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> This is really important when looking for something obscure. Sadly I do not think that Amazon goal is to optimize searches so you get what you look for, but

> This is really important when looking for something obscure. Sadly I do not think that Amazon goal is to optimize searches so you get what you look for, but so as many people as possible find something that they purchase. There is many complains in this threat about how bad the "smart" searches are becoming. But, the reality is that "smart" searches are becoming better and better at their goal: to maximize profit finding something for you to buy/click/etc. regardless of what was your initial search. e.g. If you look for a 3$ book that gives Amazon a profit of 50 cents but they know that they can show you another that you are going to buy for 50$ with 2$ profit Amazon will show you what is right, for their own profit. If the book is just in a similar topic or not useful at all to a minority of people, that does not matter meanwhile it maximizes profit.

kqr 5y ago
Specifically, using these numbers (50 cents and 200 cents), as long as only 5 % buy the more expensive item instead, they still make a profit even if this type of profit engineering turns away you and 15 % of users like you leading to no purchase at all. In exchange for a small chance of selling a more expensive item, it can actually be worth running an even greater risk of losing out on a purchase of a cheaper item. (It sounds obvious when put like this, but people I've talked to have been surprised by it.) Of course, this is all about short term effects. There's a cost for your brand and reputation if you become the place where it's hard to find what you're really looking for. ---- This is is hard. I work with providing product search for online stores and our service is one of the better in the business, going by a solid track record of controlled experiments against competitors. But like -- how do you know you're better? The user making a purchase is a really strong signal. Many people would be envious to have such a good signal as "person opening their wallet." It's about the gold standard when it comes to assessing the opinions of people without asking them directly. Except... as stated here -- what if they didn't actually find what they wanted, only we managed to figure out something else they might as well buy while we were at it? Is that success? Partial success? How can one tell the difference?

kqr 5y ago

Specifically, using these numbers (50 cents and 200 cents), as long as only 5 % buy the more expensive item instead, they still make a profit even if this type of profit engineering turns away you and 15 % of users like you leading to no purchase at all. In exchange for a small chance of selling a more expensive item, it can actually be worth running an even greater risk of losing out on a purchase of a cheaper item. (It sounds obvious when put like this, but people I've talked to have been surprised by it.) Of course, this is all about short term effects. There's a cost for your brand and reputation if you become the place where it's hard to find what you're really looking for. ---- This is is hard. I work with providing product search for online stores and our service is one of the better in the business, going by a solid track record of controlled experiments against competitors. But like -- how do you know you're better? The user making a purchase is a really strong signal. Many people would be envious to have such a good signal as "person opening their wallet." It's about the gold standard when it comes to assessing the opinions of people without asking them directly. Except... as stated here -- what if they didn't actually find what they wanted, only we managed to figure out something else they might as well buy while we were at it? Is that success? Partial success? How can one tell the difference?