How to Add Filters To Shopify Store?

Having too many options can be overwhelming for customers, and it can make it harder for them to make a decision.

This is known as the “paradox of choice,” which states that an abundance of options can actually make people feel less satisfied with their decisions and make them more likely to experience decision paralysis.

That’s where product filtering comes to play!

Product filtering can help mitigate this problem by allowing customers to narrow down the options to a more manageable number based on specific criteria.

This can make the shopping experience less confusing and more enjoyable for customers, which can increase the likelihood of a sale.

Additionally, providing a filter option makes it easy for customers to find what they are looking for, which can help improve customer satisfaction and make them more likely to return to your store in the future.

In this blog, we’ll gain deeper insights into what product filtering is and steps on how to create product filter options and custom filters in your Shopify store.

So, let’s dive straight into it!

What is Product Filtering in Shopify?

Product filtering in Shopify allows customers to narrow down a large number of products to a specific subset by applying certain criteria, such as price, color, size, and brand.

This feature can be implemented using tags, collections, and custom filters, and it can help customers find the products they’re looking for more quickly and easily, which can improve the overall shopping experience and increase the likelihood of a sale.

Why You Should Filter Your Products in your Shopify store?

Nowadays, people do not stay on the website for longer than 5 seconds.

Let’s assume, you’ve landed on a Shopify store and it’s taking some time to find the products you want. What would be your next step? Obviously, you’ll switch to some other website. That’s why it’s crucial that you use product filters in your store.

There are several reasons why you should filter your products in Shopify:

• Improved user experience: Product filtering makes it easier for customers to find the products they’re looking for, which can improve the overall shopping experience and make it more likely that they will make a purchase.
• Increased conversion rates: By making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for, product filtering can increase the likelihood of a sale, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
• Better organization of products: Filtering products in Shopify can help you better organize your products, making it easier for you to manage your inventory and keep track of which products are selling well and which are not.
• Helping customers to find products faster: If you have a lot of products, it can be hard for customers to find what they’re looking for. Product filtering can help customers find products faster and increase the chances of them making a purchase.
• Targeted marketing: With product filtering, you can segment your products by various attributes, and target specific groups of customers based on their browsing behavior, which can lead to more effective marketing campaigns and higher ROI.

How to Create Filter via Product Variants?

Shopify gives you the option to add 100 variants and 3 variant options for a particular product. To create a filter via Product Variants, follow the below-mentioned steps:

Go to your Shopify admin panel and navigate to the Products section.

Find and select the product you want to add variants to. Here, we’re adding variants to a product named short sleeve t-shirt.

Scroll down to the Options section and click on the Edit button.

Add the options like Color, Size, Material, and Style.

Go to the variants section and add price details for every variant.

Next, fill in the details like price, cost per item, SKU, Barcode, and HS Code. And, click on Done.

If you want to set a specific image for a variant then you can upload it by clicking on the Add image button.

Click the Save button to apply the changes to your product.

How to create Custom Filter via Shopify Metafields?

Shopify gives you 4 default options to add filters to your Shopify collection pages. If you wish to add more filters, then you need to create custom filters by creating metafields.

Let’s see how you can create a filter using Shopify metafields:

From your Shopify store’s admin panel, go to Settings > Metafields.

Select the type of metafield that you wish to create. Here, we’re choosing Products.

Click on the Add definition button.

In the Name field, you need to type a name for the metafield you’re creating, such as Age Group.

You can enter a description for your metafield, but that’s not mandatory.

In the content type field, select either Text or Number from the list.

If you’ve selected Text for the Content Type, then you need to select Single line text. In the other case, you need to select either Integer or a Decimal.

Below, in the Validation section, you can add additional rules to limit the range of accepted values, but again, that’s not mandatory.

Lastly, Save the changes.

How to Add Custom Created Metafield in the Filter Option?

After creating a custom filter by creating a metafield, the next step is to add them to the filter options. To do so, follow the below-mentioned steps:

From your Shopify store’s admin panel, go to Online Store > Navigation.

To add a custom filter option, you need to install an app, i.e., Search & Discovery. It is free from Shopify that can let you add custom filters to the list.

Next, click on Search & Discovery > Filters under the Apps section. Click on Edit Filters.

Under Metafields section, click on the metafield that you recently created. Here, we’re selecting “Age Group”.

Lastly, click on the Save button.

Result

So, here’s the metafield that we created.

Conclusion

To sum up everything, product filters play an important role for Shopify stores that offer a large variety of products. You must think about product organization in advance such that you apply appropriate filters to limit the searches for online shoppers.

In Shopify, you can apply default filters on your collection pages. Also, you can create custom filters, which we’ve discussed in the blog.

If you find yourself stuck mid-way, reach out to us in the comments below. We’ll be happy to assist you!