Visual Search - one of the significant trends in the digital marketing technology.

1. 1
Visual Search: How
the Technology is
Dominating the web
and Future of
Search
Prepared by:
Manisha Kumar – 143061208
Professor: Christopher Briggs
MKM915– Digital Marketing
July 12th
, 2021

2. Visual search uses artificial intelligence technology to assist
people in searching through the use of real-world visuals,
rather than through text ( traditional input for searching things
online).
Visual search turns your phone camera into a search engine.
Just point to any object you like, take a picture, and receive
search results based on the item.
That is pretty powerful and impressive technology. There are a
host of different industries where this technology could be
applied.
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WHAT IS VISUAL
SEARCH?
Source : Reconteour

3. IT STARTS WITH A VISUAL
THAT CAN COME FROM
ANYWHERE:
An image/ stream taken in real
time by a camera on a device
An image that’s already in a
device’s photo library
An image pulled from somewhere
(website, email etc)
Deliver the most relevant results
Recognize what the image is
Determine what the searcher
wants
NEXT, THE PLATFORM
INTERPRETS AND
IDENTIFIES THE IMAGE:
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4. VISUAL SEARCH
STATISTICS
OF THE INFORMATION
TRANSMITTED TO THE
HUMAN BRAIN IS VISUAL.
OF ALL SEARCHES ON
GOOGLE RETURN IMAGE-
BASED RESULTS.
90%
19% 62%
OF MILLENIALS WANT
VISUAL SEARCH OVER
ANY OTHER NEW
TECHNOLOGY
36%
OF CONSUMERS
HAVE CONDUCTED A
VISUAL SEARCH ON
GOOGLE, PINTEREST
OR AMAZON.
USER
STATISTICS
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5. “An advantage of visual search is that it relies entirely
on item appearance. There is no need for other data
such as bar codes, QR codes, product name, or other
product metadata.” | Brent Rabowsky, Amazon Web
Services Machine Learning Specialist
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6. Benefits
of Visual
Search
Improving the shopping
experience and, therefore, user
satisfaction and loyalty
Reducing customer
loss: The likelihood of
customers abandoning
the search is reduced,
as they find what they
want more quickly.
An increase in sales:
According to many findings,
getting more precise search
results and complementing
suggestions enhances each
user's average spending.
Better information and more enriched
profiles about customers: You'll learn
not only what they appreciate about
your product category, but also what
other things inspire them and might be
related to your catalogues, allowing
you to discover new positionings and
fine-tune each subsequent visit to your
website or app.
Ads that are more specific and linked
to the appropriate channels: For
example, if someone searches for a
coat worn by a particular singer in a
photo, advertising can be displayed on
Spotify when that musician's tab is
opened.
Investigating copies and copyright
violations: You can find areas where
brand and catalogue images are
being utilised without permission by
using reverse visual search.
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7. MAIN PLAYERS IN VISUAL SEARCH
Pinterest Lens
The USP of Pinterest's visual
search app is that users can
take a photo of almost
anything, and they will be
able to find, save, or shop for
the items in the image.
Bing Visual Search
It functions similarly to the Bing
search engine in that it provides
consumers with both
information and products.
Bing Visual Search also presents
users with related items and
pricing information when
shopping intent is recognised.
Snapchat Camera Search
When the application scans a
barcode, the user is shown with an
Amazon card that has a link to that
product as well as a selection of
similar things from the Amazon shop.
If a user has the Amazon app loaded,
they can tap it to be taken to the
appropriate page within the app.
Google Lens
It has quickly become the most
popular visual search platform in
the world because it features
advanced visual search
capabilities. The capacity of
Google Lens is practically
boundless, thanks to its ability to
connect numerous apps.
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8. BRANDS USING VISUAL SEARCH
increases AOV by
20% through visual
search.
enjoyed an 85% higher conversion
rate for those using Camera Search,
as compared to those who did not.
uses visual search to
improve the customer
experience.
launched its own ‘Lens’ visual search tool.
Image recognition app to drive web
traffic and engagement.
launched a Pinterest-embedded
catalogue.
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9. ASOS : sees potential in visual search tool
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In 2017, fashion retailer ASOS introduced a shopping
feature which enabled its consumers to search for
outfits using images instead of keywords. Now, ASOS
is confident that the visual search tool will drive
sales by enabling consumers to find what they are
looking out for more efficiently.
They are currently experiencing “great
engangement” from the visual search thus far,
which aims to improve its customer experience.
HOW IT FUNCTIONS : Customers may upload a photo to the brand's app,
which will then use image recognition to search its library and return
products that seem the most like the ones in the photo. The image can be
one that the user took (of an item a friend was wearing, or something they
saw in another store) or one that the user found somewhere (such as an
image from a movie or a red-carpet gala to try to reproduce the
appearance).

10. The problems with Visual Search
The advantages of visual search over text-
based search are obvious. It's simply
easier to take a picture of an item, which
only takes one click, than it is to type a
search query into a search engine.
The problem is that visual search is fairly
difficult from a technical sense. To be
effective, complicated AI programmes and
enormous amounts of data are required.
AI is bound to improve as more people use
photos for visual searches, but it has been
a gradual process so far.
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Visual search lies with the intent
of a user who took a picture. A
photo of a labelled product in a
grocery store could be a request
to see similar food products, or
it could be a request for a
translation. The user's intent
when taking a picture is not
immediately clear with visual
search, the way it is with text.
There is also the ongoing
problem of low usage. Despite
its convenience, the number
of visual searches pales in
comparison to those of text-
based searches. In fact, a
study in 2017 showed that
only 27% of internet users
were aware of the technology.
Technical complications Unclear content Low usage

11. HOW MARKETERS CAN OPTIMIZE
VISUAL SEARCH?
Visual search is still gaining popularity, what marketers can do to optimize it:
INVEST IN IMAGES
Build a robust library of
images that can be
interpreted, accessed and
recognized by visual search
engines
USE STRUCTURED DATA
When adding any kind of
content to a website, it is
important to provide search
engines with as much
information as possible. One
way to do this is through
structured data for images,
which will also help your site
appear in rich snippets in
Google.
CONNECT AND CATALOG
Ensure that images link
correctly and that your site is
structured in easily crawlable
way.
INTERTWINE DIGITAL
AND PHYISCAL
Structure experience
like in-store displays to
cater to those who may
use visual search.
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12. FUTURE OF VISUAL SEARCH
The future of visual search: Where we’ll go from
here
It’s safe to assume that the future of visual search
engines will be retail-dominated.
As a result, visual search engines are convenient, but
they’re not ultimately necessary for every industry to
succeed. Services, for instance, may be more likely to
rely on textual search engines, whereas sales may be
more likely to rely on visual search engines.
That being said, with 69% of young customers
showing an interest in making purchases based on
visual-oriented searches alone, the future of visual
search engines is most likely to be a shopper’s
paradise in the right retailer’s hands.
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13. References:
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• Visual Search: Future Growth and Opportunities. (2020). Visual Search. https://aori.com/blog/visual-search
• T. (2021, April 21). Visual Search in 2020 & Beyond. Top Draw Inc. https://www.topdraw.com/insights/visual-search-in-2020-and-
beyond/
• https://blog.saleslayer.com/retailers-wear-artificial-intelligence-visual-search-and-the-future-of-the-shopping-experience
• Muñoz, A. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: Visual Search and the future of shopping. Visual Search and the Future of Shopping.
https://blog.saleslayer.com/retailers-wear-artificial-intelligence-visual-search-and-the-future-of-the-shopping-experience
• Mohanadasan, S. (2020, April 2). Visual Search Guide: Who Uses It, Benefits, and Optimization Tips. Semrush Blog.
https://www.semrush.com/blog/visual-search-guide-benefits-optimizatiion/
• Boyd, C. (2021, June 25). Visual Search — The Ultimate Guide: Statistics, News, Trends, and Tips. Medium.
https://clarkboyd.medium.com/visual-search-trends-statistics-tips-and-uses-in-everyday-life-d20084dc4b0a
• Asia, T. W. (2017, October 17). ASOS sees success in visual search tool. Tech Wire Asia. https://techwireasia.com/2017/10/asos-
sees-success-in-visual-search-tool/