How to Read Your Findability Review

Your Findability Review is based on a quick evaluation of your site, and includes a score based on how easily your customers can find what they want.  It contains images captured from your site, along with our comments.  Comments in green indicate positives and comments in red indicate negatives.

What We Look For

Because your customers look for products in a variety of ways, our Findability Review evaluates the three main components of findability.  For each of these components, we ask a series of questions and assign points based on the answer to arrive at your score.

Browse


1. Forcing drilldown?

How many category choices does your customer have to make before seeing any products?

In order to purchase your products, your customers must first find what they want. If a customer has to choose a category and then several subcategories before even seeing any products (products which can serve as reassurance that they are on the right path), they are more likely to give up and move on.

Score: Penalty if your site requires two or more category choices before seeing any products.

2. Multiple ways to navigate?

Can your customer navigate based on more than just category?

Too often, customers are left with only two choices: pick a category or type something into the search box. Does your site give customers any other options? If you sell furniture, let your customers shop by Room. If you sell supplements, let them choose by Ingredient. The more options your site has, the more likely each customer will find something that fits their needs.

Score: Bonus points if your sites gives customers more options than search or browse categories.

3.Should categories be attributes?

Does your site use categories where you should be using attributes?

In order to find what they want, your customers need to be able to narrow down your list of products. The best way to do this is via faceted navigation, which allows your customers to choose the attributes that are important to them. Some sites use categories that are defined by what should be attributes instead, which forces the customer to make choices in a specific order and may not even address the attributes that are most important to some customers.

Score: Penalty if your site uses categories or subcategories that should be attributes.

Search

 

4.Search returns products immediately?

After searching, do your customers also have to choose a category to see any products?

Often, your customers resort to the search box because it’s unclear how to find what they’re looking for through your category structure. Are you making them navigate after searching anyway? A search should return products immediately, along with the option to narrow by category.

Score: Bonus points if your search yields products immediately, penalty if a category choice is required.

5. Search doesn't return proper results?

Does your search return zero results when you do actually have the product your customer wants?

Some of your customers search, some browse, and some use a combination of the two. But are they all finding the same products? If your data is not clean and structured, your customers may be getting zero results when they search for something you do have. If they can’t find it, they can’t buy it, and you’ve lost a sale.

Score: Penalty if your site returns zero results for products you do have.

Faceted Navigation


6. Quality of Faceted Navigation?

Does your site have faceted navigation? How comprehensive are your attributes?

Faceted navigation allows your customers to narrow down a list of products by choosing which attributes are most important to them. If your site doesn’t have faceted navigation, your customers are forced to pick through lists of products to find what they want—or give up trying. If you do have faceted navigation, do you have all the attributes a customer could want, or can they only choose by Brand and Price?

Score: Points for having faceted navigation. Penalty for missing attributes, bonus points for comprehensive attributes.

7. Are you optimizing your attributes?

Are your attribute values overloaded?

In addition to being comprehensive, your attributes should allow your customers to make only the choices they wish to make. A customer should not be forced to choose what should actually be two attribute values, just because they are combined into one attribute value on your site.

Score: Penalty if your attribute values are overloaded.

8. Is faceted navigation lacking where you need it?

Does the quality of your faceted navigation falter in some categories?

Often, sites with faceted navigation have comprehensive attributes in the more expensive categories, while leaving customers hanging in the categories with less expensive products. This is frustrating to customers, especially since many of these less expensive categories contain even more products than the more expensive ones.

Score: Penalty if your faceted navigation quality varies by category.

9. Faceted navigation for Search AND Browse?

Does your site have faceted navigation for Search or Browse, but not both?

Your customers are more inclined to purchase from you if they can find products in the way they want to find them—this means not being forced into searching or browsing because only one of these features on your site comes with faceted navigation.

Score: Penalty if your faceted navigation only applies to search or browse.

10. How much do you need faceted navigation?

How many products do you sell, and how does this relate to your need for faceted navigation?

If your site sells 10,000 products and your categories contain more than 200 products each, you have a much larger need for good faceted navigation than a smaller store that only carries 1,000 products. The greater your need for faceted navigation, the more your customers are left out in the cold if you have no or subpar attributes.

Score: Larger penalty for missing faceted navigation if your site has a high need, smaller penalty if your site has a low need.