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What’s this? Here you’ll find 110 annotated “Search Field” design examples from Baymard’s UX benchmark of 60 major e-commerce sites. (Note: this is less than 1% of the full research catalog.)
The search field itself represents the initial step of the user’s search process, and the search field design is therefore a key aspect in crafting a great search experience. However, our large-scale e-commerce search usability study shows that the design of the search field is instrumental at an even more fundamental level — the field design can influence the user’s entire approach to how they find products on the site.
More ‘Search Field’ Insights
- While an advanced search engine logic is the backbone of delivering a great search experience, our usability testing reveals that a great search field design, placeholder text, and button design can set the right expectations and steer users toward better search queries — but it only takes a few minor design hiccups to severely mislead your users. During testing, minor design quirks for the search field led to severe usability issues such as users completely misunderstanding the search results, often abandoning the site as a direct consequence.
- To a large extent users see the prominence of the search field as an indicator of how strongly the site “recommends” search as a way to find products, versus the alternative of navigating categories via the site menus. During our usability testing the subjects adopted search as their primary product-finding strategy much more frequently on sites that had a very prominent search field, while the test sites with a subdued search field design saw increased category navigation.
Learn More: Besides exploring the 110 search field design examples below, you may also want to read our related articles with our (free) research findings on “E-Commerce Search Field Design and Its Implications” along with “E-Commerce Sites Need Multiple of These 5 ‘Search Scope’ Features”.
Get Full Access: To see all of Baymard’s 49 e-commerce search research findings you’ll need Baymard Premium access. (Premium also provides you full access to 32,000 hours of UX research findings, 640+ e-commerce UX guidelines, and 50,000+ UX performance scores.)
Amazon (2017)
13 adhered 1 violated
Overstock (2017)
10 adhered 1 violated
Walmart (2017)
9 adhered 1 violated
Grainger (2017)
8 adhered 1 violated
Walgreens (2017)
8 adhered 4 violated
REI (2017)
7 adhered 3 violated
Cabela's (2017)
7 adhered 1 violated
Wayfair (2017)
7 adhered 1 violated
Office Depot (2017)
7 adhered 3 violated
B&H Photo (2017)
7 adhered 2 violated
L.L. Bean (2017)
6 adhered 1 violated
Musician's Friend (2017)
6 adhered 1 violated
Home Depot (2017)
6 adhered 0 violated
Dell (2017)
5 adhered 4 violated
Nike (2017)
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Apple (2017)
5 adhered 0 violated
Macy's (2017)
5 adhered 4 violated
Rakuten (2017)
5 adhered 4 violated
Lowe's (2017)
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J.C. Penney (2017)
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Newegg (2017)
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Hayneedle (2017)
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Best Buy (2017)
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Nordstrom (2017)
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Staples (2017)
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TigerDirect (2017)
4 adhered 3 violated
Foot Locker (2017)
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Gilt (2017)
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Neiman Marcus (2017)
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Bass Pro Shops (2017)
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Urban Outfitters (2017)
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Kohl's (2017)
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Sears (2017)
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Target (2017)
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Crutchfield (2017)
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Microsoft (2017)
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Victoria’s Secret (2017)
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Ann Taylor (2017)
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Northern Tool (2017)
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Sephora (2017)
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Debenhams (2017)
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H&M (2017)
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HP (2017)
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Costco (2017)
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Build.com (2017)
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Toys'R'Us (2017)
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Williams-Sonoma (2017)
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Crate & Barrel (2017)
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Etsy (2017)
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Gap (2017)
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American Eagle Outfitters (2017)
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Disney (2017)
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Marks & Spencer (2016)
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ASOS (2016)
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John Lewis (2016)
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Argos (2016)
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IKEA (2016)
4 adhered 2 violated
Tesco (2016)
2 adhered 5 violated
Adidas (2016)
2 adhered 5 violated
Zalando (2016)
0 adhered 6 violated
Amazon (2014)
10 adhered 4 violated
Walmart (2014)
9 adhered 3 violated
Shoebuy.com (2014)
8 adhered 3 violated
Overstock (2014)
8 adhered 2 violated
Home Depot (2014)
7 adhered 1 violated
Sears (2014)
7 adhered 4 violated
Newegg (2014)
7 adhered 4 violated
Rakuten (2014)
6 adhered 6 violated
Hayneedle (2014)
6 adhered 3 violated
Nordstrom (2014)
6 adhered 2 violated
Dick's Sporting Goods (2014)
5 adhered 4 violated
Grainger (2014)
5 adhered 2 violated
Disney Store (2014)
5 adhered 4 violated
Lowe's (2014)
5 adhered 3 violated
Staples (2014)
5 adhered 5 violated
Crate & Barrel (2014)
5 adhered 5 violated
Crutchfield (2014)
4 adhered 6 violated
drugstore.com (2014)
4 adhered 3 violated
Walgreens (2014)
4 adhered 4 violated
Foot Locker (2014)
4 adhered 4 violated
Sephora (2014)
4 adhered 7 violated
Musician's Friend (2014)
4 adhered 3 violated
Cabela's (2014)
4 adhered 5 violated
Build.com (2014)
4 adhered 5 violated
Urban Outfitters (2014)
4 adhered 5 violated
Costco (2014)
4 adhered 4 violated
Kohl's (2014)
4 adhered 7 violated
Etsy (2014)
4 adhered 6 violated
Neiman Marcus (2014)
4 adhered 5 violated
Toys'R'Us (2014)
3 adhered 6 violated
J.C. Penney (2014)
3 adhered 4 violated
Macy's (2014)
3 adhered 7 violated
American Eagle Outfitters (2014)
3 adhered 5 violated
L.L. Bean (2014)
3 adhered 5 violated
TigerDirect (2014)
3 adhered 5 violated
CDW (2014)
3 adhered 6 violated
Best Buy (2014)
3 adhered 6 violated
OfficeMax (2014)
3 adhered 4 violated
Office Depot (2014)
3 adhered 5 violated
Williams-Sonoma (2014)
2 adhered 3 violated
Northern Tool (2014)
2 adhered 6 violated
CVS (2014)
2 adhered 8 violated
REI (2014)
2 adhered 8 violated
Gap (2014)
2 adhered 5 violated
Ann Taylor (2014)
2 adhered 5 violated
Target (2014)
2 adhered 10 violated
Wayfair (2014)
2 adhered 6 violated
Zulily (2014)
1 adhered 5 violated
J.Crew (2014)
1 adhered 7 violated
Gilt (2014)
1 adhered 7 violated