Now that you’ve mastered the art of providing a good search foundation on your website, it’s time to build on that investment. Let’s talk about how you should be using search to personalize every experience. And don’t worry if you don’t have a search foundation down quite yet. You can always look back on our previous posts, which discuss search box basics and importance of search results.
Start With Listings Pages
Listing pages itemize content of the same type to make it convenient for visitors. Some common listing pages include events, whitepapers, news, and products. Generate the pages that will be most relevant by using existing search queries and previous behavior. Once you’ve done this, extend search-based personalization to all of your content pages with features like:
- Predictive recommendations: Use your search usage analytics and search capabilities to power recommendations for the website visitor’s next step (whether it’s an article, product, or page).
- Dynamic landing pages and CTAs: Increase the conversion rates on your ads and landing pages with content that is personalized to behavior and search usage.
- Highly targeted messaging: Do you have a prospect with a defined product interest who has performed queries? Use their search behavior and previous queries to create highly targeted messaging in your existing pages.
Leverage All of the “Contextual Clues” You Can
By design, search-driven pages fire off a number of queries when a visitor hits the page. The site uses the results of those queries to populate the page. Make the content as relevant as possible for the visitor by making sure the outgoing queries are packed with as many “contextual clues” as possible. For example, the visitor’s current geo-location, current browser, current operating system, and the type of device they are using. These nuggets of information help to produce pertinent and personalized results.
For sites that require logins, you can leverage contextual from the visitor’s profile. These clues might include their gender, age, purchase history and product(s) owned, or active support plans.
For more information on how to improve your user experience, download our guide, Top Tips To Boost Conversions With Personalized Site Search.
Comment below to share your tips and tricks on using search to create personalized customer experiences with us. Did you apply these tips and see improvements? Let us know because we love hearing from you!
