Marqo’s Framework for Product Search: Optimising Relevance and Conversion

In ecommerce, the key to successful product search lies in balancing two critical factors: relevance and conversion potential. While relevance ensures that a search query retrieves items that align closely with a user's intent, conversion potential focuses on how likely the displayed products are to result in a purchase. Marqo’s framework bridges the gap between these two components, providing a solution that both satisfies customers and maximises business revenue.

What Is Product Search?

At its core, product search answers the question: What items should be displayed when a customer searches for something? This can be simplified into two components:

1. Relevance

Relevance measures how closely an item matches the user's search intent. For example:

• A search for “white shirt” should return white shirts—not black shirts, blue pants, or unrelated accessories.
• Relevance is assessed using a combination of human judgements, user interaction metrics, and AI-powered tools like Vision LLMs.

2. Conversion Potential

Conversion potential, on the other hand, goes beyond matching intent. It asks: How likely is the user to buy this product?

• This is typically measured by analysing Add-To-Cart (ATC) rates, conversion rates, and revenue generated from past searches.
• Conversion potential considers aspects like price, brand preference, and even novelty (introducing customers to new items).

Over-prioritising one of these components over the other can harm the user experience and revenue. For a product search system to succeed, these two components must work in harmony—a balance that Marqo’s framework is designed to achieve perfectly.

Challenges in Balancing Relevance and Conversion

Too Much Relevance Can Hurt Revenue

Imagine a search for “white shirt” returning five highly relevant but nearly identical white shirts. While these results are relevant, they don’t provide variety:

• A lack of diversity in the search results might lead to decision fatigue, where customers struggle to choose between similar options.
• This could mean fewer items added to the cart and lower overall sales.

Instead, introducing diversity—like showing slightly different styles or price points—encourages customers to consider multiple options and add more to their cart.

Prioritising Conversion Over Relevance

On the other side, focusing solely on conversion can lead to irrelevant results:

• If the system relies entirely on historic sales data, new items or less popular items may never surface in the results.
• Customers might see irrelevant products that don't align with their query, leading to frustration and poor search satisfaction.

Conversion Depends on the Query

The intent behind a query plays a critical role in determining conversion potential. For instance:

• A specific query like “Nike running shoes size 9” may benefit from highly relevant results, with little need for diversity.
• A broader query like “summer dresses” might require a mix of popular, new, and varied options to maximise engagement and conversions.

Marqo’s Approach: A Framework for Balanced Product Search

Marqo’s framework is built to address these challenges by incorporating state-of-the-art embedding models with user interaction data to balance relevance and conversion potential. Let’s take a look at some of Marqo’s key features:

1. AI-Powered Relevance

Marqo leverages cutting-edge Vision LLMs to understand both the textual and visual aspects of products. These models:

• Analyse product descriptions, images, and metadata to create embeddings that reflect true relevance.
• Incorporate user feedback and interaction data to continuously improve search accuracy.
• Can be fine-tuned (with Marqo’s tuning platform) on your specific product catalogue for state-of-the-art search results

2. Conversion Optimization with Flexibility

Marqo integrates sales data, ATC rates, and revenue metrics to fine-tune conversion potential. Unlike rigid systems, Marqo allows customers to:

• Introduce diversity in search results by adjusting parameters for novelty and variety.
• Boost new items or promotional products without sacrificing overall relevance.

3. Adaptive Search Models

With Marqo, search systems adapt to the intent behind each query:

• For specific queries, the system prioritises relevance to ensure the user finds exactly what they’re looking for.
• For broad queries, it introduces diversity to maximise engagement and potential purchases.

4. Supporting Business Objectives

Marqo empowers businesses to align search results with their goals:

• Highlight high-margin products or underperforming inventory.
• Introduce new collections without overwhelming the search experience.

Why Use Marqo?

Marqo is designed for ecommerce companies looking to build search systems that meet user needs while maximising revenue. Here are the key benefits:

1. Increased Conversions

By balancing relevance and diversity, Marqo ensures that customers discover the right distribution of products. This not only improves satisfaction but also encourages higher cart values.

2. Enhanced Search Flexibility

With Marqo, businesses can easily configure their search algorithms to reflect changing priorities. For example, if you have new product launches, you can ensure these get visibility without sacrificing revenue.

3. State-of-the-Art Technology

Marqo’s embedding models ensure high accuracy, scalability, and performance. These models outperform traditional search systems in terms of both relevance and speed. With Marqo, you can create your own models by fine-tuning using your product catalogue. This leads to state-of-the-art search results.

4. Continuous Improvement

Marqo integrates feedback loops, allowing search systems to learn from user behavior and refine their outputs over time.

Conclusion

Marqo’s framework for product search redefines how businesses approach ecommerce search. By balancing relevance and conversion potential, Marqo enables companies to deliver search experiences that not only meet user expectations but also maximise revenue.

If you're looking to transform your ecommerce search capabilities, book a demo or chat with one of our team today.

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