41% bounce rate. That’s how many store visitors are leaving Shopify fashion and apparel stores without even making a purchase. Due to large product catalogs and complex search experiences, shoppers are having a harder time finding the products they want. Due to this long search time, they leave frustrated, even if you have the exact product they would like to buy. Reducing your bounce rate lies in one key aspect of your Shopify fashion and apparel store— your search experience. Let’s look at how a good search experience can impact your Shopify store.

Impact of a Good Search Experience on Shopify Fashion and Apparel Stores

1. Allow shoppers to find products in their exact size and preferences

Shoppers have specific preferences for the product they want to buy— from the type of product to the size to even the color. With search filters, shoppers can narrow down their search to see fashion and apparel products that are in their size and matching their preferences. This quicker search experience means shoppers don’t have to scroll through the entire catalog to find what they want.Here’s a look at how Fashion Nova lets its shoppers use search filters to narrow down their search and save time finding what they want.

2. Lower drop-offs

By being able to narrow down their search so quickly, shoppers will be less likely to drop-off your Shopify fashion and apparel store. They would instead be eager to continue shopping from you because of how easy you’ve made it to find the exact items they are looking for from your extensive product catalog.

3. Shorten the time spent searching for products

With a better search experience, shoppers would spend less time searching for products and be able to checkout with their preferred products with ease. With the right features in place, like predictive search and search filters, the average time spent searching for products would decrease. You would be providing a frictionless search experience that shoppers would be happy to come back to for repeat purchases.

4. Cater to budget-minded shoppers

Fashion shoppers specifically are budget-minded. When buying from your fashion and apparel store, they may have a specific budget in mind for the product they want. You can appease these shoppers by letting them filter their search based on the price range they prefer. So, shoppers with a specific budget can filter out products above their price range.

5. Avoid empty search results with a smart search functionality

Many shoppers often use keywords that you haven’t commonly used. So, for instance, they may be looking for a tunic, which you commonly label as a “blouse” on your Shopify store. With smart search functionality, you can set up these common synonyms. This can ensure that shoppers are shown relevant search results even when they use uncommon keywords.With search synonyms in place, you can avoid showing empty search results to your shoppers, keeping them engaged.

8 Ways to Enable a Positive Search Experience on Your Fashion and Apparel Store

1. Install a Shopify search app like Searchly

You don’t have to manually improve your Shopify fashion and apparel store’s search experience. Instead, you can pick up a Shopify search app that does this for you. Searchly is a Shopify app built to help you enhance your search experience. The Shopify search app lets you set up different kinds of features like:

• Search filters narrow down search results based on specific attributes like size and price.
• Autosuggest shows keyword suggestions to shoppers as they type.
• Search bar recommendations show products based on the keyword the shopper is typing, helping them find the products they want faster.
• Recommendations on an empty search results page ensure that shoppers don’t drop off your Shopify store.
• Synonyms allow you to define other keywords shoppers would use which are uncommon on your Shopify store.

Once you’ve installed the app, you can look at the other features in detail.Install Searchly to enrich your fashion and apparel store’s search experience now!

2. Simplify shopping with search filters

First off, you need to set up search filters. Your fashion and apparel store is sure to have a large product catalog. With search filters, shoppers can narrow down their search with ease. Within the Searchly dashboard, you can pick which filters to show on your search results page, like price, color, collection, availability, etc. You can see all the different types of search filters here.

3. Enable autosuggest

74% of customers feel frustrated when website content is not personalized. When searching on your Shopify store, shoppers are looking for an experience that eases their journey of finding the product they want. One way to provide this positive experience is with autosuggest.Autosuggest allows your fashion and apparel store’s search engine to predict what your shopper is looking for and show relevant keyword suggestions accordingly. If a shopper started to type “t-shirt”, they will instantly be shown the keyword without them having to type the whole word out. The search engine will even show more specific keywords like “red t-shirt” or “t-shirt for men”, etc.You can set up auto-suggest through Searchly with just one click. The Shopify search app learns search patterns that your store visitors exhibit and picks up their preferences to show highly specific keywords.

4. Show recommendations within the search bar

Besides suggesting keywords to your shoppers, you can show products directly within the search bar. These recommendations ensure that shoppers can instantly shop products that match the keyword they used rather than go through the entire product catalog.Search bar recommendations can lower the time spent on your Shopify store and get your shoppers to checkout quickly. Searchly lets you display recommendations within your search bar. Enable search bar recommendations with Searchly now!

5. Avoid losing shoppers on empty search results with recommendations

Oftentimes, shoppers would search for products you don’t carry. In such cases, they would be shown an empty search results page and shoppers would end up leaving. However, your empty search results page, with the right content in place, can help you keep shoppers engaged, lower drop-offs, and increase conversions.Display recommendations on empty search results page using Searchly. You can choose the kind of recommendations to show, whether it’s popular products on your site or items that the shopper showed interest in.Here’s how Nike keeps its shoppers engaged on the empty search results page:

Also read: Complete guide to using Shopify search & filters to improve the online shopping experience

6. Let shoppers search and find relevant products by setting up keyword synonyms

Some shoppers may use uncommon keywords to find certain products, especially if you cater to a global audience. That shouldn’t limit you from selling to them! Instead, you can set up synonyms within Searchly for these uncommon keywords so that shoppers are shown the relevant products. So, for instance, you could set up synonyms for uncommon keywords like “tunic” so that shoppers can be shown “blouses” and “tops” when they search with this keyword or you can add “one-piece” as a synonym for “pantsuit”.This synonym feature is sure to provide a better search experience. Install Searchly now and set up keyword synonyms.

7. Ensure typos don’t slow down your shoppers

Who hasn’t made a typo while searching online? It’s a common occurrence, one that search engines like Google take into account and provide suggestions for. As a growing Shopify store, you need to ensure that typos don’t cause empty search results.Searchly picks up on common typos and shows relevant search results that shoppers intended to find. So, if shoppers type in a keyword like “pantsuifs”, the app would immediately pick up on this typo and instead show “pantsuits”.

8. Let shoppers narrow their search with collection filters

Some fashion shoppers aren’t always sure what products they want and they would only be specific about the product type like “jeans” or “shirt”. For such shoppers, a collection filter will help them narrow down their search.Collection filters allow shoppers to include or exclude specific collections. So, if your fashion and apparel store has season-based filters, shoppers can exclude collections that they don’t want to buy from. Or, if your collections are based on product type, shoppers can choose if they want to shop bottomwear or outerwear.Install Searchly on your Shopify fashion and apparel store and set up collection filters.

Provide a positive search experience on Shopify fashion and apparel stores!

Your Shopify store’s search experience can make or break a sale. We hope this guide helped you understand how to set up a better search experience on your Shopify fashion and apparel stores. Setting up advanced search features is easy with the right Shopify search app in place.Searchly is a Shopify search app that lets you customize your store’s search, from enabling search filters and autosuggest to adding synonyms and displaying recommendations. It also lets you customize your empty search results page so that shoppers don’t drop-off. The app learns how shoppers buy based on the keywords they use and shows product recommendations that are relevant to their search, helping you sell more quickly.

Install Searchly to enrich your fashion and apparel store’s search experience now!