Search

1. Overview

The Search flow helps users quickly find relevant listings by combining intuitive search fields, real-time location suggestions, and filters.

Effective search design encourages exploration and increases marketplace engagement by minimizing user effort to discover offerings.

This marketplace provides two main search entry points optimized for different contexts.

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2. Visual References

Hero Search on Landing Page

Header Search on Inner Pages

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3. User Experience

3.1 Search Entry Points

Landing Page (Hero Search):

• A prominent search bar appears in the Hero section of the landing page.
• Encourages users to immediately start exploring listings upon arriving at the site.

All Other Pages (Header Search):

• A compact search button appears in the navigation header on every page, except for the landing page.
• Opens a dropdown search field, allowing users to search from anywhere without navigating away.

3.2 Search Fields

• “What are you planning?”

  • Filter dropdown menu which filters the primary category based on the user’s input (in the current marketplace, the primary category is type of space).

  Platforms can customize this into a free-text field that searches for keywords in listing titles, descriptions, or other attributes.

• “Where” (Location):

  • Helps filter results based on location relevance.
  • Powered by a static database of state and country for simplicity. Platform can adapt this with map API providers for real-time suggestions of locations e.g. Google Maps Autocomplete API

• “When” (Date):

  • Ensures listings are available for the user’s desired time range.

  The current marketplace lacks the implementation of a calendar in the Seller Center to avoid double bookings on a timeslot. Therefore, the Date filter only filters by the opening hours that Seller had set for the listing, without considering busy hours.

  This field is omitted if the marketplace is tailored for non-time-based products/services.

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4. Step-by-Step Flow

1. User focuses on the search bar (either Hero Search or Header Search).
2. Enters query into “What are you planning?” (e.g., “Photoshoot”, “Meeting room”).
   • Autocomplete suggestions appear dynamically.
3. Begins typing into the “Where” field:
   • Autocomplete suggestions appear dynamically.
   • User selects the desired location from the list.
4. Selects a date or date range in the “When” field.
5. Clicks Search button.
6. Redirected to the Search Results Page displaying listings that match:
   • Category or keyword (from “What are you planning?”)
   • Selected location
   • Selected date

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5. Common Platform Customizations

• Modify the default behavior of “What are you planning?” to search:
  • Listing titles
  • Listing descriptions
  • Tags or metadata
• Change mandatory fields (e.g., allow optional date selection for certain marketplace models).
• Replace the static database of state and country with Google Maps Autocomplete API.
• Add advanced filters (e.g., price range, amenities, seller rating) to further refine search results.