Pre-defined searches as links

[JayReilly]

Hi,
Is it possible to set up pre-defined searches and display them as links on ShopSite pages? I've searched the forum, help and knowledge base but haven't found anything on this topic.

I'm trying to display smaller numbers of related products without setting up a bunch of individual pages for them.

Thanks,

Jay

[Jim]

If you get a Als Tools demo store as a merchant from http://eval.shopsite.com/cgi-bin/ssdemo ... me=alsdemo you can see how something like this was done for "Search by Brand".

[Jeff]

I've wondered how to do that, too, Jay.

Only a very few SS sites employ pre-defined searches. The topic hasn't come up on this group and I haven't found anything in the Support/Cookbook area on it.

I recently noticed that Al's Tools employs predefined brand/department searches using drop down forms (new?). Where is Al's template showing how that is done?

Al's search page:
http://eval.shopsite.com/shopper/als/index.html

[JayReilly]

This seems to work:

https://yoursiteurl/cgi-bin/sc/products ... reid=*your store id&search_field=your search term

Jay

[Jeff]

Simple enough. Thanks.

Our site offers text entry search which works ok if the customer is savvy in using precise terminology and spelling. A dropdown of predefined searches (such as Al's tool brands or departments) offers shoppers a fuzzier way to find or browse thru offerings.

If I were "Al" I wouldn't want to lose a $500 sale on a Bosch Edge Bander just because the customer couldn't spell Bosch or called it an "End Bander."

Anyone here have other thoughts on using predefined searches in SS?

[loren_d_c]

First, the Al's Tools demo store is not using pre-defined searches, it is using JavaScript pull-downs that link directly to static .html pages created in ShopSite to contain that particular kind or brand of product. You can see how these pull-downs were created by looking at the source of the frame that contains the pull-downs (http://eval.shopsite.com/shopper/als/topnav.html), it's pretty simple JavaScript actually.

As far as misspellings causing shoppers not to find items, this is a good reason to add common misspellings for words your shoppers may try to use to find a specific product in that product's Search Keywords field (ShopSite Pro).

You can also keep track of your search performance via the Search Logging feature (Pro, v9 and newer, configured/enabled in Preferences -> Search Settings -> Search Logging) to see what search terms are most common and to see what search terms may not produce any results, then you will know what terms your shoppers are using and you can add those terms and misspellings for those products to the Search Keywords field for the products that you want to lead the shoppers to.

-Loren

[Jeff]

But Jay's method of launching predefined searches seems to work, right?

https://yoursiteurl/cgi-bin/sc/products ... reid=*your store id&search_field=your search term

----
Yep, we've worked hard to polish the text entry search keywords including misspellings and some typos so they work better.We can do that because we only have 200 products. I don't think many shoppers like to use text search forms because they've learned that most such forms aren't very useful. Most shoppers end up drilling down to their purchases. Only a small number of our visitors use our search boxes.

Go to sporting goods sites and look up "baseball" "baseballs" "base ball" " base bal" etc. Most sites return different results with each variation. A drop down works better.

[loren_d_c]

Yes, Jay's method does work. I was just clarifying that the pull-downs on the Al's Tools demo does not use the search feature at all.

-Loren