diff --git a/lib/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.json b/lib/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.json
index e28465f5f3..74173071da 100644
--- a/lib/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.json
+++ b/lib/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.json
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 		"impact": "critical",
 		"messages": {
 			"pass": "Element has inner text that is visible to screen readers",
-			"fail": "Element does not have inner text that is visible to screen readers"
+			"fail": "Element does not have inner text that is visible to screen readers",
+			"incomplete": "Unable to determine if element has children"
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/test/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.js b/test/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.js
index 042832d40a..9c64c249fe 100644
--- a/test/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.js
+++ b/test/checks/shared/button-has-visible-text.js
@@ -52,4 +52,16 @@ describe('button-has-visible-text', function() {
 				.apply(checkContext, checkArgs)
 		);
 	});
+
+	describe('SerialVirtualNode', function() {
+		it('should return undefined if no other attributes are provided', function() {
+			var node = new axe.SerialVirtualNode({
+				nodeName: 'button'
+			});
+
+			assert.isUndefined(
+				axe.testUtils.getCheckEvaluate('has-visible-text')(null, {}, node)
+			);
+		});
+	});
 });