相关性成就个性化搜索新时代

    想象一下：你现在正在计划外出度假，或是打算订出差的机票和酒店，或是单纯地想找本书来读读，那么首先你会在网上搜索相关信息。如果是打算出差，你可能要访问20多个网站——当然在各个页面上停留的时间会有长有短，然后汇总各个网站的评论和细节。这个过程既漫长又无聊，可能要花好几个小时的时间来反复对比价格和用户评论。

    为了找到符合要求的信息，可能必须得在成千上万高度零散的搜索结果里进行筛选。如果有一种技术能够根据用户的个人喜好、地理位置或是历史购买信息和搜索信息，将所有零散的搜索结果自动组织起来，让最相关的选项自动排到最上面，岂不妙哉？

    这种相关性搜索代表着未来，而且它已经开始在旅行和在线零售业崭露头角。

    对于个人来说，选择相关性搜索的原因显而易见。更相关、更个性化的搜索体验能够节省我们的时间，减少挫败感，最终形成一种更智能、更轻松的网络体验。另外，相关性搜索不仅会对我们日常的网络搜索造成影响，而且它还具有彻底改变商户与顾客的互动方式、打造顾客长期忠诚度的能力。

    在最基本的层面上，企业可以增加广告和信息对终端用户的相关性，从而更有针对性地开展业务。Facebook便是一个简单的例子，Facebook有意识地向不同的用户群展示不同的广告。Facebook的广告战略高度定向，它向人们展示的信息和广告不是千篇一律的，而是先去分析用户是谁、用户的个人资料里填写了什么内容，再用高级算法分析用户可能对什么内容最感兴趣，然后才向用户呈现定向的信息和广告。

    但相关性搜索的真正实力和潜力主要在于它能促进顾客持续参与，打造顾客忠诚度。有时企业只想把产品和服务卖给所有能接触到的顾客。但更多时候，他们希望能接触一些特定的顾客群。比方说，有一家高端餐厅想打广告招徕新顾客，他们可能更想招揽的是那些坐着头等舱来本市出差的商务人士，这些人更有可能在就餐时点上一瓶高档的洋酒。因为这样有助于餐厅尽可能地实现就餐人数的最大化，并且产生更多的利润。但除此之外，这家餐厅可能还希望与那些有可能经常前来就餐的人建立长久的联系，或是希望顾客能把他们享受到的良好体验告诉周围的同事和朋友们。

    有些食客经常在周末前来就餐。餐厅是否有能力为他们提供激励，让他们在平日里也前来就餐，这一点对于餐厅和消费者来说都非常重要。所以说企业不应漫无目的地向顾客发垃圾邮件、寄促销信、打促销电话，而是需要根据每个顾客的实际情况提供独特的促销内容。一旦了解了顾客需要什么、什么时候需要这些东西，那么他们就能在正确的时间向顾客提供很大的价值。

    Imagine you want to plan a vacation, book a business trip or find a new book to read. You start by searching the web. If you're planning a trip, you may visit 20 or more websites -- spending more time on some than others -- and piece together all of the different reviews and details that each site offers. The process is long and tedious, filled with hours of double-checking on prices and comparing user reviews.

    What if, instead of having to sift through thousands of highly unorganized search results for the information that meets your unique needs, the options were dynamically structured and organized for you so the most relevant options floated easily to the surface, based on your personal preferences, your location and your previous purchases or searches?

    Relevance-powered search is the future, and it's already taking hold in travel and online retail.

    For individuals, the reasons for this shift are quite simple. A more relevant and personalized search experience will save time, frustration and ultimately create a smarter and easier web experience. But the implications of relevance-powered search go well beyond impacting day-to-day web searches. Rather, relevance in search has the power to completely alter the way merchants go about interacting with their customers and building long-term customer loyalty.

    At the most basic level, businesses can be more targeted in their outreach by making advertisements and information more relevant to the end-user. A simple example of this is Facebook, where the platform intentionally presents different advertisements to different individuals. Facebook's ad strategy is highly targeted, and the information and offers you receive are based on who you are, what you have in your profile and advanced algorithms that determine what will be most interesting to you.

    But the real power and potential of relevance is around building enduring customer engagement and loyalty. At times, businesses just want to sell more of their goods and services to anyone they can reach. But more often, they want to reach specific, target audiences. For example, the high-end restaurant considering offering a "deal" to entice new customers might prefer to target the business traveller who has just flown into town first class and is more likely to buy an expensive bottle of wine during her meal. That would help the restaurant maximize capacity and yield profits but, beyond this, it might want to build an ongoing relationship with customers who are likely to visit regularly, or to tell their friends and colleagues about their great experience.

    For the diner who regularly visits on a weekend, the ability to offer an incentive to visit during the week might be highly valuable to both restaurant and consumer. Instead of spamming customers with irrelevant and unwanted emails, snail mail and sales calls, companies need to present offers unique to each of their customers. Once they learn what the customer needs and when they need it, they can deliver great value, at just the right time.