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Why Does Your Shopify Store Show No Results When Products Are Available?

Products have associated information in Shopify search that includes their titles, descriptions, and tags. When the search phrase of a customer does not match the information indexed in the search system, there will not be any relevant products in the results.

For instance, consider a shoe-selling store.

A customer issues a search for “running shoes,” while the product name in the system states “men’s sneakers.” However, although both keywords describe similar products, basic search may not catch that.

There are a number of usual scenarios that can cause this problem:

Instead of hoping that customers will use the precise words you have in your product catalogue, your shop should be able to interpret what they mean.

Help Customers Find Products Even When They Use Different Words

Using synonyms is an easy way to cut down on zero-result searches.

No one uses the same words that you use to define a product. A customer might type “sneakers” in search of the products that you’re calling “trainers.” Another user might enter “smartphone” while what they’re looking for is a “mobile phone.”

In both cases, the goal is to point to the relevant products after the query.

Start by figuring out which alternative words your customers tend to use in order to relate to your products. You can do that by analyzing customer inquiries, search queries, product reviews, and news articles about your products.

For example:

After you’ve discovered what those terms are, teach your search engine to consider them as synonyms.

How ExpertRec comes in handy: ExpertRec facilitates this kind of search by allowing ecommerce businesses to establish links between different linguistic expressions that carry the same meaning.

Don’t Let a Small Typing Mistake End a Shopping Session

Think how users carry out searches on their smartphones. They tend to type fairly fast, rely on autocorrect, and may occasionally misspell a product name.

For instance, someone who searches for “wireless headphones” may end up typing “wireles headphones.” A strict search engine may show no results when the store has what the consumer is looking for.

This is where typo tolerance comes in handy.

Sending ‘wireles headphones’ as a query, the search engine will recognize that the phrase contains a couple of spelling errors.

More examples:

Nevertheless, typo tolerance has to be set up properly, otherwise too many items that have nothing in common with the goods will show in search results.

Check how common misspellings and funny first letters change search results to check if the setup is correct.

ExpertRec has made it possible for customers to find goods even in case of mistakes in the search they make.

Send Customers to the Right Products Instead of Showing an Empty Page

Sometimes customers search for terms that don’t represent a product specifically, however, they communicate exactly what they want.

For example, a customer looking for a “summer collection” would expect to see a collection of summer clothes. However, if you don’t have products with that exact name, the search will yield no results.

This is where search redirects come in.

A search redirect allows you to send any query to the relevant collection, category, or landing page instead of showing customers an empty results page.

Now, the best queries for utilizing search redirects are ones with clear shopping intent. You may easily identify the searches that lead to no results with your store search analytics.

You also do not need to redirect mismatched search queries to your homepage every time customers search for a product. Instead, redirect customers to the page related to their search query.

With the help of ExpertRec, store owners can utilize search redirects to direct customers to relevant products or collections, which makes it easier for customers to find what they need.

Understand What Customers Mean, Not Just What They Type

There are multiple solutions to the search issues, one of which is synonyms and typo tolerance.

Unfortunately, these solutions work only in certain circumstances.

A customer might search for something by inputting terms regarding the need instead of the product’s name.

Such searches contain a lot of valuable information on what the customer wants to get. An engine that is focused only on looking for exact keywords will not be effective in retrieving relevant products.

This is where understanding the query becomes very significant.

Understanding the query allows the search engine to comprehend the meaning and intention of the search instead of depending solely on matching specific terms.

For Shopify stores, this can enhance the process of product discovery when customers make a search that includes descriptive words, related terms, or uncommon product names.

ExpertRec has intelligent products search solutions to enhance the way queries are matched to the product. Rather than depending only on exact product titles, the merchant offers customers a more flexible experience.

It is quite simple – make it easy for customers to find what they need even if they do not know the exact product title.

Check Your Search Reports Before You Start Changing Everything

One of the biggest mistakes that retailers make is to rectify problems in their search engine results without fully comprehending what it is that potential buyers are looking for.

So before you get to work on any alterations, make sure to review your data.

By doing so, you might find out that customers are looking for something by using a term that is totally different from what you have in your catalogue.

Make sure that you start with fixing the zero-result searches that occur most often. It’s much better to get ten popular search terms done than to spend tons of time adding synonyms to the items that no one looks for.

Give Customers a Better Search Experience with ExpertRec

Zero results shouldn’t mark the end of your shopper’s purchasing experience.

In many cases, the product actually exists, but the search tool did not understand the needs of the person searching.

Start with the fundamentals: use synonyms where applicable, use typo tolerance, redirect common searches to the right places, and improve the way your solution understands queries.

If you are an owner of a Shopify shop and want to gain a better control over the process of product search, ExpertRec will help you by offering intelligent search, synonyms management, typo tolerance, redirecting, and search analytics.

Instead of trying to get customers used to your store, you will allow your search to adapt to your clients.

The more easily customers find what they are looking for, the more they will shop.