Product catalog or the question flow - what goes first?
There are two essential steps in the creation of a digital Product Finder:
Creating a flow of questions and answers that will help your customers select the right product.
Which of those goes first? It is a bit of chicken-and-egg question and might seem a bit confusing unless you imagine a real-life situation. Imagine that a customer has come to your shop, and you are having a conversation. And the logics that work here will also work for the digital Product Finder:
Meet Customers' Expectations
Your customers' initial expectations depend on the products that are available in your shop. So, perhaps, if you are selling bikes, they are unlikely to come to you looking for ice-cream and will be very surprised if you ask what kind of ice-cream they prefer.
In the same way, the questions you are asking must be relevant to the customer's possible needs who have come to your shop. Along with that, it is important to integrate the Product Finder on your page in such a way, that its entry point is by the products that this Product Finder is dedicated to.
Ask Questions But Remember About Products
A retailer asks customers questions that help define their needs but consider the products available. If there are no pink bicycles, you probably won't ask if they want it in pink.
In the same way, you need to keep your product range in mind, when planning the questions. For example, if you only sell laptops, there is no use asking the customer about the PCs.
And to make sure that suggested answers are tuned with your product catalog, you can use Progressive Filters that will disable or hide the answers for which there are no products.
Select the Language
Retailers' questions don't always depend 100% on the product attributes. While professional photographers are eager to discuss the focal lengths, apertures, and shutter speeds, other people are more likely to need information on whether it's good for taking photos at night or if it can make videos. It is important to speak to people the language they understand (so, the way you are asking depends on what you are selling.
In the same way, you need to remember about your average customer's profile when creating the questions and answers. Moreover, you can modify your product catalog and add computed attributes - i.e. teach Product Finder 360 to calculate human-readable values (such as "good for kids", "can be used in the dark", "is pet-resistant", etc.) based on the technical parameters.
Modify the Catalog and Questions Based on the Customer's Answers
On the other hand, a good retailer listens to the customers attentively and considers their answers when shaping the product catalog. In the same way, Product Finder 360's reports and flow insights will let you see how well specific questions work and what products are selling the best and the worst.
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