Online Product Catalogs: Taxonomy IS User Experience

Often in our practice, we find the value of user-centric taxonomies not understood by the client or business partner. Rather they tend to think of taxonomy in organizational terms, if they think of taxonomy at all. Or they focus on shiny new Web 2.0 functionality or Flash-driven promotional spots. In the world of e-commerce, this is particularly problematic given that e-commerce websites are simply online catalogs. Finding products on retail sites is crucial to the entire user experience and, ultimately, conversions.

In this presentation, we will discuss how to leverage user experience in demonstrating the power of taxonomy to the organization. We will also discuss how to inform taxonomic work by focusing on the user experience it enables. In order to make the conversation concrete, we will look at a few examples from recent e-commerce website redesigns. The presentation will introduce a business-friendly conceptual framework and examples for understanding taxonomy as user experience that can be leveraged when discussing taxonomy with the business to create buy-in. It will also present five good practices for taxonomy projects that help overcome common pitfalls and organizational obstacles.