Video Dev News // August 2020

by Georg Sorst | Aug 21, 2020

Video Dev News // August 2020

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Dev News // August 2020

Every few months our CTO Georg Sorst takes some time out of his busy schedule to show you some of the new features and technologies that our Development teams are currently working on or have released. Enjoy!

Filter Configuration

Our new Customer Backend now comes with a brand new filter configuration. With the filter configuration you can easily configure the look and feel of the search and category result filters. You can

Order filters to configure which filter should be displayed first, second and so on

Change the configuration of individual filters, such as the display name or filter type

Undo accidental changes

Disable or enable filters with a single click

Enhancements for Category Navigation

Another big focus was on improving the possibilities of what you can do with Findologic in the category navigation, and two more existing Merchandising features have been enhanced to support category navigation.

Promotions

You can now use Promotions to display banners on top of category pages, just like you can with the search results. With these banners you can direct your user’s attention to campaigns such as summer sales, new product releases or special landing pages.

You can use the same Promotion on search result and category pages, providing your users with a consistent shopping experience.

Product Placements

Another feature that has been enhanced to work with category navigation are Product Placements. Product Placements can be used to manually override Findologic’s ranking algorithm to pin certain products to the beginning of the search or category listing. This can be useful in cases where there is not enough information available to the ranking algorithm but the products need to be placed very prominently. One example could be brand new products.

Again, the same Product Placement can be used on search result and category pages for a consistent shopping experience.

Plugins

plentymarkets Ceres 5

Our plentymarkets Ceres plugin has been updated to support plentymarkets Ceres 5, the current major version of plentymarkets Ceres.

The Findologic plugin for plentymarkets Ceres 5 is available in the plentymarkets store and provides a full Plug&Play experience.

Shopware 6

Our Shopware plugin has been updated to support Shopware 6, the current major version of Shopware. Besides a full Plug&Play experience the latest version of the plugin provides a number of improvements:

Staging mode: For customers without a dedicated staging system the plugin can simply be installed into the productive system. Its integrated staging mode allows you to configure and test the plugin without affecting your live users. This works for both Direct Integrations and API integrations.
Configuration of Direct Integration containers: The required HTML containers for a Direct Integration can be configured in the Shopware backend, making a Direct Integration even less effortless.
Config validation: The Shopware backend validates the Findologic shopkey to prevent configuration errors.

The Findologic plugin for Shopware 6 is available in the Shopware store.

Georg Sorst

Georg Sorst is CTO at FINDOLOGIC GmbH and was the first permanent employee of the company. He helped build both the team and the product from scratch. He gained his IT industry expertise and experience over many years with companies such as IBM as well as various start-ups. As a frequent guest and lecturer at conferences and events he ensures he remains technically up-to-date. Georg is also a member of the Gesellschaft für Informatik. What fascinates him about FINDOLOGIC is the constant challenges posed by the e-commerce market, in particular search technologies with their rapid developments and trends.

Best statistics for ecommerce onsite search

by Gastautor | Jul 29, 2020

Best statistics for ecommerce onsite search

What are the best onsite search statistics?

Onsite search is a powerful feature when brands are creating omnichannel digital experiences that eCommerce companies shouldn’t overlook. When customers can easily find what they want on an eCommerce site, they’ll buy more and have a better customer experience.

For many eCommerce brands, an optimized onsite search option can dramatically impact the online store’s bottom line. With this in mind, we’ve compiled some key statistics brands should know about onsite search.

Improved Customer Experience

Customers want to find the products they’re interested in quickly and easily. AI-driven search capabilities that provide better results to users can make the shopping experience more enjoyable. A frustrating site search experience, however, can push customers to abandon your brand. According to a recent study, around 65% of consumers use searches on a retailer’s site for consideration and purchase. For eCommerce brands, therefore, getting site search right can positively impact the customer experience for the majority of site visitors.

More Data Insights

Site search can produce an enormous amount of data for marketing and sales teams to leverage later on because customers describe exactly what they’re looking for in a search query. Yet nearly 57% of companies don’t use site search data for their marketing programs. eCommerce brands should use site search data to improve future site search results, fuel their marketing strategies, and deliver a better customer experience.

Greater Conversions

According to eConsultancy, customers that use a site’s search feature convert on average 1.8 times more than other visitors. Site search users are more likely to place an order because they have a higher purchase intent and likely already know which products they’re interested in buying. Helping visitors search a store’s catalogue, therefore, can dramatically improve the site’s conversion rate.

Larger Orders

Research by Groove has found that the average order value (AOV) of buyers that use site search is 25-50% higher than normal. Site search users, therefore, are high-value customers, so it makes sense to reduce the friction of finding and purchasing products. Brands should ensure their onsite search bar is accessible and intuitive to use in order to encourage more frequent and larger orders.

Increased Revenue

For some brands, site search users could account for 40-80% of all online revenue, depending on the product category. Companies can optimize their site search further by upselling, cross-selling, or using other techniques to maximize the ROI of these visitors. Focusing on site visitors that generate the most revenue and ensuring they can quickly and easily find the products they want could dramatically improve a company’s bottom line.

Competitive Advantage

While there are enormous advantages to site search, 42% of companies have revealed that they don’t have anyone specifically responsible for it. That means putting in the effort to offer highly optimized site search can be an enormous competitive advantage for eCommerce brands.

Onsite search is a crucial element for creating an omnichannel commerce experience that sells. If eCommerce brands can optimize their site search feature for their audience, they can provide a much better customer experience and expect greater business results.

If you’re interested in other ways to enhance your digital experiences on your ecommerce site, feel free to visit to Styla.com.

Richard Buettner

Richard is heading the marketing at Styla. He has extensive experience in eCommerce/all things digital for 20 years. His mission is to never stop learning.

Video Dev News // March 2020

by Marcel Krabath | Mrz 26, 2020

Video Dev News // March 2020

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Dev News // March 2020

New JSON API

We recently launched our new JSON API, one of the most popular feature requests to improve integration of Findologic.

The main improvement over the existing XML API:

The XML API only includes the product IDs of the search results. This means that in order to display the search results on the website it is necessary to fetch additional data such as name, image and price from the database or ERP.

Now, with the new JSON API, all product data required to display search results is already included in the response. That way, the search results can be displayed right away without having to fetch additional data first. This simplifies the integration of Findologic and also improves the runtime performance so that your visitors enjoy an even faster search experience.

Even product attributes such as brand, available sizes and material can be included in the response. With this data you can for example show the different product variants to your visitors right on the search result page.

As JSON is the default protocol for Client-Side Frameworks such as Angular, React or Vue.js, our new JSON API is a great fit if your online store is a Single-Page Application (SPA). But of course, the JSON API can be used for traditional server-side integrations as well.

To get started visit our interactive JSON API documentation.

Status Quo Shopware 6 Plugin

Our Shopware 6 plugin already fully supports search and navigation results. Next up will be custom filters and navigation once Shopware makes them available for plugins..

Beta tests are by now up and running and initial results look great. If you are currently migrating to Shopware 6 or plan to in the near future, let us know!

Multiselect filters with result counts

Another very popular feature request is result counts for Multiselect filters.

Previously, result counts were not available for Multiselect filters so your visitors had no way of telling how many search results they would get if they select a filter option.

Now, result counts are also supported for Multiselect filters, just like they have always been for every other filter type.

In order to further improve the user experience we implemented a special handling if products have multiple values for the same filter, eg. product variants with different colors or sizes. In this case the displayed result count is the number of additional results if the product is selected. That way, your visitor can see right away if the filter would increase their selection.

You can enable the result count in the Customer-Login.

Georg Sorst

How to use artificial intelligence for your product listings?

by Marcel Krabath | Feb 5, 2020

Artificial intelligence in your online shop

Why understand the intent of your online shoppers?

The classic journey including the usage of your onsite search only responds one-to-one to keywords and displays results – without seeing the user’s behaviour, taking it into consideration or even making smart assumptions. Now, at the beginning of 2020, it seems that nothing changed the last 10 years within digital experience.

In computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes called machine intelligence or machine learning, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans. Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of “intelligent agents”: any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals.*[1] Colloquially, the term “artificial intelligence” is often used to describe machines (or computers) that mimic “cognitive” functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as “learning” and “problem solving”.
*[1] Russel & Norvig 2009

Online-shops get prepared to create a competitive edge. The correct understanding and smart usage of Artificial intelligence offers massive opportunities and will create game changers.
Following the slogan ‘understanding – implementing – scaling’ companies start small, gain first experiences and then become more and more familiar with the topic.

Use your momentum now!

As mentioned in the beginning, the classic “search” as we know it only responds one-to-one to keywords and lists hundreds of results – without understanding the user’s intent. For the user, it creates a highly frustrating shopping experience. How to overcome this?
We would like to introduce you to FINDOLOGIC Li.S.A.

Findologic Li.S.A.

Findologic Li.S.A., using latest data analytics and AI, reads your users intention and is able to deliver more meaningful results within skills. Depending on the vertical and the webshop’s positioning up to 5 intents and skills at the same time.
Li.S.A. pursues a fundamentally different approach. Li.S.A. enables you to offer your customers exactly what they are looking for online: The advice of someone who understands them.

Example and Status Quo in any fashion-shop:

Hundreds of unsorted results within one category.
Shirts. Scrolling for 40 seconds. Browsing page 2. Getting confused by more variants of colours, more available brands, new items, sale items. Unsorted. No guidance, nor digital help. Just several uninspiring options like filters for users to help themselves.
Does this really attract, or maintain customers in the near future? We don’t believe so.

Adding Intent Discovery & Skill with Findologic Li.S.A.:

Referring to the example here: Browsing intent recognition, offering a responsive skill guiding the helpless user, like a human sales person would do. The customer feels understood and well advised. This will create happy customers and happy customers will return and love your brand.

Marcel Krabath

Marcel Krabath ist Assistent des COO bei der Findologic GmbH. Er bildet die optimale Schnittstelle zwischen Marketing und Operativem Management. Zusätzlich recherchiert und gestaltet er Inhalte für Blog sowie Social Media und pflegt die firmeneigenen Social Media Kanäle um alle Kunden mit möglichst aktuellen Informationen zu versorgen. Sein Ziel ist es, dass die CI der Findologic GmbH gepflegt bleibt und der Inhalt aller Vertriebskanäle immer korrekt und aktuell ist.

Video Dev News // Dezember 2019

by Marcel Krabath | Dez 13, 2019

Video Dev News // Dezember 2019

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Shopware 5 Integration von FINDOLOGIC direkt im Live-System dank Staging-Modus

Für die API Integration von FINDOLOGIC in Shopware 5 war bisher zwingend ein Staging-System notwendig, da die normalen Besucher sonst die möglicherweise noch nicht fertig integrierte Suche und Navigation von FINDOLOGIC zu Gesicht bekommen hätten. Mit der aktuellen Version des FINDOLOGIC Shopware 5 Plugins ist die Integration direkt ins Live-System möglich.

Dies ist so gelöst, dass für Ihre normalen Besucher FINDOLOGIC komplett inaktiv ist – es kommt also die reguläre Shopware-Suche, -Navigation etc. zum Einsatz. Wenn Sie dagegen den Shop mit dem speziellen Parameter “/?findologic=on” aufrufen, ist FINDOLOGIC für diesen Browser aktiv. So können Sie die Integration in Ruhe testen, bis alles für den Live-Betrieb vorbereitet ist.

FINDOLOGIC mit Shopware 5.6 kompatibel

Anfang Oktober ist mit Shopware 5.6 die aktuelle Version von Shopware 5 erschienen. Natürlich ist auch das FINDOLOGIC Shopware Plugin mit dieser Version von Beginn an kompatibel.

FINDOLOGIC Shopware 6 Plugin: Beta-Tester gesucht

Auch die Arbeit an unserem Shopware 6 Plugin schreitet gut voran – JavaScript Snippet und Export funktionieren unter Laborbedingungen bereits gut, und auch die Integration der der Such- und Navigations-API macht große Fortschritte.

Um die Qualität des Plugins auch unter echten Bedingungen zu gewährleisten suchen wir nun Beta-Tester. Betreuen Sie als Agentur bereits ein Shopware 5 Kundenprojekt mit FINDOLOGIC, egal ob Direct Integration oder API, und planen das Update auf Shopware 6? Gerne würde wir Ihnen das Shopware 6 Plugin zum Testen zur Verfügung stellen und auf Ihr Feedback zurückgreifen. Bei Interesse kontaktieren Sie bitte Ihren Partnermanager!

Vollständige Unterstützung der Filterkonfiguration in plentymarkets Ceres

Im FINDOLOGIC Kundenaccount können die Filter für Suche und Navigation komfortabel konfiguriert werden. Sämtliche Optionen in der Filterkonfiguration werden nun auch im aktuellen FINDOLOGIC Plugin für plentymarkets Ceres unterstützt. So ist es mit wenigen Klicks möglich, z.B. die Reihenfolge der Filter, die Unterscheidung zwischen Haupt- und weiteren Filtern, den Platzhalter-Text oder zusätzliche CSS-Klassen zu konfigurieren.

Top-Suchvorschläge in der Mobile Smart Suggest schon beim ersten Klick

Mobilgeräte sind im E-Commerce nicht mehr wegzudenken und dienen zunehmend nicht nur zur Recherche, sondern auch zum Kauf. Aufgrund der begrenzten Ein- und Ausgabemöglichkeiten lassen sich bekannte Bedienkonzepte aber nicht einfach vom Desktop übertragen. Insbesondere ist das Tippen auf der virtuellen Tastatur oft mühselig.

Um die Suche für Ihre Kunden möglichst komfortabel zu gestalten, werden in der FINDOLOGIC Mobile Smart Suggest schon beim ersten Klick in das Suchfeld, ohne zu Tippen, die beliebtesten Suchbegriffe vorgeschlagen und können mit einem weiteren Klick direkt ausgewählt oder zum Verfeinern übernommen werden. Insbesondere bei markenaffinen Besuchern kann dies Tipparbeit sparen und Ihre Kunden noch schneller zum passenden Produkt führen.

Der neue FINDOLOGIC-Kundenaccount

Ein weiteres wichtiges Projekt geht mit großen Schritten voran: der neue FINDOLOGIC-Kundenaccount. Besonderes Augenmerk haben wir hier darauf gelegt, dass regelmäßige Aufgaben komfortabler als bisher durchgeführt werden können. So ist das Erstellen, Aktivieren und Editieren von Merchandising Features möglich, ohne dafür die Seite zu wechseln.

Georg Sorst

Georg Sorst ist CTO der FINDOLOGIC GmbH und hat Team und Produkt als erster fester Mitarbeiter von den Anfangstagen an mit aufgebaut. Seine langjährige Erfahrung in der IT-Industrie hat er sowohl bei Konzernen wie IBM als auch bei verschiedenen Start-Ups gesammelt. Als häufiger Gast und Vortragender auf Meetups, Barcamps und Konferenzen ist er technisch stets up-to-date und vergisst als Mitglied der Gesellschaft für Informatik auch den akademischen Unterbau nicht. An FINDOLOGIC reizen ihn besonders die konstanten Herausforderungen, die der E-Commerce Markt und insbesondere Suchtechnologien mit ihren rasanten Weiterentwicklungen und Trends mit sich bringen.

5 strategies to improve your site search solutions

by Marcel Krabath | Dez 10, 2019

5 strategies to improve your site search solutions

Customers’ expectations nowadays are so high that even if you have an effective site search solution in place, you will always find the need to update and improve it regularly. You have the giant internet search engines to thank for raising expectations to the roof.

It could be that you’re putting much effort into your paid and organic search campaigns to attract visitors to your website. You’re probably doing everything to direct them to your content that is relevant to their queries. Unfortunately, there are still times when they don’t land in the right place, or they may need more information. If your site search tool isn’t functioning well, your visitors will quickly abandon you for another better site.

A study published by MarketingCharts show that the top six biggest frustrations with retail site search include irrelevant product results, cannot find the products they are searching for, the search function does not recognize the word that the visitor used, takes too long to load, bad interface, and no product images. These are areas that you need to improve with regards to your site search tool.

Your site search solution needs to evolve continually to satisfy the increasing expectations of your consumers. It should do far more than merely generating a search engine list.

Below are a few strategies to improve your site search solutions:

1. Integrate your current system with analytics tools

Analytics can help you understand the areas where you need to direct your efforts to optimize your website and business. The best site search tools enable integration with different analytics tools like Coremetrics, Omniture, and Google Analytics. You may take advantage of these tools to identify your customers’ average order size and compare conversion rates for users and non-site search users.
Multivariate testing is another way to boost your site search performance. This enables you to measure the results of various changes to different facets of your website search. You may, for instance, track how particular site search results page changes, such as changing the search layout, weaken or strengthen your conversion rate.

2. Customize your features accordingly

You should tailor your site search solution based on the unique search requirements of your company, including those that may come up in the future. Recently, there is a growing trend of websites using video content in a site search. Many find it beneficial, and hence, it must be something you’d like to consider adopting. Data from Statista show that more than 8 in 10 of all web users in the U.S. watch online video content monthly on any device.
Another simple yet very effective way to improve your site search tool is to customize the colors. A lot of web designers are opting for minimalist and clean designs. Using a muted color palette is a simple way to do so. The problem, though, is that while it seems appealing, it makes it difficult for vital aspects of standing out. As an alternative, you may use the accent color of your brand and put a bold border around the search bar.

A lot of designs also utilize a search button to the entry field’s right corner. You may use your brand’s accent color again to make the entire interface easier to spot. Button colors and bold borders help improve search usage.

Furthermore, consider integrating the best grammar checker software solutions to ensure that content are in perfect English.

Make sure your vendor is continually finding ways to innovate. It should not get too comfortable but should always have something new to offer to improve the usefulness and efficiency of their site search solutions for your business.

3. Repurpose data from search

Your site search function must do much more than assist your visitors to find the items they are looking for. You can also use the data from the site search to improve your customer experience in multiple ways. With the use of your site search pages, you may, for instance, easily create landing pages aimed at a particular search term on a paid search.

Moreover, you may also use search data to enhance your SEO campaigns. The items that visitors clicked on, keywords, and other site search activity can help you identify the terms you have to optimize your pages for, including what products to present your visitors on landing pages.
Another excellent way to get site searches onto the right pages is through managing redirects. In some industries, for instance, it is usual for consumers to use brand names for search. Searches for “Converse,” for example, is very common in apparel. Such a search will merely load a list of all products containing the brand name in their information fields. One of the best things for you to do is to create a customized brand page to help your users get onto the right set of products.
This strategy can also be used for any site search that takes users to irrelevant pages. In case your search engine is unable to support content searches, you may manage your redirects to bring consumers to your ‘contact us,’ ‘shipping,’ and ‘policy pages’ when they input those search terms.

4. Place your promotional banners on search results pages

One crucial factor you need to consider when looking for a site search solution is the degree of control it provides you to promote your products via search. Make use of the valued real estate on your search pages to improve your communications with your customers and attract their interest to your products or services. Adjust the position of your items accordingly.

5. Choose a hosted search provider

Unless you have the resources to run and maintain your site search, the best option is to choose a site search vendor that offers search as a hosted service (SaaS). This system provides you with a means to keep your site search tool up and running without the need for extensive training or installation time. Furthermore, it does not require software upgrades or ongoing maintenance.

Remember that even if you have the best site search tools, it may fall apart when not deployed or maintained appropriately.

Should you invest in an advanced site search solution?

To draw more visitors to your site, an effective site search along with intuitive navigation is a must-have. However, website search tools available in the market are not built alike. A second-rate site search experience will only turn off prospects and keep them from coming back. A slow search, irrelevant results, and spelling-error filled content are unacceptable to discerning consumers.

On the contrary, an effective and robust site search tool can do much more than help your visitors find information. It must also help you with your business and site optimization efforts, including paid search and SEO.

Look for the right site search solution that will meet or even exceed your customers’ expectations. As customers’ expectations continue to grow, relieving yourself from worrying whether or not your site search can meet the demands for relevant results at the fastest time possible makes a lot of difference. A useful site search solution must enable you greater control and flexibility to do the things you want with your site search. At the same time, it should provide you with the assurance that the search needs of your customers are properly taken care of. Any market advantage is welcome in a competitive online environment.

Marcel Krabath Marcel Krabath ist Assistent des COO bei der FINDOLOGIC GmbH. Er bildet die optimale Schnittstelle zwischen Marketing und Operativem Management. Zusätzlich recherchiert und gestaltet er Inhalte für Blog sowie Social Media und pflegt die firmeneigenen Social Media Kanäle um alle Kunden mit möglichst aktuellen Informationen zu versorgen. Sein Ziel ist es, dass die CI der FINDOLOGIC GmbH gepflegt bleibt und der Inhalt aller Vertriebskanäle immer korrekt und aktuell ist.

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