Humanising the Search Experience, with Empathy.co

Search Experience

Retailers are expected to know what consumers want, when they want it, and immediately provide it. More than ever, people are turning to brands they trust and a digital dialogue that helps them feel understood. Brands need to provide an online search experience that provokes a rich contextual dialogue, guiding customers in a conversational experience as they shop. 

But what is the best way to do this? Empathy.co has the answer.

typeless search key

Understanding Shoppers’ Intent while Respecting their Privacy

Empathy.co maps customer queries collectively and anonymously, without tracking shoppers or storing any personally identifiable information.

Their privacy-first approach uses the wisdom of the crowd to help customers seamlessly explore and discover new products.

But how can brands maximise their search experience while helping shoppers find what they want effortlessly? Empathy Platform empowers brands to build an effective, trustworthy Search and Discovery experience with several key elements:

search elements

Type-ahead suggestions

Trending searches appear as suggestions in the search box as customers begin typing, displaying different options and possibilities, eliminating the need to search for them directly.

Descriptive keywords that compliment and enhance the search experience provide highly relevant results. These tags appear only after the search process is complete along with the results, providing additional information for a more precise search.

Empathy.co’s advanced tooling allows merchandisers to customise tags generated from search trends and popular products. According to their data, ‘one out of three shoppers who don’t see what they’re looking for at first glance choose Related Tags to narrow the search and the total number of results.’

Visual filters

Give additional resources to inspire customers and visually contextualise the catalogue and latest trends in the decision-making process. These can include icons representing colours, shapes, categories, etc.

Optimising the Search Journey by Anticipating Shoppers’ Next Intent

Navigational aids take customers on an emotional journey and entertain them as a sales associate would in a physical store. They prioritise product trends and bestsellers based on actual shopping experiences.

navigation search

How can we make the search experience understand shoppers while respecting and preserving their privacy and anonymity?

Empathy.co tools help determine the intent-purchase relationship by analysing the shopping practices with anonymous, combined information. These mapped relationships help predict intent behaviour while respecting shoppers’ privacy.

purchase relationship

Search is a dialogue based on peoples’ needs, wants and inspirations, and the approach to fulfilling these desires. Empathy.co presents two features that make way for an empathetic and efficient search experience.

My history feature

Created to help shoppers access their previous intents and searches while addressing user privacy. 
By locally storing history queries on the shopper’s device, it serves as an extension of their memory during the shopping experience, giving shoppers complete control over their data. Thanks to this tool, retailers can provide an entirely consentless search experience.

Next queries feature

Designed to give the shopper a discovery experience that flows. This feature launches new search possibilities through a collection of queries generated through collaborative filtering and machine learning processes after the search is performed, without needing to type.

With this tool, you can review the organic next queries generated and choose whether you wish to show or hide them. You can also create curated next queries that respond to marketing strategies and change the order in which these appear.

Overall, this typeless dialogue makes for a relaxed journey with intuitive and seamless decision-making.

search discovery

These elements keep the shopper entertained and informed, helping them feel understood while their privacy is protected. Most importantly, typeless search experiences make the discovery process in online shopping more human. 

Learn more about typeless Search and Discovery in Empathy.co’s free ebook, and request a demo to see how Empathy Platform can build confidence in your brand through expressive, joyful journeys in your shop.

Image credit: Cristian Pintos

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ECN Team
E-Commerce Nation is The 1st B2B Web Media about E-Commerce in Europe. The team of E-Commerce Explorers help businesses to reach new potential market through delivering useful content. Let us know in comment if you enjoyed this content.