Predictive Search

The search function is a fundamental element of any online retailer. As the business’ catalog grows, it becomes more and more important for users to be able to find exactly what they’re looking for with very little effort. Speed is crucial to the success of a business’ online experience, and no one likes searching incorrectly for an item and finding no relevant results. We, at Desato, wanted to build a search function that was not only efficient and precise, but one that would minimize time spent searching, and one that can even guess what you want before you input the search.

In trying to create the best search function possible, we decided to go down the road of predictive search. Similarly to what a user experiences on Google, search result suggestions are provided to the user in the form of a search result dropdown, actively updating while the user inputs the search keywords. Suggestions are based on combinations of keywords in order to provide the best results to the customers even before they click enter.