How to configure The Index™ for conversational product search

Before configuring The Index™

The Index™ depends on a healthy catalogue and RecoMelon's product intelligence. Confirm products, imagery, availability and relevant market data are being processed correctly before evaluating search quality.

1. Define the search experience

Decide where The Index™ will sit in the customer journey and whether it will complement an existing search experience or take a larger role in product discovery.

2. Test natural-language queries

Use realistic customer language rather than only exact product names. Test requests involving style, colour, attributes, occasion and combinations of constraints.

Useful test patterns

• Broad intent: 'something for a summer wedding'.
• Attribute intent: 'black midi dress with sleeves'.
• Visual refinement: 'something like this but shorter'.

3. Review merchandising behaviour

Validate how commercial priorities interact with relevance. Boosting or suppression should improve the result set without making it feel disconnected from the shopper's request.

4. Validate inline discovery

If inline Shop Similar is enabled, check that a shopper can branch from a result into useful alternatives without losing the wider search context. If LiveGrid™ content is included, confirm it adds relevant context rather than interrupting the results.

5. Test before rollout

Review desktop and mobile behaviour, empty or difficult queries, product availability and representative categories before expanding traffic.