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Overview

Sort Orders determine the sequence in which products appear on collection pages. You can fine-tune product visibility using a combination of conditions, product attributes, and weighted attribute groups. These expressions help align product sorting with your marketing strategies and customer preferences.

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Sort Order Architecture

Sort Orders build upon the attribute foundation and can be enhanced with sequences, while being subject to merchandising rule overrides:

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Creating a Sort Order

To create a new sort order, follow these steps:

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1. Define Sorting Expressions

Sorting expressions define how products are prioritized. There are three types:

  • Condition: Boost or demote products based on attributes such as vendor, availability, or tags.
  • Product Attribute: Sort by a specific attribute like price, newest, or popularity.
  • Weighted Group of Attributes: Combine multiple attributes with assigned weights to balance sorting priorities.

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2. Assign Weights (For Weighted Groups)

  • In a Weighted Group of Attributes, allocate a weight (from 1-100) to each attribute.
  • The higher the weight, the greater influence that attribute has on the final sort order.

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3. Set Sort Direction

  • Choose either Ascending or Descending for attributes.
  • Example: Sorting by Price (Descending) ranks expensive products first.

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4. Configure Sort Order Details

  • Name: Provide a descriptive name (e.g., “Newest: Promote ‘My Vendor’ to the top and order by newest”).
  • Code: Define a short, API-friendly identifier (e.g., newest_b).
  • Is Variation: Enable this if the sort order is used for experiments and should not appear in the storefront/API.

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5. Save and Apply

  • Click Save Sort Order to apply your configurations.
  • Use the Browse API to implement the Sort Order on relevant pages.

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Best Practices

  • Balance Weights: Avoid extreme weight differences to ensure fair influence of attributes.
  • Monitor Impact: Regularly review conversion rates and customer behavior to refine sorting strategies.
  • Use Conditions Wisely: Prioritize boosting/demoting logic carefully to align with merchandising goals.

For further details, refer to our API documentation or contact our support team.

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Sort Order Experiments

Sort Order Experiments allow you to A/B test different sort orders on your collection pages to determine which arrangement of products leads to better engagement and conversion rates.

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Overview

With Sort Order Experiments, you can:

  • Create A/B tests for different sort orders on collection pages
  • Target specific collections or all collections
  • View detailed metrics on how each variation performs
  • Make data-driven decisions about which sort orders to implement

Sort Order Experiments are created and managed directly within the Sort Orders section of your Layers dashboard. Each experiment compares a base sort order (Variant A) with a variant sort order (Variant B) to help you determine which arrangement of products performs better.

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Creating an Experiment

To create a new sort order experiment:

  1. Navigate to the Sort Orders section in your Layers dashboard
  2. Select a sort order to edit or create a new one
  3. Click on the “Experiments” tab within the sort order edit page
  4. Click “Create Experiment”
  5. Enter a name for your experiment
  6. Select the variant sort order to test against the current sort order
  7. Choose which collections to target
  8. Set the traffic split percentage (default is 50/50)
  9. Click “Create Experiment”

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Experiment Settings

  • Name: A descriptive name to identify your experiment
  • Base Sort Order: The current sort order that will be shown to the control group
  • Variant Sort Order: The new sort order that will be shown to the test group
  • Collections: Select all collections, a single collection, or multiple specific collections to target
  • Traffic Split: Percentage of traffic that will see each variation (default is 50/50)
  • Advanced Targeting Conditions: Optional filters to determine which visitors are eligible for the experiment (e.g., UTM parameters)

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Monitoring Experiments

Once your experiment is running, you can monitor its performance in the experiment results section within the sort order:

  • Visitors: Number of visitors in each group
  • Views: Product views in each group
  • Clicks: Product clicks in each group
  • Add to Carts: Number of products added to cart in each group
  • Purchases: Number of purchases in each group
  • Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who made a purchase
  • Confidence Level: Statistical confidence in the results

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Ending an Experiment

You can end an experiment at any time:

  1. Navigate to the Sort Orders section in your Layers dashboard
  2. Select the sort order containing the experiment
  3. Click on the “Experiments” tab
  4. Click “End Experiment” for the experiment you want to conclude
  5. Review the final results
  6. Implement the winning sort order if desired

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Advanced Usage

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UTM-Based Sorting

You can use experiments with a 100% traffic split and advanced targeting conditions to show different sort orders based on UTM parameters. This allows you to create specialized landing experiences for different marketing campaigns.

For example, you could set up an experiment that shows a special sort order only to visitors coming from a specific email campaign by targeting the UTM source and campaign parameters.

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Automatic Application

The system automatically applies experiments across all APIs where the sort order is used. This means that once an experiment is active, it will be applied consistently whether visitors are browsing collections, using search, or viewing recommendations.

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Best Practices