It’s a well-known fact that consumers cringe when they see a website that looks like it was built in the ’80s, has flashy neon colors, or features fonts in blinking red and white (my eyes hurt just thinking about it). All of these factors will make even the most resolute consumers turn away. Here is an element that maybe isn’t as obvious, but, as a copywriter, it has the same effect for me: lack of an on-site search box. Do you also hear the nails on the chalkboard?

Some may scoff and say, “With a well-built website, all consumers should be able to navigate and find what they need. Not all websites need a search box.”

My rebuttal?

1. These advertisers only want to advertise to consumers who know who they are, not consumers who only know what they need or have no brand loyalty.
2. This assumes that a consumer is always coming to the website and landing on the home page. If that were the case, maybe the site wouldn’t be too hard to navigate, unless there is industry lingo.
3. Industry lingo: Any company that thinks it is being clever by disguising products and services with fancy names or updated descriptions (e.g., calling a mirror a “reflection platform”) is only doing a disservice to its business.

Those are just a few reasons why every website should have a search box. In Mike Flanagan’s latest Adotas article, On-Site Search: The Other White Meat, he goes over the ways in which advertisers can go about implementing a search box, as well as some other examples of why advertisers may see a need for one. Basically, it all boils down to this: You may not be able to change your consumers’ ways, but you can change your own.