Search-Bot for Search Enhancement
Some sections and elements are so well-established that it is better to leave them untouched. But building another search page for my last project turned out to be a the monotonous and boring thing to do.
Remembering that chat-bot is a thing nowadays, I decided to give my idea a try and transform searching flow into Search-bot to make the process more joyful, humanized, and spiced up.
The process sounded simple, but I had to take into account all the edge cases and states. After refactoring the initial version a couple of times, I had some of the screens that I’d like to share with you:
The search page looks like a standard chat, but the text informs users that they can start searching. The input is placed upon the keyboard to make it more accessible. So whenever you want to tap on the search input, you won’t have to stretch your finger up to the top of the screen.
After Searching for something new, the last results scroll up and the button View 135 Products appears.
Humanized empty state makes users more empathetic towards the system. In the top of the search results, users read the humanized text about the number of results. The loading state looks like someone is typing.
Implementing the habits related to the chatting process, e.x. sending a photo to start an image search can become a natural act very quickly.
I didn’t change the structure of the filtering options. Instead, I replaced standard titles with more natural, real-life texts (The questions that assistants would ask in different scenarios).
I created prototypes, and after testing them, it turned out that most of the users were satisfied (70%). 20% of the users were confused, but after a while, they found it easy to use the prototype. Only 10% of them said that they preferred getting back to the standard version.
I and my teammate Tornike Kurdadze (Software Engineer) implemented the simplified version of the concept while building the app for the largest e-commerce platform in Georgia. It is about to be tested and updated according to the user’s needs.
Even though everything mentioned above is just a concept, I believe that soon we will see an updated and redesigned searching flow with similar patterns.
