30 Add to Carts, 19 Checkouts Initiated, $0 in Revenue - Still Stuck After Round 2

Shopify Discussion
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1

Hey Shopify community,

I posted here a few weeks ago with a similar situation and got some helpful feedback, but the problem is still unresolved. I have more data now so I’m hoping a fresh set of eyes can spot something I’m missing.

I’m running a single-product store selling a 16-in-1 vegetable chopper at $54.99 (prep blade .com - without spaces). After $300 in Meta ad spend in round 2 alone, I have strong funnel metrics all the way to checkout and then nothing. Zero purchases.

The ad metrics are genuinely solid:

  • CTR: 6%+ consistently (winning ad set hit 6.15%)
  • CPC: under $1 consistently (winning ad set: $0.85)
  • CPM: ~$52 (US broad, Reels/Stories placements)
  • Hook Rate: healthy, well above kill threshold
  • Tested both an advertorial landing page (/pages/prep-time) and direct homepage as destination

The funnel numbers (round 2 only, $300 spend):

  • 205 landing page views
  • 30 Add to Carts (14.6% ATC rate)
  • 19 Checkouts Initiated (63% ATC to checkout)
  • 0 Purchases

Every step of the funnel performs at or above benchmark right up until the actual purchase.

What I have already ruled out and tested:

Shopify Payments mechanical failure: Shopify Support confirmed zero failed payments and zero declined cards in the last 14 days.

Cart/add bug: Had a Markets misconfiguration in Round 1 (no US Market = 422 errors on cart/add). Fixed before Round 2. All 30 ATCs happened after the fix.

Shipping surprise at checkout: Free shipping is live in Shopify Admin ($0 flat rate, ships from US warehouse). Verified end to end with a real test order.

Price as the barrier: Ran a diagnostic price drop to $39.99. No purchases at that price either. Reverted since the economics do not work at $39.99 on cold traffic anyway.

Cart UX friction: Completely redesigned the cart page between rounds. Removed cart drawer, rebuilt as a dedicated /cart page with trust rows, star rating, delivery estimate, and guaranteed safe checkout strip with card icons. Also removed dynamic checkout buttons (Shop Pay/Apple Pay/PayPal) from the cart page to eliminate any wallet API friction.

Trust signals: 15 product reviews live at 4.9 stars, 30-day money-back guarantee visible throughout, free US shipping from a US warehouse stated clearly on every step.

Microsoft Clarity session recordings: Watching sessions actively. People who reach the cart mostly click Checkout. Sessions end there because Clarity does not record Shopify hosted checkout on Basic plan, so I am blind at the final step.

What I cannot test:

I am based in Czech Republic. I cannot make a real purchase as a US customer from a US IP with a US card. Shopify says no failures on their end, but I still do not know what a real US customer actually experiences at the hosted checkout step.

My ask:

Would anyone based in the US be willing to attempt a checkout on prep blade .com - without spaces? I will create a 99% discount code so the total would be around $0.55, and I will refund that immediately after. I just need to know whether the purchase completes successfully, and if anything looks off or confusing at the checkout screen.

Beyond that, has anyone seen this pattern before? Strong ad metrics, solid ATC rate, 19 real checkouts initiated, and complete silence on purchases. The ads are clearly not the problem. Something is happening on that final hosted checkout screen and I cannot see it.

Any help appreciated.

3

Your numbers make the final step worth isolating, but I’d be careful treating a one-off 99% discount order as the main proof. It proves a transaction can complete; it does not explain what real shoppers are seeing when they abandon.

I’d pull the abandoned checkout rows for those 19 starts and split them into buckets: no contact entered, contact entered but no shipping/payment, and payment page reached. If most have no contact, the issue may still be pre-checkout confidence or sticker shock at the total, even though people clicked Checkout. If they entered contact or shipping, compare the displayed business name, delivery estimate, tax/final total, and payment methods.

One thing I would retest is the wallet removal. For cold mobile traffic from Reels or Stories, Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal can remove enough typing to matter. Run a short test with express checkout enabled again and keep the same ad, price, landing page, and cart so checkout convenience is the main changed variable.

Also check whether the abandoned checkouts cluster by device, state, or traffic placement. If one slice is doing all the abandoning, you will know whether to debug checkout presentation or traffic quality first.

4

Update after digging into the abandoned checkout data:

Of the 19 checkout initiations, only 3 US customers actually entered their contact and shipping information. The other 16 left before filling in anything.

All 3 who filled in their details completed everything up to the payment page, then abandoned. Email, shipping address, billing address, phone number all entered. They stopped specifically at the payment step.

So there are two separate problems:

  1. 16 people opened checkout and left immediately without entering anything
  2. 3 people filled everything out and stopped at payment

I have a US-based contact who agreed to do a real checkout test so I can see exactly what the payment page looks like from a customer perspective. Will update once that is done.

On the wallet removal point: Shop Pay, Apple Pay and PayPal are still available on the Shopify hosted checkout itself, I only removed them from my custom cart page to reduce confusion there. So express checkout options are still available at the final step.

Thanks for the structured approach, the bucket analysis was the right call.

6

Thanks Ros222, good point on the express checkout. I removed Shop Pay/Apple Pay/PayPal from my custom cart page to eliminate confusion there, but they are still present on the Shopify hosted checkout itself, so customers do have those options at the payment step.

On the 16 who entered nothing: that is the part I am most curious about. A US contact agreed to do a real checkout test and will send me a screenshot of the payment page and observations on any friction points. Will update once I have that.

The discount code field angle is interesting. I did not think about that creating a “wait, should I be looking for a coupon?” hesitation moment. Will check how that displays on the first checkout screen.

8

Thanks Steve, and you actually pointed right at what I just found. The checkout was completely unbranded. Default Shopify styling, no logo, generic blue accents. Customers were arriving from a fully branded store and hitting a checkout that looked disconnected from everything they had just seen. I had never realized the checkout could be customized on Basic.

I just set up the checkout branding: logo, brand colors, matching background. It now visually matches the rest of the store. This lines up with your point about the final experience not matching expectations, especially for cold traffic that has no prior trust in the brand.

A US contact is doing a real checkout test so I can confirm it looks right from a customer perspective and that a purchase completes. Will report back with what they find.

10

The checkout branding was worth fixing, but the data suggests the main drop happens before payment, 16 of 19 visitors left without entering any details.

I’d now keep everything else unchanged and compare the next batch of checkout visitors. Also test the full mobile journey at the real $54.99 price, since a 99% discount only confirms payments work.

Since updating the checkout branding, have any new visitors entered their contact details or completed an order?

11

Hey @Johnyprep, I am more than happy to do the test for you. Send me a link and the discount code, and I’ll screen record the process for you.

12

Hey DanielAnderson, thanks! Can I share it via email please? What’s your address?

13

Just sent you a DM with my email! Let me know if you don’t see that.

14

Thanks Daniel for helping out, I’ve sent you everything via email.

15

What payment method your store is using? Have you tried purchasing item yourself to check if your payment gateway is working?

16

Hello Dan, I’m using shopify payments, Paypal disabled. Yes I’ve tried it myself, doing test order etc. but I’m located in Europe and I do not have real US IP and real US card so I cant really test it exactly as US buyer would. Thats what Daniel here offered me he would do.

18

Hi there,

From what you described, the funnel appears to be breaking at the final checkout stage rather than at the ad or product-page level.

Since Shopify shows no failed or declined payment attempts, many visitors may be reaching checkout but leaving before clicking the final payment button. I would focus on the exact US checkout experience, including payment methods, final total, delivery estimate, taxes, currency, billing fields, and how trustworthy the checkout feels on mobile.

A real US test order is the right next step. It would help confirm whether this is a technical issue, a market/payment configuration issue, or simply strong hesitation at the final step.

19

Hey @Johnyprep .

Honestly, 19 checkouts and 0 purchases with zero processor errors is a huge red flag.
That sounds like something is silently breaking right at the final payment step, rather than it being a basic UX issue.

First, head into Settings, go to Payments, and double check exactly what is enabled for US cards. Also, audit your Markets setup for USD and taxes. If a tax calculation errors out behind the scenes, it can freeze the checkout without showing the customer why.