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Rethinking Search
This case study presents a cautionary tale on the perils of assumptions and circular
reasoning.
Tom Elliott UX
+
The Task
Grainger business asked the UX team for recommendations to improve product search
on site. Why?
40% of customer complaints address difficulty
finding products on site (the largest single issue).
The Problem
We all knew that search on grainger.com was difficult because of our products themselves.
Specifically…
Complex Products Simple Products 1.2 million Products
Insight
Looking at site performance, I learned the basic scenarios business used to diagnose
search problems.
Search Scenarios
Searches by Grainger Item # - 33%
Searches by manufacturer # - 12%
Searches by product specs - 13%
Searches by category - 38%
Searches by application - 4%
4%
38%
13%
12%
33%
Is there more going on?
I realized there’s just two scenarios. When users know the product’s ID #, they already
know the product they want, which means they bought it before.
33% + 12% = 45%
Buying something again
13% + 38% + 4% = 55%
Picking something new
Confirmation
Following up, I requested this number, which business normally didn’t track.
Of all products sold on site
Products bought before by user - 47%
Newly purchased products - 53%
53%
47%
Confirmation
Notice the similarity of these 3 numbers.
40%
Customer complaints
focused on search
45%
Users searching by
product number
47%
Online purchases
bought before
How to Proceed?
Business and UX leadership considered dozens of ideas for improving search - falling
roughly into two approaches.
Add curated content
to better explain products
Make search features better
to better recommend products
But I asked this…
If half our users are restocking, why make them search our product catalog at all? Where is
it easier to find YOUR product?
Within all products sold
(100,000’s of products)
Inside your past purchases
(dozens of products)
How?
Make the home page’s real estate priorities match the users’.
View the prototype
How?
AND… when users click in the search field, do this…
View the prototype
Conclusion
Grainger chose the traditional approach. They added, 35 search field and content-based
projects to our 9 month project backlog.
You build what you believe.
If you assume your site is fundamentally good, you’ll miss
the opportunities for big improvement. If you assume site
behavior belongs to happy users, you’ll misinterpret the
analytics. If you assume projects must improve current
features, then you’re stuck with the features you’ve built.
Better luck next time
Lesson Learned

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办理毕业证(NYU毕业证)纽约大学毕业证成绩单官方原版办理
 

Rethinking Search

  • 1. + Rethinking Search This case study presents a cautionary tale on the perils of assumptions and circular reasoning. Tom Elliott UX +
  • 2. The Task Grainger business asked the UX team for recommendations to improve product search on site. Why? 40% of customer complaints address difficulty finding products on site (the largest single issue).
  • 3. The Problem We all knew that search on grainger.com was difficult because of our products themselves. Specifically… Complex Products Simple Products 1.2 million Products
  • 4. Insight Looking at site performance, I learned the basic scenarios business used to diagnose search problems. Search Scenarios Searches by Grainger Item # - 33% Searches by manufacturer # - 12% Searches by product specs - 13% Searches by category - 38% Searches by application - 4% 4% 38% 13% 12% 33%
  • 5. Is there more going on? I realized there’s just two scenarios. When users know the product’s ID #, they already know the product they want, which means they bought it before. 33% + 12% = 45% Buying something again 13% + 38% + 4% = 55% Picking something new
  • 6. Confirmation Following up, I requested this number, which business normally didn’t track. Of all products sold on site Products bought before by user - 47% Newly purchased products - 53% 53% 47%
  • 7. Confirmation Notice the similarity of these 3 numbers. 40% Customer complaints focused on search 45% Users searching by product number 47% Online purchases bought before
  • 8. How to Proceed? Business and UX leadership considered dozens of ideas for improving search - falling roughly into two approaches. Add curated content to better explain products Make search features better to better recommend products
  • 9. But I asked this… If half our users are restocking, why make them search our product catalog at all? Where is it easier to find YOUR product? Within all products sold (100,000’s of products) Inside your past purchases (dozens of products)
  • 10. How? Make the home page’s real estate priorities match the users’. View the prototype
  • 11. How? AND… when users click in the search field, do this… View the prototype
  • 12. Conclusion Grainger chose the traditional approach. They added, 35 search field and content-based projects to our 9 month project backlog.
  • 13. You build what you believe. If you assume your site is fundamentally good, you’ll miss the opportunities for big improvement. If you assume site behavior belongs to happy users, you’ll misinterpret the analytics. If you assume projects must improve current features, then you’re stuck with the features you’ve built. Better luck next time Lesson Learned