Practical guidance for web interface optimization

This section comprises a practical guidance for how to optimize your guided search components in Vertex AI Search for commerce.

Simplify the experience

A simplified user experience reduces cognitive load and ensures that users can quickly find what they are looking for without unnecessary distractions. This means:

  • Minimizing the steps in the process.
  • Keeping interfaces clean and intuitive.
  • Streamlining AI suggestions.

Avoid misleading or irrelevant personalization

Irrelevant or misleading results can quickly frustrate users.

Search optimization checklist

Take these steps to avoid common pitfalls:

Understand intent and VIP questions

To refine their intent, conversational commerce should prompt users with relevant questions. Conversational commerce should be configured to ask target VIP questions to further reduce the number of results and reduce ambiguity.

User journey

This is an example of a desirable user conversation.

Conversational filtering

Conversational filtering guides users toward more relevant options without overwhelming them by:

  • Immediately updating results.
  • Suggesting genuinely useful filters.
  • Labeling filters clearly.

Read more about Conversational product filtering.

Handle edge cases and errors

To make the search process is more reliable and user-friendly, Vertex AI Search for commerce can gracefully handle edge cases and errors in a number of ways:

  • Surfaces closely related alternatives.
  • Clearly displays stock availability.
  • Suggests similar alternatives.
  • Offers back-in-stock notifications.
  • Provides hand-off to customer support.

Design an adaptive web interface components and patterns

This section details how user interface design can optimize conversational commerce experiences, particularly on mobile. It focuses on enhancing search input and presentation, managing conversational elements without disrupting browsing, and leveraging autocomplete, predictive search, and carousels for efficient product discovery. The section also covers strategies for presenting search results, handling ambiguous queries, and using communicative animations to create a smoother and more intuitive user journey.

Search input and enhancement

As the entry point for conversational commerce, the search box must balance clarity and functionality and, particularly on mobile where screen space is limited, it must do so with minimal disruption.

Optimize placement for mobile

Most people use their thumbs to navigate their phones, so placing the search box at the bottom of the screen aligns better with user behavior. This minor detail aligns with the conversational commerce goals of making search more intuitive and reducing navigation effort and friction.

Indicate support for natural language input

  • Suggested prompts: Show me red sneakers for under $100
  • Dynamic placeholder text: "Ask a question"
  • Microcopy: "Try searching in full sentences!"
  • Icons: Chat bubble, microphone, or camera icon
  • Onboarding tips: "Try asking for products in full sentences"

Manage conversational commerce without disrupting browsing

When search becomes conversational, it risks taking up valuable screen space.

To mitigate this risk, you can implement:

  • Collapsible conversation: Allows users to expand and contract the conversation area using a persistent icon.
  • Conversation overlay: A conversation overlay floats above the page allowing users to still view results.
  • Embedded conversation: The search journey begins as a standard input field but expands into a full-screen conversational web interface.

To reduce the need for users to type out full search terms autocomplete and predictive search reduce the need for full search terms, implement:

  • Predictive assistance: Predictive terms appear within the search bar as users type, offering real-time, autocomplete suggestions in a lighter font.
  • Dropdown prediction list: A dynamic list appears below the search bar, showcasing suggested queries, popular searches, and recent history
  • Contextual filtering chips: Filters display below the search bar as users type, providing relevant filter options such as categories, price ranges, or brands.
  • Smart corrections: Subtle autocorrect suggestions for misspelled words will be displayed in the drop-down.

Search results presentation and refinement

Optimizing search item returns through layout and refinement options can make the browsing experience smoother, ensuring site visitors can efficiently scan, compare, and filter results.

Results views and layouts

How results are presented within a conversational commerce console depends on the web interface being embedded or overlaid on the experience.

  • Collapsible and overlay results: This view allows results to be decoupled, dynamically updating the main product grid while keeping the conversation accessible in a side panel or floating conversation.
  • Embedded results: This view displays results directly within the conversation, as structured cards, carousels, or inline product listings, ensuring a seamless experience.

Implement dynamic filtering and refinement

When users enter a prompt, guided search proactively guides users towards more precise results by asking clarifying questions or surfacing relevant filter options inline.

Use interactive page elements to handle ambiguous queries

Instead of returning an unfocused set of results, the interface can use interactive page elements to guide users toward more relevant results.

Integrate communicative animations on your site

Subtle animations such as these examples provide visual feedback to make interactions feel smoother and more intuitive, helping users understand changes in real time.

  • Loading states: A shimmer effect on product cards or a subtle pulse on the search bar can indicate that search is processing.
  • Typing indicators: A brief typing animation (e.g., three dots pulsating) reassures users that the system is actively working.
  • Streaming responses: Conversational commerce can generate responses in real-time, with text appearing dynamically as it is processed.
  • Fading transitions: When users adjust filters or guided search suggests refinements, results can smoothly fade in and out.

Utilize carousels

Carousels showcase relevant products, recommendations and trending items without overwhelming users. Especially on mobile, carousels optimize limited screen space by allowing users to browse multiple products or offers with intuitive swipe gestures.

Carousel features:

  • Personalized recommendations based on user behavior
  • Trending or featured products
  • Recently viewed items
  • Category-based browsing

Carousel best practices:

  • Ensure carousels are quick loading
  • Ensure clear navigation
  • Use horizontal instead of vertical scrolling
  • Limit carousel items
  • Complement primary results

Multimodal experience

Voice search, input and transcribed text ensures a multimodal model guided search experience.

  • Voice search: Voice search is intended to feel natural and effortless to the site visitor. The web interface designed to support quick, clear user interactions.
  • Voice input button: A microphone icon in the search bar allows the site visitor to activate voice search, with animated indicators pulsing or lighting up to provide users visual feedback when activated.
  • Streaming transcribed text: Conversational commerce can stream transcribed text as the user interacts using voice, allowing the site visitor to review and adjust their input while minimizing site clutter.