- Reduce Bounce Rate
- Control Desk
Reducing bounce rates | Part 1: 4 control desk tips for dealing with zero-hit pages
Zero-hit pages are the no man's land of online shops: once visitors land on them, it can be difficult to persuade them to search for products again. Often, they leave the online shop and search for the desired product among competitors. Shop operators naturally want to avoid this, especially if the desired item is actually available in the product range but cannot be found using the search term entered. It is therefore important for e-commerce managers to address the issue of zero-hit pages and develop strategies to avoid them or even make them work for them.
Here's what you can expect to find in this blog article:
What are zero-hit pages and why do they exist?
4 tips for dealing with zero-hit pages
Tip 1: Make content posts searchable
Tip 2: Incorporate the customer's language
Tip 3: Offer a service for sold-out products
Tip 4: Display alternatives to products that are not carried
What are zero-hit pages and why do they exist?
Zero-hit pages appear when the shop search cannot find any matching results for a search term. However, this does not necessarily mean that the product you are looking for is not available. On the contrary: there can be many different reasons why a search term does not return any results, and these vary from one online shop to another. For example, the search term "stockings" may appear as a zero-hit term in one shop because the shop does not stock stockings, while in another shop it may not return any hits because the stockings in the product catalog (description, title, category, etc.) are referred to as "socks" and are therefore not listed as search results. Why a search term triggers a zero-hit query must be analyzed for each shop individually. For an overview, we have listed the most important reasons and corresponding tips:
4 tips for dealing with zero-hit pages
The first step should be to find out which search terms trigger zero-hit pages. The appropriate evaluation for this can be found in the epoq Control Desk. In the analysis area of the search under "Analyze search terms" (tab: Zero hits), you will find the following reports:
- Most common zero-hit search terms
- the number of search queries
- the proportion of the search term in total search queries
In our e-fashion shop (epoq demo shop), for example, the term "camp david" was searched for three times during the evaluation period. To perform further analyses with the key figures, the data can be easily downloaded as an Excel or CSV file.
Zero hits view in epoq Control Desk
After analyzing the zero-hit search terms, the next step is to individually select the appropriate counterstrategy. Our four tips will help you with the selection and implementation:
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Tip 1: Make content posts searchable
Content pages are usually information or trend report pages and are not normally displayed in the product catalog. This means that they cannot be found using the search function, and related search queries end up on the zero results page. To get around this, epoq offers the "Link Finder" function. This can be found in the Search section. With Link Finder, content pages can be linked and thus made searchable. Only three pieces of information are required for this:
- the desired search term
- a brief description
- the appropriate link
Additional options allow you to set the error tolerance (e.g., using the "similar" checkbox) and direct forwarding to the content page. Possible entries include:
- Contact
- shipping
- terms and conditions
- blog posts
- Themes and trends
- company pages
It may also be useful to integrate links to external sites into the search, such as a redirect to the parcel tracking service of the parcel sender.
Integration of content pages via the epoq Link Finder
Do you know what a "knapsack" is? No? Your customers might. And they might be searching for exactly that instead of a school bag. The result: they end up on a zero-hit page, even though there are hundreds of school bags in your product range. To avoid this, epoq offers a thesaurus function. It can be found in the Search section. There are five different thesaurus rules to choose from: Equate, Expand, Exclude, Replace, and Zero Hits. With Equate entries, the search results for both terms entered are displayed, regardless of which one is searched for. This solves the Tornister-school bag problem described above, for example. If, on the other hand, you want to exclude results for certain search terms, the Exclude rule can help. For example, this can be used to exclude all products related to the term "serum" (e.g., skin creams) when searching for the alcoholic beverage "rum." We have integrated further examples and explanations of the extend, replace, and zero-hit rules into the Control Desk in the thesaurus input menu.
Thesaurus settings in epoq Control Desk
Tip 3: Offer service for sold-out products
Another reason why users land on the zero-hit page is that the product they are looking for is in principle available in the range but is currently sold out. A change in the shop system can help here. For example, the detail pages of sold-out items can still be displayed, but with a clearly visible note on availability in the brick-and-mortar store or renewed availability in the online shop. Combining this with a pre-order function helps visitors to still get the item they want. If you want to pursue a different strategy in this case, it is also possible to use result management for specific search queries for sold-out products. This can be found in the Search section. If, for example, the Darth Mack sweater from Naketano is sold out, other hoodies from the brand that are similar to the product being searched for can be displayed instead.
Result management in the epoq Control Desk
Tip 4: Display alternatives to non-guided products
The strategies discussed so far all target search queries for products or items that are generally available in the shop. However, there are also search queries for items that are not carried in the product range, e.g., certain brands, seasonal items, or trends. The zero-hit page is designed for precisely such search queries, and redirecting to it should therefore not be avoided. Nevertheless, visitors should not be considered lost, even if the search term is not an optimal fit for the online shop. On the contrary, the zero-hit page can also work for the online shop by being individually adapted to the search query with epoq. A recommendation widget can provide the searcher with alternatives to their search query, thereby keeping them in the online shop. For example, the Camp David brand is similar to the La Martina brand, Ugg boots are also available from many other brands, and carnival costumes can be represented with 1920s dresses, polka dot skirts, and dirndls. Add a convincing explanatory text (e.g., in a banner) and the customer will be inspired and convinced by the online shop.
Alternative recommendations instead of a zero-hit page
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Our conclusion
Dealing with zero-hit pages is easier than you might think with our four tips. The important thing is to first analyze which terms or types of search queries are affected by zero hits and why. Then, a prevention strategy can be set up individually for each search term. It should be noted that zero-hit pages can also work for the online shop by providing inspiration in the form of similar products. This reduces the bounce rate and encourages the customer to continue shopping in the online shop.
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