How do I check an online store’s site search and how shoppers navigate?

Start with the search box. Try a product name, a generic term, a typo and a phrase a customer might use for an item the store lists under a different name. Note whether results are relevant, whether filters narrow the list sensibly, and whether an empty result gives the shopper somewhere to go next.

Then ask for the data behind it. A forthcoming seller can export the most common searches, the searches that returned nothing, and the pages shoppers visited afterward. Compare the top searches with the catalogue. Repeated searches for items the store lacks may point to an opportunity, or to a catalogue that has drifted away from what customers want.

Finally, find out who built and maintains the navigation. If a developer or a plug-in handles search, ask what it costs, whether you can keep it, and who holds the login. Test everything on a phone as well, since menus and filters often behave differently on a small screen, and most shoppers arrive that way. Ask, too, whether any recent redesign changed the menus, and whether sales or search use shifted afterward, since a seller’s memory of that change is a useful clue.

Key takeaways

• Test search with typos, synonyms and products the store does not carry.
• Ask for reports on top searches and searches with no results.
• Confirm who controls the search tool and whether it transfers to you.
• Compare what shoppers search for with what the store actually stocks.