X-Cart forums

[NikitaP]

Hi guys!

I would like to draw your attention to our Christmas sale. Check the details at http://www.x-cart.com/extensions/modules/cloudsearch.html.

Hurry up, sale ends Dec 25th!

[carpeperdiem]

Still liking CloudSearch - still have about 10 days of demo time left to think about this...

I really like the instant results and the overall experience for the customer who is searching specifically for a product.

HOWEVER, and it's a big however, sometimes my customer is looking for something that is not a product.

I just looked at my search stats for the past 2 weeks:

/admin/statistics.php?mode=search

in addition to the phrases and keywords that are associated with my products, my customers searched for these phrases:

shipping
tutorials
tutorial
Subscribe to Newsletter
newsletter
sale
coupon
clearance
special
special offer
free gift
an actual sku# (not displayed on the product page)
and a few product ingredients (we publish our ingredients as images, to prevent indexing).

All of these phrases are included in our static embedded pages. But search (or I should say Cloudsearch) does not search static pages.

Nikita, are there any plans to include static embedded and extra fields and other non-product detail pages into the CloudSearch index? As much as I am really liking CloudSearch, I am discovering that my customers search for phrases and keywords that are NOT on a product page just as often (or more) than they search for an actual product. Not including these other pages into the search results means the customer is not having a good experience. The expectation is that if the customer searches for something, the search results will take them to what they're looking for. Learn something from Google, right?

An instant alternative for me is to use Altered Cart's SmartSearch w/ Ajax and the static page module. I own AC SmartSearch but not the Ajax or static page modules - and I will have to buy the upgrade to version 4.5.x. But I really like the UI experience when searching for products in CloudSearch.

If I am to subscribe to CloudSearch, it's gonna have to have the static pages indexed, since so much of the customer experience is NOT on the product pages: shipping, FAQ, tutorials and knowledgebase, REVIEWS, Newsletters, how-to articles, and countless pages of content that is vital to a successful business that is not "just" a product page.

Nikita, as a test, go to a major shopping site -- try http://oldnavy.com/
Search for these terms:

shipping
return policy
store locations (which is very cool since it is geo enabled based on IP)

Try many other big retail sites:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/
http://www.bestbuy.com/
http://www.potterybarn.com/

etc... yes, EVERY SINGLE major retail site has search for their entire site, not just for products.

I am realizing that search is a critical part of the shopping experience for the customer - and we are failing them right now in X-Cart (even though CloudSearch improves searching for products).

Realistically, can you add static embedded pages to CloudSearch without reinventing the wheel? If so, what kind of timeline can I expect. If you do this, I will subscribe immediately.

Thanks,

Jeremy

[carpeperdiem]

bump?

[NikitaP]

Hi Jeremy!

Thank you for your detailed feedback, it is indeed helpful for us. We plan to include static pages in CloudSearch results (extra fields are already there, please refer to this post http://forum.x-cart.com/showpost.php?p=344676&postcount=9, search by sku wasn't yet announced, but it also works on current client module implementation).

As for the timeframes, it may take from 1 to 2 months to release a new version for all supported X-Cart versions. But for those who are curious , I think I can provide a pre-release version a bit earlier (2-3 weeks)

So stay with us and see how together we can make CloudSearch better.

[NikitaP]

Hey guys!

It's time for 1.1.0!

From now on CloudSearch will help your customers find categories, manufacturers and static pages (with page screenshots). Along with these major features, the release also includes usability improvements such as improved formatting of text excerpts. This release will also be slightly (5-10%) faster than older versions.

Check out these features at our demo store

New module packs are available for download here and also in file area of your accounts. Existing clients do not need to run installation script again, just update the files and wait for CloudSearch to re-index your data (do not forget to create a copy of your custom main.css if you have such).

As always you can try CloudSearch for 30 days for free.

P.S. In this post carpeperdiem explains how CloudSearch can be used to include virtually any custom page into your search results.

[carpeperdiem]

Hi Nikita,

Thanks for the great update to CloudSearch. Adding the static pages is a significant improvement.

Assuming I can simply replace the CloudSearch files from the new distribution in my file area, yes? Obviously, edits to the css will have to be preserved/copied back in.
I ran the 3 sql scripts (cloudsearch_remove.sql, etc..)
Besides running cleanup.php after the update, anything else?

Thanks,
Jeremy

[NikitaP]

Hi Jeremy,

Nothing is needed besides these steps. Hope you enjoy CloudSearch, and thanks for taking part in testing.

[anandat]

Hello Nikita,
CloudSearch 1.1.0 is certainly a big improvement & no doubt it's a best available search mod for x-cart at the moment.

The only thing hurting is it's pricing policy. If you can make this mod as one time paid mods instead of subscription based then I guess many people will buy it. People don't mind to pay for upgrade also but subscription base pricing method just stopping me to buy this module.

Also subscription pricing method is also not in favor of customers. $59 for 100 products search ?? now I don't think so site with just 100 product required cloud search or some one will pay $59 EVERY YEAR just to search 100 products.

After 100 product next plan is directly for 5000 products & price is $249 EVERY YEAR. Now this is the tricky pricing policy. I am sure 90% of site will have more than 100 products & less than 5000 products so all will ended up paying $249....every year !!

lets say I have 110 products so I need to pay $249

It's my suggestion that if possible please make this mod as one time PAID mode or please look at subscription policy for this mod & I am sure you will get lots of buyer for this mod with reasonable pricing policy.

[carpeperdiem]

Although my store only has about 45 products, I also have about 40 static pages and 10 categories...

I didn't really consider the pricing when I signed up, since at 45 products (variants don't count), I was well under the limits of the basic plan -- but with the addition of the static pages and cats, how is that going to add up?

Yes, it is a SaaS. Yes, they are providing server resources and 3x daily indexing. HOWEVER - the pricing model could factor in bandwidth/resources used?

In comparison, MaxCDN provides 1TB of edge servers per year for US$40, and then incremental costs per TB. If you use more bandwidth, you pay for it.

Could cloudsearch pricing be more sensitive to the stores with many pages and/or products, but limited traffic? Could a subscription plan include a minimum number of queries, then escalations after a magic number is reached? I would imagine there are some (many) stores with sub-100 products that have 1000x the traffic of many 800+ product stores. Is that fair to everyone?

I was willing to pay $59/year for this - but if it becomes more than that, I would probably seek alternatives. Just saying. I really like the product and I think it's awesome, but I do wonder what will happen if I add 10 more products and 10 more static pages.

[NikitaP]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your questions.

The main thing to note here is that CloudSearch is a service. Not a module. It just can't be created as a standalone module for X-Cart written in php. One can create a similar module but the significant amount of features (not to mention performance) was created solely due to the service architecture of CloudSearch.

As for the actual pricing numbers, I would like to stress that nowadays a realtime search system is a must-have feature for any serious store owner not willing to give up his conversion rates due to customers not able to find what they need. You don't buy yet another bells-and-whistles feature, instead you pay to increase your conversion and improve your customers experience. This blog post may be interesting http://www.finestshops.com/cloudsearch-extention-helps-retailers-boost-online-sales-conversions.html

I understand your concern about having the fair pricing system taking into account all the resources/bandwidth/etc used. But from the inside it appeared that the amount of products have a good correlation with the actual resources we spend for a particular client. Last but not least, it is simple and straightforward. And answering to your question: we won't factor categories, manufacturers nor static pages when counting the number of products in store. So if you have for example 90 products and a couple of dozens of categories you can stay just fine on the bronze plan.