How To Place Filters On Woocommerce Sidebar

Enhancing Your WooCommerce Store: How to Place Filters on Your Sidebar for Optimal User Experience

Introduction:

In the competitive world of e-commerce, providing a seamless and efficient shopping experience is paramount. One crucial aspect of this is allowing customers to easily find the products they’re looking for. A well-placed and functional filter system on your WooCommerce sidebar can significantly improve navigation and boost conversions. This article will guide you through the process of effectively adding filters to your WooCommerce sidebar, empowering your customers to quickly refine their search and discover the perfect products. Optimizing your store’s filtering options is a direct path to improved customer satisfaction and increased sales.

Why Sidebar Filters are Essential for WooCommerce

Before diving into the “how-to,” let’s quickly recap why having filters on your WooCommerce sidebar is so important:

• Improved User Experience: Customers can quickly narrow down their search based on price, attributes (like color, size, material), product categories, and more.
• Increased Sales: Easier navigation leads to more product discoveries and ultimately, more purchases.
• Reduced Bounce Rate: Visitors are less likely to leave your site if they can easily find what they’re looking for.
• Enhanced Store Navigation: Simplifies browsing and encourages exploration of your product catalog.
• SEO Benefits: Well-structured filters can improve your site’s indexability by search engines.

Main Part: Implementing WooCommerce Sidebar Filters

There are several methods for placing filters on your WooCommerce sidebar. We’ll explore some of the most popular and effective options.

1. Using WooCommerce Widgets (The Easiest Method)

WooCommerce comes with built-in widgets that can be easily added to your sidebar. This is the simplest approach and requires no coding knowledge.

Steps:

1. Access the Widgets Area: Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Widgets.

2. Identify Available WooCommerce Widgets: In the “Available Widgets” section, you’ll find several WooCommerce-specific widgets relevant to filtering, such as:

• Product Categories: Displays a list of product categories.
• Products by Attribute: Allows filtering based on product attributes like color, size, etc. You’ll need to have created these attributes first (Products > Attributes).
• Price Filter: Enables customers to filter products based on price range.
• Product Rating Filter: Allows filtering based on product rating (stars).
• Active Product Filters: Displays a list of currently active filters.

3. Drag and Drop Widgets to Your Sidebar: Choose the widgets you want to use and drag them from the “Available Widgets” section to your desired sidebar (usually named “Sidebar” or “Shop Sidebar”).

4. Configure Widget Settings: Each widget has its own settings that you can customize. For example, in the “Products by Attribute” widget, you can select which attribute to filter by. Click the little arrow on the widget to open its options.

5. Save Your Changes: Once you’ve configured the widgets, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the widgets area.

6. Preview Your Store: Visit your shop page to see the filters in action.

2. Using WooCommerce Plugins for Advanced Filtering

For more advanced filtering options and customization, consider using a dedicated WooCommerce filtering plugin. These plugins often offer features not available in the default WooCommerce widgets, such as:

• AJAX Filtering: Filters update without requiring a page reload.
• Visual Attributes: Displaying attribute options as colors or images.
• Hierarchical Categories: More complex category structures.
• Customizable Appearance: Greater control over the look and feel of the filters.

Popular WooCommerce Filtering Plugins:

• WooCommerce Product Filter
• YITH WooCommerce Ajax Product Filter
• Filter Everything

Installation and Configuration:

1. Install the Plugin: Go to Plugins > Add New and search for your chosen plugin. Click “Install Now” and then “Activate.”

2. Configure Plugin Settings: Each plugin has its own settings panel (usually located in the WooCommerce or WordPress settings menu). Refer to the plugin’s documentation for detailed instructions on configuring the filters.

3. Add Filters to Your Sidebar: Most plugins provide shortcodes or widgets that you can use to add the filters to your sidebar. Follow the plugin’s instructions for placement.

3. Custom Coding (For Advanced Users)

If you’re comfortable with PHP and WordPress development, you can create custom filters for your WooCommerce sidebar. This approach offers the most flexibility but requires technical expertise.

Example: Adding a Custom Category Filter (Simplified)

// Function to display custom category filter
function custom_category_filter() {
$args = array(
'taxonomy'     => 'product_cat',
'orderby'      => 'name',
'show_count'   => 1, // Show product counts
'hierarchical' => 1, // Display categories hierarchically
'title_li'     => '', // Remove the default title
'walker' => new Walker_Category_Product(), // Use a custom walker
'echo' => 0, // Return the output instead of echoing it directly
);

$categories = wp_list_categories( $args );

if ( $categories ) {

echo ‘

‘;

}

}

// Custom walker class for product category links

class Walker_Category_Product extends Walker_Category {

function start_el( &$output, $category, $depth = 0, $args = array(), $id = 0 ) {

extract($args);

$cat_name = esc_attr( apply_filters( ‘list_cats’, $category->name, $category ) );

$link = ‘<a href="' . esc_url( get_term_link($category) ) . '" ';

$link .= ‘>’;

$link .= $cat_name;

$link .= ‘‘;

$output .= ‘

• term_id . ‘”‘ ;

  if ( isset($current_category) && $current_category && ($category->term_id == $current_category) )

  $output .= ‘ class=”current-cat”‘ ;

  $output .= ‘>’;

  $output .= apply_filters( ‘list_cats’, $link );

  if ( ! empty($show_count) )

  $output .= ‘ (‘ . $category->count . ‘)‘;

  $output .= “

n”;

}

}

// Add the filter to the sidebar

add_action( ‘woocommerce_sidebar’, ‘custom_category_filter’ ); // This might need adjusting based on your theme

Explanation:

1. `custom_category_filter()` Function: This function retrieves and displays the product categories using `wp_list_categories()`. It’s customized to show product counts and uses a custom walker to create the category links. The `echo = 0` option ensures the function returns the output rather than directly displaying it.

2. `Walker_Category_Product` Class: This custom walker modifies the output of `wp_list_categories()` to create links to the product category pages.

3. `add_action()`: This line hooks the `custom_category_filter()` function into the `woocommerce_sidebar` action. Important: The specific action hook you use may vary depending on your WooCommerce theme. Consult your theme’s documentation or code to find the appropriate hook for the sidebar.

4. Implementation: Paste this code into your `functions.php` file (or a custom plugin). Important: Editing the `functions.php` file directly can be risky. It’s best to use a child theme or a code snippets plugin to avoid losing your changes during theme updates.

5. Customization: You’ll need to style the output with CSS to match your theme’s design.

Important Considerations for Custom Coding:

• Theme Compatibility: Ensure your custom code is compatible with your WooCommerce theme.
• Code Maintainability: Write clean, well-documented code for easy maintenance and updates.
• Security: Be aware of security vulnerabilities when writing custom code and sanitize all user inputs.
• Performance: Optimize your code for performance to avoid slowing down your site.

Conclusion:

Adding filters to your WooCommerce sidebar is a straightforward way to significantly enhance the user experience of your online store. Whether you choose the simplicity of WooCommerce widgets, the advanced features of dedicated plugins, or the flexibility of custom coding, implementing filters allows your customers to find what they need quickly and easily. By optimizing your product discovery process, you can improve customer satisfaction, increase sales, and ultimately grow your business. Remember to test your filters thoroughly on different devices and browsers to ensure they are working correctly.