Confidential © 2005 eBay Inc. All rights reserved. eBay and the eBay logo are registered trademarks of eBay Inc. Faceted Metadata for Information Architecture and Search CHI April 24, 2006 Marti Hearst, UC Berkeley School of Information Preston Smalley & Corey Chandler, eBay User Experience & Design

confidential 2 Session II: Agenda Highlights from Session 1 (5 min) Interactive exercise (20 min) Evolution of IA at eBay (10 min) Demo of latest eBay design (5 min) Lessons learned at eBay (35 min) Discussion and Q&A (15 min)

confidential 3 Highlights from Session I

confidential 4 Interactive Exercise 20 minute interactive exercise

confidential 5 Evolution of IA at eBay Flat Hierarchy (2000 and earlier) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories Shoes Women’s Shoes - Boots - Pumps - Sandals SCREENSHOT

confidential 6 Evolution of IA at eBay Issues with approach:  Here Flat Hierarchy (2000 and earlier) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories Shoes Women’s Shoes - Boots - Pumps - Sandals

confidential 7 + Product Facets (2001 – 2004) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories Shoes –Women’s Shoes - Style (Boots, Pumps, Sandals…) - Size (6, 6.5, 7, 7.5…) - Color (Black, Red, Tan…) - Condition (New, Used…) Evolution of IA at eBay Added Facets (flat)

confidential 8 Evolution of IA at eBay Issues with approach:  Here + Product Facets (2001 – 2004) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories Shoes –Women’s Shoes - Style (Boots, Pumps, Sandals…) - Size (6, 6.5, 7, 7.5…) - Color (Black, Red, Tan…) - Condition (New, Used…)

confidential 9 Evolution of IA at eBay Faceted Metadata (2005 and beyond) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories Shoes –Women’s Shoes - Style (Boots, Pumps, Sandals…) - Size (6, 6.5, 7, 7.5…) - Color (Black, Red, Tan…) - Condition (New, Used…) - Brand (Nine West, Coach…) Brands –Nine West –Coach Materials –Cotton –Leather Added Hierarchical Facets

confidential 10 Demo of latest eBay design

confidential 11 Methodology Qualitative: RITE Method (2 days testing, 1 day to iterate design) n = 48 users (over 9 months) 10 versions of the design 3 domains: Shoes, TVs, and Collective Glass Quantitative: A/B Test on the live site for 3 weeks [n = 73k searches in test environment compared to current site]

confidential 12 Lessons Learned at eBay Data Design –Facets –Dependencies –Flexibility of Facets vs. Hierarchy Presentation –Integrating “browse” and “search” –Control Placement –Facet Presentation –Breadcrumbs

confidential 13 Facets Lesson: Users desire facets above the domain SCREENSHOT (force domain selection vs. allow facets)

confidential 14 Dependencies Lesson: Users understand result of removing a parent facet (dependant facets also removed)

confidential 15 Flexibility of Facets vs. Hierarchy Lesson: Users expect multiple entry points into a domain (tickets under sports) Tickets?

confidential 16 Lessons Learned at eBay Data Design Facets Dependencies Flexibility of Facets vs. Hierarchy Presentation –Integrating “browse” and “search” –Control Placement –Facet Presentation –Breadcrumbs

confidential 17 Integrating “browse” and “search” Lesson: “Parsing” the query is a natural phenomenon (and the text in the search box is not sacred)

confidential 18 Integrating “browse” and “search” Lesson: People use facets less when they are not familiar with the domain

confidential 19 Control Placement Lesson: Controls placed along the top of the page are used more than when on the left side.

confidential 20 Facet Presentation Lesson: Users stop using refinements when a) not useful, and b) item count low enough

confidential 21 Facet Presentation Lesson: Prominently showing 4 facets is enough to cover most cases (but prioritization is important)

confidential 22 Facet Presentation Lesson: Shifting columns doesn’t disturb people

confidential 23 Facet Presentation Lesson: Truncated list of values per facet is okay (users know how to access the rest)

confidential 24 Facet Presentation Lesson: Showing sample values help users understand facets and can expose breadth

confidential 25 Facet Presentation Lesson: Users often want to select multiple facet values and are pleased when they can

confidential 26 Breadcrumbs Lesson: Traditional breadcrumbs don’t work here

confidential 27 Breadcrumbs Lesson: Users understand the idea of applying and removing facets without instruction

confidential 28 Lessons Learned at eBay Data Design Facets Dependencies Flexibility of Facets vs. Hierarchy Presentation Integrating “browse” and “search” Control Placement Facet Presentation Breadcrumbs

confidential 29 Discussion and Q&A Your chance to make a comment on the subject or ask a question of the presenters.

confidential 30 Acknowledgments eBay Product Team: Michael Morgan, Michelle Millis, Seema Shah, Kenny Pate, Sam Devins, Elaine Fung, Corey Chandler, Preston Smalley