Relevance
Test exact matches, natural language, typos, synonyms, filters and no-result behavior on your own queries.
Search Quality →Vendor evaluation
Compare search providers on evidence, not just functionalities.
Use the same query set, catalog context, integration questions, and cost period to keep vendor differences verifiable.
Integration
Asse product source, storefront, events, conversion, error handling and required engineering.
Integrations →Management
Compare how teams manage ranking, synonyms, merchandising, stores, and market configuration.
Merchandising →Analytics
Check definitions for search volume, zero-result searches, CTR, product clicks, conversion and segmentation.
Analytics →Operations
Take latency, availability, index freshness, monitoring, releases and rollback with you.
Operations →Security & data
Map data flows, access, store isolation and organizational responsibilities.
Trust →Scalability
Test the situation you expect: catalog growth, peaks, additional stores, markets and languages.
Enterprise →Support & ownership
Determine who is performing onboarding, incidents, optimization and change management.
Implementation →TCO
Compare license, integration, internal capacity, support and future expansion over the same period.
TCO →Comparison discipline
Make strong demos less important than representative evidence.
Suppliers are allowed to explain their approach, but the assessment should go back to their own search queries, architecture and management requirements.
PartTestEvidence
RelevanceOwn query setResult assessment
IntegrationOwn architectureTechnical scope
ManagementOwn workflowProcess demo
TCOEqual periodFull Cost