How Dead-End Searches Were Costing CDW Millions

Situation

Search functionality was consistently the top complaint in customer feedback surveys and support tickets, with discontinued products creating a massive conversion obstacle that was bleeding revenue. When users searched for products that were no longer available—a common occurrence in the rapidly evolving technology market—they encountered a generic "No Results Found" page that provided no alternatives, guidance, or recovery path.

This dead-end experience was particularly frustrating because CDW's extensive catalog often included equivalent products, updated versions, or compatible alternatives from the same or different manufacturers, but users had no mechanism to discover these options. Analytics data revealed that these failed searches represented significant lost revenue, with users frequently abandoning the site entirely rather than attempting alternative search terms or contacting sales for assistance. The problem was compounded by CDW's product lifecycle management challenges, where popular products would be discontinued with little advance notice, leaving customers searching for items they had previously purchased.

Task

Transform the discontinued product search experience from a conversion killer into a revenue-generating opportunity by designing an intelligent system that would connect users with appropriate alternatives while maintaining trust and providing genuine value. The solution needed to work across CDW's vast product catalog, handle complex product relationships, and scale to support thousands of discontinued items without requiring manual intervention for each product mapping.

We started by mapping out the user journey after speaking to several IT Admins and observing several UserTesting sessions, this helped guide conversations and considerations for how we would attempt to solve this problem.

Action

I initiated the project by assembling a cross-functional team including a Product Manager, Lead Developer, and Senior Data Analyst to fully understand the scope, technical constraints, and business requirements. We conducted extensive whiteboarding sessions exploring various solution approaches, considering factors like product categorization systems, vendor relationships, technical feasibility, and the customer experience implications of different redirect strategies.

I designed a sophisticated redirect system using Axure that would intelligently identify when users searched for discontinued products and automatically guide them to a curated selection of relevant alternatives. The system leveraged existing product taxonomy, manufacturer relationships, and purchasing pattern data to surface genuinely appropriate replacements rather than generic suggestions. The user experience included clear explanations of why specific alternatives were recommended, detailed comparison features highlighting similarities and differences, and easy navigation options including the ability to return to search results or contact sales for personalized recommendations.

To validate the concept and refine the user experience, I conducted multiple rounds of remote usability testing via JoinMe, observing real user reactions to the redirect experience and gathering feedback on the clarity of explanations, usefulness of alternatives, and overall satisfaction with the solution. Based on user insights, I iteratively improved the design to include more prominent back-navigation options, enhanced product comparison capabilities, and clearer messaging about the relationship between searched items and suggested alternatives. We even experimented with showcasing unboxing videos on the product page based on observing users.

I worked extensively with merchandising and product management teams to develop accurate product relationship mapping, ensuring the system would surface genuinely helpful alternatives while maintaining customer trust. We also established quality assurance processes and feedback loops to continuously improve the accuracy of product recommendations based on user behavior and sales outcomes.

Result

The discontinued product redirect feature delivered exceptional business results that exceeded all initial projections, generating $941,000 in additional revenue within its first month of operation. Annual revenue projections estimated $6.2 million in recovered revenue from searches that had previously resulted in zero conversions, representing a complete transformation of a major conversion obstacle into a highly effective sales tool. The success rate of the redirect system was remarkable, with over 40% of users who encountered discontinued product searches ultimately completing purchases through the alternative product suggestions.

Beyond the immediate revenue impact, the feature significantly improved overall user satisfaction scores related to search functionality, with customers consistently praising the helpful guidance and transparent communication about product alternatives. The intelligent redirection approach built customer trust rather than creating confusion, as users appreciated being informed about why they were seeing different products and having clear options for exploring alternatives or seeking additional help.

The success of this project catalyzed broader improvements across CDW's search infrastructure, including enhanced product relationship mapping, improved synonym handling for technical terms, more sophisticated filtering and faceting options, and better integration between search results and inventory management systems. The redirect system became a template and proof of concept for other conversion optimization initiatives across the site, demonstrating the potential for data-driven solutions to transform user experience obstacles into business opportunities to think outside the box of the existing technical constraints.