Search Revisits

Abstract

Most of the existing literature on consumer search tends to ignore consumers’ repeated visits to previously searched items (search revisits). In this paper, we leverage a rich clickstream data set on hotel searches and document both the extent and the nature of consumers’ revisit behavior. We find that revisits are common, constituting 22.2% of searches (49.2% of sessions) and, more interestingly, that consumers choose to revisit items that are more similar to the most recent item searched, likely because of ease of comparison. Further, we observe two types of revisit behaviors: 1) looking at information previously obtained (recall); and 2) searching for new information on previously searched options (continue search). Also, we find that consumers are strategic in choosing between “recall” and “continue search,” depending on whether they want to eliminate or keep that item in the consideration set. We discuss these and other related findings in the context of existing search models and identify conditions under which incorporating search revisits into a model of consumer search is important. Finally, we shed light on how to formally rationalize and model search revisit behavior.