If your online store has a huge product selection, you must do everything you can as an eCommerce merchant to assist clients in locating what they’re looking for on your site. Each consumer purchases differently, has distinct wants, and is visiting your business for a specific reason; one of the greatest methods to cater to customers on a personal level is to use faceted navigations and faceted search tools.
Customers will find it much simpler to locate what they want on your online shop if you add filters. This might include characteristics to category pages and on-site search results. This helps consumers to quickly and easily discover what they’re looking for. This prompts the chances of the user making a buy. So, let’s take a look at how faceted navigation might boost conversions and make your business more appealing.
What exactly is Faceted Navigation?
Faceted navigation refers to search result refining options that consumers may utilize to discover what they’re looking for more easily. This might comprise several qualities such as sizes, colors, price ranges, and so on. These assist clients in determining what they want from an online company. If a customer isn’t looking for a specific item, they may utilize faceted navigation. This helps to perceive better what the store offers and explore its inventory on its terms.
Typically, faceted navigation appears on the sidebar of category pages on eCommerce websites (where it can boost conversions by 20 percent).
Customers will be able to tailor your inventory by whatever filter you specify within the faceted navigation sidebar. Be it brands and models or pricing ranges and specs. If your online business has a big inventory that would be difficult to traverse without filtering or refinements, then faceted navigation may assist you and your consumers.
The Advantages of Faceted Navigation
So, how precisely does faceted navigation lead to more conversions? It all boils down to user experience. If a client feels at ease shopping on your site, they are more likely to make a purchase. If your store’s navigation is difficult and time-consuming, customers may choose to visit a competitor’s site. All for a more pleasant experience. Here’s how faceted navigation improves user experience and hence increases conversions on your business.
a) Allows for Intuitive Exploration
Allowing customers to explore your items depending on what’s essential to them is crucial. This will make it easier to locate what they need and make a buy. This also arranges your inventory in a way that makes sense to the user; they may first choose a price range, then a rating, and finally color. All while arriving at the same goods as another shopper who applies those filters in a different sequence. When your customers utilize faceted navigation, they are not constrained to a pre-determined path. This gives them more power and makes shopping a more customized experience.
b) Assists shoppers in visualizing paths
There’s nothing worse than getting the dreaded “No Results” screen while looking for a certain product. Customers would never see such a page if you provided faceted navigation with appropriate filters that update dynamically. After each click, their selected refinements change instantaneously and visibly on the page, making their remaining options evident. With efficient faceted navigation in place, customers will not be misled into picking a combination of qualities that yields no results.
c) Option to back out
Some buyers may refine their search with a long number of filters. This results in a tiny selection of goods that do not fit what they are seeking with that final filter. A user can “back out” of faceted navigation without altering previously selected enhancements. Shops have discovered that they receive more multi-item purchases with faceted navigation. Since buyers have an easier time browsing accessories after purchasing key goods.
d) Scope for customization
Merchants may strategically put relevant refinements for every search query or product category using faceted navigation capabilities. To increase the efficacy of the navigation menu, include color palette options, choose grids, pricing sliders, and shopper-provided social navigation (such as ratings, pros, negatives, and so on). You may even use A/B testing to evaluate which layout results in the best conversion rate.
Faceted Search vs. Faceted Category
On your online store, faceted navigation may take two major forms: faceted search and faceted categories. While both employ filters to narrow down a product selection, the distinction is in where they show and how they’re used.
Faceted search, as the name implies, takes advantage of the website’s search bar. When a consumer types a search query, the faceted search capability allows them to apply filters to the search results, further refining them. Search phrases are often more precise than whole categories, and they can assist shoppers in getting closer to the particular product they’re looking for.
When activating faceted search, keep the following in mind:
• Enable spelling correction, synonyms, “did you mean?” and autofill. These settings help clients get what they’re looking for and avoid the “No Results” page by serving results for any variant of their query.
• Determine whether search phrases on your website have high vs. low engagement. You may improve search result pages and convert them into conversion-optimized landing pages by limiting the searches with the highest engagement.
• Use site search merchandising, a type of advertising in which particular promotions are placed on certain search result pages on your site. This provides highly relevant on-site advertising to customers with high intent and personalizes the buying experience.
On the other hand, categories with facets are accessed by selecting a category from one of your website’s menus. This category will then have relevant filters that buyers may use to refine the goods inside it. Customers will be looking at a bigger range of items when using faceted categories, which means they will most likely want additional filter choices.
Final Thoughts
Faceted navigations aren’t appropriate for every shop. However, discover that your clients have difficulty discovering what they need using the basic categories and search navigation that your online store employs. It may be the best answer for your company. There are various methods for adding category filters, search facets, and other types of faceted navigation to your site, so experiment to discover the one that works best for your business and clients.
