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Motorcycle Superstore Boosts Conversions With Improved Online and Mobile Search

Search is a fundamental part of the browsing and buying journey. From powerful engines such as Bing and Google to retailers’ web sites, consumers constantly use the search function to find the products and information they want and need. As a result, it is imperative that retailers offer seamless investigative tools to ensure pleasant online shopping experiences across their e-Commerce and mobile-optimized sites.

Motorcycle Superstore — a motorcycle apparel, parts and accessories retailer — partnered with SLI Systems to revamp its search features and capabilities. Since implementing SLI’s Rich Auto Complete feature, the retailer has made it easier for consumers to identify the right parts for their bikes, as well as more efficient to find the apparel and items they’re seeking.

“Refining site search isn’t a single project ― it’s an ongoing process,” said Jason Miller, Chief Technology Officer and VP of Technology for Motorcycle Superstore. “We frequently compile and examine search data to better understand how consumers are interacting with our site.” One specific improvement involved product descriptions: Consumers often have different names for items than the internal team uses. “Now when new names bubble up in our reports, we add that information to our database to streamline future searches.”

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The Rich Auto Complete feature provides site visitors with a drop-down window of suggested phrases as well as popular products that fit terms they type into the search bar. Among consumers who search on Motorcycle Superstore’s e-Commerce site, 33% select from this drop-down menu and convert at twice the rate of shoppers who don’t, according to the eTailer.

To further refine search on the site’s “Parts” section, consumers are asked to select the make, model and year of the bike, Miller explained, and re-specify all information before they add parts to their shopping carts, decreasing likelihood of returns and complaints.

“We try hard to prevent customers from buying the wrong parts, which gets expensive for us and frustrating for shoppers when their packages arrive,” Miller said. As a result, “we repeatedly display the make and model throughout the checkout process to decrease those mistakes and subsequent returns.”

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Increasing Daily Conversion Rates 180% With Mobile Optimized Email Landing Pages
Motorcycle Superstore consumers are using mobile devices more frequently to access product information and brand content. In response to this growing trend, the retailer launched a new mobile-optimized site in early 2012 and has seen steady usage and conversion rates. Overall, 4% to 6% of the company’s site traffic — and approximately 3% of daily revenue — now is derived from mobile devices. Ease of search was a large part of this success, Miller explained, since most shoppers have a greater intent to find specific products while searching via mobile. 

Mobile email strategies also were addressed, since 30% of the retailer’s email subscriber list view daily deal alerts on a smartphone or tablet, Miller reported.

To create a more concise transition from mobile email messages to its online store, Motorcycle Superstore revamped its mobile site to allow email subscribers to land on a daily deal page optimized for smartphones and tablets. Streamlining navigation from email to the deal-of-the-day page increased daily conversion rates by approximately 180%, according to Miller.

“It is clear that search is important to our customers, based on increased conversions from users who performed searches and the high level of search box activity,” Miller said. “As we were building the mobile site, SLI Systems developed our mobile search and results pages to match our look and feel, all while incorporating their functionality.”

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