Make Members Easier to Find With Engaging Search Results
When searching within a directory, the results must display the listing information clearly and make it effortless for visitors to find the listing they need. In this post, we’re looking at the features built into search results in person and organization-based directories. Specifically, we’ll dive into how to use and customize the map to emphasize location, highlight special offers, and make featured listings stand out more. All of this is designed to make it easy for site visitors to connect with members directly from the directory search results.
Easily Connect with Members From the Search Results
Right from the search results, visitors can connect with the member in a number of ways.
Connect with Multiple Members at Once
Using the “My List” feature, visitors can save listings to a list with a single click. This will generate a customized list of saved people or organizations to easily connect with the members on their list.
From the list, visitors can do the following if enabled:
- Contact everyone on the list
- Email the list to themselves
- Print the list
Contact a Single Member
From the search results, if there is a single member that a visitor wants to connect with, they can easily do so by
- Clicking the envelope icon to email the member right from your directory
- Built-in security means the member’s email address is never exposed and cannot be found by a bot crawling through your directory
- Built-in reCAPTCHA to prevents automated bots and spam
- Clicking the phone number to call the member in a single click on mobile devices, perfect for on the go
Location Matters: Pins on the Map
The map is designed to visually encourage visitors to locate a person or organization based on their location on the interactive map. There are various features of the map including the following three:
- Customize the Colors of the Pins
- The color of the map pins can be customized to match your website colors and highlight listings to really stand out on the map. You can customize the colors of the pins for standard listings, sponsored listings, and featured listings.
- The color of the map pins can be customized to match your website colors and highlight listings to really stand out on the map. You can customize the colors of the pins for standard listings, sponsored listings, and featured listings.
- Directions “To Here” and “From Here”
- A quick “To Here” and “From Here” option appears to allow the visitor to find the directions to the member’s location using Google Maps in a single click.
- A quick “To Here” and “From Here” option appears to allow the visitor to find the directions to the member’s location using Google Maps in a single click.
- Define Who is Promoted in the Map
- Using the directory layouts (click here to read all about the layouts feature), you can define which membership level will display on the map in the search results, allowing you to provide more benefits to higher-paying members.
- Link to the Layouts post
In the video below, we preview all three features above
Featured Listings Stand Out More
You may have specific listings to highlight that need to stand out from the other listings in the search results. Featured Listings allows specific listings to display with a distinctive background color, icon, and label.
You have the ability to customize the icon to best fit your membership and website design.
Click image to enlarge
Highlighting Member Special Offers
Members can display promotions as special offers for their services which can encourage visitors to contact them.
The special offers are prominently displayed within the results with a different background. For example, a bank that is offering a promotion for new customers that open an account with them.
Remember, you can place a list of your member’s “Special Offers” anywhere on your site with a special offer feed!
Click image to enlarge
Full Preview of Search Results
Person Listings
Tying everything together, below is a preview of a person-based listing.
Click image to enlarge
Organization Listings
Tying everything together, below is a preview of a person-based listing.
Click image to enlarge
What’s Coming Next?
The “Intuitive & Visitor Friendly Filtering” post will drop on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, so keep an eye on your inbox!
To be informed when Membee’s new directory is released, follow our announcements and release notes found below:
Got Questions?
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact our client services team at support@membee.com!