Effective Search Engine For B2B System
The time needed to find a product is a key variable of a well-designed B2B system. An effective search engine can and usually is a key factor for its proper operation. Through proper preparation should ensure easy and quick access to products for contractors. What factors influence the fact that the search engine fulfills its role?
SEARCHING FOR KEYWORDS IN THE B2B SYSTEM
The first element is the proper search for selected keywords. At first glance, it may seem trivial. However, a proper search is more than just a choice of words, a well-designed search engine should also support synonyms and a plurality of words. In addition, if you type a typo and the lack of results should also propose to the right word to the user – Did you mean … Support for the above solutions will make the use of the B2B system will be constant at a high level.
SEARCHING FOR THE PRODUCT FEATURES IN THE B2B SYSTEM
Very often when selling B2B, users do not use names but EAN, SKU type codes, catalog number or look after parameters such as color or material. Due to the above, search support by features is another key element of a well-designed search engine for the B2B system, however, to be effective it is necessary to use the weights of individual parameters.
WEIGHING PARAMETERS IN THE B2B SEARCH
Due to the fact that B2B searches often include technical parameters of even 3-4 symbols, it is very important for the search engine to support the weighting of individual parameters. This is not only about the weight of basic features such as name or color, but also the weights for individual products or even categories. Imagine a situation in which Samsung s8 comes to the market. Users enter the s8 search engine, but instead of the best-selling phone, refrigerators appear. That is why parameterization according to the category or the possibility of raising particular products is extremely important.
Autocomplete phrase – DYNAMIC SUGGESTIONS IN A B2B SHOP
The autocomplete phrase is another useful feature that significantly increases the usability of the search engine. The keyword phrases, weighted by the number of searches by previous users, significantly improve the comfort of using search and improve the process of searching for the right products. An alternative solution is hints of specific products at once, with the possibility of adding to the basket directly from the suggestion field, which speeds up the process of searching for the right offer even more. Along with entering subsequent letters, hints become more and more accurate, narrowing the number of returned results.
WHICH SEARCH ENGINE IS BEST FOR A B2B PLATFORM?
Although the above question has no unequivocal answer, there is a number of leading search engines that are particularly often used in the case of B2B platforms. The most commonly used due to the fact that they meet the above assumptions and can be flexibly configured using search templates are SOLR, Elastic Search, Lucene and Sphinx. When planning the implementation of a search engine for the B2B platform, it is worth taking a look at one of the above options, so that the search on the site was appropriately optimized, and thus the existing customer service channels could be relieved, which will certainly contribute to savings for the enterprise.
