January 2021 Release Notes: Introducing Product Recommendations for WooCommerce, Shopify Filters Improvements, and More!

Ekaterina Kopylova
By Kate
Oct 31 2020
Time to read
4 min to read
We started the new 2021 by bringing more tools to give your customers a greater product search experience on your website.

Let's see what your capabilities are with the Searchanise new features.

Shopify: New features in Product Recommendations

Quick View

You can now opt for using the Quick view button within your product recommendation blocks. It is a great way to provide extra information to your customers without forcing them to visit the product details page (which by the way can be an anxious journey for mobile users).
Quick View Button
Quick View Products
Searchanise Product Recommendations offer a "Quick View" feature with the product key information inside and a clear primary action button.

Option Swatches

Another highly requested feature has been released for the product recommendations - product option swatches.

Display color and size swatches in the product recommendation blocks so that your customers can see there are more options to explore for each product. Even if your visitors don't see a color they like immediately, you can drive more traffic to your product pages when they know there are more options to explore. This functionality is ideal for selling clothing, shoes, cups, or furniture.
Options of products
How the swatches look in the wild, in this case being used to sell women's activewear.
How to enable new features of Searchanise App
To enable the two new features, head over to Upsell & Cross-sell Widgets >>Settings.

Smart Navigation and Filters improvements

Show applied filter variants in a different color

We have added a new CSS class for filter variants. With the new class, it is now possible to change the text color of the selected filtering values.

This improvement serves the purpose of visual filter validation when your customers select filter variants on the search results page. It can also be a great alternative to the traditional filter checkboxes, make your search results page visually stronger by allowing users to easily find any currently applied filters.
Color options of products
Filtering implementation with Searchanise customization options: applied filters are displayed in a different color.

Remove Collections from Product URLs

You can now opt for having a single short URL for all products whether the product detail page is reached directly or via the collections.

The new setting we have added to Filters on Collection allows you to remove the collection from the product URL. For example, the product URL is https://trina-outfits.com/collections/womens-activewear/products/dark-denim-top. If you disable the setting (simply uncheck the box), the product URL will no longer contain the collection part, like here https://trina-outfits.com/products/dark-denim-top.
shortening of the URL
Remove Collections from Product URLs by disabling the new SEO setting

Show relevant product variant' is out of beta

In case your products have more than one variant, enable the 'Show relevant product variant' setting to retrieve results most relevant to the users' search queries. For example, you sell t-shirts in your store that are available in different color variants: black, white, blue, red, etc. When the 'Show relevant product variant' setting is enabled, a user who types in "black t-shirt" will see t-shirts of black color variants on top of the product suggestions list.
Relevant Products in Instant Search Widget
how to add relevant product variant
Tweak the new Show relevant product variant setting for more relevant search suggestions

Auto Currency Switcher Integration

The most popular and highest-rated currency converter, Auto Currency Switcher, is now integrated with Searchanise.

The app does exactly what it sounds like: it detects the country of the user based on their IP & converts price in their local currency automatically.
Integration of Auto Currency Switcher App
After you enable the Auto Currency Switcher integration in your admin panel, Searchanise will synchronize with Auto Currency Switcher, and your customers will see the price in Searchanise widgets in their home currency.
Turn-on the Auto Currency Switcher App
Auto Currency Switcher integration is now available for you in the Searchanise admin panel

Introducing Product Recommendations

Awesome news for Woocommerce merchants - we have added Product Recommendation blocks to the Searchanise Plugin. Now you will have even more tools to Increase order value and maximize your conversions!
Product Recommendations Widget
Searchanise Recommendation widget for WooCommerce is easy to set up and highly configurable
Recommendation Block
How the recommendation block appears in the WooCommerce store

Integration with Yotpo

With Yotpo now integrated with Searchanise, you can display rating stars and the number of reviews on products in the instant search drop-down menu and on the search results page.

The integration gives you new capabilities:

  • Provide social proof in the search bar - this will add credibility to your offerings right from the start of your customer journey,

  • Allow filter products by reviews - this will speed up the decision-making process for your customers,

  • Set merchandising rules for highly reviewed products - this will quickly boost sales of your popular products.
Stars by Yotpo App
Searchanise with Yotpo Stars in WooCommerce
Searchanise plugin for WooCommerce is now integrated with Yotpo review app

Hide products

BigCommerce merchants can now hide products from search results and smart navigation on category pages.

To use the new feature and set things up, go to the product settings of your BigCommerce admin panel and put SEARCHANISE_IGNORE in the Search Keywords filed as shown in the screenshot below:
Hiding products in BigCommerce
Configure the product settings in your BigCommerce panel to hide products from Searchansie search results and smart navigation

Integration with Product Reviews

First, a little reminder for BigCommerce merchants - Searchanise is integrated with the Yotpo and Stamped.io, Campaign Monitor | Commerce review apps. However, if you prefer to just use what is native to Bigcommerce and no extra review apps, now there is a way to pull BigCommerce product reviews into the Searchanise search results.

We have integrated Searchanise app with the default BigCommerce reviews. Now, default product reviews are indexed by Searchanise and product ratings appear in search when your customers are looking for products:

  • Product ratings in the search suggestions in the autocomplete drop-down and on the search results page,

  • Reviews as another filter option on the search results page.
Product Reviews in BigCommerce
Product reviews in collection page of BigCommerce
Searchanise is now integrated with the default BigCommerce product reviews
That's all we wanted to cover today. As for our future plans, this year we are planning significant improvements in system and service. Follow us on Twitter to stay tuned for the Searchanise product updates and your new benefits.

Pick your platform and watch your e-store shoot to the top with Searchanise

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“Rock solid performance! I wish we knew about this app a year ago! The intuitive nature of the searches and speed of information make this a perfect app for our web store."
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The Searchanise plugin/service excels where other leading (and much more expensive) search providers have fallen short on our site. We have over 17,000 products and this plugin indexes them flawlessly and creates a top-notch search experience for our customers. Really pleased that we found this one."
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My last hope was to try Searchanise. I was, and I am still amazed! The search results are PERFECT! The sync speed is AMAZING without bags or delays. And I have never seen such great support. The Searchanise App is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and I really hope someday to find again such a nice team and support."
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"Searching for a Search app? Try Searchanise. We are totally impressed, works great, it's faster than the default BC search and looks gorgeous in our shop - it's form and function! Supported by wonderful people. Many thanks to Alexey and the team! Excellent app and awesome team"
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"The results are fantastic.
We use it on many customers and they are all satisfied. It greatly enhances Magento's search."
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"I could say a lot of great things about this add-on, but I think this one line suffices; adding the Searchanise feature to your store is one of the most important and rewarding decisions you will make for your business and customers. Not to mention, the team is an absolute delight to work with, namely Angelina Morozova!"

Have questions or suggestions on the new functionality? Please reach out at feedback@searchanise.com; we are happy to chat.

See you next time!
Ekaterina Kopylova - Marketing Manager
Kate
Marketing Manager at Searchanise

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