In the world of eCommerce, time is the most valuable currency. When your customers are searching for a specific product and your store contains hundreds of products, but there is no easy way to filter products quickly by price, categories, brand, size, or any custom attributes, they will simply leave.
This will increase your bounce rate, reduce conversions, and lower your average order value (AOV).
For that, having a smart filtering option in your store is not a luxury, it’s a necessary for increasing sales.
So, in this article we will explore the importance of product filters, the key criteria for choosing the right plugin, and review the top three Filter plugins.
Why Product Filters Matter for your WooCommerce Store
Imagine you entered a huge supermarket where everyone is looking for their products, but there are no signs where the cheeses are or where to find the cleaning products, you would feel frustrated and leave immediately. This is exactly what happens in an online store that lacks smart filters.
Filtering is more than just a navigation feature; it directly affects how customers experience your store and how quickly they move toward a purchase decision.
Here are some points that highlight the importance of product filter:
- Narrow down large catalogs instantly
Instead of searching through hundreds of products to find the desired item and Causing confusion for the client, by product filter the customer can get their product within seconds and focus only on what match their needs.
- Find relevant products faster
With the filtering feature, the customer can select the attributes they want in a product, and within seconds, the matching and relevant products will be in their hands. This increases the chance of completing the purchase quickly.
- Understand your customers’ needs
By monitoring the most used filters, such as filtering by lowest price, or specific brand, you can learn what your audience is looking for and provide it more effectively.
- Improve shopping confidence
When users can filter by price, size, categories, color, and brand, they feel more in control. That sense of control build trust.
- Transform “Browsing” to “Buying”
Filters act as a smart sales assistant, they guide the customer directly to products that suit their needs and budget, increasing the likehood of completing the order (Conversion Rate).
- Reduce frustration
Nothing drives users away faster than difficulty in finding products. This applies to all types of shopping, both online and offline. Therefore, the easier it is to find products, the more purchases increases.
Beyond user experience, filters also impact your store’s performance metrics:
- Boost conversions.
- Lower bounce rate.
- Increased average order value.
- Better product discoverability.
- Saves time for everyone.
Key criteria to Look for in a Product Filter Plugin
Before choosing any plugin, evaluate these core features:
- AJAX Filtering (Without reload)
AJAX Filtering is a feature that allows customers to filter what they want, by color, size, tags, price, category, or anything else without reloading the entire page.
Which means, the results appear to the customers at the same moment they filter. If the plugin reloads the page every time someone select a filter, that’s a red flag.
This improves:
- User experience.
- Site speed perception.
- Conversion rates.
2. Filter by Custom Taxonomies & Attributes
When choose the product filter you want, you must make sure it support filtring by:
- Price
- Categorise
- Colors
- Sizes
- Custom attributes
- Ratings
- Tags
- Custom taxonomies
For example, customer looking for a blue t-shirt, price range from $2 to $20, and size S, can easily apply the color filter, select S size, and the relevant results will immediately be in his hands.
3. SEO Friendly Filtering
The biggest mistakes store owners make is using filtering plugin that generates thousands of random and duplicate links, which confuses Google’s search spider and leads to a decline in the store indexing.
- Support clean URLs.
- Work with SEO plugins.
- Allow indexing control.
If you have used old filters that left behind random or irregular issues, we recommend using a specialized plugin like “Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database” to clean and remove all duplicate and broken links.
4. Performance Optimization
There is no point in a smart filter if it makes the customer wait 10 seconds for the results to appear. Some filtering plugins put a huge strain on the database, especially in stores with thousands of products. Before choosing the filter plugin, make sure of the following technical criteria:
- Query Optimization: Look for plugins that use their own “indexing” techniques, as they don’t burden the core WordPress database with every search, but instead rely on dedicated and fast tables.
- Caching Compatibility: Make sure the plugin works harmoniously with speed plugins like WP Rocket or lightspeed cache. The smart filters should know when to use the cached version and when to update the results.
- Compatibility with Large Product Database: If your store has more than 5,000 products, you need to add support for lazy loading or big data processing techniques to prevent the site from caching.
5. Mobile Responsiveness
More than 60% of online shoppers use their phones to complete purchase. Filters that look grate on laptop screen can turn into a nightmare on small screens if they are not carefully designed. So, make sure:
- Filters are collapsible
- UI is touch-friendly
- No layout breaking issues
Common Mistakes when Choosing a Product Filter Plugin
❌Choosing based only on price
If you think a $10 price difference is important, wait until you need a feature that will bring you $1000 from customers who couldn’t filter what they want.
❌ Ignoring Performance Impact
Some plugins consumer server resources instantly. Always remember: a slow filter means a customer leaving the store.
❌Not Testing with your Themes
Not all plugins are compatible with your store’s theme. Always test the plugin on a staging site before activating it on the live store.
❌ Installing Multiple Filtering Plugin
This leads to code conflicts and extreme slowness. Choose a single professional plugin that meets all your needs.
3 Best WooCommerce Product Filter Plugin
This plugin is considered one of the most flexible and user-friendly options, as it realizes on a drag and drop interface to build filter that suit your store and your customer needs, instead of writing code or editing complex setting.
Product filter by WBW is built around the concept of “Custom filtering building” which means it doesn’t force you into a fixed layout or structure. Instead, it provides you with a control panel that allows you to create an unlimited number of product filter and place them in different areas in your store. You can customize fonts, colors, styles, and control buttons to align seamlessly with your brand identity.
One of the most important features of this plugin, is that is supports AJAX, which means that when the customer changes any filter, the product will update instantly in front of them within seconds without reloading the page.
Key Features
- AJAX filtering (No page reloads)
It allows product results to be updated in front of the customer immediately upon selecting the filter, without the need to wait for the entire page to reload.
- Filter by any attributes
The customer can filter products based on any attribute they want, such as size, color, price, brand or any custom attributes.
- Price slider & range filter
An interactive tool that allows the customer to set their budget accurately by dragging the price slider to find what suits them.
- Works with Elementor and any themes
It ensures full compatibility with the most popular page builder Elementor and most themes.
- Horizontal & vertical filter layouts
It provides flexible design options for placing filters either in the sidebar (Vertical) or above the products (Horizontal).
- Fully mobile responsiveness
Ensure that the filters appear in a sleek and user friendly way on smartphones and tablets.
- Smart caching for faster loading
A smart caching technology that helps speed up the display of results and reduce the load on the server.
- Instant live preview
A feature that allows you to see the changes you make to the filter design immediately during setup and before applying them in the store.
Pricing
Paid plans prices start from $59 yearly. Lifetime plans are also available to make things easier for you without monthly payments or feeds. This includes direct technical support and regular updates to ensure compatibility with the new WordPress releases.
2. Barn2 WooCommerce Product Filters
This plugin is considered as one of the excellent solutions for stores that prioritize site response speed and a smooth user experience. The plugin is built on a smart indexing system that reduces the load on the database and allows filter results to appear instantly, even in catalogs contain thousands of products.
The plugin also provides the feature of customizing the filters to appear horizontally above the products or vertically in the sidebar to fit the client’s website layouts.
Key Features
- AJAX product filtering
The product list update immediately when any filter is selected without the need to reload the page, providing a fast and easy experience.
- Filter by anything
It gives you the ability to create filters for any data within the store, whether it’s categories, attributes, tags and even customer reviews.
- Blazing fast performance
Ultra-fast performance realizes on advanced software technologies that ensure the website’s speed is not affected even with thousands of products.
- Unique filter URLs
Generating unique URLs for each filter makes it easier for customers to share specific search results and improve website indexing in search engine.
- Awesome filter types
It offers a Varity of attractive shapes and designs for filters such as thumbnails, color, dropdown, menus, and quick selection buttons.
- Total flexibility
Full flexibility in customizing the placement of filters and how they interact with the store design to suit any WordPress theme.
Pricing
Paid plans prices start from $79 yearly. This includes direct technical support and regular updates to ensure compatibility with the new WordPress releases.
The Husky plugin is considered one of the oldest and most powerful plugins available for filtering products in the WooCommerce. It is the preferred choice for developers and store owners who are looking for high flexibility and precise data control.
The plugin is characterized by its ability to handle complex search queries through an easy to control interface.
Key Features
- Product filter front builder
It allows you to build and design the shape of the filters through an easy front-end interface, making it easier to customize the appearance without delving into code complexity.
- Products searching using AJAX
A technology that ensures search and filtering results appear immediately and interactively as soon as the customer clicks, without the need to reload the entire page.
- Test product searching
A feature that allows you as a store owner to test and check the accuracy of filters and search results to ensure they work correctly before presenting them to the public.
- Product shortcode
It provides shortcodes that allow you to place specific product filters anywhere on your website, whether in post, or custom pages.
- SEO links
It works on improving your store’s indexing by turning filter results into SEO-friendly links, which increases the chances of your products appearing in Goolge search results.
- Filter by meta data
It gives you advanced capability to filter products based on custom and hidden data (Meta data) not available in regular filters, providing high accuracy in search.
Pricing
The plugin is available in the free version and the pro version for more advanced features. Paid plans prices start from $42 yearly. This includes direct technical support and regular updates to ensure compatibility with the new WordPress releases.
Conclusion
In the end, you might ask which plugin is the best?
There is no single plugin that can be considered “The best for everyone” it depends on the nature of your store, what it needs, and your budget.
If you are looking for ease of design and an attractive visual interface for users, WooBeWoo is the most suitable option for you because it offers high flexibility in control.
Other plugins like Barn2 & Husky are great, they come with great support & loaded with features (we won’t lie, that’s the truth), but we are very confident that our plugin is the best in the industry.
