The Future of Search — Memo
The future of search will continue to follow key consumer touchpoints. Whether within Amazon’s shopping app or on your iPhone (or Android), or while wearing smart glasses, the search will be a central feature in any device or product. However, whether one type of search will be more dominant than others will depend on the use case.
tl;dr: In the future, search queries will blend text, visual, and AR-based inputs and outputs depending on the user’s use case and situation. Both brands and consumers will learn to leverage each search output type to optimize how they get to point A to B.
For example, transactional searches will continue to be text-based, with a significant increase in audio queries, supplemented by video-based outputs, especially in eCommerce. Companies like Walmart and Amazon have been leading the charge with visual shopping features, such as video live streams, in partnership with influencers.
For A/B testing geeks, keep an eye out the next time you run a search on an eCommerce site and see a result that links to a live stream. Or keep notice if you see relevant video streams based on your past searches gradually become more prominent on a retailers homepage.
In contrast, informational and navigational queries will see a sharper increase in visual and AR-based inputs and outputs in the upcoming years. With high-speed internet, cloud computing, and the prominence of smart devices int he home, immersive experiences will be key for brand storytelling, especially in fashion, travel, and luxury spaces. Products requiring more research, or in general mental resources, will benefit from low-cost immersive support. Warby Parker is an excellent example of how users can search for glasses through their native iOS app and users can try on glasses as part of their search journey. At the time of the article, this feature, plus great customer support, has lead to 4.9 out 5 star reviews on the Apple Store.
By no means will text-based search will be replaced by audio or visual; culturally, searching via words is too ingrained in consumer behaviors. Drastic behavioral change tends to happen over time, or generations, for mainstream consumers.
For example, the T.V. has replaced the traditional fireplace place in the home (the living room). Before, homes would be built around the primary source of heat and light. Now homes are built and designed around the primary source of entertainment.
That said, transactional searches, will continue to be dominant by text-based queries. This makes sense given that when people are doing a transactional search to take action, they are typically lower down the customer journey. At that point, the consumer is trying to grapple with a shortlist of brands to get the job done.
However, navigational searches may afford more search query diversity for niche use cases, such as audio or visual/A.R. searches. The iconic image is a scene out of Iron Man, where Tony Stark is hands deep in a virtual model and concurrently asks Jarvis, his A.I. assistant, questions. This is a combination of both audio and visual searches.
Although the average home does not have the CGI budget as a Marvel movie, people do this for navigational or information searches, especially when their hands and nearby smartphone are “full.” A classic example and multitasking to avoid dropping marinara sauce on your phone while making dinner.
