10 March 2020
Internal search of any store occasionally frustrates the customer as it gives a "Nothing Found" message. However, this doesn't mean that you should let your customers go without buying anything. Proper design of the empty search page will help you keep your customers on your site even if they don't find the product they're interested in right away.
Why are pages with empty output important?
These pages should not only inform that a product has not been found but also contain information that would:
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encourage the customers to change or correct their queries;
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redirect the users` interest and help them make another purchase.
If such a page looks great and has the right information, it will cover these tasks.
It is important that the "Nothing Found" page displays correct information. It should not mislead the users with results irrelevant to the request. In this case the users will mistrust the site search tool. Besides, it is not advised to show random products in the output as it is unlikely that a user will be interested in something from a small random sample. Such a page should directly inform users that the product they are looking for is out of stock and include separate blocks of interest which might grasp client's attention. This can be some suggestions of similar, promotional, or popular products.
The customers are usually disappointed when their queries result in blank pages and can leave the site. To avoid this, it is necessary to suggest further steps and offer alternative products.
7 reasons for "Nothing Found" pages and how to deal with them
Below are seven most common reasons why a user sees a blank page when making a purchase.
1. Product is out of stock.
If a product is temporarily out of stock, do not remove it from your site. It's better to leave such items with the status "out of stock", "pending", "item is out of stock". Another great idea is to give the customers the opportunity to contact a manager to clarify the status and delivery date of a product. You can also allow users to buy an item that will soon be in stock but you should warn them that the delivery time will increase. Similar products of other color, volume, and brand should be shown in a separate section.
2. Product is out of stock on the site.
If you don't offer a certain product, a user will definitely see a blank page. In this case, you should use search analytics to understand which key queries lead visitors to the empty results. From the unfound queries report you can understand what products the users want to see on your site. Such data can be an auxiliary tool when deciding to expand your offer. For example, one of the top grocery retailers makes such a decision if he/she sees 10 identical queries in the analytics. This way, the store starts offering products that are already in demand among customers.
3. Search doesn't look for synonyms
A high percentage of search users sees a page without results if a query does not exactly repeat the name of the product. For example, search by synonyms like ballcap and baseball cap.
Seeing a page like this, many users don't refine their query. They think that the item is out of stock and continue to search on the competitors` sites.
Although the product they are searching for is also available on your site:
Therefore, you should analyze your search queries and create your own library of synonyms. You can also use Multisearch as it already has a daily update database of synonyms.
4. The search engine does not understand mistakes and misprints.
In this case, any error or transposition of letters leads to empty results.
One extra letter matters as you can see on the examples of trenchcot or trenchcoat
A search function plays a crucial role here. Everyone makes mistakes but not everyone notices them. That's why you should teach your search engine to understand queries with mistakes. It will be much more convenient to use the search function and the number of found items will increase by 10-15%.
5. The search engine does not recognize the keyboard layout, particularly when the Latin alphabet is written in Cyrillic.
This means that customer requests such as Cfvceyu and Самсунг (instead of Samsung) will go undetected.
It might have happened to you that after writing a query you realized that all was in vain, and the request must have been rewritten. It is unpleasant for many people. It's easy to see why it is important that the search recognizes different keyboard layouts. It is a must for any successful site, even if its implementation requires a professional programmer or highly specialized service.
6. The search engine is unable to find words with non-standard endings
Any product in the plural poses a problem for a search:
That's why it is needed to train your search engine to search in all morphological forms of the word taking into account:
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gender, case, number, declension (e.g.: sweater, sweaters, sweatshirt)
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parts of speech such as noun, adjective, or verb (for example: if a user enters the query "steam", the search results will include products whose descriptions include the word steam, for example steamer and steaming).
This way, all the endings will be found equally well.
7. Search does not offer suggestions and does not continue queries
The fewer letters a user enters in the search bar, the less likely he or she will make a mistake and end up with a blank output. If there is an option to select an already typed word, many users are happy to take advantage of it.
You should start by fixing the problems listed above. You'll be surprised how the number of blank pages will decrease after that. Additionally, you can hire a team and develop your own search. However, it's not an easy task. It requires a deep knowledge base in linguistics, algorithms, and programming. The process will not be fast. Much more advantageous option is using a highly specialized service which will make your search smart right after the installation. Thanks to such a service, your search will recognize synonyms, typos, and morphological features of search queries.
What to consider and how to design a "Nothing Found" page
Below you can find recommendations for what to consider when designing a "nothing found" page to help retain clients.
The first thing to do is to make it clear that the query does not produce results.
Usually this is done by using the phrase "nothing found”. However, some sites do not use such a phrase. For example, if a user writes a request, presses Enter, and the output is empty. This way, it is unclear whether the results are not represented or they are just absent.
However, it is not necessary to use only the phrase "Nothing was found”. You can also apologize to the users that the search was not productive and motivate them to keep looking. It will be useful to give recommendations and ask to specify the query or enter a synonym.
Display alternative products on a blank page. Select these products given the search query keywords.
These may be products of the same brand, different color or size. If there is no such alternative, you can show similar items of other brands with similar characteristics. A great idea is to show personalized products that are selected taking into account products which were previously viewed, compared, or added to a shopping cart.
You can offer the links to:
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home page;
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new products;
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the goods of the same category;
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sales.
A great idea would be placing popular products on a page with empty results.
In this case, you should remember that popular products should be shown as additional information.
Contact us button might also be used on an empty page.
Such a button should also be an additional element and complement other features on a page. Some customers like to call while others prefer not to call.
By reviewing the analytics data on non-found products and assigning alternative products to these queries, you can reduce the number of empty results pages.
You can assign certain products for the search queries (assigning IDs) and these products will be then shown in the results.
How not to do?
Sometimes instead of the "Nothing Found" page search engine just displays recommendations to rewrite the query under the search bar. However, this is not the ideal way of working because in this case, you do not use the opportunity to interest the customer in other products.
The following empty page is not ideal either. After an unpleasant experience, a user is offered a subscription to the mailing list. However, clients prefer to simplify the search process as much as possible rather than fill out extra forms. By proposing to subscribe to a mailing list, you will only annoy a client:
Conclusions
Blank pages with empty results are a valuable source of insights and analytical information. By analyzing the positions which have not been found, you can recognize and add new trends to the site. However, the number of such pages should be reduced because most often they appear if the search does not cope with its main tasks. In the worst case scenario, the users will see blank pages even if the products they are looking for are available on the site.
The search should be able to:
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search for synonyms;
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correct misspellings and transliterations;
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recognize the keyboard layout and if the Latin alphabet is typed in Cyrillic;
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find words with non-standard endings;
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give suggestions and continue queries.
If you use smart search, it will be much more difficult to get to the "nothing found" page. This will happen because smart search eliminates the main reasons for empty pages. Smart search will raise your online store conversions and your chances to get a higher income. Displaying relevant results increases the chances that the customers will make a purchase.
If you set a goal to remove all the blank pages, there is a danger of getting too carried away with the process. You should keep in mind that the output must be relevant. If customers see irrelevant products in the search results, they are unlikely to stay on the site. It is therefore needed to split the recommendations and the results. It is important to inform the clients what they see, for instance popular products, recommendations, or products that match the search query.
We wish you successful conversions, happy customers, and the least possible number of empty results..
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