Progressively Decoupled React App powered by Drupal & Apache Solr
With a desire to ease the ability to reserve Omega’s in-person and online learning workshops through their website, we uncovered a means to improve conversions: enhance the user experience of search with React JS and Apache Solr. The end result: a faceted, snappy search application with spell-checking and auto-completion fed by two data sources embedded within Omega institute’s website that vastly improved conversions!
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Omega is a nonprofit, mission-driven, and donor-supported educational organization. For more than 40 years through innovative educational experiences that awaken the best in the human spirit, Omega has provided hope and healing for individuals and society.
Project highlights
React JS
Apache Solr
Progressive Decoupling
Data-driven decision making
The Objective
World-class workshops and educators are fundamental to why people come to Omega’s campuses and digital spaces. To provide an effective means for site visitors to quickly discover and reserve an experience through the website is paramount to their organizational success. After multiple projects in partnership with Savas to strengthen and streamline e-commerce, purchasing experiential learning through the website has become core to their business. One KPI that informs financial and organizational success is e-commerce conversion rate.
Our Approach
In our research, we learned the search page, though popular, had lagging conversion rates. The design and functionality was not taking advantage of the power of Apache Solr. Given Omega’s breadth of programming, we wanted to allow visitors to hone in on their interests across topics, locations, schedule, and teachers. Taking a progressively decoupled approach, we replaced the Drupal search view with an embedded React application that has an app-like feel, interfacing with the speedy Apache Solr content directly while also accessing Drupal’s more robust and editable metadata for each piece of content.
The Results
We delivered a best of both worlds user experience of blazing fast interaction coupled with the ability for richer features that website administrators can control. Visitors that use the improved search application converted better by 600% than those who didn’t! We made UI updates adjusting order and layout informed by usage patterns uncovered from exploring the analytics data. We have shared this progressively decoupled approach using React JS, Apache Solr and Drupal at multiple conferences.
The Details
| Client since | 2015 - present |
| Services provided | |
| Technologies used |
Laurie Hunt
Digital Marketing Director at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
The search application Savas built strikes the perfect balance of catering to our diverse audiences' specific interests while showcasing the breadth of all Omega has to offer. We love it.
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