Category: Amazon Product Taxonomy

Taxonomy is a way to organize information into categories or groups. In other words, it helps us classify things. For example, let's say you want to sell shoes. If you don't have enough shoe types, you might create a category called "shoes" and then subcategories such as "dress shoes," "casual shoes," etc. This makes it easier for customers to browse through your store.

Ecommerce sites often struggle with creating effective product taxonomies. They tend to focus too much on keywords and miss out on essential aspects of their site. By focusing on the customer experience, they can build better taxonomies.

How to Design a Product Taxonomy?

Emerging best practices for creating a product taxonomy development include the ones listed below. This advice is based on the expertise of numerous businesses that have successfully transformed various industries. All the companies we researched and interviewed and where we found these practices were either scaling up or optimizing their product transformations.

These strategies are designed to offer direction and make suggestions for methods, equipment, and methods of construction of conversations that will lead the organization to a product-centric operating model. There are numerous ways to have these conversations; these steps are neither a precise framework nor linear or all-inclusive. Recognize that every business is at a different stage of its transformational journey toward becoming more product-centric, Agile-minded, and customer-obsessed.

Here are the strategies we recommend. Below, we'll go into each process in more detail.

Tactic 1: Create the Portfolio

A common goal and vision serve as the north star, fostering interpersonal and emotional ties between leaders and teams. This serves as our inspiration to keep going in the face of hardship. This can be used as a reference to confirm that the actions we are taking are in line with our goals.

Who Should Be Involved?

Leaders in business and technology for the portfolio. It is advised that business and technology leaders get together early to map a product-centric operating model and align their objectives. Before working with the teams, establish shared understanding and alignment among the leaders. Obtain feedback from the groups, then make necessary adjustments. What strikes a chord with them? What fails? Avoid using too many corporate buzzwords that depersonalize the vision; use straightforward, approachable language to make the north star relatable.

Principal Questions And Thoughts

• What is the goal here?
• Where are we trying to go?
• What will the architecture of the future look like?
• What results are we aiming for?
• What will success look like for our product portfolio in a year?
• What hurts right now?

Suggestive Methods And Activities

• Product and portfolio community map (a Venn diagram map displaying product dependencies, customers, and stakeholders)
• Personas or customer descriptions (who are they, what do we know about them, their problems and joys, how can we help them, what assumptions are we making, and how can we help them)
• Outlook or a roadmap with results
• product naming (what, why, who)
• Objects and essential outcomes (OKRs)

Tactics 2 And 3:Develop a Product Taxonomy And a Technologies to Products Map

Ideal starting point for this discussion is value stream mapping, also known as experience mapping. The best way to determine which products belong in a portfolio is to visualize the entire customer experience (from idea to revenue or from product creation to customer delivery).

If you can, bring in a coach or facilitator to keep the discussion on track and impartial. When ownership disputes or redundant capabilities first surface, which can happen frequently, a neutral facilitator can help move collaboration forward effectively.

Utilizing current service catalogs, configuration management databases, or business capability frameworks as appropriate ways to begin the product taxonomy development definition are some other approaches. Finding a natural place to start the discussion about product taxonomy definitions is crucial.

Who Should Participate?

• leaders in business and technology for the portfolio
• Principal Questions And Thoughts
• Why is your team or space there?
• What customer experience or capability are you enabling or delivering?
• Just who are your clients?
• Why do customers seek assistance from your team? What issues do you address?
• What are the technologies or applications that provide or support that customer experience?
• What applications does your team have overall responsibility for?
• The applications' purpose is to: Do they all provide the same experience, or is there room for application consolidation, sunsetting, or realignment to a different team? What issues with customers do they resolve? For how long have they been around?

Suggestive Methods And Activities

• Value stream diagram (on a whiteboard, collaboratively, face to face if possible)
• Integration of value streams (implementation of the mapping exercise)
• a community for products map (Venn diagram map displaying product dependencies, customers, and stakeholders)
• client definition (personas)
• Taxonomy of products document

There are a few recommended methods for creating your product taxonomy. Additional layers can be added below the value stream once the value stream map has been made to identify product groups, products, and applications.

Starting at the highest level, the portfolio, you can work your way down to the applications. Beginning at the top level, divide it into more manageable pieces based on the value stream or customer experience. Use the aforementioned leading questions to help guide the conversation. As shown in the figure below, a suggested approach is to start at the application layer and move up to products (customer experiences) and product groups.

How To Form a Product Taxonomy

• When naming your products, use language appropriate for business. Avoid using ambiguous names or acronyms. Your product taxonomy development should be simple enough for anyone to read and comprehend the product's experience.
• Ensure each product has a customer specified and that both internal and external consequences have been defined.
• Instead of focusing on the application used to deliver it, pay attention to the business and customer outcome, capability, or experience that the product has.
• Remember that while products will likely remain consistent over time, technologies and applications constantly evolve as new solutions are adopted.
• When the application becomes the main focus, using the "5 Whys" technique can help ensure the source of the experience is discovered.
• Get opinions from your coworkers, coaches, team, and business partners.
• Be prepared for a bumpy path. Choose a starting point, then carry it out. Learn from the product taxonomy's initial iteration and feel free to tweak it quarterly or annually as necessary.

Authentic Product Taxonomy

The product taxonomy development ought to be a transparent artifact shared by all product portfolios. To guarantee the data's consistency and security, a centralized team should maintain the artifact. Publish taxonomy updates on a quarterly or biannual basis. The table that follows provides a sample product taxonomy.

Tactic 4: Map The People to the Products

The organization will be redesigned around the products using a clear product taxonomy development as a guide. Organizing teams to own the products from start to finish is a fundamental change when switching to a product-centric operating model. In a conventional project model, the units are assembled briefly to carry out particular project objectives before being dispersed, leaving no formal owners for anything produced during the project. Ownership, accountability, and empowerment are at the core of the product model.

Teams should be cross-functional, small (between five and ten people), and have the necessary skills to plan, design, build, and operate the product. Think about how many product teams will be required to support a development. Although there should ideally be one product for every team, a product can be supported by multiple teams. The scale and scope of the product should be evaluated based on historical data, overall demand, complexity, and dependencies to determine the required number of teams.

It takes art and science to evaluate various teams against a product. It is advised to start cautiously and add more units as time passes. This series's Workforce and Talent post offer more information on product roles, product team traits, and other workforce considerations.

Who Should Participate?

• leaders in business and technology for the portfolio
• People Resources

Principal Questions And Thoughts

• What roles and qualifications do you currently hold? Is there a gap?
• What number of teams are required to support a product?
• Is the product owner or manager mentioned? Do they work for a technology or business organization? Why?
• Do you need to remove any functional or traditional project roles (such as project managers, business analysts, process analysts, testers, etc.) or repurpose them into product roles (such as product owners, scrum masters, UX designers, engineers, etc.)?
• Occurs a chance to automate manual tasks (such as tests, procedures, and repeatable functions)?
• What is the number of management layers in your organizational structure? Are there any layoffs? Does the management structure need to be streamlined to promote team empowerment and flow?
• Is more coaching or training required to become proficient in product management and contemporary engineering practices? How will learning opportunities be offered?

Suggestive Methods And Activities

• Integrated product teams
• The assessment matrix for skills (map the skills and people you have and need and assess for gaps)
• Industry-specific descriptions of the roles that make up the product team (adhere to these as much as you can; avoid trying to create new parts that will artificially increase the size of the product team because this practice will also make it simpler to hire externally when necessary).

Conclusion

Users will have a more enjoyable experience browsing a website and its pages if the product taxonomy is correct and accurate. It will be simpler for customers to purchase from the website if they can easily see the products. 

At Vserve Amazon Listing Service, we take care to place each of your products in the appropriate categories. You will find it simpler to boost sales as a result.

Are you looking for ways to improve your product taxonomy skills? Or maybe you want to develop a custom taxonomy for your eCommerce store? In either case, you should consider using the services of experts who specialize in creating custom taxonomies.

Product taxonomy refers to the classification system or hierarchy of terms used to describe something. For example, let's say you sell clothing items. Your customers might classify these clothes as men's shirts, women's dresses, etc. The same applies to eCommerce stores. They typically categorize their products into specific groups (e.g., shoes, bags, watches), allowing shoppers to browse through them quickly.

You should hire a professional to build a custom product taxonomy for you for several reasons:

1. They usually offer better quality at a lower price point.
2. They're able to provide support 24/7.
3. They're experienced in building complex taxonomies.
4. They can also optimize your taxonomy for SEO purposes.

How Can Product Taxonomy Boost Sales?

1. Enhanced User Experience through On-Page Features and Intuitive Navigation

The organization impacts the user interface and user experience of your site. Where your products should live should be one of your first considerations.

The key is to strike a balance between the rational connections between your products and the irrational tendencies of customers, which frequently but not always coincide. Keep it conventional enough that they won't leave because they're confused but sensible enough that once they do, the experience will be as practical as possible.

2. Clarify and Define the Team's Product "Owners"

The knowledge you have about your products as a store owner is superior to everyone else's, but it needs to leave your head and be shared with your team and clients.

Start by selecting a few of your best products, which can include top sellers or things you want to be top sellers, depending on the size of your catalog.

3. Be Search Engine Friendly

The significance of product taxonomy concerning product recommendations on internal searches has already been discussed. However, if an excessive number of results are returned, you might as well start over. Every search engine results page (SERP) requires facets and differentiating characteristics that let you focus on your results.

External searches can benefit from product taxonomy development as well. Structured data is best for crawlers, and a clear organization with hierarchy and distinctions called out is a clear signal to Google about where to find your content.

Product taxonomies ensure that the right products are promoted in searches and power the facets and filters on your search engine results pages.

Top Tips For Maximizing Your Product Taxonomy and Categorization

A genuinely effective product taxonomy development will also take your customers' needs into account.

Some instances:

• Indicate which brands the repair part is compatible with if you sell replacement parts.
• Call out potential allergens in a health-conscious grocery store so customers can choose what they want to avoid.
• Is size significant, or is it only necessary for specific products?
• Should the title mention color, or is it a common distinction that suggests a parent-child relationship rather than a "flat" catalog?

Execute this exercise across the entire catalog, depending on your time or resources. If you're on a tight budget, select a representative sample because it will quickly reveal crucial information about your products. Below is a list of additional best practices for product taxonomy development and categorization.

1. Avoid "over-categorizing"

Use a tool to visualize the taxonomy, such as software like Lucidchart or drawing the tree on a whiteboard. It's time to refresh if you feel overawed by the number of categories or if your tree resembles a small shrub.

Additionally, you'll be able to quickly spot things like "potpourri," which is a collection of unrelated products or duplicate categories. Making a product taxonomy exercise could have the unintended result of making you overly organized. You have too many levels and subcategories if a website visitor spends more time navigating than actually looking at the products.

According to Elyse Smith, Project Manager at DigitlHaus, the best advice is to keep things straightforward. "When it comes to product details, organization, and structure, this is crucial.

Keep your depth hierarchy to two or three categories (2 preferred). The bounce rate will be lower with fewer clicks. Use faceted search and filtering if you have an extensive catalog. And for the love of all that is good, don't add the category "Other" to the list.

Nobody searches for the Other. Be smart and let your categories be necessary and to the point."

2. Define Attributes of Subcategories

Make sure your category tree moves from the general to the specifications according to a clear hierarchy. If "Shirts" is your parent category, don't put "Women's" below it. Put "Shirts," "T-Shirts," and "Long Sleeve Shirts" instead. If we compare your website to a brick-and-mortar store, your parent category is the aisle, your child category is the shelf, and your website is the product.

3. Make Sure to Classify Things Correctly to Prevent Confusion

Keep as many categories distinct as you can. Consider opportunities to combine classes or whether this repeated category is better understood as an attribute that leads to a search facet if you discover the same category names are repeated repeatedly in every branch.

4. Use Proper Names and Take into Account Searching for Synonyms

When naming your categories, keep your audience in mind  and draw from your experience. It's crucial to use terms that people in the industry understand if you run a B2B site with a particular audience.

A hyper-specific classification that only your Italian fashion buyers would understand is all but useless if it is a general audience B2C retail site. However, you ensure that both specialized and general audiences can find what they're looking for by adding that industry jargon as a search synonym for the category.

How will an Expert Like Vserve Amazon Listing Service Help Develop Product Taxonomy?

Finding the Right Balance - Vserve Amazon Listing Services will ensure the product taxonomy has the right amount of information distributed among each category and subcategory and the right balance of products.

Customer-Driven Categorization - Experts will let your customers determine the complexity and language of the product taxonomy structure. Vserve will build the design based on your audience's vocabulary and key terms.

SEO-Friendly Categorization - The product categories we establish are enhanced with relevant keywords for SEO purposes to improve page ranking.

Definition of Attributes - Each product page includes a list of all the characteristics and values that define the item to aid customers in making an informed choice.

Data normalization - To deliver a consistent and comprehensive data set, our expert team will validate your product data, eliminate duplicates, and standardize the values and units of measurement.

Ongoing Modification Support - If necessary, our service can go beyond the initial product taxonomy development for a given product. We can offer ongoing support when new products and categories are added to your catalog.

Final Thoughts

Vserve, a company with ten years of experience in the eCommerce sector, can create a strong and highly effective product taxonomy for your Amazon store. We can get started on the in-depth analysis of your current product data with some information about your products. We can present the product categorization tactics that improve the functionality and sales of your Amazon store.

Are you just getting started with your Amazon business? Don't worry; we can also create a brand-new product taxonomy for you. Every specific business need can be met and catered to by our professionals, who are authorities in all facets of Amazon listing services.