How do you test for empty states?

Sharing Lounge How Would You Test That?
#1

This article reminded me about the amount of ‘bad’ empty states I’ve come across, these days mostly from the perspective of a user.

I’d love to know if there are any useful ways to test for these kind of things?
How do you know when an app/website has an empty state?
Are there any other good practice guidelines that would be worth testers being aware of?
Does anyone have a list of things that they would normally look for?

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#2

In terms of automated tests, I’ve found that visual tests are great for testing empty states. Within our app, we often have a friendly graphic and some explanatory text in an empty state. Being able to grab a screenshot of that and compare it to a previous screenshot has been one of the best ways I’ve found to ensure everything is alright.

#3

Thank you, I was not knowing the term “Empty State” until I read this article.

I used to mention, “404- Error Page:: No Content Available - Message Screen” earlier in my tests.
Is it right to use “404 Error Page” instead of “Empty State” ?

How do you know when an app/website has an empty state?

  • When I tested the website or app of the ecommerce site, I used to search for incorrect search strings from every search text box to view the results page.

  • Changing the URL Patttern like updating with higher page number to display the results page.

  • If there is no proper empty state page, checking with UX Expert of the product or the client directly and making them understand the usage of it.

  • Verifying the buttons, links, other elements are working as expected from empty state page

  • Verifying the empty state page on different browsers and responsive (website)

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#4

It depends on the context:
How much time do I have?
What access and resources do I have?
What knowledge of the application and/or business and tools do I have?
Am I alone or with someone on this?
Is someone interested in the empty states? for what reason?
If none is interested in the empty state - what would be the reason for me looking into it? do I see a risk, a problem?
Where am I looking for an empty state? app front, back, api, storage?
Is the empty state needed to be used by something? by what, when, how, for what reason?