How can you improve the user experience with faceted search?

1 Understand your users and data

Before you design and implement faceted search, you need to understand who your users are, what they are looking for, and how they search. You can use user research methods, such as surveys, interviews, personas, scenarios, and analytics, to gather insights about your users' goals, preferences, behaviors, and expectations. You also need to analyze your data and identify the most relevant and useful facets and values for each type of content and query. You can use data modeling, classification, tagging, and testing techniques to create a logical and consistent structure and vocabulary for your facets and values.

4 Test and optimize the faceted search

The faceted search is not a one-time project, but a continuous process that requires testing and optimization. You should monitor and measure how users interact with the faceted search to determine satisfaction and conversion. Qualitative and quantitative methods such as usability testing, user feedback, analytics, and A/B testing should be employed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the faceted search. Additionally, any issues or problems that users encounter should be identified and fixed. These could include no results if too many or conflicting filters are applied, too many results if too few or broad filters are applied, irrelevant results if facets or values are not aligned with user intent or content attributes, or confusing results if facets or values are not clear, consistent, or ordered. By following these best practices and tips, you can improve the user experience with faceted search and help your users find what they need and want.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?