Features used: Dashboards, Zoning Analysis, Page Comparator
Time: 20 min
First, you'll need to decide which level of filter performance you would like to analyze:
Global filter performance—I want to know the overall performance of my site's filters.
- Is a user interacting with the filters converting better than users who don't? Are they reaching site goals faster when using filters?
Category-specific filter performance—I want to know how filters perform by category.
- Which filters are performing well? Which filters are causing frustration and preventing conversion?
Setup (Global)
If you can distinguish Page Template with and without filters in the mapping, follow these steps:
In this example, the List page is the filter template, and "reaching the product page" is the goal of the filter.
1. Copy your reference mapping & split list page with filters from list page without filters.
- Check the URL or Custom variable to identify pages with and without filters.
2. Create zonings on: List Page
- Filtered List Page
3. Create the following goals:
- Viewed the list page
- Viewed the list page filtered
- Viewed the product page
4. Create the following segments:
- View List Page
- View List Page + reach list page filtered
- View List Page + not reach list page filtered
If you can't distinguish “Page Template” with and without filters, follow these steps:
1. Keep your reference mapping
2. Create a zoning on List Page
3. Create the following goals:
- View the list page
- Click on the filter area
- View the product page
4. Create the following segments:
- View List Page
- View List Page + click on the filters area
- View List Page + not click on the filters area
Analyze impact on goal (global)
In this example, we will take the List page as the filter template and "reaching the product page" as the goal of the filter.
A quick way to view your key metrics is through Dashboards, which provides a personalized interface for tracking KPIs all in one place.
1. If you haven't created a dashboard, easily set one up using built-in templates. Go to 'Dashboards' and begin with the 'Site overview' template for automatic population of your key metrics.
Learn how to create your first Dashboards and analyze your data using the Site Overview dashboard template.
2. Open your Analysis context and compare the two segments “View list page + Click on the filters” vs “View list page + Not click on the filters” (Or “View list page + View list page filtered” vs “View list page + not view list page filtered”).
3. Update the line chart that shows the Number of sessions/Conversion rate by incorporating Conversion rate by goal as a metric. Look at the following:
- conversion rate (eCommerce and view PDP)
- the page views
- and the visit time
4. Go to Page Comparator and check if there is a high loading time for the filtered results.
5. Go to Zoning Analysis and check the click rate, click recurrence, and conversion rate per click.
Take action
Here are some possible reasons your filters are underperforming:
- Empty results list page
- Out-of-stock issues
- High-filtered list loading time
- Filters not working
Recommendations:
- Further analyze the filters per category to understand whether the category ordering is affecting the performance of the filters (see next chapter “Specific Filters per Category”).
- Add directly applied filters instead of an “Apply filters" CTA (based on the click recurrence and the hesitation time).
Analyze Assess its visibility and accessibility
1. Go to your Site Overview dashboard and apply the segment “Reach List”,
2. Update the line chart that shows the Number of sessions/Conversion rate by incorporating Conversion rate by goal as a metric (goal = “click on the filter area”)
- What is the % of users clicking on the filters? (or with the segment “View list + view list page filtered”)
2. Go to Zoning Analysis and check the exposure rate, hover rate, engagement rate, conversion per click “Reach product page”
Take action
If the filters are performing well but their usage is low you’ll want to encourage users to use them.
Common issues with filter visibility and accessibility:
- You need to click a button to expose the filters
- The filters appear unusable (or not useful)
- Most relevant filters are not exposed to visitors
- Filters are not understood (wording, product category placement,...)
- Filters are not sticky
Setup (Category)
1. Choose a mapping with detailed category pages.
2. Create a zoning of the top category pages.
Analyze performance for each filter (Category)
In this example, we will take the "List page" as the filter template and "Reaching the product page" as the goal of the filter.
1. Go to the Zoning Analysis: go into each zoning you created and compare the click rates, conversion rate after click, reach product after click.
2. For the least performing filters: draw hypothesis, common ones include:
- Is the wording clear enough? Check hesitation time.
-
Are the filtered results consistent with the applied filter? Test the underperforming filter on your website to find out.
Example: the filter “red” should only show red items.
Analyze the visibility of each filter (Category)
1. Go to Zoning Analysis and check for each filter: Exposure rate, hover rate, engagement rate, conversion per click “Reach product page”.
2. With both analysis of impact and visibility of each filter, you will be able to determine the optimal order for your filters.
Go further
Compare filter performances
1. Create a zoning of the filters - zone only the filters, and make sure you have each section separate. Using table mode you can export these as CSV (or copy and paste);
- Click distribution
- Click rate
- Conversion rate per click (eCommerce)
- Conversion rate per click (View PDP)
- Revenue
2. Choose three values to plot onto a bubble graph.
- X-axis: an attractiveness metric such as click rate or click distribution. You could also consider attractiveness rate
- Y-axis: a performance metrics such as a conversion rate
- Bubble size: Revenue (or number of visits to checkout etc.)
3. When the graph is plotted you should find something like this;
4. Interpret the graph
- Top right: High performing, high attractiveness: The bubbles here are the filter options which are clicked the most, and drive the most conversion. This is where you'd like your biggest bubbles to be. In this example, the "Size" filters are clicked most often by visitors, and also drive the most ideal behaviour. It is also driving the most revenue, suggesting they are doing well where they are, and so shouldn't be moved.
- Bottom right: Low performing, high attractiveness: The bubbles here are the filter options which are often clicked on, but aren't converting. Consider making these less visible, or testing why these don't convert as well. Here, the 'Colour' filters are clicked most often, but rarely lead to conversion. Reducing the visibility of these may put more attention on more successful filters, but it would also be worth investigating why the colour filters don't work as well.
- Top left: High performing, low attractiveness: These filters are not clicked often, but perform well when they do. If there are large bubbles here, it could indicate opportunities to increase revenue and conversion by increasing the visibility. The Category filters aren't clicked very often, but have the second highest conversion rate, and drive the second highest revenue. Making these more visible would likely increase their usage, and therefore more conversions and revenue.
- Bottom left: Low performing, low attractiveness: These filters are barely used, and drive little conversion when they are used. Any large bubbles could indicate opportunities by increasing visibility, but smaller bubbles indicate filters that could be removed or replaced. Not many visitors are using the 'Features' filter, and those who do are unlikely to convert. This could be removed in favour of something else.