MagnetStreet, an online retailer of personalized save-the-date items and wedding invitations, has four distinct lines of business: one for real estate agents and general businesses, one for schools, one for brides-to-be and one for general consumers. As such, the company has distinct product lines for each business segment, which previously posed significant challenges in how MagnetStreet handled the different lines in its site search. Ultimately, MagnetStreet turned to us for help.

The solution we created, which has worked well for MagnetStreet and its customers, is to deliver search results with separate tabs for each distinct market, so brides-to-be aren’t seeing items geared towards real estate agents or school teachers in their results. If you go to www.magnetstreet.com and do a search for “save the date” you’ll see what I mean. Across the top of results are tabs for “All,” “Weddings,” “Business,” “Life Moments” and “Schools” – making it very easy to view the type of products you’re uniquely interested in. Results can also be refined by style, color, theme, product type and more – to streamline the search experience even further.

The results are telling. MagnetStreet’s analytics show that people who use the search box on the site convert at nearly double the rate of those who don’t, and twice as many site visitors now use search than they did previously. Additionally, visitors using site search view more than twice the number of pages per visit than visitors who don’t, and also spend slightly more per visit than shoppers who don’t search.

So, back to the original question – should separate lines of business have their own site search? The answer is: not necessarily – You can create one site search for the whole company, and offer separate tabs for each line of business. That will give you brand consistency across your different business lines, and also only one technology to maintain. As one of my friends once told me: “Sure, I could buy a boat with two engines instead of one, an go faster, but that will give me two things to maintain, instead of one.” So, words to the wise: keep it simple, and keep it consistent. For MagnetStreet, that approach has worked well.

Multichannel Merchant announced today the finalists for its 2011 MCM Awards, which recognized the top multichannel retail sites across a number of vertical industries.

Given the critical role that site search and navigation play in the overall visitor experience on an e-retail site and their impact on sales and conversions, we were more than a little excited to see several of our customers ranked among the finalists, including: Envelopes.com (Business Specialty Products), Century Novelty (Consumer Specialty Products, Sales Under $20 Million), Folica (Consumer Specialty Products, Sales Over $20 Million), Miles Kimball (General Merchandise), Harry and David (Gifts, Sales Over $20 Million) and The Pond Guy (Home, Hardware and Gardening Products).

The winners will be announced May 4. Good luck to all the finalists!

I’m finding that more and more, consumers are attracted by solutions that seamlessly blend their online and offline shopping experiences. Although consumers are becoming more appreciative of the speed and convenience of mobile shopping, they have still retained their favorite browsing habits: walking in a mall, flipping through catalogue pages, or website browsing. As part of this, retailers need to offer their consumers an effective, consistent way to search for and find products and information no matter where they are.

Consumers also like to research products before they make a purchase, so blending social media content (Twitter and Facebook posts for example) with product information on your site is useful. Providing localized information, such as a list of nearby stores that carry the product and whether it’s in stock or on back-order on your mobile site is important. Special promotions your store might be offering, and similar products shoppers might be interested in, based on what others have clicked on when searching with the same keywords should also be considered.

When searching on mobile devices, customers are hunting for product information or deals on specific products. They’re typically on the go and not able to spend a lot of time browsing a mobile website for a variety of products. And they might actually be searching on a mobile device from within a store. So make it easy for them to find sale information, product availability, and user ratings so they can quickly find the information they’re looking for and convert.

As you take steps to blend the online and offline experience for your customers, keep in mind the important role search plays in guiding your customers to the products and information they want and need, quickly.