Hosting Mautic QuickStart -50% with support in Spanish
24 hours and free training
Send up to 1,000,000 emails/year. Mautic support in Spanish 24 hours, 365 days
In a physical store, or a shopping center, it is okay to go in and look, even if you are looking for a certain product, for example, a gift.
I admit that sometimes I have gone to a gift shop, with an idea in mind, but then I have gone out with a different gift, and I have spent more than 1 hour in that store (not counting queues).
Well That does not happen in the online store.
I have always commented in other articles, that on the Internet everyone is in a hurry, and furthermore, we do not get to think for ourselves; we like to be told what to do, or where to click (be it in a more persuasive way or not, that already depends on each website).
And what I bring you in this article is precisely something that, if you do not have it on your website (although it is not even used every time), will generally people leave your online store.
Not finding a search box in an online store is like going to the footer and not finding the links to social networks, when we really want to follow a brand or company.
In other words, it is something that is assumed to be available, and even always or almost always, in the same position within the structure of a website. (Top right, or centered in the header).
If not, think about when you enter online stores like Amazon. Would it be the same if you couldn’t search for a specific product by typing it in the corresponding box? (I think that in the end you would choose to look for another online store).
As we will see later, WordPress comes with a default search engine, but as you will guess from the title of this article, I bring you a free plugin (although it has a paid version) so that visitors to your online store find products with a instant and very intuitive search.
Keep reading, let this begin!
Why do you need a WooCommerce Product Finder?
Despite the introduction given, I want to emphasize the reasons why, if you have one, in conditions, you should add this complement to your visits.
In the next section, I will make a brief mention of when NOT to use a product search engine in an online store.
The obvious UX improvement
The quintessential point that any WordPress consultant will tell you: on a website, it is everything, and your sales depend directly on it.
It is true that the UX itself is a formula of several features depending on the website you have and how you want to focus your sales and your calls to action (CTAs), but in 99% of cases, it is essential to include a search product in an online store.
Be careful, I mean a product search so it works.
Time saving
Especially if your customer repeats, and goes to your online store to search for a specific product, the search box is essential to save time in re-navigating between the categories of your online store.
I give you an example:
For a gift, I bought some bottles of red wine with a personalized label, with a friend’s photo. Everything went very well, and my friend loved them.
For the gift of the invisible friend of my gym, I went to the same website, and directly wrote “red wine” and they came out first. I bought them again, with another type of customization.
If I hadn’t found the product so quickly, I think I might even have decided to look for another type of gift on another website.
(Why are you so lazy that we are online. We are simply very impatient and we want it all NOW).
A good online store has three navigation functions to find products:
- Search of a specific product (what we are seeing in this article).
- Classification of products (for example when you select Fashion > Men’s Clothing > T-Shirts).
- Filter of products (for example when in a specific list of products, you select the products of less than 100 euros, in blue, with free shipping).
Depending on the type of product you sell, you will be interested in one method or another of navigation, although, in my opinion, in the vast majority of cases, a combination of these three aspects is essential so that the potential customer feels familiar with the basic use from an online store.
So, as you can see, the search is part of one of those three pillars product navigation.
Increased sales possibilities
And since your potential customer will find what they are looking for thanks to the search box of your online store, they will stop being potential to become recurring.
In addition, said customer will recommend you to their friends and family, and that will mean more sales.
Specific searches
Here I mention again the example of the personalized bottle of red wine.
In my case, I already knew what product I wanted, because I already knew it.
But perfectly, any other visitor who is not yet your client, may have something related to “bottles of red wine” in their head (to continue with the example), and it will be the first thing they write in the search section of your store. on-line.
It looks great!
And why not add this reason to have a search box in your online store?
Maybe with a good CSS customization and a little ingenuity, you can make searching for a product in your WooCommerce something that leaves the visitor with his mouth open, while he takes out his credit card to buy on your website.
When NOT to use a search engine?
Despite all the good things that a product search engine has, I would not recommend it for an online store with very few products (less than 15) or an online store with products of certain themes that, in my opinion, do not require searches. specific (for example, travel).
This section is very subjective. But if despite everything, and with few products, you want to use a search engine and place it in a subtle way, without it being seen too much, in a not very conspicuous place, in case the visitor wants to use it, then all the better!
But don’t put it in a conspicuous and conspicuous place, if not necessary.
And above all, where it is really needed is in stores with more products where it is very easy to get lost in whatever quantity there is.
By the way, if you have an online store on another platform with many products and you want to switch to WooCommerce, we will teach you massively.
WooCommerce default search engine
Before analyzing the flagship plugin of this article, I would like to mention the features that make the WooCommerce default search engine is not a very good option to cause that user experience improvement when now finding a product in your online store:
- It only stops searching when you enter in the search box a whole word (ie it doesn’t search for “bottle” if you just type bot).
- Does not have instant search (so standardized already, since Google implemented it in 2010 in its search engine).
- Display search results in a New page (thus negatively affecting the user experience).
- The search only parses product titlesit does not look in other parts of the product file (so if we search for a specific feature, it will not show it in the search).
Because there are so many , I imagine that’s why the classic search widget just mentioned hasn’t been modernized a bit.
That is why, below, I present a possible solution to get more sales and boost your products in your WooCommerce online store.
Product Search Plugin: Ajax Search for WooCommerce
The Ajax Search for WooCommerce plugin is one of the most popular for finding products in your online store.
With over 40,000 active installations, it shows that simply works.
In addition, its free version (the one we analyze in this article) is backed by a paid versionwith extra functionalities (we see them below), so, according to my experience, it gives the plugin extra confidence and stability, since you know that the company that has developed the plugin continues to maintain and update it, by being able to generate income thanks to the paid version.
Free version of the plugin and its default functions
With the free version of the plugin, you will be able to mainly (among other less important things):
- Search in the titles, descriptions, and even on SKUs of your products.
- show some instant, quality and well-ordered results.
- Add to cart directly the searched products.
- Suggest categories or tags of product in the results.
- To decide what do you want to show and what not in the results.
- Several aesthetic settings to customize the look of the search box.
As you can see, quite complete in its free version.
Let’s now see what this desired paid version offers.
With the premium version of the plugin, in addition to everything offered in the free version, you will be able to:
- search much more fast
- word search misspelled (for example, it will search for shoes if you have typed shoes).
- Search in custom fields, product attributes, categories and brands.
Although they seem few, they are quite crucial depending on what type of online store you have.
If you like the comparative tables, even if it is in English, you can access the web page and you will find all the characteristics and differences of both versions.
Because they are the ones who have to sell themselves, since they have not paid me or sent an Iberian ham home so that I can talk about them (Hopefully!).
It is simply a plugin that works very well and may be what your project needs (hopefully too!).
How to use Ajax Search for WooCommerce
And now we will mention the basic use of the plugin. (In the video we will see it in more detail).
In addition to the normal installation of the plugin (it is installed just like any other WordPress plugin), to display the new search box for the products of your online store, you can do it in two ways:
Use of shortcodes
The use of is very common, you can use the shortcode on any page or post, or if you are more advanced, in the templates in your , to easily display the search box.
Usage via widget
If you tend to use widgets more and find them easier to configure, just click and drag the specific one from Woo Ajax Search to the area of the web that suits you best (sidebar, footer, header, etc).
As you can see, it is not very complicated. It is very intuitive.
In the video below, however, I will explain the plugin in more detail.
Video-tutorial
To make everything much clearer, visually, and as a summary of the entire article, it is now time to make a small video analysis of the Ajax Search plugin for WooCommerce.
I will explain everything with very easy words and I will do it in the most pleasant way possible.
Conclusions
Have you seen all the benefits that…
Facebook Comments
Disqus