April 27, 2022
Is your website getting good traffic but no sales? The problem may not be pricing or availability, but you’re Taxonomy. Taxonomy – the practice of sorting and presenting product categories – is the basis of product findability. Good taxonomy makes it easy for visitors to search and compare products to make purchasing decisions. Without an appropriate taxonomy structure, products become jumbled, misclassified, and harder to find.
Don’t bother your customers finding products on your website. Instead, create a better taxonomy using the following best practices that make it easier for consumers to find.
Excessive selection paralyzes and discourages motivation. When a customer has too many options to choose from, they often give up on the site or abandon the site entirely. Having too many categories or sites to choose from on your website can be overwhelming for shoppers. Instead, optimize navigation by providing 5 to 9 primary nodes that shoppers can navigate to determine the particular product they want.
Each product should have a logical place in the taxonomy that describes exactly what it is. If a fashion retailer decides to sell drones, it needs a seat in the hierarchy. It doesn’t have to be detailed, but it should be accurate. Nothing can do more damage to your website than products in the wrong category. When customers notice this, Google, site search, and product recommendations react negatively to the misclassification.
Build your category hierarchy with a single lens to keep your taxonomy consistent. Some sites have names based on product type and application. On the other hand, the two classifications are not the same. We recommend that you create nodes in your product catalog based on common product types that are easier for your customers to understand.
Include key product attributes in lower-level category names to help shoppers quickly navigate to the specific type of product they want. Do not create categories based on attributes such as style, trend, color, size, or material. This prevents shoppers from comparing similar products in a category.
It’s important to link parent categories and subcategories so that your site visitors know they’re looking for products in that category. All child nodes must acquire the parent’s context. No one anticipates finding a refrigerator in the top tools category.
The options presented when asking the customer to make a choice must be exceptional. This simplifies the decision-making process and assures buyers that they are on the right track to finding your product.
Two-parent nodes for products with similar purposes usually do not need to have identical child nodes, so try to optimize as much as possible. Instead of including two-parent nodes like Coated Abrasives and Non-Woven Abrasives with identical child categories, integrate the two-parent nodes into one – so that the buyer searching for Discs, Rap Wheels, or Sanding Belts can see those products in both coated and non-woven abrasives.
Taxonomy node names should be intuitive and user-friendly, using the same terminology that customers use. Use keyword research and onsite search logs to understand the terms used in your search. You may find that it is different from the language of your internal organization. Furthermore, evade using proprietary names.
Customers are confused and frustrated if the navigation options presented are not clear and brief. The most valuable categories have unique and vivid names. Keep in mind: vagueness can show the way to hesitation, which can affect your sales.
The taxonomy system should be sturdy, wear-resistant, and stand like a giant oak tree. The tree is still alive, but new leaves appear every spring. You may need to update, adjust, or trim, but don’t cut and recreate your site’s taxonomy.
When considering about site’s taxonomy, keep in mind what your customers think. Your objective is to create a navigable and appropriate hierarchy that attracts the audience, not the internal organization because if they can’t come across the product on your website, they won’t purchase the product on your website.
As part of Vision Global’s eCommerce services, we filter existing taxonomies, as well as build complete taxonomies from the scratch, in order to bring more reliability, usability, and significance to your online information. Get in touch with us to see how we can change your product taxonomy from sub-standard to stellar.
