What Exactly is Visual Search?
Visual search is a man-made intelligence technology that enables users to conduct a web search employing a picture, instead of keywords. This is different than conducting an “Image Search”, during which the user types a text-based query into Google, clicks on the “Images” tab, and scrolls through pictures which the programme has compiled because the best visual matches.
Instead, a visible search actually starts with an image and uses deep neural networks to decipher what’s in it, taking under consideration shape, color, and size. The user is then served with the precise object or place being searched, or whatever is most the same as it.
Unsurprisingly, visual search works best in visual mediums. If you’re trying to find the proper college to travel to, which tax guy to use, or what variety of editing software to shop for, visual search is unlikely to assist.
Who is Using Visual Search?
A quick (text-based!) Google search will show you that quite few high-profile companies are using visual search and talking about it plenty. the foremost major one is Google itself.
Over the last number of years, Google has extended visual search capabilities which it calls “Google Lens,” which may perform an array of mind-blowing actions that integrate technology even more seamlessly into your lifestyle.
For example, say you’re exploring a brand new city and are available across a restaurant you may want to do. you cannot clearly see the name or address of this place from across the road, so you merely scan an image of it into Google Lens. Within seconds, you’re served its name, address, menu, Yelp ratings, reviews, and even alerts if friends of yours have eaten here before.
Besides Google, there’s also Pinterest, whose visual search is on the verge of remodeling online advertising as we all know it.
Pinterest could be a visual business, so visual search was a no brainer for his or her product roadmap. With their technology, users can snap an image of an outfit they like, upload it to a Pinterest visual search, browse all similar styles, and instantly buy from those retailer sites.
Pinterest is additionally performing on technology that enables you to make upon the outfits you create. for instance, if you get a pair of shoes, visual search may be accustomed find an outfit to match.
It is predicted that soon, visual search will become the crux of Pinterest’s offering to advertisers. Companies like Pinterest are ready to provide this technology as a core a part of their business. Retailer brands also want to urge in on the action directly. We developed a visible AI technology trained specifically for fashion and residential décor. Companies like Tommy Hilfiger, Farfetch, and other global brands are using our Visual AI to enhance their on-site customer experience.
Through working with these brands, we’ve found that retail customers are often searching for inspiration, meaning they visit the positioning of the brands they love with a picture of a glance that inspires them. they’re not necessarily trying to find a precise match — they use the image as a place to begin. Fashion and residential décor are both natural applications for visual search, but many other industries are using it — including home improvement and land.
However, whether or not you do not add a visible industry, visual search will still impact the way you market, specifically within the following five ways.
Ways Visual Search Will Change the Way You Market
1. Raising digital transformation expectations.
Think back to the simplest digital experience you have ever had. Maybe you were shopping on an ecommerce site and located an excellent product for an unbelievable price and paid using your thumbprint. Alternatively, perhaps you checked into your chamber online, bypassed the concierge, and used your phone as a digital key.
Whatever it absolutely was, you recall it. And now you compare every business’ digital experience to that. that’s exactly what visual search goes to try to to for your business, whether you employ it or not.
It is astounding how quickly customer expectations change, isn’t it? Today, visitors expect to be ready to find products using images. in keeping with Accenture, 69% percent of young shoppers favor to purchase supported visual-oriented searches. The main reason for this is often that visual search allows customers to search out exactly what they’re trying to find five times faster than text-based searches.
For example, during a study we conducted we found that customers employing a text-base search took two minutes, 37 seconds to seek out the proper form of dress, whereas those using visual search discovered the correct product within 27 seconds. This experience supports the trend of growing customer impatience and caters to that. Soon, this level of speed will become the norm across numerous industries.
2. Social influencer optimization.
Today, the employment of influencers within the retail industry is prevalent. In fact, in step with Retail Dive, 91% of luxury brands reported using influencers, followed by activewear at 84%, and wonder brands at 83%. But influencers haven’t yet reached their full potential — and visual search can help.
At the instant, social influencers tend to post a few specific piece they’re wearing and prompt users to shop for that single piece on the retailers site.Visual search can prompt customers to shop for more from the retailer in two new ways.
First, visual search can scan the image of the influencer and tag the pieces of her outfit by type. Users can then search every bit of the outfit to induce the total look. To put it simply, you’ll invest in influencer marketing to sell one piece to a customer, priced at $60. otherwise you could make her whole outfit shoppable and sell $250 worth of products. Secondly, users may just like the outfit she’s wearing, but want other similar options. Visual search can allow them to go looking within the same genre of outfits, opening customers to a far wider array of shopping for options.
Like all meaningful innovations, visual search will have an impact that goes well beyond what it was originally designed to do. Whether or not visual search is right for your marketing roadmap, I hope that these insights about the technology will inspire you to use more visual, shoppable content in your customer journey — and continue to perfect and re-perfect your customer experience.