Archive for category: News & Events

EasyAsk CEO, Craig Bassin, delivers a stirring byline article that discusses the history of natural language technology, the recent accelerated events which are creating tremendous interest in natural language products, and the various business problems EasyAsk can and has solved to-date. According to Craig:

“If Watson is focused on big problems, how can I use natural language solutions to better my business today? Perhaps you want to increase website customer conversion and user experience, better manage sales processes, deliver superior customer support, or in general, make it easier for your workers to find the right information to do their job. So where do you go?”

Link to the full article.

Dollar Days International uses EasyAsk eCommerce Edition to increase customer conversion and reduce lost visitors using EasyAsk eCommerce Edition, as published in an Internet Retailer article. According to Dollar Days CEO Marc Joseph:

“We’re a one-stop shop for small businesses who buy from us, and we have to get our customers quickly to what they want.  The natural language search allows our customers to find the exact product in a single click, increasing our customer conversion rates.”

Read the article on Internet Retailer.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Further Information Please Contact:
John Morrell, VP of Product Marketing for EasyAsk, email: [email protected]

BURLINGTON, MA— September 6, 2011 – EasyAsk, the leader in e-commerce search and merchandising software, and DollarDays International, the premiere online wholesaler and closeout company, today announced one of the largest and most diverse uses of e-commerce search in e-retail.  DollarDays is using the natural language conversion power of EasyAsk eCommerce Edition to get customers from the home page to the right products in a single click, helping increase purchase rates and revenue.

DollarDays distributes over 140,000 products on its e-commerce site with over 5,000 categories and sub-categories – a product catalog that would rival even the largest e-retailers.  In addition, as a small business wholesaler, the catalog is continuously shifting as seasons change, new products become available, and excess product needs to be closed out.

A product catalog of this size, diversity and fluidity created a number of difficult challenges in implementing e-commerce search and merchandising.  The product diversity meant that the same search term could have different meaning for different products, and the navigation attributes would be widely varied across the different categories.  The constant change created a merchandising nightmare in trying to manage promotions and offers.  It was clear that keyword-based e-commerce search offerings could not meet these challenges.

DollarDays chose EasyAsk eCommerce Edition because the natural language technology provided a more powerful, yet easier to use search and merchandising for their e-commerce site.  With EasyAsk, DollarDays now has:

• A search box that is more accurate, allowing visitors to type phrases describing exactly what they want and getting those in one click,
• A rich, dynamic set of navigation attributes that adjust based on the categories and products, making navigation faster,
• Superior, easier merchandising including the automatically assignment of products to special categories and rapid addition of promotional banners, ads and links.

“The most successful e-commerce sites get the customer to the right products the fastest, speeding the buying process”, said Marc Joseph, president and CEO of Dollar Days.  “EasyAsk natural language search allows our customers to find the exact product in a single click, increasing our customer conversion rates.  EasyAsk also makes our merchandising more agile, which is essential in our business where product offerings are continuously changing.”

As a result of using EasyAsk, DollarDays has seen significant improvement in the performance of their e-commerce site, including:

• The improvement of successful search rate to 99.8% and the virtual elimination of zero results searches,
• A dramatic increase in the use of the search box and the length of search terms to lead visitors to products faster,
• Greater efficiency in merchandising  by replacing a time-consuming multi-step process to create promotions with a combination of automated and single step creation of merchandising programs

DollarDays uses EasyAsk natural language and algorithms fed by operational product data to automatically classify products into unconventional categories such as Closeouts, 49¢ & Less, Hot Sellers and New Products (seen across the top of the DollarDays.com website).  Using EasyAsk in this way saves many man-days of merchandiser time and completely removes technical staff from the merchandising processes.

 “DollarDays is a shining example of how EasyAsk’s natural language search and merchandising can bring an e-commerce site to life and instantly increase customer conversion. Higher conversion equals more sales, leading to higher profits”, said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk.   “In a marketplace where you need every competitive edge possible, DollarDays found a powerful, yet easy advantage by using EasyAsk that is paying off at the bottom line.”

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition is the industry leading e-commerce search and merchandising solution that allows visitors to find products faster, and receive compelling promotions and offers.  EasyAsk understands the content and intent of the search question – “red long sleeved dresses under $150” – to deliver the right results on the first page.  EasyAsk eCommerce Edition customers see the industry’s highest conversion rates, deliver a superior customer experience, and see dramatic increases in average order sizes.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company’s ground-breaking natural language search and query software.  EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand.  The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising.  EasyAsk Business Edition revolutionizes enterprise decision-making providing self-service information access and business intelligence with easy, low-cost deployment and a unique natural language interface that extends information throughout the organization.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, JJill, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily.  For more information, please visit EasyAsk.

Leading industry analyst Steve Arnold talks about how InkJetSuperstore.com is taking advantage of EasyAsk eCommerce Edition to increase internet sales and make products easier to find on the site. According to Steve:

“Since the business implemented the solution, the site has had 80% fewer “no results” returns; increased order conversion rates by six percent; and decreased its phone calls and live chat requests, indicating that customers are more easily finding what they need.”

The full report on ArnoldIT.

EasyAsk eCommerce Facebook Edition Allows E-Retailers to Fully Merchandise and Sell Directly Inside Facebook

INTERNET RETAILER CONFERENCE AND EXPO, SAN DIEGO, CA—June 14, 2011—EasyAsk today announced at the Internet Retailer Conference Expo, EasyAsk eCommerce Facebook Edition, a new version of the company’s ground-breaking natural language e-commerce software integrated with Facebook, the world’s leading social media site. The new product brings the industry-leading customer conversion power of EasyAsk eCommerce Edition to Facebook, allowing Facebook users to search and purchase products without having to leave the friendly confines of Facebook.

With over 150 million users in the U.S. and 500 million worldwide, Facebook has tremendous potential for e-retailers. Earlier e-commerce solutions forced users to leave Facebook when they wanted to shop, resulting in low conversion rates, leaving e-retailers asking “How do we monetize our Facebook initiatives?”

The answer is EasyAsk eCommerce Facebook Edition, providing e-retailers an integrated solution to merchandise and sell products directly inside Facebook. It uses EasyAsk’s industry-leading natural language search, navigation and merchandising functionality to provide a superior shopping experience. EasyAsk also integrates with the e-retailer’s back-end e-commerce services, such as shopping carts to speed customer purchases. The entire solution resides inside Facebook, giving users the comfort and speed of shopping within Facebook environment.

“The proven customer conversion power of EasyAsk will help e-retailers truly monetize their Facebook initiatives,” said Craig Bassin, CEO at EasyAsk. “With this solution, EasyAsk stands alone as the only e-commerce search provider with a single integrated solution that covers e-commerce, mobile, Facebook and the cloud. EasyAsk delivers the most functionality on the market at a price point affordable to any size e-retailer.”

With EasyAsk eCommerce Facebook Edition, e-retailers can:

• Deliver a fully featured, customized e-commerce search, merchandising and e-commerce site within Facebook,
• Offer rich natural language search that delivers the right products on the first page to customers within their Facebook site,
• Use rich search analytics to optimize the experience and help merchandisers be more effective inside their Facebook site,
• Deliver promotions, cross-sell and up-sell offers, carve-outs and banner ads that are unique to Facebook and consistent across channels.

For more information on EasyAsk eCommerce Facebook Edition please visit the EasyAsk website at: https://www.easyask.com/products/facebook.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company’s ground-breaking natural language search and query software. EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand. The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, BASF, Talbots, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily. For more information, please visit EasyAsk.

EasyAsk helps the company create the best online experience in the complex printer and cartridge marketplace

BURLINGTON, MA—MAY 3, 2011—Anyone who has ever searched for the proper ink cartridges for their printer model can tell you about the dizzying array of options and combinations that can quickly frustrate a buyer. Using EasyAsk eCommerce edition, InkJet Superstore has dramatically simplified finding the right printer cartridges and accessories, providing the easiest online experience for customers, increasing online orders and revenue.

InkjetSuperstore.com sells toner and ink cartridges for virtually every make and model of printer, copier, and fax machine, with over 6,000 items.  InkJet Superstore’s vision is clearly articulated on the company website: “To be the best, the easiest, the cheapest and friendliest place to buy printer accessories.”  To back this up, InkJet Superstore offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, which includes paying for return shipping cost.

Search and Merchandising are a vital part of delivering the best customer experience and ensuring customer satisfaction.  Because nearly one-third of all site visitors immediately go to the search box, delivering good search results on the first try is crucial.

“Nothing is more important than being able to direct buyers to the right cartridge and accessories”, said Ilan Douek, President, InkJetSuperstore.com.   “EasyAsk gave us search capabilities that deliver rich, accurate results to both increase conversion rates and reduce the burden on our call center.”

Using EasyAsk, InkjetSuperstore.com has seen impressive results in a short period:

• The site now returns 80% fewer “no results” searches,
• Order conversion rates have increased 6%
• Calls and ‘live chat’ requests have decreased as customers are better able to find products

EasyAsk also enables InkjetSuperstore.com to manage an ever-growing catalog of ink and toner products.  The automatic synchronization between the NetSuite-based product catalog and EasyAsk eCommerce search enables new products to more easily be assimilated into the website.  The rich EasyAsk analytics also allow merchandisers to see new products in customer searches and quickly add these new products to inventory.

“Our relationship with InkJet Superstore goes well beyond delivering best-in-class e-commerce search and merchandising products”, said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk.   “The EasyAsk team was dedicated to make InkJet Superstore a rousing success and our partnership with NetSuite helped deliver an integrated e-commerce solution to Inkjet Superstore.  Only EasyAsk has developed a solution that allows the site to remain on NetSuite, providing increased SEO.”

InkjetSuperstore.com launched its business in 2005 on the NetSuite platform, building its pure-play e-commerce operation around the NetSuite Ecommerce solution.  NetSuite’s cloud enterprise suite gave InkJet Superstore all the capabilities the company needed to run their business, but required more sophisticated e-commerce search due to the complex relationships between printers, cartridges and accessories.  The partnership formed between EasyAsk and NetSuite through the NetSuite Solution Developer Network enabled InkJet Superstore to find an integrated, best-in-class search solution for their NetSuite-based e-commerce platform.

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition is the industry leading e-commerce search and merchandising solution that allows visitors to find products faster, and receive compelling promotions and offers.  EasyAsk understands the content and intent of the search question – “red long sleeved dresses under $150” – to deliver the right results on the first page.  EasyAsk eCommerce Edition customers see the industry’s highest conversion rates, deliver a superior customer experience, and see dramatic increases in average order sizes.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company’s ground-breaking natural language search software.  EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand.  The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, JJill, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily.  For more information, please visit EasyAsk.

EasyAsk’s Rich Natural Language Search Is Now In Easy Reach of Thousands of E-Commerce Sites

BURLINGTON, MA—March. 9, 2011— As Microsoft announced new natural language enhancements to Bing Shopping, EasyAsk, an industry leader and original innovator of natural language search technology, announced a new cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e-commerce search and merchandising offering.  The new solution brings the decade long excellence in natural language e-commerce search and merchandising of EasyAsk to the cloud, putting the rich functionality within easy reach of any e-commerce site.

EasyAsk eCommerce Cloud Edition brings the power and ease of the recently announced EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 to a cloud/SaaS deployment model, giving customers an affordable way to enhance their e-commerce sites with natural language. EasyAsk eCommerce Cloud Edition also builds upon EasyAsk’s strategic partnership with NetSuite around EasyAsk eCommerce Edition for NetSuite, which is now being successfully deployed with NetSuite Ecommerce customers.

“Microsoft’s announcement continues the market movement towards natural language technology started with the IBM Watson victory on Jeopardy!”, said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk. “We applaud Microsoft’s accomplishment with Bing, which shows the richness of natural language within e-commerce. With EasyAsk natural language now available in the cloud, e-commerce sites everywhere can take advantage of this rich capability which none of our major competitors can provide.”

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition is the industry leading e-commerce search and merchandising solution that allows visitors to find products faster, and receive compelling promotions and offers. EasyAsk understands the content and intent of the search question – “red long sleeved dresses under $150” – to deliver the right results on the first page. EasyAsk eCommerce Edition customers see the industry’s highest conversion rates, deliver a superior customer experience, and see dramatic increases in average order sizes.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company’s ground-breaking natural language search and query software. EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand. The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, BASF, Talbots, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily. For more information, please visit EasyAsk.

“Search Engine Optimization, Natural Language Technology, Enable Holiday Wish Fulfillment for those on 2010 Nice List,” Says Santa

BURLINGTON, MA—FEB. 1, 2011–EasyAsk, an industry leader in e-commerce search and merchandising software that has helped fuel 72 million transactions over the past year, today announced EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 which provides significant new capabilities for e-commerce search and merchandising.

Among the new features in EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 are: increased Search Engine Optimization (SEO), search auto-complete, NetSuite Ecommerce integration, product review attributes and integration with recommendation engines. All new features are available in a single package for EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 eliminating the need for customers to purchase expensive “add-on” modules. The simplistic packaging and pricing, combined with the unique EasyAsk natural language technology, enable the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and best value for enterprise-class search and merchandising.

“EasyAsk has revolutionized online holiday shopping and has had a direct effect on labor practices with my elves,” said Santa Claus while vacationing on a Mazatlan beach this month. “The natural language technology has led to a significant decrease in reported disappointments from those on my Nice List.” In other words, SEO and TCO are helping Santa go ho-ho-ho.

EasyAsk’s unique natural language technology fuels the company’s industry leading e-commerce search and merchandising platform and tools. EasyAsk natural language drives better search to convert buyers faster, more flexible navigation to convert shoppers into buyers, and more compelling offers and promotions to increase order sizes. The result is higher conversion rates and increased e-commerce revenues.

“The EasyAsk software and natural language technology delivers a superior search, navigation and merchandising platform that allows us to convert more visitors into buyers”, said Andrew Deren, Executive Vice President of Technology, Personalization Mall. “The EasyAsk implementation was fast and smooth, meeting our deadline of being live before the holidays. We are looking forward to EasyAsk Version 12 to take advantage of the new features.”

New Features in EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 contains a number of new features and enhancements, including:

• Search Engine Optimization – the new search site map generator provides integration with internet search engines to optimize the exposure and ranking of products in consumer searches.
• Search Auto-Complete – as site visitors’ type in the search box, EasyAsk will provide a list of suggested searches which the visitor can select from without having to finish typing the entire search string. Advanced algorithms based on the user and site search history, as well as analytics maintained by EasyAsk drive the suggestions.
• NetSuite integration – integration with NetSuite eCommerce including automated item catalog extraction via NetSuite SuiteCloud web services, and optimized e-commerce site integration for superior SEO and integrated look and feel. For further information on EasyAsk eCommerce Edition for NetSuite, please click here.
• Product Review attributes – EasyAsk search and navigation can now include product review data from vendors such as BazaarVoice. This allows visitors to search using product review criteria – i.e. “black loafers under $70 with 4 star reviews” – see review information as attributes in the navigation, and use review information inside search business rules to raise products in results or drive related offers or promotions.
• Integration with product recommendation engines – EasyAsk search results can now include associated product recommendations driven by product recommendation engines such as Rich Relevance and Certona.

“The EasyAsk platform has tens of millions of dollars in R&D investment to-date and we have a strong commitment to our customers and the market in continuing our industry leadership position,” said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk. “EaskAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 continues to make our software easier to use while providing new e-commerce search and merchandising techniques which customers can take advantage of.

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Version 12 is fully compatible with EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Versions 10 and 11. This provides a safe and easy upgrade path for existing EasyAsk customers and allows them to automatically take advantage of these advanced new features.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the company’s ground-breaking natural language search and query software. EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand. The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, BASF, Talbots, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily. For more information, please visit EasyAsk.