Does the title sound familiar to you? Yeah, we’re trying to imitate Shopify Editions | Summer’22 😅😅😅. The difference is we have been doing these product updates quarterly instead of twice a year like Shopify. Check out the What's new category for the previous release.
Back to Quarter 2 of 2022, we have done a lot to enrich the usability of the Product Filter & Search app. Let's see what they are.
The Demo site is always a favorite spot for those that are new to the Boost app. It shows how our storefront filtering and search solutions will fit and work on your online store.
As you may know, the product updates of Q1/2022 revealed many new filter layouts. Not only can you choose between the vertical sidebar and horizontal toolbar, but you can also pick the off-canvas design. Nearly all the filter and instant search dropdown options are reflected on the Demo store. So don't forget to take a look.
Have a look at the wide range of layouts that Boost Product Filter & Search supports on our Demo site.
What's more, the in-app settings grant you even more control to customize the display of the filter tree and the instant search. So, install the app to see all variations you can create.
If you already have the powerful Product Filter & Search app by Boost Commerce installed, we suggest pinning it on the Shopify dashboard for instant access whenever you want.
Furthermore, our technical support team can help you match the design in case of unsupported themes, or if you want to have a certain layout that we haven't featured yet. This extends the customization capabilities to almost unlimited.
Since last year, Boost has launched additional tools to help users amplify their storefront filtering and search. To make it clearer regarding the scope and the purpose of each tool, we have moved them under the relevant feature.
Custom range sliders, Swatch settings, and Merge values are now under the Filter category while Product visibility belongs to the Merchandising feature group.
At Boost, we listen to customers' feedback to keep improving the app.
Filter by Collection or Category is among the top popularly used filters, especially in online stores with a large inventory.
Previously, Boost users would pick the values that appear in the Filter by Collection. This solution prevents not-for-sale collections (like the Boost All collection that is required for syncing Best-selling items) from showing up. However, it also takes quite a long time for businesses with huge collections to complete the manual work. To combat this, we released the option to select All collection values. Boost users can then choose to exclude certain collections.
One small note is that this setting only works in the Same level collections filter option. For the Multi-level type, you are free to set up the levels as well as the collections of each level.
The price range slider is an absolutely important feature for eCommerce stores. In a large-scale usability testing carried out by Baymard, 80% of mobile users tried to use the price filter to narrow down the product list.
To enhance the filter UI/UX, we have added the currency symbol in the range slider as well as the number input field.
Currency symbol when hiding value text box (left) and when showing the value text box (right).
The currency symbol is inherited from the store’s currency setting. If you are selling internationally and let the shoppers switch the currency in the storefront, the currency sign will also be automatically updated.
Search relevance is a crucial element to define an effective search engine. While the idea is simply to match accurate results with an assigned search query quickly, the reality is much more complex due to the high frequency of misspellings.
Before we launched the Fuzzy search setting, the search algorithms for typo tolerance were automatically in use in our back-end search engine. Still, many users want to have some control over this. Therefore, we have developed a front-end setting to configure fuzzy search and search relevance.
Visit the app dashboard, then go to Search > Search settings > Advanced settings to customize your Fuzzy search.
✔️ When turned off, the search results must match fully with the search term. This can be a bit annoying in case of mistyped words as it may lead to “No search results”.
For example, when searching for “Boots”, only results containing the word “Boots” will be displayed.
✔️ When set up as Low, the results will also include those that are 1 character (except for the first character) different from the search term.
For example, when searching for “Boots”, the result might contain words like “Books”, “Boats” or “Booth” along with the word “Boots”. Words like “Roots”, “Foots”,... will not be displayed.
✔️ When set up as High (default and recommended): The search engine applies an auto-algorithm of Fuzzy Search, which is optimized for certain cases. Read the in-depth logic in our Help Center.
Data is the backbone for any strategic decision. Since we released our Analytics feature with many critical metrics like Top search terms, Top search terms with no results, and Sales generated by app, it has become a gold mine for businesses to examine shoppers’ behavior and evaluate the app’s efficiency.
Now, we’ve upgraded Analytics with the Export ability so you can log your data in your own storage.
To get unlimited value export, please contact our customer service team at support@boostcommerce.net.
In the very near future, the Boost team will bring more upgrades to our search feature, in particular, the “No search result” configuration. Currently, Boost users can mitigate this dead-end by manually adding search terms and/or product suggestions. With the next release, we will provide more customizing abilities such as adding search tips or displaying popular products based on the store’s data. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Besides, we’ll make a few tweaks to update the instant search dropdown's design so it looks more stylish and modern.
For now, go ahead and subscribe to our newsletter if you haven’t to get notified whenever Boost Product Filter & Search is updated!
