VSCN Visual Sciences (MM)

New version of award-winning search solution expands capabilities while enabling retailers to offer better site search navigation for the holiday shopping season with 'fast track deployment' SAN DIEGO, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Visual Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSCN) (formerly known as WebSideStory, Inc.), a leading provider of real-time analytics applications, today announced the availability of Visual Sciences(R) Search 5.0. The latest version of the company's award-winning site search solution standardizes workflows and presentation templates, making configuration more intuitive while streamlining the implementation process. Visual Sciences is now able to offer fast track deployment, ensuring that online retailers and e-commerce Web sites can be fully implemented and take advantage of the powerful new Search 5.0 features well before the holiday shopping season. In addition to a rapid deployment process, Visual Sciences Search, a winner of the SIIA CODiE Award for Best Enterprise Search Engine three of the past four years, now includes a set of powerful new features, such as geographic searching, targeted presentations and related content or product information in the context of the search results. The "personalized alerts" feature allows site visitors to opt-in to receive e-mail notifications once new content or product information that matches their predefined interests is posted on the Web site. This valuable capability enables businesses to drive return site visits and leverage the powerful conversion capabilities of site search. "Site search is one of the most effective selling tools for any e-commerce Web site, so it is important that businesses are able to optimize their solution in time for the holiday season. The ability to quickly deploy Search 5.0 will ensure that our clients are ready for the busiest shopping season of the year," said Brian Sullivan, senior vice president and general manager of search and content solutions at Visual Sciences. "Visual Sciences continues to build on our track-record of delivering an industry-leading site search solution, adding new feature enhancements that increase overall Web site ROI and make site searchability much more intuitive and faster for end-users." Cutter & Buck, a Seattle, Washington-based company that designs, markets and sells upscale sportswear and outerwear through golf pro shops and resorts, specialty retail shops, direct-to-consumer catalog, corporate sales and online, has deployed Visual Sciences Search 5.0 to help customers quickly find what they're seeking via enhanced, targeted search results. "Visual Sciences Search 5.0 new 'related products and content' feature allows us to do a better job of merchandising our search content. It's a great way to not only drive up average order value, but also to show customers the full breadth of our product lines. We're very pleased with the new functionality," said Jay Allen, catalog and Web marketing manager at Cutter & Buck. Visual Sciences Search 5.0 includes the following important enhancements: -- Geographic Searching: Site searches can be based upon criteria such as postal codes, area codes, city/state, and even longitude and latitude. Site visitors can now find answers to common questions such as, "where is the closest store to my house?" -- Targeted Presentations: Changes the displayed results based upon the type of search performed, the set of results returned or the context of the search. Search 5.0 turns Web site content into a more relevant experience for the customer. A gallery of images may be appropriate for a visitor seeking products but not for a visitor seeking support on those products. -- Autocomplete: Anticipates and suggests queries as site visitors type in keywords, avoiding mistakes while presenting queries they may not have otherwise considered. -- Related Products and Content: Helps marketers increase sales by presenting products and content based on relationships defined via search. -- Enhanced Keyword Reporting: Leverages Visual Sciences Report Builder to provide insight into what site visitors seek. Search 5.0 provides a weekly report of top search terms, failed keywords, traffic trends and geographic distribution, enabling customers to quickly assess how visitors use search and apply this knowledge to both site search and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. -- Personalized Alerts: Allows site visitors to be notified as soon as new products or services matching their interests become available. Site search is one of the primary methods visitors use to navigate a Web site. With Visual Sciences Search 5.0, organizations can take advantage of this fact by controlling the order and priority with which search results are presented. For example, the customer self-service area of Web sites can boost the most frequently asked questions to the top of the results set to decrease calls and lower support costs. Or, e-commerce sites can prioritize product results based on brand, season or promotion to drive sales. In addition, Visual Sciences Search 5.0 makes it possible for enterprises to control and utilize search results by integrating Web analytics into the search process, improving the search relevancy of Web sites. Visual Sciences Search 5.0 delivers key compelling capabilities that optimize performance of one of the highest converting areas of a Web site -- Web site search results. Visual Sciences Search 5.0 is available now as an on-demand service. For pricing information, contact Visual Sciences at http://www.visualsciences.com/. About Visual Science Founded in 1996, Visual Sciences, Inc. (formerly known as WebSideStory, Inc.) (NASDAQ:VSCN) is a leading provider of real-time analytics applications. The company's analytics applications, based on its patent pending on-demand service and software platform, enable fast and detailed analytics on large volumes of streaming and stored data. More than 1,590 enterprises worldwide rely on the answers delivered by these applications to provide them with actionable intelligence to optimize their business operations. The company provides real-time analytics applications for Web sites, contact centers, retail points-of-sale, messaging systems and the intelligence community. In addition, the company's line of analytics-driven offerings leverages its analytics technology to automatically optimize Web sites and related marketing applications. Visual Sciences' flexible technology platform, Visual Sciences Technology Platform 5(TM), allows the company to rapidly introduce tailored solutions to meet its clients' needs. Visual Sciences is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., and has East Coast offices in Herndon, Virginia and European headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For more information, contact Visual Sciences. Voice: 858.546.0040. Fax: 858.546.0480. Address: 10182 Telesis Court, 6th Floor, San Diego, CA 92121. Web site: http://www.visualsciences.com/. Visual Sciences is a registered trademark of Visual Sciences, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements. You should not regard any forward-looking statement as a representation by Visual Sciences that any of its plans will be achieved. Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in this release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in Visual Sciences' business, including, without limitation: Visual Sciences' reliance on its Web analytics services for the majority of its revenue; potential impacts on Visual Sciences' business, results of operations and common stock price resulting from the process the company is undertaking with an investment banking firm to evaluate potential strategic transactions with interested parties; blocking or erasing of cookies or limitations on the company's ability to use cookies; Visual Sciences' limited experience with real-time analytics applications beyond Web analytics; the risks associated with integrating the operations and products of acquired companies with those of Visual Sciences; privacy concerns and laws or other domestic or foreign regulations that may subject Visual Sciences to litigation or limit the company's ability to collect and use Internet user information; Visual Sciences' ongoing ability to protect its own intellectual property rights and to avoid violating the intellectual property rights of third parties; the highly competitive markets in which the company operates that could make it difficult for Visual Sciences to acquire and retain customers; the risk that Visual Sciences' customers fail to renew their agreements; the risks associated with the company's indebtedness, including the risk of non-compliance with the covenants in the company's credit facility; the risk that Visual Sciences' services may become obsolete in a market with rapidly changing technology and industry standards; the risks associated with renaming the company and undertaking related branding activities; and other risks described in Visual Sciences' Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Do not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this news release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and Visual Sciences undertakes no obligation to revise or update this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release. DATASOURCE: Visual Sciences, Inc. CONTACT: Liya Sharif, , or Patty Ladegaard, , of JHG-Townsend, +1-858-457-4888, for Visual Sciences, Inc. Web site: http://www.visualsciences.com/

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