It’s one of the web’s most well-worn features – the search bar. That little magnifying glass in the corner of a brand’s site gives consumers a way to navigate the digital storefront, entering queries that trigger searches across a huge number of web pages.

For retailers, search is a gateway to their products, driving up conversion rates and revenue. In fact, it’s hard to overstate the importance of search to a brand’s top line. According to our Shopping Index quarterly analysis of more than 500 million unique monthly shoppers, consumers who use search are 2.4 times more likely to buy. Searchers also drive more revenue, spending 2.6x more across mobile and desktop retailer sites compared to those who don’t use search.

In fact, the 9% of shoppers who use search across Commerce Cloud customers, drive nearly a quarter of their overall sales. Given shoppers today are spending less time per visit on brand sites, especially on mobile, providing retailers with smarter search tools and shoppers better search experiences can have a major impact on sales.

In our quest to make search even smarter and drive greater results for retailers and consumers, we’re introducing Einstein Search for Commerce. Einstein is set of advanced AI capabilities embedded across the entire Salesforce Platform, powered by machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics and natural language processing.

• Einstein Search Dictionaries consumes all site searches and surface terms that are being searched for but are not in retailer’s keyword list. It then recommends a synonym to add to the list. Previously, if a member of the ecommerce team wanted to identify missing search terms and choose which existing synonyms list to add, they would be forced to sift through a lengthy spreadsheet and then guess which synonym list would be most appropriate. Further, Einstein Search Dictionaries analyzes data across the Commerce Cloud platform to identify relationships between search terms, making recommendations on which synonym list admins should assign them to. For example, a shopper searching for “mauve sweater” might not get any results, but Einstein Search Dictionaries would recommend that the brand add “mauve” to the synonym list for “pink” and “purple.” The benefits for shoppers and retailers are clear. Shoppers aren’t disappointed, coming away empty-handed when they can’t find the product they want. Retailers benefit by not losing a sale to a customer who can’t find something they actually have in stock.

• Einstein Search Recommendations personalize typeahead (or search-as-you-type) search. Like Einstein Product Recommendations, which are being used by dozens of global brands on nearly 600 sites, Einstein Search Recommendations leverage leading edge AI to suggest search results for both known and anonymous shoppers. And, with each click and interaction, the engine gets smarter. It uses the shopper’s behavior, such past and recent searches, along with shopper data collected from the Commerce Cloud network, such as trending and “others also like,” to power 1-to-1 recommendations, helping consumers find the products they want (or those they didn’t even know they wanted) much faster.  Before a shopper even types a single letter in the search bar, they are presented with drop down search recommendations, just for them.

• Keyword Search Sorting Rules give merchants more granular control over how product search results appear on the site, enabling them to override ‘standard’ results.   Merchandisers can prioritize certain terms and pull specific results forward to highlight products, and create custom assignments so specific search terms return results driven by sorting rules outside the default. For example, if a shopper searches for ‘sandals’ the results are sorted by new arrivals, or a search for ‘skincare’ might be sorted by ‘top rated.’ Previously, regardless of whether a shopper searched for sandals or skincare, they’d only see results driven by the default sorting rule.

Einstein Search Dictionaries and Keyword Search Sorting Rules will be generally available in Q1 2018. Einstein Search Recommendations will be available in beta in Q1 2018. It’s all built into the Commerce Cloud at no additional cost.

Shoppers demand a quick, frictionless and seamless search experience, and retailers need to deliver intelligent, relevant and fast site search results. Commerce Cloud will continue to make search smarter and more personalized, providing retailers and brands with a gateway to higher sales and deeper customer loyalty.