The success of your web store depends on one deceptively simple idea: your customers want to find exactly what they’re looking for from the search bar. 

For too many brands, ecommerce search simply exists as a bare-bones necessary feature so customers can type a query and get…some result. But search can do so much more for your business and your customers’ experience with your brand. 

43% of shoppers head straight for the search bar when they reach an ecommerce store. And when you consider that these customers convert at 6.4x the rate of casual browsers, you start to realize how important it is to provide an excellent search experience. 

Why? It’s all about intent. A shopper who knows what they’re looking for has a reason they’re buying it — they’re on a mission. They’ve done their research, and their intent is much higher, so they’re much more likely to make a purchase. 

The search bar on your ecommerce site is the very first place customers turn their intent into action. It’s also your first chance to delight them or frustrate them. 

Done well, search not only boosts conversion rates but also increases order values and, perhaps most importantly, builds trust. A great search experience is a huge opportunity for ecommerce brands, and it’s becoming more accessible. Features like natural language search show how far the technology has come. Now, it’s table stakes for customers to be able to find products online as easily as if they were talking to a sales associate. 

Better personalized search = more sales 

We already know that people who use your search bar are serious about making a purchase. But let’s talk about what they do once they find what they’re looking for, because that’s where things get interesting. 

What we know about these customers is that they don’t just end up buying more frequently; they buy more stuff in the same purchase. We’ve all been there: once you get what you came for, you think: “Is there anything else I should grab?” 

Remember that metric from above: shoppers who start with search convert over 6x more often than other shoppers. When you consider that the average ecommerce conversion rate is a little over 1.5%, it becomes a pretty big no-brainer to optimize your web store’s search function. Here’s why: 

Say your average order value is $50 and you see 100,000 monthly visitors. When you take into account the conversion boost from a great customer experience, here’s how your revenue starts to evolve: 

Avg. conversion rate (.0158) x Search customer conversion boost (6.4) x 100,000 x 50 = $505,600

And the thing about smart, personalized search is that it builds trust with your customers — and that means it keeps paying. Shoppers will remember your store when they can easily find what they need. By offering product suggestions that are actually valuable and relevant, they’ll feel like you have their back. 
 
When these experiences compound over months and years, you build a loyal customer base and become the trusted brand every ecommerce store sets out to be. And in such a crowded ecommerce space (the number of worldwide ecommerce sites tripled from 2019 to 2023), customer loyalty is worth its weight in gold. 

Your product recommendation engine is letting your customers down 

Ok, so you have a search function that works fine. Maybe you’ve gotten no complaints about customers being able to find what they need…eventually. If you’re like most online retailers, you’re either a) using the limited search functionality in your web store, or b) you recognize the potential gains from a smart search function, so you’ve integrated a third-party app. 

If you’re part of the former, read that last paragraph again. If you’re part of the latter, read on. 

There is no shortage of apps and integrations that offer smart search and merchandising tools. But there are a couple of key issues with any search tool that isn’t baked into your ecommerce platform: 

1. It dramatically affects your site speed — and conversions 

When a function of your web store as fundamental as search relies on an integration, your store will be slower across the board, and even more so during peak traffic times. This not only creates a frustrating experience for customers, risking their loyalty, but it also affects your bottom line. Even if you think your web store is fast enough, remember this: each added second it takes to load a page can amount to up to a 20% reduction in conversions. 

2. It can’t yield relevant or valuable search results 

Imagine you’re using an ecommerce platform that gives you a holistic view of your customers’ journey from first touch to most recent purchase. Now imagine that platform has the ability to use all of those customer insights to optimize their search experience. Not only can it understand and predict what shoppers are searching for (regardless of whether they get the product name right), but it can also predict what else they’re most likely to buy in real time — and offer it up on a silver platter. 

Without this, you’re stuck with third-party tools that use basic keyword matching. Any customization they can offer is minimal due to limited access to customer behavior data. And each time a customer can’t easily find what they’re looking for, they’re much less likely to ever return. 

Think this scenario is unlikely? It’s actually extremely common — 70% of the 50 top-grossing ecommerce sites in the United States require users to search for the exact term they’re looking for. For example, if shoppers search for “blow dryer,” nothing will come up, but “hair dryer” will yield results. 

It’s pretty concerning to think you might depend solely on your customers’ terminology recall to land conversions. And if your search tool can’t return exactly what a customer has queried, it sure as heck can’t recommend anything else they’re likely to buy. 

3. They create opportunity costs through data silos 

If you’re using a third-party search tool now, it’s more than likely that you’re already dealing with several disparate tools and data silos across your ecommerce setup. That in and of itself is a huge headache — but there’s an opportunity cost here, too. 

Each time a new shopper enters your site, there’s a wealth of interactions that can give you a picture of how best to serve that customer. Say, for example, you sent a potential customer an email after they clicked on a search ad for one of your products. They click through the email to your site and enter a search query. 

If your search function and your marketing and ecommerce data aren’t talking to each other, you’re missing out on a couple of opportunities: 

a. Your search tool can’t pull from all of the interactions you’ve had with this customer to understand their needs and wants — and surface relevant and valuable search results and product recommendations. 

b. You also can’t get a full picture of search data to understand what and when they need something so you can boost their experience with effective marketing right when they need it. 

Over time, you end up with a ton of customer information locked away across tools, and it becomes unattributable to any given customer. Remember that when customers interact with your brand, that information is currency, and letting it go unused creates unnecessary costs for your business. 

Trust builds when your product recommendations resonate 

A great search and product recommendation experience should be seamless. Once they’ve typed in even a portion of the name of a product they’re looking for, shoppers should barely have to put in any effort to find it. 

Of course, getting this right does boost conversions, but it’s also a super important step in building a trustworthy brand. We know that the most high-intent shoppers will be the ones engaging with your search bar. You should use that feature to show you care about what they need.  

Here are some of the ways smart search results and product recommendations build trust with your customers: 

It shows you understand what they need 

Hyper-accurate search results and great product recommendations show potential customers you understand what they’re looking for — and why. 

For example, if you have an online auto parts business and someone is searching for a cabin air filter for their 2015 Toyota Corolla, don’t recommend that they also buy a cabin filter for a 2015 Honda Civic. If you recommend a 2015 Toyota Corolla engine air filter, they’ll likely say to themselves, “Yeah, I’d better replace that too.” 

If you’re using a search tool that’s baked into your ecommerce platform and takes into account a customer’s entire journey, the next time they come to your shop, every item that surfaces should be compatible with their vehicle. 

When each micro-interaction they have with your brand is positive and relevant, you build trust with new customers without them even realizing it. 

It shows you understand when they need something 

In the same vein, understanding the standard life cycles for your products and combining that information with customer buying data is a powerful way to build trust with your customers. 

Sure, you can give customers a discount for recurring auto-shipments at monthly intervals. But even if they don’t want that, your unified commerce platform should be able to account for product lifespan and make repurchase recommendations based on when they’re likely to need it. 

When you do this right, it can be extremely helpful. For example, if you sell clean home products and you prevent a new parent from running out of baby-safe laundry detergent, they’ll remember that forever. 

Strong search and merchandising tools set successful brands apart 

Look at pretty much any of the over 30 million ecommerce stores in the world, and you’ll see a search bar in some form. Search isn’t new — but using it effectively has quietly become one of the most essential tactics for brands that want to get ahead. 

In 2025, investing in search and merchandising for your ecommerce store is key. When you have a robust commerce platform with a native smart search tool, you can create lighting-fast personalized shopping experiences that make your brand a go-to. 

Get a demo to learn more about how a smart search and merchandising tool can easily work with your commerce and marketing data to turn your webstore into a conversion-driving machine.