Pinterest, Google, Facebook, and Amazon are all investing heavily in visual search technology.
In future, we will have a virtual wardrobe and these huge companies can act as our personal, AI stylists.
For now, consumers are getting used to shopping with visual search.
In this presentation, we'll cover:
- What is visual search?
- Why does visual search matter?
- How are people using visual search today?
- How can marketers start to engage their audience through images?
- Looking ahead: What Google, Facebook, and Amazon visual search will look like in future.
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COMING UP
1. What is visual search and how does it work?
2. Why does visual search matter?
3. How consumers use visual search
4. Visual search marketing tips
5. The future of visual search
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Visual search turns a smartphone
camera into a visual discovery
tool.
It allows consumers to shop the
‘real’ world online by searching
what they see.
This is quicker than typing or
speaking, and it is handy when
you don’t have the words to
describe what you are looking
for.
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Clay Bavor
"In the English language there are 180,000 words, and we only
use 3,000 to 5,000 of them.
If you’re trying to do voice recognition, there’s a small set of
things you need to be able to recognize.
Think about how many objects there are in the world, distinct
objects, billions, and they all come in different shapes and sizes."
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"Say you're in São Paulo and spot a jacket you love.
You could snap a photo to find a similar one in seconds because
the system can analyze the brand, fabric, price point, and style
information.
We envision a future in which the same system could even
incorporate your friends’ recommendations on museums,
restaurants, or the best ceramics class in the city — enabling you
to more easily shop for those types of experiences.”
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➔ Visual
➔ Dynamic
➔ Serendipitous
➔ Social
It’s great for those “I don’t know what I
want, but I’ll know it when I see it”
moments.
You can try on clothes, speak to the store
assistant, and discuss with friends.
Offline shopping is:
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Online shopping is:
➔ Convenient
➔ Fast
➔ Clinical
➔ Directional
It caters very well to the 30% of shoppers
who know what they want, and they know
how to describe it.
But what about those “I know what I want,
but I don’t know how to say it?” moments?
What about trying on new outfits, or seeing
how furniture would look in our spaces
before we buy it?
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With visual search, consumers can
search on Google with a pattern, a
colour, an object, or an outfit they like.
This fundamentally changes how brands
can communicate with their audience.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Map out the
customer
journey
Analyse
search results
page
View your
content how
computers
view it
Make images
central to your
pages
Tag and
categorise
images based
on more than
just keywords
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Intent state Input Output
Open to ideas
Looking for a specific style
Looking for a type of product “White sneakers”
Ready to buy “Adidas originals white”
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2. ANALYSE THE SEARCH RESULTS
Google Search shows images
in a number of places:
➔ Universal search
➔ Snippets
➔ Image search
➔ Lens
It also categorises images based on styles
and trends, not just keywords.