2. It’s time we
talked about
your site search
(and here are the
reasons why).
The best user experience
The digital world is increasingly
competitive.
Changes to your digital technologies and
design – even small ones – have been
shown to increase conversions (or, when
you get it wrong, bounce customers
back the other way).
Consumers in today’s digital marketplace
expect a valuable, low-friction web
experience every time.
So it’s never been more important to
ensure your website search is working
for you and your customers – using
technology that understands your
business context and predicts what your
audience wants.
FUNNELBACK |SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
3. Digital marketing – a global phenomenon
Investment in marketing designed to drive traffic
to a digital product, service or message is now
considered essential, with digital advertising
spending set to outpace non-digital channels.
To compete in this global digital marketplace, you
need to invest in technology that will give you the
best return on your investment.
50% in the UK
43.3% in Australia
43.3% in China
31.3% in the US
Percentage Digital Advertising Spend by Country.
Source: eMarketer
'Are you safeguarding your
digital investment?'
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
4. Organisations in the UK alone
now spend over £8.1 billion per
year on digital marketing.
The best search experience = the
best returns
Research tells us that 68% of visitors
rely on search as their primary form
of navigation.
It also reveals that visitors who use
site search convert at nearly three
times the rate of non-searchers.
And it has to work well the first time:
43% of site visitors give up after just
one attempt to use site search.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[1]
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
5. If navigation can't direct your users
to what they're looking for, on
average 50%of your visitors will
turn to site search facility to find it.[5]
Site search needs to not only
align with your digital brand, but
also to offer fast, relevant results.
The visitor’s journey should be
improved dramatically when he
or she searches – with effective
connections to your products and
your content.
You can offer the best content,
solutions or products in the world,
but if people can’t find them, those
offerings may as well not exist.
If you don’t love your
site search, your visitors
won’t either.
With investment in digital
technology coming at such a great
cost, it's hard to justify turning your
back on 34%of your users.[6]
A survey by the Econsultancy
group of 500 top companies
revealed that 83% of digital
marketing professionals
understood that having an effective
site search solution was a major
benefit to user engagement[7]
with
over two thirds of respondents
understanding that an effective
site search is a key advantage in
increasing sales.[8]
However, while the potential
benefits seem obvious, Forester
concluded that “Search on
many corporate websites is
an understaffed, IT-funded
afterthought”.[9]
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
6. You don’t have to be selling a product to improve
your customers’ search experience and get a better
return on your digital investment.
Effective search has been shown to improve ROI through many and varied methods:
• Inbound sales leads
• Higher sales
• Higher conversations
• Lower cost of customer interaction
• Increased channel shift
The beauty of having a functional site search is that the cost savings
can be realised for multiple types of websites across multiple verticals.
But I don't sell
anything...
Whether your site is for brand recognition, servicing your customers, direct or indirect conversation, an effective site
search solution is a vital tool in driving conversions and lowering the cost of customer interaction.
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
7. Search success
stories
Real results: global healthcare
provider
A global healthcare provider
achieved the following results from
installing Funnelback’s site search
solution, within a matter of weeks:
• Consultant profile visits: 55%
• Product page visits: 47%
• Visits to self-pay and insured
section: 44%
• Conversions to enquiry: 30%
Forrester research indicates that
the average conversion rate – that
is the ratio of orders to overall site
visits – is 2.9 percent.[10]
For an organisation that receives
30,000 visitors a month, with an
average sale value of $500, the
site would generate $425,000
in sales per month. Increasing
this conversion rate by just 1%
through implementing Funnelback’s
intelligent site search would
generate an additional $120,000
per year.
A number of Funnelback clients
have seen a complete ROI within
weeks of the system going live.
Fast, effective and relevant site
search pays off quickly.
Funnelback’s search customers
report increases in online
conversions from anywhere
between 5% and 30%, sometimes
within weeks of implementing our
search capabilities on their site.
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
8. Real results: local government authority
Other benefits of effective search for a
website are illustrated by the experiences of
a local council.
The primary role of the council’s website
is to service and inform its residents and
ratepayers.[11]
Typically, the council receives around
787,000 service enquiries via phone and
41,000 email enquiries per year.[12]
The average support-channel costs are
$1.85 for phone and $2.50 for email
enquiries per interaction, according to
Gartner/Avaya.[13]
Some Funnelback clients have experienced
phone and email enquiry volume decreasing
by 15%, but even a decrease in enquiries of
as little as 2% already results in considerable
annual cost saving across these channels.
$1,500,000
$1,550,000
$1,600,000
gs
Cost saving with effective search
$233,768 savings
$31,169 savings
Annual Saving
Annual Cost
$1,450,000
$1,400,000
$1,200,000
$1,250,000
$1,300,000
$1,350,000
Typical scenario
without effective search
With -2% volume contacts With -15% volume contacts
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
9. Funnelback has 15 years’ experience in providing search
solutions – helping organisations get the best return on their
investment, both in sales and in services.
Let us help you
Contact your local office online at funnelback.com/contact
to find out how Funnelback can improve your search
function, and increase return on your digital investment.
References
1
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/27/half-ad-spend-digital-media
2
Adobe 2012 Digital Marketing Optimization Survey, 2012
3
MarketingSherpa
4
N Norman Group
5
Jupiter Media Matrix
6
Funnelback & Econsultancy Site Search Survey
7
Funnelback & Econsultancy Site Search Survey
8
Funnelback & Econsultancy Site Search Survey
9
Forrester Research
10
Forrester Research
11
http://wps.socitm.net/dashboards/purpose-of-visit
12
Kent County Council - Quarterly Performance Report, http://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/
assets/pdf_file/0015/14721/QPR-QTR-4-2013-14.pdf (Accessed 2015-07-17)
13
Gartner/Avaya
FUNNELBACK | SITE SEARCH: THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL IN DIGITAL INVESTMENT
