Palmer Johnson Power Systems

Multisite Search with Craft and Algolia

Challenge

With a large marketing website on Craft CMS and an even larger one on Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Palmer Johnson Power Systems was wrestling with how to deliver a seamless experience to customers searching for parts.

Solution

Using a pair of Algolia indices, one from each site, we ran two searches in parallel. The first returned Craft CMS marketing site content, while the second scanned the parts index for a match – offering a link to the commerce site if found.

Pjpower product search 2x

Two Different Platforms. One Integrated Experience.
 

With two large websites – one optimized for marketing, the other for inventory and commerce – Palmer Johnson wanted to craft an integrated search experience. Too many product number keyword searches were coming up empty.

Our improved search feature originally included:

  • A custom Craft plugin to import a CSV list of more than 500,000 parts in inventory
  • A custom elements table to store the imported product records
  • Running both searches in parallel, with conditional CTAs
  • Nudging users to enter complete part numbers when applicable, and visit the e-commerce site if found

The above solution was later replaced by a second Algolia parts index, managed by the client. With basic access to the contents of the second index, we were able to replace the CSV import with real-time inventory data.

Over the two-year span prior to the relaunch, users searched for 9,400 different keywords – 82% of which were specific part numbers. Many had results, but none were directly purchasable. With the new search feature, one in four part searches drives customers to a purchasable e-commerce product.
 

Have you outgrown your web designer?

We build custom websites for brands determined to take the lead, not copy their competitors. No generic themes or bloated plugins. Just purpose-built strategy, clean design, and modern systems that scale.

Let's Talk

Just have questions? Email Matt Everson