September 2016 Update Summary:
- New: Saluki Relevancy Engine
- Improved: Platform Data Feed Setup
- New: Search Preview
- Improved: Standard Reports
- Improved: BigCommerce API Integration
- Improved: Shopify API integration
- Improved: Management Console stability
- Improved: AJAX v3 framework
New: Saluki Relevancy Engine
We have been developing and beta-testing our newest relevancy engine, Saluki, for two years and we are finally ready to give it to everybody!
The Saluki relevancy engine includes several incredible developments in our search technology, including Visual Merchandising, Product Awareness, Measurement Intelligence, Enterprise Insights, and Landing Pages. Some of these features we have been talking about for a long time and some are brand new — but all of them are built on our Saluki relevancy engine and we are determined to get this technology into the hands of all of our users by Q1 of next year.
Today we are giving the keys to Saluki to our Customer Success team so that they can start moving priority users to Saluki. All users will be able to move to Saluki in Q1 of next year, but if you would like to get on the Saluki relevancy engine before the holidays, contact our Customer Success team.
September 2016 Improved: Platform Data Feed Setup
All new Searchspring accounts will benefit from the new data feed setup page. The improved setup process will automatically configure data feeds based on best-practices for each platform. This month we have provided streamlined integrations for four platforms: Shopify, 3dCart, BigCommerce, and Volusion.
These platform integrations have been simplified to only require the minimum information necessary to import product data. Once the platform information is saved, we automatically begin importing product data and configuring search. Once the first product import is complete, you can preview your search immediately with Search Preview.
New: Search Preview
Search Preview, the tool we use behind the scenes to optimize search results, as now available to everybody!
The Searchspring team has been using Search Preview for several months so that we can see “under the hood” of how the Searchspring relevancy engine. It enables us to optimize the algorithms that generate customized search results for shoppers. And now this tool is available for all of our users too.
With Search Preview, you can easily see which products will appear for any search and filter combination. Our proprietary IntelliSuggest recommendation engine automatically elevates the hottest and top-converting products for popular search terms, and now you can see which products IntelliSuggest is elevating to the top of search results. Products that you have manually elevated using Visual Merchandising are also marked so you know why each product appears where it does.
Improved: Standard Reports
This month our standard Reports received a well-earned design overhaul, making them easier to use and easier to understand.
First, Reports are all now listed in the sidebar individually, making it quicker to get to the report you want to see. And you can bookmark reports too to come back and view the reports that are most important to your site and your specific questions about your shoppers.
Second, Reports graphs have been enhanced to provide detailed, interactive data. Hover your mouse over any data point and see the breakdown of that particular day. Show the segments of each data set that you want to see; hide the rest.
Finally, Reports are now tied into the persistent date range that we created for Enterprise Insights. This new feature makes it easy to choose a standard date range for your report, or you can specify a custom range. And that date range stays with you while you navigate through all of the Searchspring standard Reports and Enterprise Insights, making it simple to compare all different reports for the same time period.
September 2016 Enhancements and Bugfixes
- Enhanced integration with BigCommerce API to collect more product data for child products
- Improved stability with Shopify API integration
- Improved stability of the new Redirects interface in the Management Console
- Added Landing Pages support in the AJAX v3 framework
