Right product, first time

Evolving search capability and results relevancy across 120k product portfolio

 

Challenge

Time-poor customers and distributors were overwhelmed by large result sets in categories exceeding 30,000 products, with low engagement with attribute filters. Despite entering specific queries, users were presented with broad results, slowing decision-making.

For the business, an inefficient search constrained conversion and increased abandonment and avoidable product replacements under guarantee.

Risks

  • Introducing friction into revenue-critical search journeys

  • Disrupting high-volume, habitual researcher behaviours

  • Over-engineering filters that historically showed <4% adoption

  • Delivering experience change during a broader platform and brand transformation

  • Scaling globally across B2B2C and distributor contexts without fragmenting journeys

Priorities

  • Customer to find the right product, first time, in a single session

  • Reduce result volume while increasing relevance and confidence

  • Introduce positive friction only where it demonstrably reduced downstream effort

  • Maintain commercial performance while modernising search behaviour

  • Anchor UX decisions to measurable revenue and satisfaction outcomes

Direction

Search was repositioned from a passive results engine to an active decision-support system.

The strategy focused on shifting effort earlier in the journey, helping researchers clarify intent before results were returned—rather than relying on complex post-search refinement that users consistently ignored.

Key leadership decisions included:

  • Prioritising relevance over volume

  • Treating product views as a primary proxy for revenue

  • Using behavioural data to challenge long-held assumptions about filters

  • Designing search as augmentation, not disruption, of existing habits

 

Outcomes

Search journeys evolved from broad, overwhelming result sets to focused, confidence-building exploration.

Researchers were exposed to essential product attributes earlier, enabling faster elimination of irrelevant options and deeper engagement with genuinely suitable products. Search sessions became more deliberate but shorter overall, with reduced backtracking and fewer unnecessary product page visits.

The experience supported both expert users with precise intent and broader searchers without risking revenue-critical pathways.

Impact

Customer

  • Faster product discovery with higher confidence

  • Reduced cognitive load during decision-making

  • Improved satisfaction through earlier access to key attributes, reviews, and validation data

Business

  • Strong correlation between increased product views and revenue growth

  • Reduced product replacements under guarantee, lowering avoidable operational costs

  • Strengthened trust through improved product relevance

  • Demonstrated viability of experience-led optimisation without harming conversion

Key metrics

  • Search → PDP engagement: +30% (1.2 → 1.6 pages/session, ≈2.8M additional PDP sessions/year)

  • Customer satisfaction: Up from 3.2 to 4.3 / 5

  • Bounce rate: Stable despite added positive friction

  • Filter usage: Remained <4% validating strategy to reduce dependency

  • Zero-result searches: Improved by 7% through targeted keyword and matching workstreams

Learnings

  • Relevance beats optionality, fewer results outperform broader choice

  • Filters are not a planning tool for time-poor researchers

  • Small, intentional friction upstream saves significant effort downstream

  • Product views are a stronger revenue signal than raw conversion alone

  • Phased rollout is essential when evolving revenue-critical journeys