As much as we like to promote natural language long-tail searches here at EasyAsk, the unfortunate reality of the e-commerce market is that Google (and others) have taught us to search wrong. Many visitors go to a web store and do what I call SSTN – simple search then navigation.
But what if your site has many thousands of SKUs or Items? What if your site carries many of the same product, but in different sizes, composition, color or brand? A simple search could return hundreds of undifferentiated products that leave the visitor with the daunting task of sifting through those many results just to find the item they are looking for. How quickly will they abandon the site? I’d bet on 3 seconds or less.
Luckily there are techniques that can help you reduce the “search result overload” on your visitors. We call it SKU processing. Let’s show you how it works by looking at the e-commerce site for Travers Tools. A very common search in their business is – “titanium drill bits.” So if we do this search on we get:
Travers only returns 23 products, even though they have thousands of different titanium drill bits. EasyAsk allowed Travers to group all the SKUs (or items) for each product into blocks. The blocks are organized such that the visitor can choose a particular drill bit style, drill down, and then select the specific SKU based on size, length, etc. (see below) This organization makes it easier for the visitor to choose the right product, providing a better customer experience.
If you go to many other hardware and tool retail sites, you will get hundreds of results for “titanium drill bits”, making it incredibly hard for the visitor to then find the ones they really want. And if we look at the products, many of them are the same. They are just different sizes and lengths.
But wait, there’s more. What if the search is more of a long tail search? In this case there might be a length – ¼” titanium drill bits. EasyAsk will produce similar first level results as the above example – product blocks or groupings (see the first image below).
But when you drill down to a product (look at the second image below), EasyAsk carries forward the length from the search, showing specific SKUs for ¼” bits.
In this case, EasyAsk remembered the “context” of the visitors search and carried that forward to the product drill down. This again simplifies the buying process for the visitor, leading the customer directly to the product they were seeking.
Carrying forward the context is one of the hidden beauties of EasyAsk natural language search. SKU processing, search result simplification and context carry-forward is something you can and should take advantage of to improve customer conversion and customer experience.
We at EasyAsk will be very busy at the upcoming NetSuite SuiteWorld 2012 event next week in San Francisco. At this event we will be showing our eCommerce Edition for NetSuite and Business Edition for NetSuite. In addition, we will be unveiling a new EasyAsk Quiri solution for NetSuite (look out for the news on that!). Click here for more information on what we will be showing for e-commerce customers.
In the past year and a half, our e-commerce business on NetSuite has grown dramatically. As our news note said, we now have dozens of customers in a variety of industries and retail sectors. Each has seen substantial increases in customer conversion rates and order sizes after implementing EasyAsk. And our team has worked hard to reduce our already fast implementation times. EasyAsk has established itself as the 3rd party search, navigation and merchandising solution of choice for NetSuite Ecommerce customers.
Please be sure to visit us in Booth EX-111 where we will be able to demonstrate our innovative and game changing products for e-commerce, business intelligence and mobile solutions.
It is always great to be considered Cool. But that is usually a personal distinction. Now Cool is an attribute given to software vendors such as EasyAsk.
EasyAsk is proud to announce that we have been included in the list of “Cool Vendors” in the ‘Cool Vendors in Analytics and Business Intelligence, 2012′* report by Gartner, Inc. We feel this is an accomplishment due to our products, our team, and most of all our customers.
As we look at our market position today, EasyAsk has dramatically expanded its solution footprint and customer reach in the past 12 months. Direct sales to customers have grown. We’ve forged new solution partnerships with IBM Big Insights and SugarCRM while expanding our partnerships with Infor and NetSuite. We have also more than doubled the number of channel partners we work with, including our distribution partnership with BrainSell in the SugarCRM market.
Our eCommerce edition product continues to be the clear solution leader in e-commerce search, navigation and merchandising. No other vendor can come close to performing the long-tail natural language searches that EasyAsk does, nor can any vendor make merchandising as easy to use as EasyAsk.
And our new Quiri product is revolutionizing the way people use mobile devices and mobile corporate applications. Quiri is the only solution on the market that provides Siri-like voice-enabled natural language tools that work with your corporate data and applications.
Thank you, Gartner. And a special thank you to our customers and partners.
* Gartner “Cool Vendors in Analytics and Business Intelligence, 2012” by Bill Gassman, Douglas Laney, Andreas Bitterer, David Newman, Rita L. Sallam, James Richardson, 27 April 2012
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
EasyAsk was named a winner in the SugarCon App Throwdown late last week and will be showcasing our innovative new mobile solution, EasyAsk Quiri, at SugarCon 2012. EasyAsk Quiri was one of six solutions chosen to present at the App Throwdown at SugarCon 2012, the annual SugarCRM user conference. Here is a link to the media alert.
EasyAsk Quiri is the world’s first mobile application that takes the Siri paradigm to corporate applications. Quiri offers Siri-like speech recognition and natural language that answers timely business questions in real-time. Users just tap the microphone, ask their question, and Quiri finds the answer.
The App Throwdown will be held on Tuesday April 24, at 3 PM at SugarCon 2012 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. A number of leading CRM industry analysts will watch the presentations and offer their opinions on the solutions. The demos by the Throwdown winners will also be videotaped and made available to the SugarCRM community.
Lucene/Solr is great for developers that enjoy tinkering with code as if it’s DNA and you’re working on the Captain America Super-Soldier Serum. But what if you don’t have the time or resources? What if you’re a company that cannot afford the manpower or hours needed to work on the open-source, Java-based search library? What if… what you need is a rich, mature product with the mostaccurate search engine on the planet?
Apache Lucene, for those who are unclear on the difference, is the library and Apache Solr is a layer of code on top of Lucene that turns it into a search platform, adding management and website APIs that are tailored for e-commerce. With Lucene/Solr you get a basic search engine, that requires a large IT staff or an army of consultants. It takes a lot of time, experience and troubleshooting to get the results you’re hoping for.
But let’s say you’ve outgrown the basic search functionality, or get frustrated having to build everything you need. And you’ve noticed how the e-commerce community has shifted to mobile sites with voice-recognition, and the abilities of open-source seem more and more limited. So wouldn’t you be tired of continuing to compete with every other e-commerce company that is trying to do the same thing with the same keyword-hampered technology? Why wouldn’t you want to stand out from the pack?
Where Lucene/Solr falls short, EasyAsk excels.
Companies like IBM, Magento, NetSuite, Infor and more have partnered with EasyAsk for a reason. The powerful Natural Language search-box and easy-to-use merchandising tools allow you to perform tasks a keyword-based software (Lucene/Solr) can’t even dream of. The intuitive site-search, dynamic navigation, and merchandising software utilizes Natural Language to increase conversion rates. It understands the intent of the search and delivers faster, more accurate results than keyword or navigation-driven softwares. The limitations you find with Lucene/Solr are simply not found with EasyAsk.
From understanding numeric units, to intelligent term relaxation, to merchandising capabilities like: Cross-Sell/Up-Sell promotions, EasyAsk has proven to bring something to the table that Lucene and Solr just can’t touch. Not to mention with EasyAsk you’re a step ahead of the game.
Take a quick look around and see which direction the technological world is headed. IBM’s Watson, Apple’s Siri, Nuance’s Dragon-Go, Panasonic’s Smart-TVs, and many more have all made the jump to a Natural Language Processing engine. It’s just a smarter way to connect with your customers.
And EasyAsk has been a leader in Natural Language for over a decade.
For example, on an EasyAsk-powered site, you can use your iPhone 4S or Android to verbally search for products on their mobile-sites. And thanks to the natural language engine that powers EasyAsk, they’ll find exactly what they’re looking for. Go to Lands’ End’s site on your phone, type-in or speak a product you’d like to see and a price constraint (i.e. Black Sleeveless Dresses for under $100) and see for yourself how powerful EasyAsk is. You’re not going to find that functionality with an open-source, keyword-based software.
Also the EasyAsk Commerce Studio puts the power back in the hands of the merchandiser. Want to add a new brand for your site, or cross-sell a couple of items? No problem, it literally takes a minute. To see what I’m talking about click here.
Look, if you want to keep trying to reinvent the wheel, go right ahead. But if you’re tired of sputtering in a Model-T and you’d rather upgrade to a search that’s better, the wave of the future, comes with merchandising capabilities that Lucene/Solr just can’t match, come take a look at EasyAsk, the Search That Means Business.
All you have to do is look around on the street and you can see that mobile computing has forever changed. See all those people talking to their phones, asking it something. First of all, they are not crazy. And second of all, the phone actually answers back.
That’s Apple Siri. And it has completely changed the way humans interact with the mobile devices – in a very good way I might add.
But what if you want talk to your phone and get answers from your corporate applications or data? Wouldn’t that make you much more productive? Wouldn’t that better prepare you for that meeting you are walking into, the customer you are about to visit or that service job you are about to perform? That is what EasyAsk Quiri does. It gives you Siri for your corporate applications and data.
Our EasyAsk CEO, Craig Bassin, was recently interviewed and discusses the future of mobile computing. Watch the short video below to listen in.
The technological world seems to be making a shift. It began with those three days in February 2011, when IBM’s Watson computer competed on Jeopardy! (By the way, the natural language super-computer trounced the shows two biggest champions!) And culminated with Apple releasing Siri in their latest model of cell phone, the iPhone 4S on October 14th, 2011.
You can feel the buzz in the air, a change in the winds, that a paradigm-shift is coming. The ability to tell your electronics what to do.
So wouldn’t it make sense that this same technology could be used by everyday consumers to shop on their smart-phones? Isn’t it logical, that the next step will be the ability to use this natural language technology to search and purchase items on your favorite website? That this technology would improve user experience, retention and increase conversion rates? Wouldn’t you want your favorite sites to be Siri-cized?
Well, if you’re a client of EasyAsk, this power is already at your fingertips… err… voice-box.
EasyAsk-powered sites such as: Lands’ End, Harbor Freight Tools, J. Jill,True Value and Coldwater Creek, are already Siri-cized. Customers of these and other EasyAsk clients can use their iPhone 4S or Android to verbally search for their products on their mobile-sites. And thanks to the natural language engine that powers EasyAsk, they’ll find exactly what they are looking for.
Now, I hear the nay-sayers, griping about the times that Siri doesn’t work as well as they want. First of all, Siri is cutting-edge technology, so of course it’s still working out a few of the kinks. But here’s where EasyAsk differs. With Siri, the options are so varied, it’s difficult for the software to search through the entire Internet to find the right answer every time. With EasyAsk, the data needed is pulled from the company’s product catalogue. So, if you’re on Lands’ End, you’re going to be searching for items Lands’ End is known for having, like swimwear, shoes, luggage, etc. If you’re on Harbor Freight Tools, you’re going to search for items they’re known for having; air compressors, engines, toolboxes or various tools. EasyAsk understands the context of your request and retrieves the right product on the first page.
This isn’t the future; it’s the present. EasyAsk sites are and have been ahead of the game, because EasyAsk has been mastering Natural Language for over a decade. Feel free to find out more here.
So go ahead, grab your iPhone 4S or Android 2.1, jump on Lands’ End and get ready for summer by shopping for a new bathing suit or try True Value and order that new grill you’ve been waiting for. It’s as simple tapping the search box, tapping the microphone, and saying what you’re looking for.
Last week, Information Management held a webcast session on mobile applications, User Experience and the Evolution of Mobile Apps (you can click on the link to hear a recording of the session). The session was very interesting, discussing many of the design differences between mobile applications and their desktop counter-parts.
There are three major technical factors that make connected mobile applications far different from their desktop counter-parts:
Input methods – desktops have physical keyboards and mice making it easy to navigate and work within the UI while smartphones have awkward touch interfaces and thumb keyboards,
Screen real-estate – on a desktop screens are large enough to see, navigate and explore, while a smartphone does not have that luxury, having only 7% the screen area of a the standard laptop,
Network bandwidth – a connected computer has available bandwidth to make multiple high speed trips to a corporate application and data source back-end to narrow choices, while doing so on a mobile network will be much slower,
Outside of technical factors, the other major difference in every mobile application is time. In the majority of mobile use cases, the user is in a hurry to get their information – rushing into a meeting or trying to stay engaged with a client. The user cannot afford the time to navigate to an answer or use chatty apps that require multiple round-trips. They need the answer fast – in a single click.
Apple Siri and voice recognition has mostly been talked about for the convenience factor – just speak your command. But voice-driven natural language interfaces can also solve the time problem. Speaking a detailed question into a smartphone and getting a granular answer speeds the process of finding the exact information the mobile user is looking for. No touch driven drill down and navigation. Speak it and see it.
Making Better Mobile Apps
As you make you move to mobile, user experience and the speed a user can find data will be the two most important characteristics of your mobile application. Here are three ways to deliver a user-oriented solution that speeds access to information:
Focus on easier ways to input requests – there is a reason why Siri is wildly popular. It is extremely easy to use. No typing on the awkward smartphone keyboard. The same should be true for your mobile application. Allow the users to speak their request and see the result.
Natural language, search-style interface – navigation is extremely difficult on a smartphone due to the limited screen space and the touch interface. A natural language, search-style interface allows the user to ask a question in English and get an answer at any level of specificity. They find the right information faster.
Ad-hoc questions – you cannot anticipate the exact information mobile users will need. The mobile business environment is dynamic. Therefore, just delivering fixed reports and dashboards will not suffice. You need to allow mobile users to ask a range of ad-hoc questions so they can find the right information they need at that time.
Quiri embodies this new paradigm
EasyAsk Quiri is the world’s first voice-driven, natural language mobile intelligence platform that brings Siri-like capabilities to your corporate data and applications. You simply speak your question in English and Quiri handles the rest – interpreting the question and finding the right answer from your corporate data.
Quiri embodies the core characteristics of next generation corporate mobile applications. It gives you a speech interface, the ability to ask questions using natural language search, and supports ad-hoc question asking. Quiri simplifies requesting the information AND accelerates finding the right information.
You’re currently a customer of Endeca. Your site has been expensive to maintain, but it has worked well enough and you see no need to make a change. Recently however, changes have been made to the company who runs your search. Changes that could affect your relationship and your ability to do business.
In October of 2011, Oracle acquired Endeca, a leading provider of unstructured data management, Web commerce and business intelligence solutions. A year before that, they acquired the Art Technology Group, Inc. (ATG), an e-commerce software platform that is one of the industry’s top-ranked, commerce solutions. Essentially packaging a search and platform duo. But… What if you don’t own both pieces of the puzzle? What if you’re an Endeca customer, but not an ATG customer? Is your site in danger? Is your business in danger?
Before Oracle acquired these pieces of technology, Endeca and ATG were open – meaning they worked cooperatively with other solutions in the market. Didn’t matter who you had for an e-commerce platform, be it Magento, IBM’s WebSphere, in-house, etc., you could still work with Endeca.
Is that still the case?
If recent history proves prophetic, then probably not. Oracle has a history of closing the proprietary loop when they acquire a company, making them a part of the Oracle stack. If you are inside that stack, then your feeling of security should be warm-and-fuzzy. But what if you’re not inside the loop? What if you’re currently using Endeca for your search and have a platform not named ATG? Will Endeca continue to fit? Should you be concerned?
If you are concerned and don’t feel like being at the mercy of Oracle, what can you do about it?
Here’s the good news:
You do have options and one of them can kill two birds with one stone: Get out from under Oracle’s thumb and upgrade your search by switching to EasyAsk. EasyAsk provides a user-friendly and cost-effective way to make complex business data accessible to anyone. With EasyAsk’s natural language engine, it’s Apple’s Siri and IBM’s Watson rolled into one best-of-breed, site-search, navigation and merchandising tool.
In other words, it’s common sense brought to search. It also happens to be platform-agnostic, easy to maintain, plus it puts the power in the hands of the merchandisers, costing far less than Endeca, and touting the lowest total cost of ownership in the business. To learn more about e-commerce search and how it can impact your site, please read our paper, The ABC’s of E-Commerce Search.
So… You’re an Endeca customer, but you are also now a customer of Oracle, the 4th largest software company in the world. Will your company get lost in the shuffle? Maybe yes, maybe no, and you’re welcome to stick around and find out, but… Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to “Find, Analyze, and Understand” that it’s time to switch to a Search That Means Business.
Earlier this week, we introduced Quiri, the world’s first mobile, voice-enabled natural language solution for corporate data. It is the easiest interface you could ever give to your mobile workforce to find information from their applications when they are on the go.
Many may compare Quiri to Apple’s Siri and IBM’s Watson, the two other major natural language platforms on the market. And that begs the questions:
How do Quiri, Siri and Watson compare?
Do I need to choose one over the other two?
Quiri does provide Siri-like voice interface with natural language processing. But that is where the similarities end. Quiri is designed for mobile corporate applications, while Siri is focused on consumer command and control of your iPhone and certain network services (i.e. internet search).
Both Quiri and Watson provide a natural language interface and can work with your corporate data. But after this, the two offerings diverge. Watson is a large, complex solution, requiring a multi-million dollar investment, large scale analytics and a long deployment cycle. Quiri is affordably priced and can connect to your data and start answering questions in a matter of hours.
