search sense interactive fuzzy search (venture lab 2012)

SearchSense Interactive Fuzzy SearchSolution for Making Site Search Usable

Venture Lab 2012

Agenda

SearchSense Team

The Market

Problem

Impact

SearchSense Business Proposition

Business Proposition Hypothesis

Experiment

Hypothesis Results

Demo

User Behavior Adaptation

SearchSense Team

Naveen Grover (Team Lead) naveengrover2000@gmail.com

Hery Zo Rakotondramanana heryzo@gmail.com

Lokesh KUMAR email.lokesh.kumar@gmail.com

Sonya Fox sonya.fox@gmail.com

Lem Griffin lemuel.griffin@gmail.com

Kamal Pasha Shaikh shaikhkamal@gmail.com

Samir Carecho digiwise@gmail.com

Jonathan Tanner ronin@ronindesign.net

The Market | Non Search Engine Market

Source: comScore qSearch 2.0; “Search Engines” defined as properties falling under the Search/Navigation category in qSearch , January 2011

Although Search Engines Are Still the Major Players, Search Isn’t Confined to the Engines AnymoreSite search (non-search engine search) continues to show growth, but still represents a smaller percentage of overall searches.

The Market | Long Tail of Search

Addressing discoverability Seventy percent of queries in commercial searches are “long tail” queries, the sheer magnitude of which defies the labor-intensive efforts used for “head” terms.http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail

The Market | Smart Phone Local Search and Buying Behavior

Source : 5th Annual 15miles/Localeze Local Search Usage Study Conducted by comScore February, 2012

The Market | Primary Source for Local Business Information

Consumers utilize multiple media sources when conducting a local search.

15miles/comScore Local Search Usage Study, 2010

The Market | Reasons for Dissatisfaction

Local Business Information Provided

Source: 15miles/comScore Local Search Usage Study, 2010

The Market | Site Search & Shopping Behavior

Source : The Value of Retail Search and Position Conducted by comScore Sponsored by Searchandise Commerce and iProspect July 2010

The Market | User Behaviors - Number of Clicks

The Value of Retail Search and Position Conducted by comScore Sponsored by Searchandise Commerce and iProspect July 2010

The Market | Site Search Page Perception of Top Section

Source : The Value of Retail Search and Position Conducted by comScore Sponsored by Searchandise Commerce and iProspect July 2010

Problem | The Predicament

From bad to worse – a small problem takes the user way off track

Source : India famous IndiaTimes Shopping Site , http://shopping.indiatimes.com/ Accessed 18 May 2012

Problem | The Predicament

People DatabaseBrad PittForest WhittackerGeorge BushAngelina JolieArnold Schwarzeneger………

Queries against collection:Find all entries for “Forrest Whitaker”Find all entries for “Arnold Schwarzenegger”Find all entries for “Brittany Spears”

OR

Problem | The Predicament

* Source www.google.com/jobs/britney.html

Actual queries gathered by Google*

Search ProblemCorrect Spelling 488941

Incorrect Spelling 146258

% of Problem 30%

Errors in queries

Errors in data

Search - Bring query and meaningful results closer together

Problem | The Predicament

Search failure isn’t pretty…

There is only one right way to search, but many wrong way

… Which side you are !!!

From bad to worse – a small problem takes the user way off track

Problem | The Predicament

Does this sound familiar?

It’s either all or nothing - zero results or thousands

Your site statistics show that many users try a few searches then exit the site without any other action.

In an online store, visitors frequently do not find what they are looking for, even when the item is available. The problem is usually caused by the eCommerce on-site search.

Users who found something useful by browsing on a previous visit can’t find it again when they return and use search. They are especially frustrated because they know the page exists.

Problem | Impact

eCommerce Site Search - the impact of negative search experiences Poor search = lost revenue Users who conduct site searches are almost three times more likely to purchase something

while visiting a site – (WebSideStory study) Users who had SUCCESSFUL site searches are twice as likely to convert (Enlighten study) Half of all add-to-cart actions happened after a search. (Enlighten study) Users who had NULL-RESULTS site searches were three times as likely to leave (Enlighten

study) Estimate - Up to 20% of the gains in user experience during a site redesign can be attributed to

search improvements – “Laura Ramos of Forrester” Alternative Search Properties - Apple moves into the top five with 120% intensity growth and

14% searcher growth over the past year. eBay leads with 855MM searches and 19.0 searches per searcher in January 2011; Facebook.com has the largest number of searchers (65MM).(comScore qSearch State of Search, January 2011)

Site features and overall site performance strongly affect online shopper loyalty. Online shoppers also look for rich product content, with 67% of online consumers finding this important, while 60% of consumers demand an effective site search. (August 17, 2009 eCommerce Web Site Performance Today An Updated Look At Consumer Reaction To A Poor Online Shopping Experience A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Akamai Technologies, Inc.)

SearchSense Business Proposition

SearchSense fill the “linguistic gap”, which improve the “Findability”. It simply turns more of site visitors into buyers which means higher conversion rate,

larger orders and higher revenue.

Business Proposition Hypothesis

We have tested our Value Proposition for the following Hypothesis

HA 1: Reduction of Failed Searches

“Subjects using the SearchSense models will initiate fewer searches that fail to return an acceptable selection than subjects using any other search tool.”

HA 2: Reduction of Search Refinements

“Subjects using the SearchSense models will require fewer search refinements to locate the intended result items than subjects using any other search tool.”

HA 3: Reduction of Search Time

“Subjects using the SearchSense will take less time to complete the assigned searches than subjects using any other search tool.”

HA 4: No Significant Negative Impact on Precision

“Subjects using the SearchSense will not receive significantly more search results than subjects using any other search tool.”

Experiment

The primary research objective, to measure the effect of SearchSense, is accomplished by conducting an experiment in which a demo of SearchSense system (minimum viable product version) is provided to group of human subjects and observation being made and verbal feedback is collected to evaluate the performance of SearchSense system. Subject is asked to perform the same misspell search (linguistic problem) to other publicly available search system as well e.g. http://shopping.indiatimes.com to compare the results

Hypothesis HA 1: Reduction of Failed Searches

HA 1: Reduction of Failed Searches

“Subjects using the SearchSense models will initiate fewer searches that fail to return an acceptable selection than subjects using any other search tool.”

Result

Analysis of the observation results demonstrates that for subjects using SearchSense system, the relevant results are shown even when subject misspell due to linguistic problem than subjects using any other publicly available search system e.g. http://shopping.indiatimes.com.

Hypothesis HA 2: Reduction of Search Refinements

HA 2: Reduction of Search Refinements

“Subjects using the SearchSense models will require fewer search refinements to locate the intended result items than subjects using any other search tool.”

Result

Analysis of the observation results demonstrates that for subjects using SearchSense system, the relevant results are shown even when subject misspell due to linguistic problem hence subject would require fewer search refinements to locate the intended result items than subjects using any other publicly available search system e.g. http://shopping.indiatimes.com.

Hypothesis HA 3: Reduction of Search Time

HA 3: Reduction of Search Time

“Subjects using the SearchSense will take less time to complete the assigned searches than subjects using any other search tool.”

Result

Analysis of the observation results demonstrates that for subjects using SearchSense system, the relevant results are shown even when subject misspell due to linguistic problem hence subject would require fewer search refinements to locate the intended result items than subjects using any other publicly available search system e.g. http://shopping.indiatimes.com , which causes reduction in search time per identified search term.

Hypothesis HA 4: No Significant Negative Impact on Precision

HA 4: No Significant Negative Impact on Precision

“Subjects using the SearchSense will not receive significantly more search results than subjects using any other search tool.”

Result

We were unable to test this hypothesis as no publicly data available against which we can test our hypothesis.

Demo | SearchSense

Search Suggestion can be turned off

Relevant Category and Product First

One Text Box for Category or Product

Last Search Items Shown

Search Suggest Can be turned off

Products Listing

Products Category

Product or Category

User Behavior Adaptation

Adoption is ramping up quickly, but Instant is still only engaged on approximately 22% of queries

Source : comScore qSearch State of Search, January 2011

User Behavior AdaptationInstant appears to be driving users toward shorter queries

Instant is clearly reducing users’ workload, but it’s also shortening the average query

Source : comScore qSearch State of Search, January 2011

Thank You!

For more information please email naveengrover2000@gmail.com