Why product filters don't work well for the best product advice

Product filters—almost every webshop uses them. It might seem like a simple solution to guide customers through your product offering and help them choose the right product that fits their needs. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.

What are product filters?

Product filters are tools on e-commerce websites, like Bol.com and Amazon.nl, that help customers refine their search results based on specific criteria. They allow users to filter by price, brand, color, size, and other (technical) product features. Although product filters narrow down the search results, they often fail to provide the right product advice to the customer. After using product filters, a potential customer might still not know if the filtered products are suitable for them. In this article, we explain this in four points.

 

1. Missing the best match

Imagine your customer is looking for a duvet that will keep them warm during cold winter nights. They use filters such as price, material, and color to narrow down their options. This may seem helpful, just like choosing smartphone specifications in the previous example, but it often results in a ‘no sale.’

For example, the customer chooses “light pink,” “maximum €100,” and “suitable for a single bed” in the product filters to refine her search. At first glance, this seems like a smart way to filter, but it might cause her to miss duvets that better meet her needs. For instance, duvets that are specifically designed for extra warmth in the winter, but that don’t meet her specific filters like color or price.

By filtering products, you are literally excluding items that don’t meet the selected criteria. This can cause customers to miss out on great options that may fall just outside their filter settings but are a much better fit for what they’re truly looking for. A customer who selects “light material” in the duvet filter could miss out on all-season duvets that would be more suitable for their (winter) needs.

Another issue with filters is the possibility that no products remain that meet the selected filters. You get a “no result.” Imagine someone is searching for a duvet that must be “waterproof,” “eco-friendly,” and “under €80.” There might not be any duvets that meet all these criteria. As a result, the customer is left without any products that match their exact needs. Instead of offering the most relevant product, this could lead to disappointment, where the customer makes no purchase at all. This effectively leads to selling a “no” rather than a “yes,” and you miss the opportunity to flexibly respond to your customers' actual needs.

In an ideal situation, you want to always give your customers the best product advice, even if you don’t have a product that exactly meets their original requests. Imagine going to a physical store to look for a specific television. The salesperson understands your needs and offers an alternative that might not meet all your criteria, but perfectly aligns with what you’re really looking for. This salesperson isn’t just searching for the product you asked for—they’re looking deeper to offer you the best option that fits your actual needs.

With guided selling (from Qonfi), we always show the most relevant product advice, even when you don’t have a product that perfectly matches the customer’s needs. Our best-match feature ensures you always offer the most relevant product advice, even if your product doesn’t exactly meet the customer’s needs and use cases.

As shown in the image below, the recommended electric bike is just €100 over the stated budget but otherwise meets the customer’s desires and needs (see the checkmarks). With regular product filters, this product wouldn’t be offered, as the filter literally excludes products based on criteria like price.

This way, your customers always see the best options, avoiding a "no" sale and increasing the chance of a purchase.

 

2. Focus on product features, not customer needs

Imagine you’re searching for a new laptop on Amazon.nl. By using product filters, you can filter by price, brand, screen size, processor, memory, and storage capacity. These filters help you narrow down the vast number of available laptops to a manageable list of models that meet your selected criteria. This way, you don’t have to scroll through all 9,581 (!) different laptops; instead, you only see the options that fit the filters you’ve chosen. Product filters are therefore very useful for refining your search results. You can easily select the right options… assuming you actually understand what those options mean. And that’s often the problem.

For the average customer, it’s quite difficult to understand the difference between an 'AMD A4,' an 'AMD Athlon,' and an 'AMD FX-Series' CPU type.

Another example involves smartphones: with the filter options, you might wonder what the difference is between a ‘Qualcomm Snapdragon,’ an ‘Apple A15 Bionic,’ and an ‘Exynos 2100’ processor. And we haven’t even touched on the different screen technologies like ‘AMOLED,’ ‘LCD,’ and ‘Retina.’

You just want a phone that works quickly, has a good camera for photos, enough storage space for your apps, and a battery that lasts all day.

 

Product filters often reduce specifications to mere numbers
Product filters are a standard feature on many e-commerce websites, but they usually focus purely on technical specifications. For the average user, it’s often challenging to translate these technical details into practical benefits or applications that are relevant or recognizable. This can make shopping a frustrating experience.

Instead of being overwhelmed by a long list of technical specifications, you would find it much more convenient to filter based on applications and real-world use cases. This would help you find laptops that precisely meet your specific requirements and preferences, avoiding choice stress and allowing you to find the product that truly fits your needs more quickly.

A guided selling tool starts by understanding your specific needs by asking you questions about how you want to use the laptop. For example: “Do you need a laptop for video editing?” or “Do you need a laptop that’s easy to carry?” Based on your answers, the guided selling software analyzes the relevant product options and matches them with your requirements.

This means you receive recommendations that are not only technically accurate but also specifically tailored to your use cases. Guided selling ensures you get a targeted selection of laptops that meet your unique needs, reducing choice stress, increasing customer satisfaction, and providing a faster, more efficient purchasing experience.

 

3. Product filters provide limited explanations

Imagine you’re looking for an electric bike. You use product filters to search for battery capacity (500 Wh, 750 Wh) and motor power (250 W, 500 W). While these technical specifications are useful, they often don’t provide enough information about why a particular electric bike might be better suited for your specific situation.

You might need a bike for long rides in hilly terrain or for daily commuting. A higher battery capacity could be essential for long trips, while a more powerful motor might be important for climbing hills. But without an explanation of what these specifications mean and how they benefit you, it can be difficult to understand why you might want to pay more for a bike with a larger battery or a more powerful motor.

Website visitors can become confused by the many options presented solely based on technical details. This can lead to choices that don’t fully align with their actual needs, resulting in dissatisfaction or even causing them to abandon the selection process altogether.

The ideal situation would allow customers to easily see how specific features can help meet their personal needs. Instead of just presenting technical details, it should be clear how features like a larger battery or a more powerful motor can enhance their experience. This way, customers can confidently make choices that truly fit them, without being overwhelmed by information that isn’t directly relevant to their usage.

A guided selling tool offers a solution here. Instead of showing only technical specifications, a guided selling tool explains how certain features—like a larger battery or a more powerful motor—can specifically meet your riding needs. This helps you understand the value of more expensive options, as you can see how these additional features benefit your particular situation.

For example, a guided selling tool can explain why a more expensive bike with a larger battery is ideal for long rides and hilly terrain. By providing this extra context, the added value of the pricier options becomes clearer. As a result, customers are more willing to invest in a product that better meets their needs, which can lead to a higher average order value (we typically see a +21% increase) and greater customer satisfaction.

 

4. Limited insights and personalization

Product filters often provide only product specifications, such as price and technical details. This can be problematic because filters do not address the customer’s applications. Consequently, you gain less visibility into how customers navigate their purchasing process.

The criteria selected in product filters are not standard metrics. This means you miss important trends and preferences, resulting in product recommendations that may be less relevant to what customers are actually looking for. Product filters do not take into account the unique preferences of customers, which often prevents them from providing the best product advice.

A guided selling tool can solve these problems by addressing customer needs, analyzing data, and gaining a better understanding of what customers want. By examining use scenarios and preferences, you gain valuable insights that help tailor your product offerings to what customers are truly seeking. This leads to targeted recommendations and a more personalized shopping experience.

Guided selling software (like Qonfi's) enables you to obtain deeper customer insights and refine your offerings based on this data. As a result, you can make more relevant recommendations, better align your product range, and enhance customer satisfaction.

 

Why guided selling works better than product filters for providing advice

While product filters can sometimes help you along the way, they often lack the ability to fully understand your specific wishes and needs. When this understanding is absent, providing relevant advice becomes difficult.

As a result, customers may become frustrated when they cannot find the right product that fits their situation. They miss out on alternatives that might be slightly more expensive but align much better with what they actually need. Sometimes, using product filters can yield no results at all, leaving customers with no suitable options. Instead of finding a good solution, they may feel disappointed and decide not to make a purchase at all. This means you’re essentially selling a "no" instead of a "yes," missing the opportunity to better address your customers' true desires.

With Qonfi's guided selling software, you can engage in a smart dialogue with your customers. The guided selling tool asks specific questions, such as whether you need a camera for professional photography, capturing vacation photos, or filming videos. If you indicate that you're looking for a camera for travel photography, the guided selling tool will recommend models that are lightweight and offer excellent image stabilization. However, if you’re seeking a camera for video production, you’ll receive recommendations for models with advanced video features and high resolution.

Want to discover how Qonfi can help your business improve customer choices? Feel free to create an account and start a free trial to see for yourself how simple and effective it can be to assist your customers in making the right choice, increasing conversions, and enhancing customer satisfaction.