Mode of Information Seeking - Search and Browse
The second blog in my series of three about Marcia Bates Modes of Information Seeking and how it can be applied in e-commerce.
Search
Customer mindset and behaviours
When searching a customer is actively looking for a product and knows the product space. This does not mean they are solely using the ‘Search’ function on the website. A customer can use navigation to search as well.
For example when working with a large department store in London, we saw customers in Search mode when doing the task, ‘You are going to a formal winter wedding in Scotland. Find an outfit.’
The customers used the search function, with specific words like ‘smart dress’ or ‘formal trouser suit’ and then reviewed a list of products; or they used the navigation to quickly filter to the right category, put in their size, and scan results.
In each case there was no need to educate them on the product category or the results they were seeing; they understood what a smart or formal dress looked like, scanned the list for colours, fit and shapes that suited their body, and chose one or more products.
Interface elements
As described above, customers in search mode use both the navigation and search functions.
In search, we should provide them with three features:
Auto-complete - completing the terms from key terms in the taxonomies from brands and products
Auto-suggest - showing products that match the search terms. This is also called live search, as the products being shown change depending on how specific the search term becomes
Filters in the search results - the filters must be contextual and allow the customers to narrow down the results as quickly as possible to a group that it easy to scan
Browse
Customer mindset and behaviours
In comparison Browse is a combination of active and undirected mindsets; the customer has a product need, but are not really sure what items from the product set, will meet their needs.
An example of a Browse mindset in action was when customers were searching for a new coffee maker. When presented with the task ‘The coffee maker at home has broken and you want to replace it. Find the right coffee maker for you and your family’, most customers did not have particular coffee maker in mind – they needed to be educated about the types of machines and whether it was suitable for their family. It was also a task where the customers wanted to see it in-person to see how it would fit in their kitchen and bench space.
When using the search function, customers typed in a more generic term like ‘coffee maker’ and expected results that would explain the types. In the corresponding use of navigation, the customers read the filters much more closely, ‘pogo sticking’ between search results and product pages to see the differences between results, and discussed going into the store to see how big it was.
Interface elements
Because education is such a big aspect of supporting customers who are in the browse mode, the aim of the interface elements is to guide and provide context to the customer.
Three interface elements I would use are
Visual sub-categories - showing the customers pictures of each of the sub-categories, so they can see the differences and are not reliant on the unfamiliar terminology to help them to narrow down their choices
Filters that educate - using filters and the values that are in plain language and are descriptive to non-experts
Comparison - provide the customers with a frame of reference for the products, e.g. size of an item. Show them the items in relation to something they know - dimensions are not enough. For example, showing handbag size against a mobile phone, shows a customer actually how small or large it is.
In my final blog in this series, I will talk about Monitor and Being Aware.
If you would like to know more, join me at my IA masterclasses.