Google Analytics Site Search: Usability & Business Goals

So Google Analytics site search features have been out for a week. Here's a unique insight that can be garnered by studying search queries from a key location, the shopping cart page, in an e-commerce site.

This collage shows the a drilldown view from Content -> Site Search -> Start Pages to the search terms that were issued from our add to cart page in the last week. We see "invitations" and "camera" where it seems the wedding participant to be is trying to knock out a few more items from the todo list.

While upsells can be done poorly, as described in Top SURL's 10 Shopping Cart Design Errors, good web site design is not just about usability. It's about maximizing the intersection of the user goals and the business goals. If some users are slightly distracted by an upsell that a smaller number find appealing, and that contributes to the bottom line (e.g. it's not obnoxious enough to cause users to bail on the process), that's solid user experience design. SURL cautions against forced upsell "interstituals" during the add to cart process. Best practice is to display these upsells on the cart result page, not as a forced interruption during the process.

The new site search features have already contributed to the bottom line in our e-commerce business. My full analysis, training, and case studies are available to members of StomperNet but I'll be sharing some of the more unique insights here in the future.