Online shoppers are eager to find exactly what they are looking for as quickly as possible. In fact, 64% of shoppers use search when impulse buying. For eCommerce stores, enabling an easier search experience, with autosuggest and search filters can influence revenue. However, even with high purchase intent, shoppers bounce off without making a purchase.The reason for lower conversions? Your site visitors don’t trust your Shopify store enough to make a purchase. This is where a ratings search filter helps. This search filter helps you prove the quality of your products and make consumers feel more confident about buying from you. Let’s look at how you can increase social proof and conversions on your Shopify store with a reviews and ratings search filter. Also read: Complete guide to using Shopify search & filters to improve online shopping experience

What is a Ratings Search Filter?

With a reviews and ratings filter, shoppers can filter their search results based on the ratings that products received. Shoppers can choose to exclude products rated 1 star or even just choose to see products with 4 and 5 stars.Here’s a look at how Amazon enables this ratings search filter.

Many eCommerce stores, including giants like Amazon, have set up a ratings filter but how can it help you increase conversions and build trust over your product? Let’s look at the benefits of such a small feature within your search experience.

How a Ratings Search Filter Can Increase Social Proof and Conversions

1. Let shoppers narrow their search to only high-rated products

Certain online shoppers are very particular about finding the right product, going as far as checking other sites to understand a product’s quality. When such shoppers start browsing your products, they might spend a lot of time looking through your products. If the ratings and reviews don’t match their expectations, they may drop off, without even seeing products that are highly rated. You can make it easier for these shoppers to prioritize quality in their search with this ratings search filter. With a ratings filter, shoppers can easily narrow down their search to find only specifically rated products, improving conversions.

2. Let shoppers see how many products fall under what rating for better transparency

Shoppers want more transparency over how different products are rated by other customers like them. With a ratings filter, shoppers can see exactly which product is rated how and make better comparisons between products they are interested in.This transparency can help your shoppers make more informed purchases.

Install Searchly on your Shopify store to display the ratings search filter on your Shopify store.

3. Shows social proof upfront instead of having to click through to the product page for it

Usually, when shoppers are looking for a product, they would find an item of interest, click through and view its details. If it doesn’t match their expectations, especially in terms of reviews, shoppers go back to the initial product catalog and continue their search. This process can easily be simplified by showing how products are rated upfront.With a ratings filter, shoppers would be able to filter products according to how they are reviewed and look through the best products first rather than considering the quality and rating of the product after they’ve shortlisted the item. Also read: How to Use Product Search Filters on Your Shopify Store to Provide A Personalized Shopping Experience

4. Boost product discoverability

Let’s say that you are in the market for a new activewear set. You already have a specific style of gym clothing shortlisted. While browsing your favorite fashion store, you filter your search by ratings to find only the best activewear. With a rating-based filter on your search, you might find yourself seeing other styles and activewear accessories you never considered before.When your shopper uses the ratings filter while browsing through your products, they can see all the products under that specific rating they have picked. This makes it easier for them to find other products similar to what they intended to buy, giving you the opportunity to increase AOV while shoppers are searching for specific products.

How to Set Up Reviews and Ratings Search Filter On Your Shopify Store

1. Install Searchly

Setting up a ratings search filter on your Shopify store is easy. All you need to do is install Searchly, a Shopify search app that lets you improve your on-site search experience. Searchly lets you set up a few different features to improve search on your Shopify store:

• Search filters: Simplify how people narrow down their search and help them find what they want exactly by letting them add filters to their search results like price range, size, etc.
• Autosuggest: Predict and suggest keywords to shoppers while they are typing.
• Recommendations: Display product recommendations directly in the search bar, empty search results page, and other touchpoints to help shoppers find products they want more quickly and lower drop-offs.
• Typo correction: The app learns how shoppers search and auto-corrects typos to show the right products.

Install Searchly on your Shopify store to display the ratings search filter on your Shopify store.

2. Integrate Searchly with your review app

Before you can set up the ratings filter, you need to integrate Searchly with your review app. The Shopify search app integrates with all the top Shopify review apps like Judge.me, Loox, Ali Reviews, and Shopify Product Reviews.Integration is as easy as clicking on the switch within the ‘Integration’ page on your Searchly dashboard.

3. Enable reviews filter

Once you’ve integrated these apps, you can add the ratings filter to your search page and customize these search filters. You can choose where these filters will appear on search and on your catalog.Install Searchly on your Shopify store to display the ratings search filter on your Shopify store.Once enabled, you can also monitor how shoppers use these filters to understand their search behavior and their preferences better. Searchly’s analytics helps you see search trends on your Shopify store and optimize your site search using this data.

Best Practices While Using the Rating Search Filter

Now, just displaying these rating filters on your Shopify store isn’t enough. You also need to make them usable for your shoppers.Here are 2 best practices to improve usability for your Shopify store search:

1. Display filter on the left-hand column like Amazon does

Amazon makes it easier for shoppers to filter their search while browsing by setting up a sticky left column for these search filters. This left column allows shoppers to filter their search and customize their search, all from a static search column.You can enable this view for your search filters through your Searchly dashboard.

2. Allow mobile search by displaying filters at the top of the page

When shopping on mobile, your shoppers won’t be able to access the search filters from the left column. Many merchants forget to optimize their search functionalities for mobile. However, with 60% of shoppers choosing mobile shopping, you have to make it easier for your shoppers to search for products on your Shopify store on mobile.You can follow Amazon’s lead by displaying filters at the top of the page so that shoppers can scroll through the filters and customize their search.

Increase social proof and conversions with a reviews and ratings search filter!

Simplifying search experiences can help you sell better and convert store visitors into customers. The rating filter is proven to help you win your customers’ trust, simplify the process of finding the right products, and increase sales.With Searchly, enabling the rating filter, along with other filters like collection, tags, color, size, and price range, is easy! You can choose which filters and search features you want to enable, customize them, and even monitor how they are used, and how your search experience is impacting sales.Install Searchly on your Shopify store and display the ratings search filter on your Shopify store to increase social proof and conversions.