In-session personalisation is built on search research and real-world insights from retailers who wanted more adaptive, intent-aware results. Here is a deeper dive into the discovery, the research and the rationale behind building it.
Insights and research
Many retailers view personalization as a way to enhance an already excellent search experience. Elevate’s search engine is known for its high precision, but customers recognize that even great search can benefit from a deeper understanding of each shopper’s current intent. In-session personalization adds this adaptive layer — improving relevance particularly for broad or exploratory queries, where results tend to have high recall and naturally lower precision.
A well-established insight from search research is that when relevant results appear early, user engagement increases and abandonment rates drop. By learning from each shopper’s recent activity, Elevate brings those relevant results to the top of the list — extending precision through personal context rather than generic ranking rules.
Why retailers want in-session personalization
From our discovery interviews, retailers consistently described personalization as a strategic enhancement, expected to deliver measurable improvements in experience and efficiency:
- Improve discoverability and engagement – by adapting search to what shoppers have shown interest in, even when intent is still forming. This helps surface niche or less-promoted items that might otherwise be buried in large result sets.
- Reduce exits and impatience – by showing relevant results earlier in the session, reducing the need for repeated searches or refinements.
- Serve diverse customers better – by balancing crowd wisdom with session context so results adapt as shopper intent changes and avoid static or repetitive listings.
- Support long-term goals – improving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention by delivering faster, more personalized journeys.
What it is designed to achieve
Our goal is to improve search the experience by increasing efficiency — helping shoppers find what they want faster, click higher-ranked results, and spend less time refining their searches.
In-session personalization is designed to :
- Improve precision – clicks occur higher in the result list
- Reduce search refinements
- Increase engagement – more relevant product interactions per search
- Maintain or improve key business metrics such as product clicks, conversions, and units sold
A decrease in the total number of search queries is a natural effect of improved precision and refined search. This typically indicates a smoother and more efficient shopping journey.
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