Search filter principles for better UX

Editor’s note: This article was reviewed on 20 August 2024 and updated to include more information about the benefits and pitfalls of search filters in UX design, how sorting and filtering compare, different types of filter UI patterns to consider, and more.

When designing a commercial product with an extensive catalog, it is beneficial to add filters to the search functionality to deliver an improved user experience. Effective filters help users winnow their options and hasten decision-making by tuning search results to their taste. It also saves your users precious time.

However, search filters can be implemented incorrectly, often hurting the user experience and negatively impacting metrics like the bounce rate. So what should we avoid when building search filters in our products? And what principles can we apply to deliver a better UX?

In this post, we’ll examine various examples of poorly implemented search filters and highlight some tips you can use to produce a satisfying filtering experience. Let’s begin!

Why search filters matter in UX design

Search filters are crucial in improving the user experience, particularly for websites and applications with large amounts of content or products. They allow users to quickly narrow down their options and find exactly what they’re looking for without having to scroll through irrelevant results.

Benefits of effective search filters include:

• Improved user satisfaction — Users can find what they need more easily and quickly
• Increased conversion rates — On average, 30 percent of online shoppers use search filters and are twice more likely to convert than those who do not
• Reduced bounce rates — Users are less likely to leave the site in frustration if they can easily find what they’re looking for
• Enhanced user engagement — Filters encourage users to interact more with the site and explore different options

However, poorly implemented filters can have significant drawbacks:

• Increased user frustration — Confusing or ineffective filters can lead to a poor user experience
• Higher bounce rates — A study shows that 12 percent of users will bounce to a competitor’s site after an unsatisfactory search experience
• Decreased conversions — If users can’t find what they’re looking for, they’re less likely to make a purchase or take desired actions

So, it’s not enough to simply have search filters available. They need to be designed and implemented well to support a better user experience.

Types of filter UI patterns

Different types of filter UI patterns are tailored to various data types and user needs. For example, you could use:

• Date filters to let users filter content by specific dates or ranges, commonly used in event listings or archives
• Keyword filters to allow users to search for specific terms within content, ideal for text-heavy sites like blogs and product catalogs
• Dropdown selections to offer a list of predefined options for users to choose from, suitable for categories with limited options.
• Checkbox filters to allow users to select multiple options within a category. This method is particularly useful in ecommerce for faceted search
• Slider filters to enable users to choose a range of values, often applied to prices or numerical data
• Tag-based filters to let users filter content based on associated tags or labels

All methods above are commonly used in UX design today, and you’ll see some of them in action momentarily.

How to add effective filters to a website’s UX design

Implementing effective filters requires careful consideration of user needs and the nature of your content. Here are some key principles to follow:

Position the filter component strategically

As mentioned earlier, a search filter is one of the first components a user looks for when they land on your ecommerce product. It is, therefore, necessary to position this element strategically, ensuring your user has no friction trying to reach it.

Here’s a comparison of a few common filter component placements:

Location	Pros	Cons
Sidebar	Allows for vertical scrolling; good for many filter options	Can take up valuable screen real estate on mobile devices
Inline	Integrates seamlessly with content; good for minimal filter options	Can be overlooked if not designed in such a way that captures attention without distracting users from their task
Filter bar	Highly visible; works well for both desktop and mobile	Limited space for complex filter options

You will find various positioning methods across the web, so ensure you choose the placement that best suits your content and user needs. Let’s take the fashion store below for example:

The clothing company in the image makes a mistake by concealing the filter panel behind a fairly unnoticeable “Filters” button. Forcing the user to make an extra click to view the panel is unnecessary — especially when there is enough real estate to display it in desktop view. The panel also visually cuts off some results when expanded.

A better approach to this would be to keep the panel visible at all times, and reserve the button for a mobile view:

Another example of a satisfactory filter layout is this sticky, horizontal filter panel that stays in view as a user navigates the product listing:

In general, the position of a filter system helps the user complete their tasks faster.

Ensure applied filters are visible and easy to toggle

Making all applied filters visible to the user will help them better understand how these filters affect their search results. This feedback mechanism will go a long way in ensuring your users aren’t frustrated when they don’t find what they want since they can easily tweak the filter parameters.

It is also necessary to make it easy for the user to remove the applied filters. This allows them to easily modify their search experience when they are not getting the results they want, or if they want to see more (or fewer) results.

Here’s an example of this in action:

Overall, the goal of making applied filters visible and easy to remove is to give the user more control and flexibility in their search or browsing experience and to make it easier for them to find what they are looking for.

Provide clear and descriptive labels for search filters

Providing clear and descriptive labels for your product’s filtering system can help users find what they are looking for more easily. When labels are not clear or descriptive enough, users may have difficulty understanding what the filter does or what content will be included when they apply it.

Avoid using vague labels like “Other” or abbreviations, as they can confuse users about what results they’ll get. Instead, use clear and descriptive labels to enhance the user experience and encourage effective use of the filtering system.

Create an organized tagging system for your product’s catalog

An organized catalog with each item tagged correctly in a tagging system will provide a pleasant filtering experience to end users. If an item is appropriately tagged to its correct category, a filter can easily make its computations based on these tags and return relevant results to the user.

Ecommerce and media giants that keep their catalogs organized are already benefiting from this practice, allowing them to retain their user’s attention:

Take Netflix, for example. It’s a common joke that users often spend more time scrolling through Netflix’s vast library than actually watching something, ending up with cold food and no show selected. As a solution, Netflix provides a collection of unique codes that a viewer can use to filter programs by categories like Sci-Fi, Anime, Classics, Horror, etc.:

Searching Netflix using one of these codes will bring up collections of media that fall under that category:

This significantly cuts the searching time if the viewer has an idea of what genre they’re looking for. In general, having organized tags will be helpful for both your admin system and users.

Use sorting to enhance the search experience

While filters give a user significant control over the organization of their search results, adding a sorting tool in the mix will greatly enhance the search experience. Sorting helps arrange data into meaningful order so that your users can analyze it more effectively.

Sorting can make it easier for a user to find the information they are looking for by organizing the data in a way that resonates with them.

For example, suppose a user is on a budget and is searching for an affordable item on a website. In that case, they may be able to find it more quickly if they have the option to sort the search results by price rather than the items being presented in random order:

Sorting vs. filtering in UX design

In UX design, sorting and filtering are complementary tools that enhance the user experience by helping users manage large sets of data, but they serve distinct purposes:

• Filtering — Allows users to narrow down a list of items by applying specific criteria, such as category, price range, or size. Filtering reduces the number of displayed items to only those that meet the selected parameters, enabling users to focus on relevant options and streamline their decision-making process
• Sorting — Unlike filtering, sorting does not reduce the number of items displayed, but instead organizes them in a particular order, such as alphabetically, by price (low to high), or by date (newest first). Sorting helps users view the data in a way that aligns with their preferences or priorities, making it easier to analyze and compare options

While sorting and filtering are crucial for a positive user experience, they address different needs. Filtering helps users refine their search results while sorting enhances the structure and presentation of those results.

Allow users to save and reuse filter configurations

Storing a user’s filter configurations for future reuse is a huge bonus for any product’s user experience. In doing so, the user can easily pick up where they left off or build on top of previous filter parameters to create a new query. This can lead to better user satisfaction and increased usage of your filter system:

This technique can be beneficial if the filters are complex or if the users want to apply the same filters to multiple sets of data.

Provide adequate feedback

Feedback is a vital component of any successful design used to engage, explain, and improve user satisfaction. There are a few ways that filtering systems can provide good feedback to end users:

• Number of results — For every new filter applied, a product’s UI should display the number of results/items/products now available due to the filter
• Blurring unavailable filter options — Quite frequently, a combination of certain filters will make other filter options unavailable — for instance, on a sneaker site, filtering for a certain shoe size might exclude some brand options which don’t have that size in stock. It’s therefore important to reflect this in the UI and progressively blur unavailable filter options out rather than let the user apply them and end up with no results
• Interactive filtering over batch filtering — Interactive filtering is a more responsive approach where search results are instantly updated as new filters are applied. In this way, a user can immediately see the effects of their applied filters as opposed to batch filtering where the results are updated only after the user’s filter selections have been made
• Relevant results — The filtering system should return relevant results based on the applied filters. If the results are not relevant, the user may become frustrated and lose confidence in the system

Overall, good feedback from a filtering system should help the user understand how the filters affect their results and give them the tools they need to find what they are looking for.

Challenges and pitfalls of designing filters

While filters can significantly enhance user experience, designing an effective filter system comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some key gotchas to be aware of:

• Overwhelming users with too many options — One of the most common mistakes in filter design is providing too many filter options. While it may seem helpful to offer a wide range of choices, this can lead to analysis paralysis. Prioritize the most important and frequently used filters and keep the options succinct — don’t pad them. However, if your situation requires revealing a large array of filters, progressively reveal them only when needed
• Poor mobile optimization — Many filter designs, especially the flamboyant ones, lack good mobile optimization. More often than not, users will visit your website on a mobile device. Designing filters that work well on smaller screens should therefore be prioritized. Consider using expandable/collapsible filter sections, full-screen filter overlays, or horizontal scrolling filter bars for mobile interfaces
• Performance issues with large datasets — For websites or applications with large catalogs, complex filter systems can lead to slow load times, particularly if filtering is done on the client side or if the backend infrastructure isn’t optimized. Slow response times can frustrate users, causing them to abandon their search or leave the site. To maintain a positive user experience, it’s essential to implement server-side filtering for large datasets and use techniques like lazy loading to manage results efficiently.
• Lack of clear feedback — Mobile apps in our world have gotten increasingly interactive, making users demand clear feedback. When users apply or remove filters, they should immediately understand how their actions have affected the results. This can be achieved through visual cues, such as highlighting selected filters or displaying the number of results that match the current criteria
• Ineffective filter combinations — Ineffective filter combinations that result in empty or very limited results can frustrate users and harm their experience. This often happens when users apply multiple filters that don’t yield any matches when combined. To prevent this, it’s important to analyze and test filter combinations thoroughly before implementation and to use dynamic filter updates that adjust available options in real time based on user selections. For instance, an ecommerce site might disable unavailable options as users apply filters. Additionally, providing clear feedback and helpful suggestions when no results are found can guide users toward successful searches

Conclusion

Many techniques can be applied to search filters to make them more usable and pleasant for your user. Paying attention to this part of your UX design will greatly enhance your site’s performance, and increase chances of conversion. You can always count on users to keep returning to your product when your filter system helps them complete their tasks effectively.

Header image source: IconScout