Just noticed this tonight and gott'a say, I don't like it at all, it's super confusing.
You may or may not get the Collections option depending on your search terms, but here's an example after searching for [colorful tie-dye]:
Clicking the Collections button gets you this:
WHAT is this mess?
First, you're not getting a page of Collections as you would expect, you're getting a page of individual products where it looks like a bunch of same products/designs mistakenly repeated. As a Creator here I understand that what I am seeing are not product previews, but cover photos for Collections. But how is a random shopper to make any sense of this? They're going to be half-way to totally lost already.
Next, the full product titles are cut off so you have no idea what the product might be. If you know to mouse-over it to see full title, even then sometimes there is no product type included in it. There's always been as issue figuring out just what you were looking at, especially with flat things that could be a card or placemat or poster etc... But now that Collection covers can replace individual product thumbs in the MP, it's become exceptionally important to be able to see a full title w/ product type included, as we can no longer even guess by picture alone what something might be without clicking on it.
If you click on it ... Now we've passed half-way to totally lost.
If you click the thumb area, you get the regular product page with either the old "other products in this Collection" scroll or the new "Shop this Collection" pod underneath it. And you discover that huh! it's not just, as example, one cat design on one product, they are multiple different cat designs on multiple different products! But you would never know that just from looking at the thumbs on the above page.
If you instead click the View Collection/View Suite button over the thumb, you get different things depending I guess on how the Creator set-up the Collection. Sometimes you get what looks like a regular product page for the product (with a pod or the old scroll below it), except it says "Featured Product" on it. Sometimes you get a Shop this Collection pod at top of page and the "Featured Product is below it.
The more you click, the more confusing it gets. Sometimes there is a scroll under the main Featured Product that says "other styles for this product" but it's often not other styles (to me that would be rounded corners or flat card vs folded etc..) it's other designs on exact same product type. And then if you look at the Shop this Collection POD, it shows thumbs of different product types w/ a # of styles noted under them. And then if you click one of those .. well, I followed the cat to its pod where I saw "Adult T-shirts, 37 styles". Clicked that and got an individual product with a scroll under it to view 36 more "styles" which end up being a combination of different designs AND different shirt styles.
And despite the fact that you started this journey down the rabbit hole by clicking a button to view Collections, there's no way provided to browse the whole Collection on your own terms. Even if you click "Show More Products", you just get more thumbs of product types with the # of other styles noted on them, and those take you to a single product page again with another "other styles for this product" scroll underneath it. ARRRHHHHHHH!
It reminds me of being in one of those maddening parking lots in a giant strip mall shopping center where you're driving blindly in circles trying to find how to get over to that other anchor store you can see across the way but you keep being met with one-ways and "entrance only" and curbs blocking your way for no apparent reason so you give up and start looking for the exit route instead to just go home.
Also want to note that the search for [colorful tie-dye] yielded 12,198 results. But when I click that Collections button, it's reduced to 16. 16 out of over 12K. It would be a whole 'nother thread to try to guess whats behind that algorithm.
I really dislike sounding this harsh and negative, but this is just a mind-bending mess. I wish I knew what I need to do (or not do) to ensure my Collections stay old-school with just the old fashioned, direct and efficient "other products from this Collection" scroll with the link to go right to the collection sorted as I set it.
It looks like this is an experiment. I don't see the collection button that you are describing.
And actually the search is working quite well in my view. All products I see on the first page are showing tie-dye and there is a range of different types of products and they mainly look very attractive.
I agree with what you say about what the collections results look like (from your image). Good that it does not appear everywhere like this.
I agree and think this would be +1 thumbs-up awesome IF the button actually went to a collection of Collections like this page:
(You can get to that page by going here and typing in your search term.)
Simple, direct, obvious what you're looking at, and if you click one you go to the actual collection page where you can browse everything.
I can't get on board with the chaos mixing Collection covers with product covers in the MP (and on the product pages) causes, or with the crazy down-the-rabbit-hole style browsing the new PODs and scrolls create. It's making it unnecessarily difficult for customers to see/find things. And good luck trying to re-trace their steps if they want to go back for a second look at something as they are shopping.
Another real-life example of this hot mess, from searching for one of my own products tonight.
Searching for [st. patrick's day cups] gives me this:
I click the button for Collections and get this:
Now if I click anywhere on the image or text I get a product page for paper cups with a "other designs you may like" scroll followed by a "shop this collection" pod underneath it.
If I specifically click the "view collection" button overlaid on the image, I get a "shop this collection" pod at top of page where NONE of the images in it are of paper cups (the thing I was searching for), and then below that, the paper cup as the 'featured product'.
This makes no sense to me, it's like we're purposefully trying to confuse the shopper. Couldn't that Collections button just link to a page of relevant Collections, like this page ....
I love the idea of a Collections button being there by default for curious shoppers to check out, but it should lead to actual collections of relevant designs, not individual products confusingly presented.
And again, in this example, a search that yielded over 11K products gets boiled down to ONE individual product when you click that Collections button and I can't see how that benefits anyone.
No, because it seemed that post is/was geared towards encouraging Creators to enable the option to have Collection covers replace Product covers in the MP, and answering questions on how to do that. It didn't ask for feedback, just questions, and I don't really have any questions, just feedback from the opposite angle, that of a shopper using the new Collections button to narrow/filter results.
They wouldn't. I don't even remember how I first stumbled on it. I had bookmarked it a long time ago, then lost the bookmark but wasn't able to find the page again after scouring the home page and nav panel. So I just guessed at adding /collections and that turned out to be right. So I have no idea how/where shoppers would stumble on the link from. Except now we have this new button for Collections on MP pages that you would think would lead to results on that page but no. We have an action button and a page that should go together but instead the button leads to individual product listings with thumbs of collections. 🤔
They wouldn't. But this button is just there by default as shown in screenshot, don't have to go Add Filter -> Special Picks -> Collections to see to it.
I agree, Windy. What collections are to us, may not apply to the customer. It may be a very abstract term. I still think the best way to make use of collections is on the product page (above the "other products you may like") as that would be the place where a customer can get a real view of what that collection may involve.
