There are multiple elements that can be suggested in the Autocomplete. Based on best practices, we recommend suggesting keywords* and products.
Product suggestions - When a user starts typing letters in the search box, after the 2nd letter, Nosto’s search starts suggesting products that match the entered phrase. Suggested products are the same products that would be found in the search results page if searched, therefore, the same merchandising is applied.
A great example of our client Harts of Stur:
*Keywords suggestions - When a user starts typing letters in the search box, after the 2nd letter Nosto’s search starts suggesting keywords that match the entered phrase. Keywords are generated only from product data. Large assortments ecommerce companies like Amazon or Zalando widely use this approach.
*Keywords suggestions within a category - same as a feature above but specifying query for a category. If a user searches for dress, we can suggest them in different categories e.g. dress in Evening Dresses, dress in Petite Dresses, dress in Prom Dresses.
* - feature is not publicly available now, general availability is coming in 2023.
Empty search box autocomplete suggestions
Usually, the autocomplete shows up after a few first letters are typed, but it can also show up when an empty search box is clicked. In this case, Nosto’s Search can suggest:
Previous user’s search queries;
Pre-defined search queries or categories;
Pre-defined products;
Pre-defined content like pages or banners.
Right now, we cannot dynamically select popular or trending queries or products, but it's high in our development roadmap.
Content suggestions with Nosto OCP
You can suggest content in your Autocomplete with Nosto’s On Content Personalization (OCP) module. Simply create a campaign and add the placement to your Autocomplete via search’s code editor (Search → Templates) or search API.