Empty State
Conversion & UXAlso: Zero State · Blank State
Quick definition
An empty state is the screen a user sees when there's no content or data to show yet. It appears on a new account, an empty search result, an inbox with nothing in it or a dashboard before any activity exists. Good empty states explain what's missing and tell the user what to do next.
How it varies across Australia
Empty states are rarely tracked as a discrete metric, but they sit directly inside onboarding flows and early product experience. Australian software and ecommerce platforms that treat empty states as a design afterthought tend to show weaker early activation than those that treat them as an onboarding surface.
See conversion and UX benchmarks across Australian industries →What it actually means
Picture walking into a shop the day before opening. No shelves stocked, no signage, just bare walls. That's what an empty state feels like to a user who signs up, logs in, and sees nothing. No error occurred. There's simply nothing there yet, and the product has to say so.
Most teams design the state where things work and the state where things break, then forget the state where nothing has happened at all. That's a gap, because the empty state is often the very first thing a new user sees after signup. It's doing onboarding work whether anyone planned for it or not.
A good empty state answers three questions in order. What is this space for? Why is it empty right now? What should I do about it? A dashboard with no data should point at the action that populates it, not just display a grey box. An empty search result should suggest a broader query, not just say 'no results found.'
The empty state sits close to activation rate and retention rate because it's the moment a new user decides whether the product is worth persisting with. Treat it like the rest of the user experience (UX), not like a placeholder someone forgot to fill in.
An empty state is a first impression wearing a blank stare. Most products let it stay that way.
How it shows up
Empty states show up anywhere content is conditional on user action. A new customer relationship management (CRM) account with no contacts imported. A shopping cart with nothing added. A dashboard before the first report runs. An inbox with zero messages. Analytics tools also generate them constantly, showing 'no data for this date range' instead of guiding the user to change the filter.
The tell for a bad empty state is silence or a dead end. The tell for a good one is a clear next step, sometimes a call-to-action button, sometimes a short explanation and a link.
Where people get this wrong
Related terms
Common questions
What is an empty state in UX design?
It's the screen shown when there's no content or data to display yet, such as a new account, an empty inbox or a search with zero results. Good empty states explain the absence and point the user toward an action that fills the gap.
Why do empty states matter for conversion?
They often appear right after signup, before a user has built any trust in the product. A confusing or blank empty state can cause drop-off at the exact moment activation is being decided, before the product has had a chance to prove its value.
What makes a good empty state?
It explains what the space is for, why it's currently empty, and what to do next. The strongest versions include a direct call-to-action, such as 'Import your first contact' rather than a passive message like 'No contacts yet.'
Where do empty states most commonly get ignored?
Dashboards, search results and new account setups are the usual culprits. Teams design the populated version thoroughly and treat the empty version as a placeholder, even though new users see the empty version first.
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About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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