When shoppers get no match

#What shoppers see

• We couldn’t find a match right now and “Some products may be sold out. Try different answers.”: nothing could be shown for their answers.
• Products from your fallback collection, which may not fit what they said.
• Products that seem random: answers without a Recommend more rule rank nothing higher, so products come in store order. Shoppers who pick no preference get the collection you chose for them first, if any.
• In a result-page quiz, your first result page, when their answers gave no points to any result.

#Find the answers behind it

In the editor: Check every answer

Open Check every answer: the pill in the toolbar, or under Before you publish in the steps list. It tries every combination of answers and lists what goes wrong, often with an example and a Show question button. Under Most common results, results marked “(nothing fit: your backup products)” come from your fallback.

On your store: analytics and responses

Analytics → your quiz → Answers with no match shows the share of shoppers who reached their results but matched nothing and got your fallback or no products, like “12 of 240 shoppers who reached their results”. The bar turns amber at 5% and red at 15%. See responses shows each shopper’s answers, with a No match tag where it happened; the CSV download has a No match column.

#Cause: Only recommend rules that rule everything out

Only recommend is a hard filter. Within one question, several picked Only recommend answers mean “any of these”. Across questions, every one must hold, and the fallback obeys them too. So “Vegan” in one question and “Grain-free” in another only shows products that are both.

On a multi-choice question, Products must fit every answer picked makes the picks within that question strict as well: Vegan and Gluten-free picked shows only products that are both.

• Check that enough products carry every combination you allow, or add the missing tags in Shopify.
• Turn off Products must fit every answer picked where “any of these” is fine, like colors or styles.
• Use Recommend more (Strongly if it matters a lot) instead of Only recommend for preferences that aren’t must-haves. Keep Only recommend for real requirements: allergies, sizes, a budget.

#Cause: the quiz’s products are too narrow

A quiz only recommends products that are active, on the Online Store, in stock and inside Products in this quiz → Products it can recommend (which says how many products can be recommended), minus those under Left out of this quiz and those tagged under Never recommend products tagged (in More options). A rule that targets products outside that set finds nothing.

• Widen Products it can recommend, for example to All products, or add the missing collection.
• Check that Never recommend products tagged doesn’t catch products you want, and Put back any product under Left out of this quiz you want recommended.
• Your fallback collection’s products must be inside Products it can recommend too.

#Cause: tags that products don’t have

Rules match tags, product types and brands (vendors) by name. Capitals and spaces around them don’t matter, spelling does: “oily-skin” and “oily skin” are different tags. Check every answer warns when a rule points to a value no recommendable product has, and suggests a close one when there is: Did you mean "oily skin"?

In the answer’s dialog (Choose products or Edit products), each rule says how many products it reaches, like “Products tagged “oily” rank higher (12 products).” A rule that says “no products yet” points nowhere.

• Fix the rule to the name your products use, then Publish changes.
• Or add the tag to the products in Shopify. Product changes reach live quizzes by themselves within a couple of minutes.

#Cause: sold-out products

Out-of-stock products aren’t recommended, and on your store every product is checked again when results show. If every product that fits a path is sold out, shoppers on that path get the fallback, or no match. Check every answer checks against your stock as it was when you opened the editor.

• Restock, or add more products that fit those answers.
• Products that are out of stock but still for sale (with Continue selling when out of stock on in Shopify, for example for preorders) are left out unless Recommend sold-out products is on in Results → More options. That switch can’t show products shoppers can’t buy.

#Set a fallback

Results → If nothing fits their answers decides what shoppers get when nothing scores: Show a “no match” message, or Show products from one of your collections. A collection of best sellers turns a dead end into products to buy.

• The fallback follows the same Only recommend and Never recommend rules, so it can be empty too.
• The fallback collection "Best sellers" has no products the quiz can show. means its products are sold out or outside Products it can recommend.
• Backup products shown because nothing fit count in Answers with no match. They’re a safety net, not a fix: they rarely sell as well, so fix those answers too.
• Shoppers who pick no preference see the same collection. For them it’s the result you chose, so they don’t count in Answers with no match.

#Result-page quizzes

In a result-page quiz, each answer points to results with Yes (+1), Strongly (+2) or Very strongly (+3); No gives no points. A shopper whose answers give no points at all gets your first result page, and counts in Answers with no match.

• Check every answer lists these ways to answer (“… give no points to any result”). Give those answers points toward the result that fits.
• No answers lead to "Glass Skin" yet. Give some answers points toward it. means a result nobody can reach.
• Products on a result page that are sold out or not on the Online Store are left out of it, with a warning in Check every answer. A landing page gives the result somewhere to go even then.

More on points in Result pages.

#When results show but don’t fit

• Answers without a Recommend more rule rank nothing higher, so shoppers who pick only such answers get products in store order. Shoppers who pick no preference (no rules on their answers except Never recommend) get the collection under If nothing fits their answers first, when you chose one. Give every answer that matters a rule.
• A product with many tags can score on almost every path. Add Recommend less on answers it doesn’t suit, or set the answers that matter most to Strongly.
• A rule on a broad collection lifts everything in it. Point it at a tag or a smaller collection instead.

How rules add up is explained in Matching.