Signs it is time to revisit product filtering

It is rarely the thing that gets a project approved, and often the thing that decides how it goes. A few signals that product filtering is due some attention.

Small percentage changes matter here because they apply to every order, every month. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• Filters should reflect how customers choose, not how you catalogue
• Show result counts so nobody hits a dead end

What good looks like

Keep filter state in the URL so results can be shared. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

How to tell if yours is fine

Trust does most of the selling online, and trust is built from unglamorous details. Three things worth confirming about product filtering before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Show result counts so nobody hits a dead end — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

None of this needs a rewrite. Most of it is a morning's work once someone decides to do it.