A 41% rise in orders through on-site search at Occasion.
At the 6th E-Commerce Summit (ETZ'25) organized by Pazarlama Türkiye, the search algorithm and experience work we did for Occasion won Silver in the “Best Product Search and Filtering Experience” category. The work lifted orders by 41%.
- Award
- Silver · ETZ'25
- Category
- Best Product Search and Filtering Experience
- Brand
- Occasion
- Result
- 41% increase in orders
The search box is one of the most valuable spots on the site
For a fashion brand with a collection as broad as Occasion's, on-site search is where visitors reach what they want by the shortest route. A visitor who uses the search box knows what they're after, so searchers are usually more likely to buy than other visitors. But when search doesn't work properly, the opposite happens: a user who can't find what they're looking for moves on to another site, even if the product is right there.
We read the search data line by line
We began by looking at what users searched for on the site and what they did afterwards. We listed separately the searches that returned no results, the searches that returned results nobody clicked, and the users who left the site after searching. Typos, synonyms, different spellings of brand and product names, and the gap between the everyday language users type and the product names on the site all surfaced one by one in that list.
We improved the algorithm and the experience together
We tackled the findings on two fronts. On the algorithm side, we improved how results are ranked, the matching rules and the suggestions shown when nothing is found. On the experience side, we reworked the visibility of the search box, autocomplete suggestions, filters and the layout of the results page.
We measured every change with A/B tests and made permanent only those with a proven result. That also showed us how much each improvement contributed to orders.
Search on mobile
Most users come to the site on their phones, and searching on a small screen takes more effort. So we gave the mobile experience its own focus, running separate tests on how easy it is to reach the search box, how readable the autocomplete suggestions are and whether filters can be used with one hand. We found that not every fix that works on desktop gives the same result on mobile, and that some changes only made a difference on mobile.
Results
By the end of the project orders had risen by 41%. The increase came not from bringing more traffic to the site, but from making it easier for incoming users to find what they were looking for.
On-site search is often overlooked, yet it is one of the areas that pays back fastest. We can look together at what users search for most on your site and how much of it they actually find.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does on-site search matter so much?
- A visitor using the search box knows what they want and is closer to buying. When search works poorly, these users go to another site even if the product is available.
- How was the 41% increase in orders achieved?
- Searches at Occasion's site that returned no results or weren't clicked were analyzed; the search algorithm's matching and ranking rules, the filters and the search experience were improved. Every change was measured with A/B tests and those with a proven result were made permanent. The work won Silver at ETZ'25.
- Does improving search require a new platform?
- Not always. Many improvements can be made through the settings of the existing search platform, synonym and typo lists, and changes to the results page.
- Which metrics are used to track search work?
- The share of visitors who search, the share of searches with no results, the click-through rate after a search and the order rate of visitors who search. We compare these metrics before and after a change over like-for-like periods.
Let's write the next success story together.
Let's talk about your on-site search →