Case Study
Revolutionizing a College’s Search Functionality with Algolia:
A Success Story on How to Enhance Relevance, Speed, And Personalization.
25% Increase
in page view per session
40% increase
in successful search outcomes
15% decrease
in bounce rates
Summery
A well-established educational institution in the U.S. was facing challenges with its outdated search functionality, which hindered users from efficiently accessing the website's search and Curriculum Program Finder.
The system was slow, delivered irrelevant results, and lacked personalization and analytics, leading to a poor user experience. To resolve these issues, the college partnered with Bright Code programmers to implement Algolia's advanced search solutions. The project took just one month to implement and included iterative improvements such as defining searchable attributes, creating custom rankings, and optimizing search requests. This resulted in a faster, more personalized, and relevant search experience, significantly boosting user engagement and satisfaction.
Key Outcomes
- <1s Average Search Speed
- +25% Page Views per Session
- +40% Successful Search Outcomes
- -15% Bounce Rates
Challenge
The college's outdated search system faced several problems, prompting the need for a complete overhaul.
- Search Relevance:Users had a hard time finding the information they were looking for because the results were often irrelevant.
- Lack of Analytics:The college could not improve the search experience because they lacked relevant insights about what people were looking for.
- Lack of Personalization:The search could not be customized to the specific requirements of individual users.
- Slow PerformanceThe old search system was slow, leading to a frustrating user experience.
Objective
The client requested a scalable yet reliable search functionality to enhance the user experience.
Enhanced Search Functionality
A powerful and personalized search function that delivers relevant information.
Improved user experience
Quick search results, low bounce rates.
Fast Implementation
To minimize disruptions for users, students and staff.
Solution
After careful evaluation, Algolia was chosen as it met all of the college's search functionality needs.
- High Search Relevance: Algolia's advanced algorithms are powered by AI, ensuring relevant search results while addressing previous irrelevance issues.
- Analytics: Powerful analytics are used to monitor and understand search terms, improving the search process.
- Personalization: The solution provides personalized search experiences based on user needs.
- Speed: Fast search performance improves user experience.
- Scalability and Flexibility: The solution is scalable and flexible, integrating seamlessly with existing systems.
Implementation process
The new search implementation took just one month and used an iterative approach.
Steps Involved:
- Defining searchable attributes.
- Setting up custom ranking with business metrics.
- Adding necessary synonyms and removing stop words.
- Creating rules for specific search phrases to ensure accurate results.
- Optimizing search requests by implementing a 3-second delay on typing to search.
Outcome
Enhanced the college's search experience by implementing Algolia's functionality, delivering outstanding results.
- Quicker response times: Search query response times dropped dramatically, with average speeds now under one second. This improvement was reflected in user engagement metrics, with a 25% increase in page views per session and a 15% decrease in bounce rates .
- Improved relevance: The relevance of search results improved significantly, leading to a 40% increase in successful search outcomes. Additionally, the college gained valuable insights through enhanced analytics, allowing for ongoing refinements and more targeted content strategies.
- Improved Customization: Personalization features increased user satisfaction, especially among prospective students using the new Program Finder.
