3 ms·
The point of website search (at least on commerce sites) is not to help the users find what they're searching for, but to put other, possibly related, products
by flenserboy 3y ago
The point of website search (at least on commerce sites) is not to help the users find what they're searching for, but to put other, possibly related, products in front of their eyes. On most sites drilling down through limiters falls apart after about the third or fourth restriction is chosen, often because the sites seem designed to not give three or four clear choices (which is what the user wants to see), but ten or more vaguely related items (is this due to the fear that giving three or four results will imply that the site has a shortage of items to choose from?). Keep marketers & managers away from site design.
- pixl97 3y agoI may be wrong, but my guess is the site makes its money off those 'promoted' search terms of most popular/most profitable items and the work needed for the long tail doesn't seem worth it for most teams.
- binarymax 3y agoIt’s both. What you’re referring to is “searchandizing”, and it’s a component of e-commerce for sure. But if you’re not also retrieving what the customer wants you’ll just piss them off and they’ll shop elsewhere.
- cratermoon 3y agoIt's the digital equivalent of putting the cans of nacho cheese dip on a little rack in front of the shelves of tortilla chips.
- flenserboy 3y agoI can see that. It feels more like the car salesman who says, "Sure, you can look at the car you actually came here to see, but only after I show you three more we'd prefer to sell."
- travoc 3y agoIt’s more like asking the clerk where to find the fruit salad and him giving you directions to strawberry ice cream.
- timeon 3y agoYou are both right. GP described intent of store, while you have described result.
- timeon 3y agoThis has already roots in real stores where they shuffle stuff so it is harder for you to search for just what you need. It was counter-intuitive for me at first. Because if I can't find in store/site what I need I just leave. But enough people will buy also other things that store put in their way. So broken search is feature, not bug.