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5 Essential Filter Types Users Need on Product Listing Pages (57% Don’t Offer All 5) – Articles – Baymard Institute
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5 Essential Filter Types Users Need on Product

Listing Pages (57% Don’t Offer All 5)
It’s crucial for product finding that users can filter e-commerce
product lists according to their purchasing preferences.
If users are unable to adequately filter product lists, their ability to

tailor product lists to contain only items of interest is severely
restricted, and they may be unable to find what they need.
Whereas all sites in our benchmark of 60 top e-commerce sites offer

filters, the type of filters offered matters, because some filters are more
widely used than others.
Indeed, throughout multiple rounds of testing, the majority of users

chose options from 5 specific filter types, and they were often the first
filters that were selected.
For example, during large-scale UX testing of mobile sites, 80% of

users applied Price filters, regardless of the type of products they were
looking for.
Yet only 43% of our benchmark sites offer all of the key filter types.
Sites that don’t are at a disadvantage, and their users may be unable to
filter product lists to contain only suitable items.
In this article we’ll discuss the test findings from our large-scale UX
testing related to the 5 filter types that should be available on most
sites:
1. Price
2. User Ratings Average
3. Color
4. Size
https://baymard.com/blog/5-essential-filters 1/10
31/10/23, 10:15 π.μ. 5 Essential Filter Types Users Need on Product Listing Pages (57% Don’t Offer All 5) – Articles – Baymard Institute
5. Brand
1) Price filter (12% don’t offer it)
The absence of a Price filter on Victoria’s Secret In common with 88% of sites, users on Home
means that users who are focused on price will be Depot can filter products by price.
unable to reduce the list to contain only items within
their budgets.
Price is of key importance to the majority of users — in fact, during

mobile testing sessions, 80% of users tried to filter product lists by
price.
Users generally have an idea of a suitable budget for their purchases,

and, whether they apply a Price filter first or after tailoring the
product list with other filters, most will only want to consider items
that are affordable (or, conversely, that aren’t “too cheap”).
The high usage rate during testing, combined with the wide
availability of price filters across benchmark sites (88% have them),
means users have come to expect price filters will always be available
— and are confused and disoriented when they aren’t.
Price, therefore, is a key factor in the decision to purchase.
Given its importance to users, all sites should offer Price filters (with
the possible exception of some B2B or niche sites where price is not
the most significant factor for users).
Price filters generally consist of price-range options, and users should

be able to define their own price ranges. Furthermore, range sliders
are also used to define price ranges, but should be implemented with
care. Finally, most e-commerce sites need “Price per Unit” in addition
to the total price.
Although the importance of providing a Price filter seems self-

evident, as mentioned above a surprisingly high 12% of our
benchmark sites don’t provide Price filters.
2) User Ratings Average filter (53% don’t

offer it)
“I can’t seem to find an option to filter by rating.” This Users are unable to filter by user rating averages
user on Newegg was disappointed to be unable to on Nordstrom, even though user rating averages
filter a list of portable speakers by user ratings are shown in list item info. When users can see
average. user ratings in list item info, they could well
wonder why they can’t filter by that attribute.
Our most recent quantitative study looked into users’ reasons for purchasing online and showed that 45%
considered user reviews a key factor.
In our quantitative study of why users shop online instead of offline,

45% of users listed the ability to see other users’ reviews and ratings as
one of the primary reasons for shopping online instead of in physical
retail stores — making them almost as important to users as lower
online prices.
Many users effectively rely on ratings as a proxy for “good quality /

value for money” when they don’t feel comfortable making that
evaluation themselves. Therefore, when users exploring product lists
are unsure about which products are suitable, they’ll rely on the
opinions of others, and so will want to filter product lists by user
ratings average.
However, most sites don’t offer that ability.
As a result, users on sites without User Ratings filters are unable to

narrow the product list to items that other users have rated highly.
On Amazon, there is no way to isolate 5-star The “Customer Rating” filters on Musician’s Friend
ratings on their own, as the top filter option will allow users to narrow the product list to just the
include averages between 4 and 5. If users want products with an average rating of 5 stars ( “5 Only”),
to assess products with 5-star ratings only, they’ll allowing users to filter the list to contain only the top-
have to browse through a list that also contains rated items. Note also how the filter options include
items with rating averages below 5. Also, the user “& up”, allowing users to see products with ratings
rating filters don’t show the number of matches for from the chosen option to the maximum rating. On a
each option, so users can’t predict the impact each site where there are over 1,000 products with 5-star
will have on the product list. ratings averages, users will still have plenty of choice
if they choose this filter option.
Furthermore, User Ratings filters are particularly important in

helping users who are not familiar enough with the products offered
to be able to assess them accurately.
For example, during testing a user was buying a toy for a child, and
was unfamiliar with which toys were popular with the target age
range. The user filtered by ratings to seek the “wisdom of the crowd”
and isolate products that had been rated 4 or 5 stars.
Without User Ratings filters, users with little knowledge of the

products on offer will struggle to identify suitable items.
Unless they can filter out low-rated items, users will need to scan
many list items to assess individual product ratings, provided of
course that user ratings are shown in list item info.
In fact, with 97% of sites in our benchmark displaying user ratings

averages on product pages, it’s surprising that 53% don’t allow users to
filter product lists by user ratings.
3) Color filter (10% don’t offer it)
“Now I’m curious about other colors…I did not necessarily see ‘color’ [in the filter types]”. This user wanted to
filter chairs by color on Walmart, and was disappointed that the filter type was absent. Color is an important
variation and, if users can’t filter by color, many of the items in a product list could be unsuitable.
Color is an attribute common to many industries from home & hardware (e.g., “Color/Finish Family” on Home
Depot, first image) to apparel (e.g., “Color” on LL Bean, second image). Allowing users to filter by color enables
them to limit the product list to items that match their individual tastes.
Color is a common product variation on sites in many industries

such as apparel, home & hardware, and houseware & furnishing,
among others.
Individual users, of course, have strong preferences for certain colors,

and would never consider products in other colors.
For example, users might always tend to buy blue jeans, but never
black; or would never consider any color for kitchen appliances other
than stainless steel.
As a result, they’d need to exclude some items from product lists as

soon as they start the product-finding process.
Without a Color filter type, getting a product list that contains only
those colors a user is truly interested in purchasing would be
impossible, and product lists would be cluttered with items in
unwanted colors.
Yet 10% of sites in our benchmark that should have Color filters don’t
provide them. As the vast majority of sites provide Color filters, users
therefore will expect to find Color filters on all sites where it’s a
relevant filter type, and their absence could prompt users to look
elsewhere.
4) Size filter (15% don’t offer it)
This user looking for running shoes on Target selected a “Size” filter option even before she filtered by price.
Size is a critical filter — unless users find a suitable size, regardless of the product type, they simply won’t
proceed.
“Size” is a variant common across many industries, such as apparel (e.g., Nordstrom’s “Size”, first image), home
& hardware (e.g., Northern Tool’s “Height”, second image), and mass merchant (e.g., Target’s “Wheel Size”,
third image).
Size is also an important attribute for sites in many industries. Unlike

many other attributes, the inability to find products in the right size is
a show stopper — either the item will fit or it won’t.
For example, there’s no point in users proceeding if they can’t find a

shirt in their size, or if a refrigerator won’t fit in the space in their
kitchens.
Being able to filter by size is essential so that users can quickly exclude
products that are completely unsuitable and instead focus on variants
that match their preferences.
For some product types, Size filters might be replaced by separate

filters for different dimensions, such as width and height. These filters
would be especially common where the products have to fit into a
specific space, such as kitchen appliances.
Despite its “make or break” importance to many users, 15% of

benchmark sites that should offer Size filters don’t.
5) Brand filter (27% don’t offer it)
“That’s nice that they show their brands, because I “I’m sticking with JBL.” Brand filters on B&H Photo
know some brands are only at Macy’s and some helped this user to quickly narrow the product list of
are not there, so it’s nice that they list that out if wireless speakers to a brand he liked.
you’re looking for a specific one.” Brand filters are
of great help in product lists, like Macy’s
“Moisturizers” list, where many users will have their
own favorite brands.
Many users are very brand-conscious, being heavily inclined towards

favorites in industries from apparel to electronics.
Testing revealed that users sought out well-known brand names when
looking for products that they hadn’t prior experience of, such as
“JBL” when looking for portable speakers.
Likewise, users on cosmetics sites sought out brands that they had
tried before and found to be highly suitable for their individual needs,
such as “Clinique” and “Shiseido” when browsing lists of face
moisturizers.
To facilitate the large subset of users who are brand focused, Brand
filters should be provided.
Brand filters are not needed on Under Armor, as On Nike, however, the site has strong sub-brands, such
the site does not carry multiple brands. as “Jordan” and “Nike Pro”, and a brand filter is helpful
for users who want to view only one of these lines.
One exception for having Brand filters would be single-brand sites,

where a brand filter is often irrelevant.
However, such sites could implement a sub-brand filter, if needed, to

allow users to filter by types of product within the overall site brand,
such as “Performance” and “Originals” on Adidas, or “Jordan” and
“Nike Pro” on Nike.
Leaving aside single-brand sites, 27% of sites in our benchmark don’t

provide Brand filters, a surprisingly high number given the
importance of brands across many industries.
Help Users Get the Most Relevant Product

List
On Sears, all 5 essential filters are provided.
Providing the five essential filters —
Price (12% don’t provide this),
User Ratings (53% don’t provide this),
Color (10% don’t provide this),
Size (15% don’t provide this), and
Brand (27% don’t provide this),
— will allow the vast majority of users to filter product lists to contain
mainly items of interest.
User testing and quantitative research have revealed that users will
frequently apply options from these filter types regardless of the
product type.
Users on sites without the option to apply these filters will be at a

disadvantage and may turn to other sites where it’s easier to eliminate
unsuitable items from product lists.
Of course, sites will also need to provide other filter types suited to
specific categories. These category-specific filter types would include,
for example, Temperature Rating for bedding, coats, and sleeping
bags; Compatibility for electronic accessories; and Age Suitability for
toys and DVDs, to name a few.
While there are other considerations to take into account for filters
that make product finding quicker and more efficient, providing the 5
essential filter types is the first step to ensuring users can more
quickly find suitable products to purchase.
A note on sorting: while sorting is an alternative to filtering in some

contexts, it’s not a perfect substitute. Sorting changes the sequence of the
products, so some more-relevant items might be shown at the top of the
product list, but sorting doesn’t exclude any items. Therefore, sorting
won’t allow users to focus only on a smaller subset of suitable products,
and depending on the sort criteria available may not bring the most
suitable products to the top.
This article presents the research findings from just 1 of the 650+ UX
guidelines in Baymard Premium – get full access to learn how to create
a “State of the Art” e-commerce user experience.
Authored by Mark Crowley on August 18, 2020 Share:
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31/10/23, 10:15 π.μ.

5 Essential Filter Types Users Need on Product

If users are unable to adequately filter product lists, their ability to

Whereas all sites in our benchmark of 60 top e-commerce sites offer

Indeed, throughout multiple rounds of testing, the majority of users

For example, during large-scale UX testing of mobile sites, 80% of

2. User Ratings Average

1) Price filter (12% don’t offer it)

Price is of key importance to the majority of users — in fact, during

Users generally have an idea of a suitable budget for their purchases,

Price, therefore, is a key factor in the decision to purchase.

Price filters generally consist of price-range options, and users should

Although the importance of providing a Price filter seems self-

2) User Ratings Average filter (53% don’t

In our quantitative study of why users shop online instead of offline,

Many users effectively rely on ratings as a proxy for “good quality /

However, most sites don’t offer that ability.

As a result, users on sites without User Ratings filters are unable to

Furthermore, User Ratings filters are particularly important in

Without User Ratings filters, users with little knowledge of the

In fact, with 97% of sites in our benchmark displaying user ratings

3) Color filter (10% don’t offer it)

Color is a common product variation on sites in many industries

Individual users, of course, have strong preferences for certain colors,

As a result, they’d need to exclude some items from product lists as

4) Size filter (15% don’t offer it)

Size is also an important attribute for sites in many industries. Unlike

For example, there’s no point in users proceeding if they can’t find a

For some product types, Size filters might be replaced by separate

Despite its “make or break” importance to many users, 15% of

5) Brand filter (27% don’t offer it)

Many users are very brand-conscious, being heavily inclined towards

One exception for having Brand filters would be single-brand sites,

However, such sites could implement a sub-brand filter, if needed, to

Leaving aside single-brand sites, 27% of sites in our benchmark don’t

Help Users Get the Most Relevant Product

On Sears, all 5 essential filters are provided.

Providing the five essential filters —

Price (12% don’t provide this),

User Ratings (53% don’t provide this),

Color (10% don’t provide this),

Size (15% don’t provide this), and

Brand (27% don’t provide this),

Users on sites without the option to apply these filters will be at a

A note on sorting: while sorting is an alternative to filtering in some

7 Filtering Implementations That Make Macy’s Best-in-Class

Filters for Industries: Explain Industry-Specific Filters (91% Don’t)

Consider ‘Promoting’ Important Product Filters (80% Don’t)

See all 40 ‘Product Lists’ and 77 ‘Mobile Web’ articles

User Experience Research, Delivered Twice a Month

Enter your email SUBSCRIBE

Premium Research Audit Service

Page Designs Resources

Apparel & Accessories Toys & Crafts Online Grocery

Business-to-Business Pets & Hobbies Meal Kits

Electronics & Office Direct to Consumer Consumable Subscriptions

Health & Beauty Telco Online Food Delivery

Home & Hardware Internet Service Providers Travel & Accommodations

Luxury Goods Insurance SaaS & Digital Subscriptions

Mass Merchant Vitamins & Supplements

Sports Gear & Equipment B2B Medical & Pharma

Homepage & Category Product List Accounts & Self-Service

On-Site Search Product Page Mobile Web