Reverse Image Search – For Achieving Search Assertiveness & More On Mobile Apps

During online shopping, how often did you feel that you could not express what you exactly wanted in terms of words? Yes! We are talking about that ARRGH moment! But wait! These days are about to say “Goodbye” very soon because reverse image search is now totally “IN” in the eCommerce market! Reverse image search is now one of the most preferred features among consumers while shopping from an app. It is shown that 20% of app users opt for visual or image search if it’s available on the shopping site or app. But on the other hand, only 8% (surprisingly 45% in the UK) of retail apps/sites provide this feature! Since the feature is pretty new in the market, not many retailers are aware of it and its benefits.

So, do not worry if you are not yet integrating a reverse image search feature on your app or website! You are not the only one! And it’s not too late as well, you can offer this feature anytime, and that too without putting much effort! But before integrating this feature, would you like a quick understanding of it and its benefits?

If yes, this article is just for you!

What Is Image Search? How Does It Work?

In the easiest words, image search is a way of searching for the product in any app without typing for it. This new-age search method takes images directly as your search query and aims at returning the same or similar products to the image uploaded.

Suppose you have come across furniture on social media or any other platform and love its texture/color – and you want it. But it becomes challenging to write the exact description on the app – due to improper search queries, the results you get mostly do not match with what you want.

Just think how cool it is to upload a photo after clicking a screenshot or any other image already stored on your device instead of typing! It eliminates irrelevant products from the search results, and the best part of it is:

Because of these conveniences, 85% of users use visual search more than text information, especially while shopping for apparel or furniture online. 59% of consumers believe visual information is more important than textual information.

Why Is Image Search Called The “Changing Face Of eCommerce”?

Reverse image search is slowly but surely changing the game of eCommerce for making users happy with its convenient usage that saves their time.

Because of such popularity, 35% of marketers are currently planning to integrate reverse image search features by next year.

The following case studies will further show how companies used image search and obtained some incredible results:

Ikea Image search

IKEA’s image search feature has taken the users’ journey toward their desired product to the next level. With a combination of reverse image search and augmented reality, IKEA offers the consumers to search with an image and provides a view of how the product will look in the user’s space.

Check out the video to find out how this works!

Amazon Image Search

Amazon has always been a step ahead when it comes to understanding consumers and making their shopping journey more delightful. It has an image search feature, making it twice easier and faster for a buyer to get the desired goods.

Since Amazon lists products of different genres, as a result, users often find it difficult to get what they want. Image search has saved much time for users. As a result, they get exactly what they are looking for in minimal time. For example, when a user searches by typing “XYZ,” it can show you a dress named “XYZ,” a shoe named “XYZ,” a book named “XYZ,” and so on. But adding an image on the search bar will return similar products, which is very helpful in Amazon.

Check this out and know how it works.

ASOS’ Style Search

ASOS – a British company uses the term “Style Search” for the feature reverse image search feature. They aim to make buyers’ shopping experience better than before. The “Style match” feature allows users to upload images of any outfit and get recommendations for similar products from AI.

ASOS finds that reverse image search is a practical solution for increasing sales. And due to this, ASOS had quite a good revenue increase during the pandemic. Users simply take a screenshot of the actor/actress/models they come across on social media, insert that on ASOS and get similar results/recommendations from the app. It simply makes them very happy.

Check the category-wise Reverse image search percentage in the image below:

Source: Invespcro

12 Biggest Benefits Of Reverse Image Search On Mobile Apps

Now, time to see what will you get with reverse image search on your mobile app:

1. Easier To SEARCH Anything And Everything

Reverse image search makes the entire process of product search easy – by uploading an image on the search bar, your customers specify their requirements. As a result, AI in your app will try to return the exact same products, if available or similar products.

Reverse image search makes the searching process for any product super easy, fast, and accurate.

2. More Search Assertiveness

Reverse image search brings assertiveness by returning exact products. Just think how you feel when you search for something, and the search results you get are entirely different. It surely disappoints you.

And when your customers feel the same, they too feel disappointed and may not opt to do business with you anymore. On the contrary, receiving the same and similar results, just imagine how happy your customers will be – they may spread this happiness to others. So, just plugin reverse image search on your app and let AI take the responsibility to make your customers happy.

3. Multiple Yet Specific Search Results

With textual search, you indeed get many search results; however, not all of these are relevant. But reverse image search eliminates this possibility right away.

Indeed, you will get multiple search results with reverse image search, but the majority of these will be specific to your search query. That’s why visual search is like a steal deal.

4. Customized Search Results

Let’s admit – this is the time of customization. Consumers want A-Z customized ways so they can leave a remarkable impression on the person on the other side. Be it a gift or for your own, personalized products are now completely IN.

But on ordering a customized product, users do not always get the exact one they want. With reverse image search, they can upload the customized product directly. So, it becomes easier to get something similar to your requirement.

5. Creates Awareness Of Duplicates

On your app, you may have mistakenly uploaded the same product twice or thrice. By conducting a reverse image search, you can view all these duplicates and attempt removing these. As a result, your listing page will be clear.

6. Overall Better Shopping Experience

With its search assertiveness, specific results, customized results, and awareness of duplicates, reverse image search creates a better shopping experience for buyers. It establishes a delight factor among the buyers and builds your business thereby.

7. Brings More Traffic And Clicks

Did you know that even in Google, 19% of search queries come with image results on the top? Well, an image from your app can be one of those. And when a user makes an image search on Google and clicks on the image from your app – they will directly step into your app.

To get this much traffic and more clicks on your images, you need to optimize the images on your app correctly.

Quick Tips To Optimize The images like a pro –

– Set  your file name with the inclusion of the keyword
– Use SEO-friendly image alt-tags and title text
– Write a caption
– Compress the image to a shorter size without compromising its quality
– Choose the best format (JPEG/PNG/WebP/BMP/SVG)
– Maintain the dimensions
– Mobile-friendliness is a MUST
– Keep the image unique
– Get copyright

8. Increases Revenue

With more traffic and click, it’s natural that more revenue will follow. So, image search brings customer satisfaction, leading to future business growth. Retailers who adopted visual and voice search earlier had seen a 30% increase in revenue by the end of 2021.

Did you know that a mobile app can expect an increase in AOV by 20% with the inclusion of an image search feature in the app/website? 

9. Helps Your Brand To Stand Out

Reverse image search makes your brand prominent – a satisfied customer spreads good words or reviews about your brand after conducting an image search and getting relevant results. As a result, your brand tackles the competition easily.

Additionally, once you optimize your images with proper tags and it appears in Google search results, the audience gets aware of their ownership. It is also a good sign for your brand.

10. Earns Easy Backlinks

An optimized image that comes up during a reverse image search on google is much more capable of getting some natural backlinks. It is because other websites may find the images useful and want to use them.

11. Obtains Better Position On SERPs

Reverse image search can secure a better position for your app or website on SERPs. Since the overall app’s SEO (along with images) is improved, your solution and your images will appear in more results. Again A GAIN for you.

12. Makes Fake Profile Identification Easier

Your products on your app or your app on the app store may have some negative reviews. If they have a picture on their user profile, you can attempt to identify whether they are real or not, with a reverse image search on your database. On finding the profile fake, you can take action and free the review section from fraud.

Are You Not Using Reverse Image Search On Your App? What’s The Big Deal?

Well, right now, not using image search may not be a big deal; however, soon, the absence of this feature will be a deal breaker. Are you ready for that? We hope not!

Let’s agree on one point – we are getting busy daily. Yes, we now definitely have time to type our query on the search bar, but we may not have that much time in the future. Or, we may find it difficult to find the exact words for our search query! Alternatively, not-so-relevant results that appear after a textual search may disgust us so much that we drop using an app!

So, to save your mobile app from all these possibilities, reverse image search is the CATCH – would you still choose to miss this super convenient feature on your app? Let us know in the comments!