Designing Search: UX Strategies for eCommerce Success

APPENDIX

DESIGNING SEARCH: Best Practices

I've compiled each chapter's key tips, tricks, and best practices into this bonus appendix. Use this material as a quick refresher before beginning each new project!

CHAPTER 1: BEST PRACTICES

When implementing no search results pages, it helps to keep in mind the following best practices:

• On an ecommerce site, a search interaction is a conversation between the site and a customer. Do not treat a zero search results condition as an error. Instead, see a no search results page as an opportunity to enhance and deepen the conversation when misunderstandings occur.
• The effort and ingenuity a product team invests in a no search results page is indicative of its overall dedication to customer success. Unfortunately, most design teams consider zero search results an error condition resulting from a user error and have no strategy for taking advantage of the zero search results condition to differentiate their site.
• Ignoring this special kind of search results page virtually guarantees a mediocre search experience, with the result that shoppers fail to find what they need. On the other hand, overcoming the challenges of zero search results pages through original thinking could revolutionize the entire ecommerce industry, in much the same way the Google Did you mean… feature has revolutionized Web search.
• Although there is no simple set of rules that guarantees a successful design for a no search results page, you should follow the following four ...