Improve Industrial Website Usability with Configurators – Part 2

There are many ways to help visitors find products on your site.  We’ve found user-friendly configurators to be one of the best ways to get the right information into the hands of the right people. The problem is that what many people think of as configurators aren’t actually configuring anything, and therefore, missing the boat.

Filters
For example, filters often are confused for configurators.  Filters can be very useful, as in the images below. With filters, you give a list of products to a visitor, and then allow them to filter by product options. In the case below, we’ve chosen to filter for color.

Filters work great for products where there are only a few options to choose from. However, add more than 3 or 4 options and that nice, easy to use filter gets too complex.

Parametric Search
Parametric searches let visitors choose from multiple options and then give a page of results, as you can see in the example below. Basically, the process is, “tell us what you want, and we’ll tell you if we have it.”

The problem with parametric search is that visitors can get left with no results, as in the example below. It could be that there is a very close option that will work just fine, but visitors don’t see it – they only see exact matches.

Configurators
Configurators let your visitors choose from different options, and each choice they make reloads the page with narrowed options based on the previous choice. Basically, configurators do the same thing that a salesperson would do, asking questions to help customers find what they need. The benefit is that an online configurator is available 24-7.

Configurators can be built as stand-alone applications, as part of an existing website, or as part of an ecommerce or RFQ cart. Configurators can even integrate with existing ERP systems, updating products as the ERP is updated. You can take visitors through a clearly defined path to configure products or part numbers or allow them the freedom to jump in with what they feel is the most important information, as in the example below.

Part Number Builders
Part number builders are configurators that do what the name implies – build part numbers. Especially when B2B purchasing is involved, getting a part number is necessary to make the sale. Sometimes that part isn’t built yet – and it won’t be until the customer requests it. Part number builders help this process by giving that part number prior to the product even being made. Part numbers can be built for internal use and not have it seen by the website user or built in real-time, showing the user the part number as it’s being built as in the example below.

Smart Forms
Smart Forms can be considered as a type online configurator, but instead of dictating all options, you are allowing visitors to fill out information. As they fill out fields on the form, the remaining fields update as applicable to what they have chosen. Once they have completed the form, they hit “submit” and you get an email with all the necessary information to contact them with answers to their questions.

Contact Ecreativeworks for more information about how online configurators can help your industrial website visitors find the information they need.

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