By the end of 2022, it is predicted that e-commerce will account for 20.4% of global retail, with an estimated 12 million – 24 million e-commerce sites across the world. With that number rising every day, the level of competition is inevitably rising as well. To maintain relevance against competitors, it is crucial to create a positive experience from the second a new or existing site visitor browses your store.
Woocommerce can help set your store apart from others. The flexibility and unlimited customization offered by the platform allow users to create a store exactly how they would like to, while still being cost-effective.
What is Woocommerce?
Woocommerce is the leading e-commerce platform run through WordPress. The platform is popular amongst those that are new to the e-commerce industry, as it is user-friendly as well as developer-friendly. The straightforward nature of the platform allows for new e-commerce stores to be designed easily while still being effective.
The function of the platform is to make building, customizing, and managing an online store as simple as possible. Woocommerce offers some incredible features such as shipping integration and secure payments, all while being free to install. Not to mention the loads of extensions that can individually be applied to your site to improve functionality, user experience, and performance.
What Makes a Good Product Search Plugin?
Whether you’re visiting a page for the first time or the fiftieth time, a slow and inconsistent search engine can be seen as a nuisance. That is why it is important to take the time to find the right product search plugin for your site. A good product search plugin has perks for both site visitors and site developers. A user-friendly product search plugin is fast, accurate, and easy to use, while a developer-friendly product search plugin has data analytics, product search activity, and reliability.
What Product Search Plugins Should I Be Using?
With over 6,000 Woocommerce plugins, it can be overwhelming to narrow down the list and find the product search plugin that will benefit your online store the most, but there is no need to panic. To start, consider what goals you have set for your store. Are you looking for an exceptional user experience? Or fast and functioning navigation across your site? What about access to in-depth analytics? WooCommerce has a wide variety of product search plugins to offer that cover all of those bases and more. With such a broad variety of product search plugins to choose from, you’re bound to discover the right one that fits the criteria you desire and exceeds the needs of your store.
What are the Best Woocommerce Plugins?
Expertrec
Expertrec is an amazing search bar feature that is commonly used in eCommerce sites. This unique search bar feature will load in all search results within just milliseconds, is super easy to use, and is available in 30 different languages. A faster search time encourages users to continue using the site since they will not have to wait long to get to their results. Not only will it boost your customer retention rate, but it will also boost your sales thus increasing your profits. Want to try Expertrec for yourself? There is a 14-day free trial that will help seal the deal for you before and step up your eCommerce store.
WooCommerce Product Search
Woocommerce product search is a plugin designed to add an effective search engine to your store. Having an effective search engine creates a quick way for site visitors to navigate your store and find products. The plugin comes with a live search feature that allows customers to find products without having to go out of their way. While typing, the live search feature displays product images, details, and products that can be added directly to their cart. The WooCommerce product search plugin also allows for live search filters. An ordinary search filter creates an improved search experience for users by narrowing down results, while a live search filter allows users to sort search results, and receive options based on their specifications of choice. Additionally, the plugin offers insight into real-time and previous product search activity. Having access to site data and analytics allows for a thorough understanding of what your site visitors spend their time searching for. The plugin has an annual fee of $49.00, which includes customer support and one year of updates.
Doofinder for Woocommerce
Doofinder for WooCommerce offers speedy and effective results that make for an effortless user search experience. With a customized search experience, Doofinder uses both data collection and analyzed customer behavior to tailor search results on a case-by-case basis. Having a customized search experience will improve your conversion rate, as it provides site visitors results that are most relevant to them. When a user starts typing in the search box, Doofinder will bring up results related to their search, and will also automatically correct any typos. So even if a user spells their search wrong, Doofinder can detect what the word was supposed to be and complete the search as if there were no issues. The plugin is compatible with both smartphones and desktops and offers voice, image, and text search options. The pricing for Doofinder starts as low as $35 a month under their basic plan.
Reactive Search Pro
Reactive Search Pro has become one of the most popular WooCommerce product search plugins, due to its user-friendly nature. The plugin allows you to create and add a search button to your store with ease. Users can then use the search option to navigate all that a site has to offer. The simple search option allows site visitors to swiftly browse products, tags, posts, and anything else you would like your customers to have easy access to. The plugin comes with over fifteen search attributes that break search results into categories from existing taxonomy and is also multilingual. Reactive search pro also offers a built-in geo box feature. The built-in geo box feature has a location searching option which allows site visitors to search from any location and receive results sorted by distance. Their single-site license costs $29, with plugin updates and customer support included.
Conclusion
As an e-commerce store owner, your priority is not only to draw in new traffic but to also develop returning site visitors. To encourage visitors to return, it is important to provide a user-friendly site that allows customers to browse your products or services quickly and accurately.
There are many product search plugins on WooCommerce, so be sure to consider the goals you have set for your store, and utilize the plugins that best fit your site’s needs.
