Visual search
Visual search can really enhance shopping experience. By just taking a photo or uploading one of the items your customers are interested in, they will can search for visually similar products. Implementing visual search can connect online and offline shopping and the path from search to conversion may get shorter. Customers will be more willing to make a purchase when finding items is easier. Combining this with functionalities such as query rules, ranking may bring your business some serious benefits, and take the search experience to another level.
This use case describes the process of creating an index for a visual search engine and further step you should take to implement it on your website, including ideas on how you can upgrade it for an even better search experience.
Prerequisites
Create an index
We will configure an index for AI search and the settings for how it will work - this is the place for adding proper rules, ranking settings, returned attributes, and so on. Later, this index will be used during the implementation of the search - in the application or on the website.
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Go to
AI Search > Indexes. -
Click Add index.
Result: The index creation screen opens. -
In the Index name field, type a meaningful name of the index.
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From the Choose catalog dropdown list, select an item catalog to use as the source for the search results.
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From the Choose search engine language dropdown, select the language of your search engine.
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Optionally, to display unavailable items in the search results, enable the Include out of stock items option.
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Click Next step.
New index configuration -
In the Add response attributes section, you can add response attributes that will be available in the search result.
Note: Only attributes defined in this section will be available in the search response. We recommend adding attributes that will be needed to display the returned product tiles, such as image, product title, link to the product, price and others, according to your business needs.
Example of response attributes -
Skip the Add searchable attributes section.
In visual search, the uploaded image is treated as the attribute for the search. -
Click Next step.
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Optional: Add filterable attributes.
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Optional: Add facetable attributes.
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Click Next step.
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Optional: Define how much Page views, Item purchases, and Personalization will impact the order of search results, according to your business needs.
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Click Complete. Result: Your index is configured, now you can use the Preview tab to test the if the results meet your expectations.
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Optional: You can edit your index by creating rules, as well as, defining ranking.
What’s next
Once you set up AI search, you can use it in various channels. For example, you can incorporate it into a website with dynamic content. Alternatively, you can implement it as a feature in a mobile app or use it in an in-app message. In order to get the visual search results, you need to use the dedicated API method.
In our demo workspace, we have prepared a ready-made implementation of visual search, from which you can take inspiration when it comes to implementing it in your own shop. Check out an example visual search in our demo shop.
Check the use case set up on the Synerise Demo workspace
You can check the index configuration directly in Synerise Demo workspace. If you don’t have access to the Synerise Demo workspace, please leave your contact details in this form, and our representative will contact you shortly.
