Have you decided to offer an autocomplete search engine on your e-commerce site, to make it easier for your customers to find your products?
Be careful, because what at first glance appears to be a considerable advantage can also have certain disadvantages.
The first, not to be underestimated, is the impact on your page bounce rate.
See below for an explanation.
How does an auto-complete search engine work?
Auto-completion consists in proposing results to the user as and when he enters data in a search field.
The principle is simple: each time a character is entered in the field, a call is made to the server to query Prestashop’s search engine.
A list of words whose first characters may correspond to the input is then returned to the user.
Generally speaking, for reasons of performance and relevance, the search engine is only queried once the user has entered at least three characters.
Below three characters, it is more difficult to identify relevant potential matches.
More precisely, the number of possible matches with just one or two characters is often too great and cannot be exploited.
However, if the infrastructure is robust and the search engine high-performance, there’s nothing to prevent auto-completion from the very first character.
The challenge will therefore be to make relevant proposals to the user based on his input.
The objective is twofold.
Auto-completion will enable the user :
- spend as little time as possible on research
- and be quickly redirected to the right place on the site.
If the right information is presented in the first few characters, users are more likely to click on it.
The faster they get what they want, the longer they’ll stay on the site.
Auto-completion also gives users the possibility of making proposals close to what they’re looking for.
Complementary results, as it were. 
The benefits of auto-completion on an e-commerce site
The primary objective of an e-commerce site is to convert as many visits as possible into orders.
The more items in the catalog, the more difficult it is for visitors to find what they’re looking for.
The site must therefore be particularly clear and the products easily accessible.
To this end, the search engine is the best way to help visitors quickly find what they’re looking for.
Auto-completion is very useful here.
It will be possible to suggest products likely to correspond to the user’s search even before he launches it.
From the characters entered, the search engine will be able to suggest product names, categories, brands… If the user enters the letters “ca”, it will be possible to suggest the categories “calendar”, “gift”, “headphones”… If he adds a letter, the “b”, the suggestions will change to “hdmi cable”, “usb cable”… The more letters the user enters, the more precise the search and the suggestions will be.
The challenge of auto-completion is to offer the user the product or product category they’re looking for, without having to enter everything, in order to save time.
The sooner the user can get to the product he’s looking for, the greater the chance that his visit will turn into an order. 
What impact does this have on the bounce rate?
Imagine that you offer a search engine with auto-completion, which is the basis if you choose to offer an internal search engine.
If the search bar doesn’t show any results, what do you think your visitor will do?
Yes, they’ll look elsewhere.
The lesson here is simple: search engine with auto-completion + no response = lost potential customer.
The main concern is that Google Analytics won’t tell you why the visitor left without visiting any other pages.
On the contrary, Google will think that your site is obviously not interesting, since your bounce rate will be immediately higher.
As a result, your search engine will turn against you, having a negative impact on your ranking instead of helping you to increase your sales.
How do you get around this potential problem?
Fortunately, there is a solution, but it’s important to be aware of the problem.
If you don’t have the product your visitor is looking for, your autocomplete search engine should still send them to another page on your site.
For example, send them to a page listing all your products, or to a contact form.
By doing so, you’ll not only prevent him from turning away immediately, but you can also hope to sell him another similar product.
You’ll also know that they’ve used your search engine, especially if you send them to a unique page that they won’t be able to find elsewhere on your site.
Other auto-completion best practices
If you want to offer a search engine with auto-completion, here are a few best practices to follow:
- Consider A/B testing to measure the real impact of your search engine;
- Don’t forget to tag clicks, whether with Google Analytics or other tools;
- Check that your auto-complete search engine doesn’t offer too many results, as this would be counter-productive.
To conclude on the auto-completion search engine on an e-commerce site
If you opt for a search engine with auto-completion, there are problems to be solved, but such a search engine has many advantages.
By allowing visitors to search, you can not only find out what they need, but also make them stay longer on a site, by also offering them alternative products.
Installing an internal search engine is therefore something that can’t be improvised, and needs to be accompanied by tests to check that the user experience remains positive.
Need help setting up an auto-complete search engine for your e-commerce site?
As an e-commerce developer & integrator since 2008, I’d be delighted to work with you on your e-commerce project.
Contact me now to discuss.
