Give every empty search a next move
Explain the empty result, preserve the query, and offer recovery paths for products and store information.
Skip this if Stores that intentionally provide no storefront search
An empty search result should say what failed and offer the next credible move. Generic advice to “try another term” leaves the shopper to diagnose the search engine.
Baymard’s research supports recovery options such as related queries and relevant categories, and separately documents shoppers using ecommerce search for policies, shipping information, and account tasks.[1][2] Recovery therefore covers both product misses and non-product intent.
The rest of this lesson is available once the Atlas is unlocked.