Custom Storefront Error Pages

Create branded custom error pages (technically referred to as a 404 error page) within the storefront. Use custom error pages to provide a helpful message to your customers, with information about what to do next, instead of a generic message like 404 URL not found.

Click App Launcher and then select Administration > Site Development > Custom Error Pages.

Upload customized error pages for the following HTTP status errors:

Internal Server Error (majorerror.html)
URL not found (url_error.html)
Timeout (overload.html)

Static resource error pages can’t be customized.

Note

Uploading

The B2C Commerce Web Server error pages are uploaded to a shared directory. To view this directory, select Administration > Site Development > Custom Error Pages.

Within Business Manager, download a template .zip file containing all error pages that are used in cases where the application server is down or doesn’t respond in time. After you download the .zip file, customize the content, archive your work, and upload it.

Upload the pages as one .zip file that includes the following:

One html file per error code
CSS files and images as necessary

The uploaded .zip file must be named errorpages.zip. Don’t use names such as myCustomErrorPages.zip.

Only one .zip file can be uploaded at a time. Remember to reference CSS files and images using /waroot/FILENAME.

Note

After your upload, the .zip file is automatically extracted and the content is stored on the web server.

The content is loaded to the web server via a job that runs every 2 hours. You might have to wait up to 2 hours to see the content on the server.

Note

Testing

Test customized errors by:

404 error: entering an invalid URL.
Transmission error: Call support and request that they take down the application server for the instance. Only do this on Sandboxes.

Error Page Best Practices

We recommend following error page best practices to give your customers the best experience.

Briefly explain what happened. Provide a reason for your customer ending up on a page they didn’t expect to see.
Don’t blame the user. Don’t tell the user that they messed up. Simply apologize and move on to something more positive.
Provide a search box. Give the user a way to search for the page they want to find.
Offer more navigation. Give the user multiple ways of navigating back to the site. Perhaps have links to specific products or categories and try to provide ways for them to quickly get back to shopping, such as:
- Going back one step
- Returning to the home page
- Going to the customer service or help page
Use a little humor. Lighten up the situation and interruption with a little brand-based humor.
Ask the customer to help you. Offer a way to let you know about a broken link with a link to customer service and a promotion code thanking them.
Build error pages as content assets within B2C Commerce. Content assets reduce the need to involve web developers for changes, and reuse elements in other places (such as the Zero Search Results page).