Schaedler Yesco – Capturing eCommerce Satisfaction via Search

Last week I commented on AD’s recognition of ETNA Supply as a digital innovator and their commitment to digitally achieving their customer’s satisfaction.

One of the areas we’ve heard many comments from contractors regarding distributor websites is the poor search functionality on most sites.

Whether the issue is the built-in search functionality of the site provider or poor SEO or limited product content quality that doesn’t have the appropriate verbiage to be searched, I honestly don’t know. But I do know that electrical contractors “expect” functionality similar to what they do with a Google search as well as when they are on Amazon or Home Depot.

The “We’re a distributor” excuse isn’t acceptable to your customers as they’ve seen other B2B companies achieve better results and instinctively know that “it’s software” and expect “you” to purchase appropriately.

So, what got me thinking about distributor website search functionality?

Schaedler Yesco.

Within the past year or so Schaedler Yesco upgraded their site and went to a new platform. Why? To better serve their customers based upon feedback as well as a desire to better serve their, and new customers. They wanted to grow their eCommerce business.

But, after launch, they still received feedback regarding the search and, according to a press release from Bridgeline, the developer of HawkSearch, they are in the process of upgrading their search functionality.

HawkSearch will “enhance Schaedler Yesco’s eCommerce strategy by offering precise search tailored to electrical industry professionals and consumers alike. This includes advanced part number search functionality for both full and partial numbers, unit of measurement conversion, and merchandising tools to run product-specific campaigns.

The implementation enables customers to conduct searches using partial product numbers or descriptions of an item’s function.”

According to David Teague, Schaedler Yesco’s Vice President of Digital Technologies, customer feedback regarding the current state of its search included:

• “Search function on the old site works way better. We don’t like the product pics (sometimes wrong). Can’t find products through the search but can through the legacy site.”
• ” The new site’s search capability by partial part numbers is insufficient. The legacy site is excellent at finding results with partial part number searches and almost always gives you the part you’re looking for from the results.”

And similar, which leads me to “congratulations to Schaedler Yesco for seeking voice of eCommerce customer and you’d think an investment in an upgrade would be a better experience (and I don’t know what they went from to what they went to.)

A deeper dive revealed that search failures resulted from:

• Partial Part #, UPC # or product ID’s and misspelled words or product description
• Text entry with multiple delimiters or w/o delimiters such as spaces, hyphens, dashes, slashes, etc.
• Search failure for content within wholistic website searches, including INFO CENTER sub-categories, Services, PDF’s, Blogs, Manuals, Webinars, and other website content.
• Multiple Unit of Measure inputs for various UoM synonyms such as 6 inches, 6″, 6 in., 6-inch, half-ft., box, boxes, bx, b

As a site consumer, don’t you expect a “search” to search for everything, not only product data that is loaded into the system? We expect software to be “smarter” than the person doing the search.

David shared that, rather than just having a “let’s upgrade” discussion, his team developed a business case for the investment. They identified a number of metrics that they track and set performance goals that will enable them to generate a ROI on their search investment.

They selected the HawkSearch platform which is positioned as “the leading AI search, merchandising, recommendations and personalization platform that drives growth.”

Search Take Aways

1. Delivering on an omni-channel experience will be more and more important as time goes on. The reason is twofold:
   1. People desire to be more self-sufficient, when they want to be. And when they are, they expect your website to be easy to use and deliver the appropriate information. If it is not, they go somewhere else … and frequently do not revisit the “failed” site.
   2. Generational turnover. While this is most frequently referenced when thinking about customers, it also needs to be considered for your staff as your website can be a training tool and information warehouse for your staff. If you have robust data on your site, and it’s easy to use, your outside and inside salespeople will use it to gather information rather than visit manufacturer site. And they may find a link on your site and send it to your customer!
2. Schaedler Yesco thought enough of their customers to solicit their input. This is something that distributors should do “regularly”, for their overall business as well as when needing to dig deeper in a specific area (such as eCommerce) … and yes, shameless plug, Channel Marketing Group can do this for your overall business via our Uncover strategy as well as a specific eVoC initiative.
3. When technology investments are being requested, request (or develop) a business case with projected ROI. It’s more professional and enables management to understand why it is making the investment and what the benefits are.
4. When investing in software, understand what the tools users / customers will value. While the platform they acquired could be the “best available”, additional investment needs to be made in an area that customers “extremely” value. Unfortunatelry, no system is “best in class” in all areas.

So, do you know what your customers think of your site? Of your search?

If not, give us a call.