WebSideStory Launches Ajax-Enabled Site Search Solution

JavaScriptSearch
Friday, October 6, 2006; 05:04 AM

WebSideStory announced a commercially available Ajax-enabled site search solution. This capability, called Active Browsing, is an extended service of WebSideStory Search and enables e-commerce sites to integrate one of Web 2.0’s enabling technologies, Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), into their product search results. The result is enhanced speed and interactivity, and an improved customer shopping experience in which shoppers are able to engage in “clickless browsing” – the ability to preview additional product facets and “more like this” categories just by rolling their mouse over specific search results. Last year, The Gap received industry wide attention for spending a reported $10 million to deliver this same type of “quick look” product functionality to its web site as part of a major Ajax-enabled redesign. Active Browsing is currently live on Jockey.com .

“When you make online shopping faster, easier, you create a more persuasive experience, that leads to better conversions and more loyal customers,” said Bryan Eisenberg, the co-founder of Future Now, Inc., a New York City marketing firm, and the author of two New York Times best-selling business books, Call to Action and Waiting For Your Cat to Bark? “Active Browsing is demonstrably better than virtually every e-tailer’s current offering.”

Active Browsing works by transforming site search into a highly interactive application that accesses server data optimally, and allows for user interface innovations such as “bubbles” that overlay the page to provide more information and navigation choices. This enables visitors to speed through product search results and related facets – color, size, gender, etc. – without having to reload the page every time. Active Browsing lays the foundation for additional product capabilities that will take site search to whole new levels of interactivity, including more intuitive interaction conventions and user interfaces. Advanced Ajax implementations at travel sites like Kayak.com are credited with having positive impacts on both user experience and market share. Hitwise, an online competitive service, recently reported that Kayak.com’s market share has surged in the last six months – an increase that one travel industry analyst attributed to the use of Ajax. Google Maps is another popular example of Ajax in action.

In April, WebSideStory launched WebSideStory Search 4.0 with Active Ranking, the first site solution to drive site search results based on the full spectrum of web analytics data. With Active Browsing, WebSideStory expands its industry leading Web 2.0 capabilities, which also include the tracking of Web 2.0 content and applications – such as Ajax, RSS feeds, podcasts and streaming video – with HBX Analytics, an award-winning on-demand web analytics service.

“We are pleased to bring another industry first to the market, for the benefit of our customers,” said Steve Kusmer, senior vice president and general manager of WebSideStory’s search and content solutions unit. “Active Browsing is truly the next generation of site search, where you are moving from a static, click-heavy search experience to a highly interactive one.”

For more information about Active Browsing and WebSideStory Search, visit www.websidestory.com