CTR (or Click-through rate) is one of the key metrics a successful and continuously improving ecommerce business should track.
This metric alone can indicate weak (and strong) areas in your business, based on which you can make data-driven decisions.
So, what is CTR in ecommerce search? How can you read the data, and what changes can you make according to the CTR results?
What is CTR? How can you count it?
CTR, or click-through rate, is an ecommerce metric that measures the effectiveness of search results.
You can calculate the CTR by dividing the number of clicks on a particular search result by the number of times that result was displayed.
For instance, if a particular search result was displayed 100 times and clicked on 5 times, the CTR for that result would be 5%.
In general, the CTR metric is used in a variety of ways, like in:
Ecommerce search - to track how many people click on various search results, products, and categories.
Pay-per-click ads - to track how many people visit a product or service page displayed in a digital advertisement campaign.
Email marketing - to track how many email subscribers click on links provided in an email campaign.
And other business-relevant channels.
That being said, look for the CTR metric in those particular channels. For instance, if you want to see how well your site search performs, check the CTR in the ecommerce search dashboard.
Why and how should you track CTR in ecommerce search?
Ecommerce search CTR tracking provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your search results.
Use the results to identify which search results get the most clicks and which do not perform that well.
Look at the CTR for each search result and identify the ones that have the highest CTR. These are the search results that are getting the most clicks and are likely the most relevant to your customers.
On the other hand, search results with low CTR may not be as relevant, and you may need to consider applying some changes to improve their performance.
Continuously improving CTRs can help your business improve user satisfaction and increase conversions and revenue. Besides, a happily-converted customer is the one who has the highest likelihood of coming back and purchasing again.
What changes can you make in your ecommerce search according to the CTR metric?
Based on CTR metrics, ecommerce websites can make several changes to improve their search results’ effectiveness.
Here’s what you could try.
If the CTR metrics are high:
Take it as an indication the product or category is relevant to the users. Plan future product assortment based on current best-performing data. That is, sell more of what is demanded.
Track seasonal trends and make long-term decisions. For instance, if customers are clicking on certain products more frequently during a specific time of day or season, adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
Prioritize high-performing search results, rank them higher, and improve the CTR further.
If the CTR metrics are low:
Take it as an indication the current products or search suggestions are irrelevant to your users. That means they cannot find what they are looking for.
Ensure your product titles and descriptions are clear, concise, and relevant to the search query. If they are not, rewrite and optimize them.
Remove search results with consistently low CTRs, as they may not be relevant to the search query (or overall to your users).
Use synonyms and related terms to ensure the search results are comprehensive and cover a broad range of related products.
Turn on typo detection and make sure the users find products regardless of typos they make in the search queries.
Most importantly, get back to the ecommerce search dashboard at least once a week, analyze the results, and apply micro changes.
Eventually, you can achieve overall high CTRs in your ecommerce search, improve overall user satisfaction with your website, and increase conversion rates.