How to Change No Products in the Cart Message

It’s no secret that customizing your online store allows you to stand out from your competitors. There are some obvious things you can edit, such as the product pages, shop page, cart page, or checkout pages. However, other things are often overlooked that have a significant impact on your site. In this guide, we’ll show you different ways to change the “No products in the cart” message.

We’ve previously seen how you can customize some elements of your online store that aren’t that obvious. For example, we’ve seen how you can change error messages at the checkout or show categories on the shop page.

The same happens with the “No products in the cart” message. Most stores leave the default options, so by optimizing them, you’ll stand out and get an advantage over your competitors.

Before we explore how to modify that message, let’s examine what it is and why it needs to be changed.

What is the “No products in the cart” message?

When you open an e-commerce store for the first time, your cart will be empty because you haven’t added any items to it yet. Similarly, it will also be empty if you add some items to the cart, but then remove them or buy them.

In these cases, by default, you will be greeted with the following message when you open the cart page: “Your cart is currently empty. This is typically referred to as the “No products in the cart” message.

Apart from seeing the alert on the Cart page, you may also find it in the mini cart if you have added the cart widget to any widget area of your store as a mini cart.

Why change the “No products in the cart” message?

There may be several reasons why you may want to change this message. First, you can customize the text to make it more welcoming for your customers.

A text that says “Your Cart is Empty! Please consider checking out our featured products!” for example, has a warmer tone than the default one. This way, you’re inviting your visitors to visit other pages of your store. Only a few online stores do this, so you’ll also be standing out from your competitors.

Additionally, you can translate your entire store into a particular language, but your translation plugin might not translate that message correctly. In this case, customizing the “No products in the cart” message manually provides you with better control.

Although it offers many customization options, WooCommerce doesn’t let you customize this message by default. However, in this guide, we’ll show you how you can customize the “No products in the cart” message.

How to change the “No products in the cart” message

There are 3 main ways to edit this message:

1. Programmatically
   1. Editing the function.php file
   2. Editing the mini-cart.php file
2. With a plugin

In the following sections, we’ll examine the steps to follow to modify the “No products in the cart” message. These methods involve configuring your WordPress and WooCommerce files, so we recommend creating a full backup before starting.

1.1) Customize the “No products in the cart” message by editing the functions.php File

For the first method, we will use a WooCommerce hook in your functions.php file. This process simply requires you to open your theme files editor and add a few lines of code to your function.php file.

Before proceeding, we recommend creating a WordPress child theme if you don’t already have one. Child themes are a great way to add custom hooks and scripts to your theme files while making sure you can reverse the changes at any time.

These changes persist even if you update your theme or the original theme files. If you don’t want to create one manually, you can also use any of these child theme plugins.

Let’s start by opening your WordPress Admin Dashboard and going to Appearance > Theme Editor. Then, click on the functions.php file on the right Theme files sidebar as shown below.

Using the editor in the middle, you can add the following script to your functions.php file:

remove_action( 'woocommerce_cart_is_empty', 'wc_empty_cart_message', 10 );
add_action( 'woocommerce_cart_is_empty', 'custom_empty_cart_message', 10 );

function custom_empty_cart_message() {
$html = '<div class="col-12 offset-md-1 col-md-10"><p class="cart-empty">';
$html .= wp_kses_post( apply_filters( 'wc_empty_cart_message', __( 'Insert Empty Cart Message Here', 'woocommerce' ) ) );
echo $html . '</p></div>';
}

[Code Snippet taken from here.]

This snippet will remove your default WooCommerce Empty Cart text and use another function to add a custom text instead. Replace the “Insert Empty Cart Message Here“ with the text you want for your “No Products in the Cart” message.

For example, if you want the message to say “Your Cart is currently empty, we recommend checking out our featured products!”, you can use this code:

remove_action( 'woocommerce_cart_is_empty', 'wc_empty_cart_message', 10 );
add_action( 'woocommerce_cart_is_empty', 'quadlayers_empty_cart_message', 10 );

function quadlayers_empty_cart_message() {
$html = '<div class="col-12 offset-md-1 col-md-10"><p class="cart-empty">';
$html .= wp_kses_post( apply_filters( 'wc_empty_cart_message', __( 'Your Cart is currently empty, we recommend checking out our featured products!', 'woocommerce' ) ) );
echo $html . '</p></div>';
}

Remember to update the file, and you should see this result on the front end:

We saw that the “No products in the cart” message can also appear in the mini cart. Let’s see how to make the change.

1.2) Change the “No Products in the Cart” text by editing the mini-cart.php file

You can also choose to customize the “No products in the cart” message that appears in the mini cart. Instead of using a function for this, you can replace the empty mini cart text in your WooCommerce template files.

To do this, you need to configure your WooCommerce template files by going to Plugins > Plugin Editor on your WP Admin Dashboard.

Then, use the Select plugin to edit the option to select WooCommerce and press Select. After that, click on Templates > Cart > mini-cart.php under Plugin Files.

By default, at the bottom of the cart, you should see the following lines of code:

<?php else : ?>

<p class="woocommerce-mini-cart__empty-message"><?php esc_html_e( 'No products in the cart.', 'woocommerce' ); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

<?php do_action( 'woocommerce_after_mini_cart' ); ?>

You can edit this code by replacing the “No products in the cart” text with a custom text. For example, to change the text to ‘Please Consider Adding New Products’, you should use this code:

<?php else : ?>

<p class="woocommerce-mini-cart__empty-message"><?php esc_html_e( 'Please Consider Adding New Products', 'woocommerce' ); ?></p>

<?php endif; ?>

<?php do_action( 'woocommerce_after_mini_cart' ); ?>

Remember to save the changes, and then you should see the changes on the front end.

2. How to Change the “No products in the cart” message with a plugin

We’ve previously mentioned that sometimes you translate your store into a particular language but the “No products in the cart” message doesn’t get translated. Let’s see how you can change that text with a translation plugin.

There are many plugins for enabling translations for custom strings. For this demonstration, we’ll use the Loco Translate plugin.

It is one of the best translation plugins for WordPress, and it has a built-in translation editor in the dashboard. This can be very convenient when customizing the “No product in the cart” message in your store.

1. Install and Activate the Plugin

First, install the plugin by going to Plugins > Add New. Enter the keywords for the plugin, install it, and activate it.

Alternatively, you can install it manually. If you’re not familiar with that process, have a look at our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin manually.

Once you’ve activated the plugin, move on to the next step.

2. Translate the “Your cart is currently empty” message

Now it’s time to translate some strings. First, head to Loco Translate > Plugins on your WP Admin Dashboard. Click on WooCommerce on the plugins list to show all the available strings to translate and choose the language you’ll translate into.

You can also add the required language for your cart message from here. Simply click on New Language and add the desired language.

Then, use the Filter translations option to search for the correct string you want to translate. To change the “No products in the cart” text, type “Your Cart is currently empty.” Then, click on the Source text on the search results and add your custom string to the translation section.

For example, let’s set a custom translation for Spanish for our test website:

Once you finish the translation, press Save. Now go to the front end, switch your site language, and you’ll see the new translated message.

3. Translate the “No products in the cart” message

Using the same method, you can translate any string by simply searching for the text you want to change. In this section, we’ll focus on the ‘No Products in the Cart’ string; however, you can set a custom translation for the Mini-cart text or any other message you want.

As we saw earlier, navigate to Loco Translate > Plugins > WooCommerce and select the language you want to translate the string into. Then, search for “No products in the cart”, select the string, and add the desired translation.

Remember to save your changes, and you should see the result on the front end:

If you want more information about changing the language of your site, check out our complete guide on how to change WordPress languages.

Bonus: How to Change Proceed to Checkout text

Apart from customizing the “No products in the cart” message, there are many other texts that you can change to make the most of every touchpoint customers have in your store.

For example, you can edit additional texts such as Proceed to Checkout, Add to Cart messages, and many others.

In this section, we’ll focus on how to change the Proceed to Checkout text using a simple WooCommerce function.

NOTE: As we’ll edit some core files, we recommend creating a complete backup of your site and using a child theme.

To customize the Proceed to Checkout text, we’ll add a few lines of code to the functions.php file. To do this, go to Appearance > Theme Editor and click on functions.php in the Theme Files sidebar.

Now paste the following code while simply changing the “Insert-checkout-text-here” section with your custom message.

function quadlayers_woocommerce_button_proceed_to_checkout() { ?>
<a href="<?php echo esc_url( wc_get_checkout_url() ); ?>" class="checkout-button button alt wc-forward">
<?php esc_html_e( 'Insert-Checkout-Text-Here', 'woocommerce' ); ?>
</a>
<?php
}

For example, if you want the message to say “Please Move to Checkout here“, use the following snippet:

function quadlayers_woocommerce_button_proceed_to_checkout() { ?>
<a href="<?php echo esc_url( wc_get_checkout_url() ); ?>" class="checkout-button button alt wc-forward">
<?php esc_html_e( 'Please Move to Checkout Here', 'woocommerce' ); ?>
</a>
<?php
}

This should give you this result on the front end:

This is an example, but there’s a lot more you can do to customize this text. For more information, check out our tutorial on how to change the Proceed to Checkout text. This guide explains why you should consider changing that text as well as the different ways to do so.

There are many more customizations that you can perform in your store. If that’s something you’re interested in, have a look at some of our guides to optimize the WooCommerce checkout, create one-page checkout, and even customize the WooCommerce checkout page.

Similarly, you can use plugins such as WooCommerce Direct Checkout and WooCommerce Checkout Manager to enhance the checkout process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Now, let’s take a look at some of the frequently asked questions regarding this topic.

Best Practices for Empty Cart Messaging

Customizing the “No Products in the Cart” message isn’t just about wording — it’s a small UX detail that can influence user behavior. Here’s how to make it work better for your store:

• Use a Friendly, On-Brand Tone: Instead of the default message, try something more personal like:
  “Looks like your cart is feeling a little empty. Let’s fix that!”
• Always Include a Call to Action: Add a clear button or link like:
  “Continue Shopping” or “Browse Popular Products” to keep users engaged.
• Link to High-Value Pages: Consider linking to your bestsellers, deals page, or product categories instead of just the homepage.
• Avoid Generic Wording: Make your message specific and relevant to your audience. A boring message like “No products in the cart” can feel like a dead end.
• Consider Adding Visuals: An illustration, product image, or subtle animation can make the empty cart feel less… empty.
• Test Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure your message, buttons, and layout appear well on smaller screens.

Conclusion

All in all, customizing the “No products in the cart” message allows you to personalize your customers’ journey and provide a better shopping experience. Most store owners often overlook this, so it can help you stand out from your competitors and boost your sales.

In this guide, we’ve shown you different ways to change the “No products in the cart” message in WooCommerce:

• Customizing the function.php file
• Editing the mini-cart.php file
• With a plugin

Now you should be able to edit the message and also adjust the translations that were missing.

Have you edited the “No products in the cart” text?

Did you have any issues following this guide?

Let us know in the comments below.

Finally, if you want to learn more about how to customize more elements of your WooCommerce store, check out some of these articles:

• How to remove the Additional Information tab in WooCommerce
• 3 Methods to Customize WooCommerce Cart Page
• Changing Currency in WooCommerce: The Full Guide
• How to customize the WooCommerce Shop Page