Designing Search: UX Strategies for eCommerce Success

CHAPTER 4

BALANCING POGOSTICKING AND PAGE RELEVANCE

Pogosticking Is No Fun PAGE 62

Overly Rich Search Results Can Be Unhealthy for Your Site PAGE 65

Optimize Results for Your Business and Your Customers PAGE 67

The “Feel” of Searching, by Peter Stahl PAGE 70

When designing the data and layout for search results pages, the design strategy boils down to a single key principle: Show the greatest number of results possible, without increasing pogosticking. In other words, the challenge is finding the right balance between the following:

• Provide enough information in individual search results, so customers can make informed decisions about whether to view product detail pages—that is, click product links.
• Provide enough relevant search results on each page of results to warrant further exploration of the site.

On the one hand, if your search results do not provide enough summary product information, you force customers to jump to individual product detail pages and then cycle back and forth between product detail and search results pages, like a child bouncing on a pogo stick. On the other hand, if you do not provide enough information, customers may not find relevant results. The tension between these two opposing design forces is what makes the problem of creating search user interfaces so interesting.

POGOSTICKING IS NO FUN

Although pogosticking may sound like a fun activity, it is usually counterproductive to your customers' finding the content and products they need. As usability ...