How to Add Custom Product Filters to Your Shopify Website: A Step-By-Step Guide

How to Add Custom Product Filters to Your Shopify Website: A Step-By-Step Guide

If you want to make your Shopify website for your small business super easy to navigate, adding product filters is the way to go. They not only enhance the browsing experience for your customers but also help boost your sales.

Imagine a customer visiting your site with a huge product catalog. They'll likely only browse the first few pages. So, if that perfect blue dress they're looking for is buried on page 10, they're probably not going to find it. But with filters, they can quickly narrow down their search to just blue dresses, making their shopping experience much smoother.

Filters also help tackle the "paradox of choice." When customers are overwhelmed with too many options, they can get decision fatigue and might not buy anything at all. Filters simplify their choices, making it easier for them to decide.

 

The Search & Discover App

When I started my small business, Skudaboo, I had over 1,000 art print designs so adding filters was a game-changer, but I found figuring out how to do it on Shopify wasn't straightforward. You’ll need the free Search & Discover app, which is a good starting point, however, the default filters (like availability, price, product type, tags, and vendor) can be pretty basic.

 

Custom Filters with Metafields

For my store, I needed filters for themes, colour, art style and orientations. If you're a small business selling candles, you might want filters for scent families. Jewellery stores might need filters for metal types, and potters might want filters for size or colour. The possibilities are endless, but you can't do all this just with the Search & Discover app.

The trick is to use metafields. Adding metafields to your Shopify store isn't hard, but it can be a bit tricky to figure out where to start. Don’t worry; I’m here to walk you through it step by step!

 

How to Add Product Filters Step-by-Step

Adding product filters to your Shopify store can make a huge difference in how customers navigate your site. Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to get you started.

Step 1: Install the Search & Discover App

First, download the free Search & Discover app from the Shopify App Store and add it to your store.

 Step 2: Define Your Metafields

  1. Go to Settings > Custom Data: This is where you’ll define the metafields you want to use.
  2. Navigate to Products and Add Definition: Here, you can create your custom filter categories.
  3. Add Filter Category and Options:
    • Name: Enter a name for your filter category, such as "colour."
    • Namespace and Key: This is a unique identifier for your metafield. For example, you might use "custom.colour."
    • Description: Optional but can be helpful for clarity.
    • Value: Select "Single Line Text."
    • Change One Value to List of Values: This allows you to enter multiple options for your filter.

Step 3: Set Up Your Filter Values

  1. Validation Section: Check the "Limit to preset choices" box to ensure consistency when adding values.
  2. Add Filter Values: Click the "Add Item" button to enter all the values you need. Don’t worry if you miss any; you can always come back and add more later.
  3. Reorder Values: You can drag and drop to arrange how you want the values to appear in your shop.

Step 4: Apply Metafields to Your Products

  1. Go to Your Product Pages: Exit the settings section and navigate to a product page.
  2. Scroll Down to the Metafields Section: You’ll see the definitions you set up earlier.
  3. Select the Appropriate Options: Choose the correct values for each product. You can add multiple options per definition to cover different interpretations (e.g., a dress that looks both blue and purple).

Step 5: Add Filters to Your Collection Pages

  1. Go to Apps > Search & Discover > Filters: This will take you to the filter setup.
  2. Add Your Definitions: Click "Add Filter."
  3. Source Field: Scroll down to find your definitions in the product metafields section. Select the filter you want to add and save.

Ta da! Your product filters should now be showing in your collection pages in your Shopify store.

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Did you know you can add filters to your blog posts too? Metafields and metaobjects are powerful tools for your Shopify store. I’m still exploring all the possibilities, but I’ll share more in future blogs.

I hope this guide was helpful! If you still find the process daunting or don’t have the time, feel free to email me as I offer a service to set up product filters for you for your small business website. Happy filtering!

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