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Paper Number
2108
Paper Type
Short
Description
Search engines are an essential part of our lives. However, we do not fully understand what affects users' search "inputs." One of the most notable features affecting search inputs is autocomplete, an intelligent agent suggesting queries while typing. Understanding the impact of autocomplete helps eCommerce companies retain customers; examining its impact is difficult since all search engines have adopted it, and experiments are risky for firms. We overcome the challenges by leveraging a novel natural experiment of an eCommerce company. Our preliminary results suggest that the deactivation of autocomplete for the incorrect keyword led to a substantial drop in website visits in the PC channel compared to the mobile channel. In addition, website visits substantially shifted from the incorrect keyword to the correct keyword in the mobile channel but not in the PC environment. This short paper is expected to shed new light on our understanding of autocomplete's impact.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Kitae; Lee, Dongwon; Park, Sunghyuk; and Sim, Jaeung, "Digital Rule of Thumb: A Natural Experiment on Autocomplete in Search Engines" (2022). ICIS 2022 Proceedings. 12.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2022/digital_commerce/digital_commerce/12
Digital Rule of Thumb: A Natural Experiment on Autocomplete in Search Engines
Search engines are an essential part of our lives. However, we do not fully understand what affects users' search "inputs." One of the most notable features affecting search inputs is autocomplete, an intelligent agent suggesting queries while typing. Understanding the impact of autocomplete helps eCommerce companies retain customers; examining its impact is difficult since all search engines have adopted it, and experiments are risky for firms. We overcome the challenges by leveraging a novel natural experiment of an eCommerce company. Our preliminary results suggest that the deactivation of autocomplete for the incorrect keyword led to a substantial drop in website visits in the PC channel compared to the mobile channel. In addition, website visits substantially shifted from the incorrect keyword to the correct keyword in the mobile channel but not in the PC environment. This short paper is expected to shed new light on our understanding of autocomplete's impact.
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21-Digital