistently high-quality products that follow up on the expectations set by the individual listing.
  • Pricing: Pricing and promotions are fundamental factors consumers consider when weighing their options. Your chosen price needs to find a balance between profitability and competitiveness. Adopting the right pricing tools and careful messaging helps you price products that win on the shelf.
  • Search results: When someone searches “candles” on Amazon, Walmart, or other sites, the list of products appearing is ranked similarly to a standard web search. Using relevant, targeted keywords and continually refining product listings goes far in helping your product climb the ranks and stay at the top.
  • Branding: Your brand and related messaging help differentiate you from the competition — a critical aspect of boosting digital shelf metrics. Many products, like hair care, have a significant pricing range largely based on brand reputation and messaging. Determine the message you want to convey and explore how several elements of your listing can effectively deliver your message.
  • Overall experience: Customer or user experience is everything, especially in markets with nearly ubiquitous products. The speed of shipping, providing instructions, and customer support experience all add to a positive or negative customer experience. This experience influences reviews, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth recommendations — or warnings. 
  • Analytics, evaluation and testing: Every component we’ve explored above influences KPIs related to digital shelves. The final component is evaluating them carefully and finding opportunities to optimize these components to land more sales. Tracking performance, gaining data-driven insights, implementing changes, and measuring their impact is the winning formula for competitive eCommerce marketplaces.

Crucial Metrics in Digital Shelf Analytics

What specific metrics and KPIs are important for digital shelf analytics? While your eCommerce business generates a wealth of data, not all are the focus of digital shelf analytics. Instead, the following metrics inform the insights gained from digital shelf analytics:

  • Click-through rates (CTR): How many people who see your product in search results or recommendations click through to see your listing and learn about your product? A high CTR often leads to more sales, making it a cornerstone KPI for digital shelf analytics.
  • Conversion rates: Out of people who view your listing become a customer? A high conversion rate directly relates to more sales, reviews, and growing brand awareness. Analyzing and optimizing product listings to boost conversion rates is a core focus of analytics platforms.
  • Customer reviews: What star ratings and written reviews are past customers leaving? There’s revealing information about how to improve or keep doing in these metrics. Digital shelf analytics software aims to derive insights from reviews.
  • Revenue: Is your revenue steadily growing over time? While looking at a single moment in time can help you understand current profitability, changes in eCommerce revenue over the life cycle of your products allow for deeper insights.
  • Search rankings: Are your products visible above the fold on an eCommerce marketplace? The ranking relies on enriching product data with the right tags, titles, and descriptions, refining them over time as results are evaluated.

Key Best Practices for Digital Shelf Analytics

Businesses are rapidly adopting digital shelf solutions, with the overall market size for these specialized platforms expected to grow at an astounding CAGR of 40.1%, going from $381 million in 2021 to $7.49 billion by 2030. Those who adopt the right platform and implement the right best practices will be set up for success now and in the future.

So, let’s break down these practices to help you gain an edge and set your brand up for even greater success with digital shelf analytics.

Regularly Audit Your Digital Shelf

Digital shelf performance analytics is intended to equip you with data-driven insights into how you can improve your shelf. You need to regularly audit your shelf to ensure you’re following these insights, whether that means changing prices, descriptions, or images. 

Sometimes, you’ll want to make changes to specific products based on your chosen analytics platform. Otherwise, create a schedule for auditing products and making changes to specific components to enhance core metrics, as your platform has informed us. 

Refine Product Titles, Descriptions, and Media

Similarly, pay special attention to titles and descriptions, as they heavily influence click-through rates and conversion rates. Even if this data is ideal now, consumer searches and requirements never sit still, so you need to continually refine them. Your analytics will shed light on the overarching trends and your current and past results.

Additionally, prioritize high-quality images and videos that showcase what’s unique and valuable about your product, along with establishing expectations. For example, videos demonstrating how to set up a tent can help ease consumer hesitation about setup processes, preventing negative reviews if they expect a pop-up tent.

Optimize Pricing and Sales

Pricing on eCommerce sites is one of the most essential components of a listing. The days of setting a static price based on your internal calculations are long gone — dynamic pricing that also considers the competition’s prices, consumer preferences, and prevailing market conditions is critical.

An ideal digital shelf analytics platform aggregates all this data and helps you modify pricing as necessary, informing even hourly changes if necessary to maximize revenue and conversion rates.

Solicit User-Generated Content

Reviews, ratings, and social posts are all powerful user-generated content that informs potential buyers about the experience they can expect. Not having enough reviews can harm your impression of possible customers, even if the ones you have are positive.

Ask for reviews once a customer receives your product; just make sure you’re in full accordance with the marketplace’s Terms of Service. Including a thank you card asking for reviews can go far in motivating reviews, as can a follow-up email.

Unlock Granular Real-Time Analysis with Cluster

eCommerce is a fast-paced, highly competitive world, regardless of specific industry. Gaining a slight edge over your competitors can have significant benefits, so imagine the rewards of a significant advantage. 

Digital shelf analytics is mission-critical for eCommerce businesses, and those that leverage advanced technologies gain an advantage over those stuck in the past. In the age of Big Data, APIs, and AI, leveraging the latest tools can mean the difference between success and stagnation.

Cluster’s digital shelf analytics capabilities go beyond the basics and provide real-time product tracking, market share, SKU-level analytics, and overall industry insights — so you always have visibility into the present and future.
Ready to increase click-through rates, conversions, and revenue? Book a demo today to learn more about how Cluster can help you gain a lasting advantage.

Drive Conversions With Well-described Product Content

Drive Conversions With Well-described Product Content

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a major shift in consumer purchasing habits. Due to the risk in visiting retail locations, customers who were accustomed to purchasing products in brick-and-mortar stores have switched to online buying. 

In order to compensate for the inability to physically view and inspect products, online retailers must provide engaging product descriptions and enticing images to boost conversions. Ultimately, the quality of your eCommerce product content will determine your level of sales.

How can you enhance online conversions? 

One of the keys to boosting online conversions lies in catalog enhancement. Here are several tips on how to enhance your catalog and increase customer satisfaction:

  • Use advanced product data management

Consumers often seek to compare products and prices before making a purchase. If your marketplace offers an assortment of cameras, for example, the buyer will want to compare characteristics such as resolution, zoom lens, connectivity and more. By providing uniform product data for each item, buyers can accurately compare performance and prices. This facilitates the decision-making process and boosts sales.

  • Apply data-driven product management

You need to be aware of what your competitors are doing at any given time. Our automated marketing platform helps you gather data about products on sale or new items introduced into the world market. Data-driven product management enables you to switch prices and offer new in-demand items quickly. 

  • Improve product categorization

The way you categorize your products has a direct impact on the customer’s browsing process. Categorize your merchandise in a logical hierarchy that makes sense to the buyer. Make it easy for them to find what they are looking for, and offer similar products in case their search did not lead to the desired item. Here, again, the automated program does the work for you, saving man hours and costs.

  • Offer top-quality images and videos

While product data quality is vital, images are no less important. Due to the fact that the customer cannot feel or examine the item, show various angles or even a video of it in action. By seeing a person using or wearing the item, the potential buyer is more likely to connect to it and make the purchase. 

How to Create Effective Descriptions That Resonate With Your Target Audience

Understand Your Target Audience

Before you start crafting product descriptions, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of your target audience. Research their demographics, preferences, pain points, and language style. This knowledge will enable you to tailor your content to their needs and effectively communicate the value your product brings.

Highlight Unique Selling Points

A well-described product content should clearly highlight the unique selling points (USPs) of your product. Identify what sets your product apart from competitors and emphasize those features in your descriptions. Whether it’s durability, convenience, or innovative design, showcasing the USPs will help customers understand why they should choose your product over others.

Use Persuasive Language

To persuade potential customers to make a purchase, use persuasive language in your product descriptions. Highlight the benefits and advantages your product offers. Instead of simply listing features, explain how those features can improve the customer’s life or solve a specific problem. Use descriptive words and phrases that evoke emotions and create a sense of desire for the product.

Keep It Clear and Concise

While it’s important to be persuasive, it’s equally important to keep your product descriptions clear and concise. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that may confuse your customers. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to break down the information and make it easily scannable. Remember, customers are often looking for quick information that helps them make a buying decision.

Incorporate SEO Keywords

Optimizing your product descriptions with relevant keywords is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) and improving your visibility in search results. Conduct keyword research to identify the terms your target audience is likely to use when searching for products like yours. Incorporate these keywords naturally throughout your descriptions, without compromising the readability and flow of the content.

Include High-Quality Images

Well-described product content goes hand in hand with high-quality product images. Include clear and visually appealing images that showcase the product from different angles and highlight its key features. Images can often convey information more effectively than words alone, so make sure they complement your product descriptions and provide a complete picture of what customers can expect.

Leverage Social Proof

Social proof is a powerful tool to build trust and credibility with potential customers. Incorporate customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials within your product descriptions. This helps to validate the quality and value of your products and gives customers confidence in their purchasing decision.

Test and Iterate

Lastly, don’t be afraid to test different approaches to your product descriptions and iterate based on customer feedback and data. A/B testing can help you determine which style, tone, and structure resonate best with your target audience. Continuously refine your product content to improve its effectiveness in driving conversions.

Ensuring short-term and long-term customer satisfaction

No one will deny that short-term conversions are vital to any online business. However, by improving the customer’s user experience and ultimate satisfaction, you are opening the door to a loyal customer who will want to come back for more. By enhancing your catalog, you are building joint memories that your customers will want to repeat.

It’s easy to automate your product catalog. Book a demo now.