Our Stellar Volusion Search Refinement API Widget
Border7 Studios offers a dynamic widget that integrates with Volusion’s Search Refinement built in functionality. This search refinement api widget can be setup to filter the options of your choosing. In the above example, we created a Year, Make, and Model widget that allows customers to refine their search via a clean, easy-to-use interface.
Using this widget as an example, a customer would start their search by selecting a Year from the first dropdown. The widget will then pull information from your store, and show all of the available years within the first dropdown. Next, they would select the second dropdown, Make. The widget will then display all Makes that are available for the selected year. Finally, they would select the third dropdown, Model. The widget will now display all options that fit the selected, Year, Make, and Model filters. Having a filter widget on your homepage is a great addition to your site because it helps your customers find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible.
Note: If you need help finding out how to use Volusion’s Search Refinement, check out this Volusion Support Article. This article will show you how to turn on search refinement within your Volusion store, configure search refinement in your template, and rename filter labels.
If you are a visual person, check out Volusion’s video on How to Create a Custom Search Refinement Filter.
Refinements in your Volusion store work like this:
You have your main refinement categories. For example:
Year
Make
Model
You then have sub categories of each of the above refinements. For example:
Year: 2009, 2010, 2011
Make: Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet
Model: Toyota > Tundra, Tacoma, Hilux | Ford > Excursion, Ford Super Duty, SVT Raptor | Chevrolet > Avalanche, Sierra HD, Suburban
Each refinement that you would like your product to have needs to be assigned to the corresponding categoryID. For example:
ABC-123: 23, 45, 46, 47, 56
ABC-123 is Year: 2009 | Make: Toyota | Model: Tundra | Price: $600 < p
ZYX-987: 24, 45, 46, 47, 57
ZYX-987 is Year: 2010 | Make: Ford | Model: Excursion | Price: $600 < p
Our widget looks at Volusion’s refinement table, and provides customers with all of the information they need in order to find exactly what they are looking for. It does not limit you to one category’s refinements. For more information about Volusion’s Search Refinements, check out our Search Refinement Widget for Volusion blog post.
If you are looking for a solution that comes with its own backend, as well as several other great features for your Volusion store, check out Nextopia. Their Site Search comes with dynamic filters, enhanced auto-complete, reporting & analytics, and a straightforward Volusion integration.
Interested in starting a project or have questions for the Border7 Team? Contact us, or post a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
