Robert Foster “This isn’t a question but a comment.  Your obsession with navigation is dated.  EVERYONE uses text search.  As an ecommerce “expert,” you, of all people, should know that. Maybe it’s time to retire to the golf course or the poker table.  Just a thought.”

Robert dah-link, I retired to the poker table years ago.  Didn’t you get the memo?

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get this type of {idiotic} comment.

Yes, it’s 2010.

Yes, navigation still accounts for over half your success online.  In fact, for many it’s a 75% determinant.

Let me repeat that, for a lot of companies, NAVIGATION ACCOUNTS FOR THREE QUARTERS OF YOUR SUCCESS ONLINE.

Many marketing executives, especially the lame-ass, lazy ones (like Robert Foster, and yes that is his real name) who should be shot, think text search will solve all their problems. 

Sadly, text search just doesn’t work that way EVEN if you have a fancy-schmancy guided navigation package.  Granted, they help…. A lot…   but even the most expensive ones won’t solve all your site’s issues.

Why?

Because users don’t search well.   Women search with all sorts of adjectives and qualifiers (example, pretty, size 6) and men search with extraneous punctuation, randomly shortened words/phrases, and all sorts of typos and misspellings.  (Yes, this is stereotypical but the research supports it.  Deal. With. It.)

The best thing you can do for your site is to develop it so that it will work WITHOUT a text search feature.   Implement solid top navigation, lefthand navigation and bottom navigation.   Build a strong, righthand “save” column.  Use Problem/Solution drop-downs when you can (you can use two in the top action bar and two to three in the lefthand navigation, if spaced appropriately.)  

Then, use your text search as a bonus.

What’s the top secret, 007 formula for text search that nobody ever tells you about?

The presentation is often more important than the finds you show.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Almost everyone and their brother disagrees with this in theory — but test it for yourself  and you’ll see – in practice, the presentation makes a world of difference.

First, if your search is better than ok (please don’t do this if your text search totally sucks), make your text search box bigger.  Yes, bigger as in longer.  Why?  Because people screw up less when the box itself is bigger.  Not only do they make fewer typing mistakes but they also use more words.  People like to use three to five words when searching — small boxes mentally give them room for one. When users are limited to a teeny-tiny space, they tend to think.  Unfortunately, thinking is bad for most online shoppers.

Test your text search in the middle column.   After users hit the second page of your site, they spend the majority of their time in the middle column.  They look to the left when they need help.  They look to the right when they are about to leave.  If you don’t think your mother could find anything using your text search, put it in the top lefthand column, below the e-mail sign-up box.  And remember, the more you emphasize it (for example, if you place it in the upper righthand quad of your site), the more likely the user will try it.  (Again, not always a good thing.)

Start the cursor in the text search box.  Yes, it sounds like a little detail.  But little details add up.  (Same with a search icon — a little magnifying glass — should be used near the box itself.)  And yes, little details — like BIG details — should ALL be tested.  What works for someone else might not work for you at all and vice versa.

The key to a good search though is what you do AFTER the user types the words in the box and hits return or your BIG “go” button.    Use a large headline to tell the user “Good news!” (or something equally cheery),  how many you found (“we found 37”) and what they searched for (“bananas!”)    You can play around with the wording but the key is to use a number and remind them of what they searched for USING EXACTLY WHAT THEY TYPED IN!  (If you are autocorrecting you should list both — what they typed in (banannnaas) and what you found (bananas.)

Make sure the finds are in order of priority – meaning you put the stuff that’s most important first.  (In other words, the bestsellers.) 

Try NOT to list out of stock or coming soon items in the first six or so results.  You can only “guarantee” that the user is going to look at the first three (if you are in a 3 columns, three rows format.)  The second line is hopeful.  After that, it’s touch and go.  (Mostly just go.)  By the way,  if the #1 find happens to be out of stock and you want to list it, make sure to employ an “I wanted this!” button on the product page.

Make sure you have a VIEW ALL option.  People don’t like to paginate on ecommerce sites.  View All allows the user an “at a glance” way to look at things.   It’s not recommended to force “view all” but just to give it as a prominent option.

Make sure your previous and next buttons are big.  The way in which you allow the user to navigate from the top AND the bottom of the finds is critical to your success. 

Allow the user to refine their options.  This is the view by name/price/date type option.  The key here is to not allow too many refinements (keep it under six choices if you can) and to make sure that you ONLY offer refinements that apply to the product.  For example, if you are selling a book, you don’t need a sort by size option.

What are your best text search tips?  If you’ve got something to add, please jot it below…