Comments on: Parametric Navigation, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Lotsa Options http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/ A blog for Fluid employees and friends Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:02:57 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: links of london jewelry http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/comment-page-1/#comment-3027 links of london jewelry Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:54:31 +0000 http://www.fluid-blog.com/?p=438#comment-3027 Thanks for the analysis of the Hot 100 Internet Retail Websites.Many of these have very healthy businesses, and I’m curious if you feel that they do not yet understand the upside of implementing parametric filtering OR if they have considered it and intentionally ruled it out. Thanks for the analysis of the Hot 100 Internet Retail Websites.Many of these have very healthy businesses, and I’m curious if you feel that they do not yet understand the upside of implementing parametric filtering OR if they have considered it and intentionally ruled it out.

]]> By: Mandy Silverman http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/comment-page-1/#comment-2846 Mandy Silverman Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:28:29 +0000 http://www.fluid-blog.com/?p=438#comment-2846 Thanks for the (tedious I'm sure) analysis of the Hot 100 Internet Retail Websites. I was struck by the large amount of websites that received an "n/a" for parametric filtering. Many of these have very healthy businesses, and I'm curious if you feel that they do not yet understand the upside of implementing parametric filtering OR if they have considered it (whether it would increase conversion, improve the shopping experience) and intentionally ruled it out. Thanks for the (tedious I’m sure) analysis of the Hot 100 Internet Retail Websites. I was struck by the large amount of websites that received an “n/a” for parametric filtering. Many of these have very healthy businesses, and I’m curious if you feel that they do not yet understand the upside of implementing parametric filtering OR if they have considered it (whether it would increase conversion, improve the shopping experience) and intentionally ruled it out.

]]> By: Dan Barbata http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/comment-page-1/#comment-2765 Dan Barbata Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:07:59 +0000 http://www.fluid-blog.com/?p=438#comment-2765 Parametric Navigation is also known as Faceted Navigation (or as Endeca puts it, Guided Navigation). As you put it, it is really just a fancy name for filtered search. There are several important usability issues as you describe in this post, but I'm interested in the data issues. Even for the sites that have faceted navigation, they don't have the facets done as well as they should be. CSN Stores gets a really high score, and compared to most e-retailers, they look very well done...so I'll pick on them. 1) The facets are still not grouped into conceptually consistent buckets (e.g. I filter for Dark Wood Dressers and I get Black Dressers as well. Shade and Color are actually two distinct attributes) 2) There is no explanation of what the facet means (e.g. what is a Country Dresser vs. Transitional Dresser? And what does it mean for a Dresser to have a Distressed finish?) 3) There are still meaningful facets that are missing. They have lots of good ones (e.g. Style, Finish, Type, # of drawers, etc), but I still have no way of filtering Oak vs. Pine, even though that information is often in the Product Details, and sometimes IN THE PRODUCT NAME! CSN Stores is on the right track, but I'm still having to drill into the product details before I really have a sense of what I'm buying. And even then, I'm not being educated as to what features I should care about. This makes is very difficult for online shoppers to make a choice. I think solving these problems is the next big leap in the evolution of e-commerce. Parametric Navigation is also known as Faceted Navigation (or as Endeca puts it, Guided Navigation). As you put it, it is really just a fancy name for filtered search.

There are several important usability issues as you describe in this post, but I’m interested in the data issues. Even for the sites that have faceted navigation, they don’t have the facets done as well as they should be. CSN Stores gets a really high score, and compared to most e-retailers, they look very well done…so I’ll pick on them.

1) The facets are still not grouped into conceptually consistent buckets (e.g. I filter for Dark Wood Dressers and I get Black Dressers as well. Shade and Color are actually two distinct attributes)

2) There is no explanation of what the facet means (e.g. what is a Country Dresser vs. Transitional Dresser? And what does it mean for a Dresser to have a Distressed finish?)

3) There are still meaningful facets that are missing. They have lots of good ones (e.g. Style, Finish, Type, # of drawers, etc), but I still have no way of filtering Oak vs. Pine, even though that information is often in the Product Details, and sometimes IN THE PRODUCT NAME!

CSN Stores is on the right track, but I’m still having to drill into the product details before I really have a sense of what I’m buying. And even then, I’m not being educated as to what features I should care about. This makes is very difficult for online shoppers to make a choice. I think solving these problems is the next big leap in the evolution of e-commerce.

]]> By: barclay http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/comment-page-1/#comment-2633 barclay Sat, 30 May 2009 20:48:39 +0000 http://www.fluid-blog.com/?p=438#comment-2633 we are trying to heed your advice with our new e-commerce widget: http://www.lce-com.com/tacoma/banners/lce' i would like to chat with someone from fluid about what we are launching and see how it might fit in with your applications.... (which are very nice i understand)... we are trying to heed your advice with our new e-commerce widget:

http://www.lce-com.com/tacoma/banners/lce‘

i would like to chat with someone from fluid about what we are launching and see how it might fit in with your applications…. (which are very nice i understand)…

]]> By: Adam B. http://www.fluid-blog.com/2009/05/27/parametric-navigation-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-lotsa-options/comment-page-1/#comment-2623 Adam B. Thu, 28 May 2009 10:19:15 +0000 http://www.fluid-blog.com/?p=438#comment-2623 kayak.com is great actually... anyway great post! kayak.com is great actually…

anyway great post!

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