Introduction
If you own an eCommerce store, adding filters to your store – like color and image filters – could help customers navigate your website and in turn, provide a pleasant shopping experience.
This is where the Color and label variations plugin comes into play.
The Solution
The rise of eCommerce has made it convenient to find what you need without the hassle of heading to a store. With a few clicks, your grocery shopping is done, birthday gifts have been bought, and you’ve also spoiled yourself a bit – all in one sitting.
The pain point of some brick and mortars is that it can be difficult to find what you’re looking for. The result is usually people walking out of your store.
If you own an eCommerce store, you want to avoid this. The golden rule is to ensure that the checkout process is a quick one. This means providing customers with easy navigation – especially if you own a large product database.
Adding filters to your store – like color and image filters – could help customers navigate your website and in turn, provide a pleasant shopping experience.
Why your store needs color and image filters
Product filters are an essential part of your store and can help guide your customers. Besides helping customers, they can also help you in the following ways:
Competitive edge
Great user experience is the cornerstone of the eCommerce but sadly, it’s often overlooked. According to a study, only 16% of online stores surveyed offered filtering options. If you’re one of these stores, congratulations because you’ve made navigating easier for your customers.
Filtering shouldn’t be ‘just another extension’ on your website, but as something that could add value. Remember, the same rules apply to your online store – if a customer can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll head to the next store.
Rapid browsing
Your customers may not know what they’re looking for. While a search bar is handy, the results may overwhelm them, especially if they’re grouped neatly.
Let’s say a customer is looking for a black t-shirt. With simple filters like color and size, the customer can decide on which style to choose. Now, they’re able to quickly add to their cart and checkout.
Product expansion
Perhaps you’re looking to expand on your product range but you’re not sure about what to add. Simple filters not only help you customers, but they provide you with an overview of what you can expand.
For example, you’ve noticed that crew-neck t-shirts are your most popular products. Clicking on color and size, you realise that you only offer two types of crew-neck t-shirts. Perhaps it’s time you start offering more colors to further increase sales?
How to implement color and image filters to your store
Adding filtering is important but you need to have a strategy behind your filtering options. Consider the following:
- If a customer is looking for a red kitchen appliance, color and image filters could provide them with a visual breakdown on everything red in your store.
- Create filters for your most popular products. This could help new customers navigate your store and to test out what others have been raving about. If they’re satisfied, they’ll become a recurring customer and will try out some of your other products.
- Use themed-filters to encourage multiple purchases. For example, if you sell perfume, group all your floral-themed scents. You’re providing customers with the freedom of choice, especially if they’re unsure about what to purchase. In the end, they may checkout with more than one of your products.
- Gender-based filters are a simple option but guide the shopper to the gender they’re looking to shop for. This is mostly used for apparel stores and allows the customer to spend a lot more time on the website.
- Feature filters group your products based on their features. For example, if you sell camping gear, you would group your tents based on their features, i.e 2-sleepers, 3-sleepers, etc.
Product filters – like color and image filters – are simple to use and essential for any eCommerce store.
Installation
- Purchase the Color and label variations plugin from WooCommerce.
- Download the .zip file from your WooCommerce account.
- Go to: WordPress Admin > Plugins > Add New to upload the file you downloaded.
- Activate the extension.
To use the colors or photos for your products’ variations, you first need to attach those colors and photos to product attributes:
- Global attributes are available for your whole store
- Per product attributes are only available for one product
To set up colors and photos for global attributes, go to Products > Attributes to configure the necessary settings.
