Hi guys,
Need help on this. I’m seeing some cart activity but barely any sales. Can it be bots or people actually not buying? It’s already been like this for days now. Is there a way we can check?
Topic summary
A store owner is experiencing high cart activity with minimal conversions and wants to determine whether the traffic is from bots or real customers abandoning purchases.
Diagnostic Steps Recommended:
- Check Shopify’s abandoned cart/checkout data in the backend to analyze customer behavior
- Use session replay tools like Microsoft Clarity or Google Analytics to watch how visitors interact with the site
- Review Shopify Analytics to identify suspicious traffic patterns (unusual locations, devices)
- Verify Shopify market settings to ensure international traffic isn’t reaching a region-restricted store
Suggested Solutions if Real Customers Are Abandoning:
- Implement cart recovery strategies: automated emails or SMS follow-ups with potential discounts
- Add trust signals: badges, free shipping offers, urgency timers
- Simplify the checkout process to reduce friction
- Use retargeting campaigns (Facebook, Instagram, Google) to re-engage visitors who added items but didn’t purchase
- Consider smart popups or engagement tools to capture hesitant shoppers
Bot Protection:
Install bot protection apps if analysis reveals non-human traffic.
The discussion remains open with no confirmed resolution, awaiting the store owner’s investigation results.
4 Likes
Hey @George-nelli11
Can you share your store URL and password if enabled so that I can have a detailed look on it?
Best Regards,
Moeed
You can check abandoned cart/checkout at Shopify backend and see the customer behaviour there, even you can use some market strategy like sending an email to such customers with some discount to attract them, also you can use some heatmap tools that will give you a video recording of customer sessions that you can utilise to check their intent and behaviour
Thanks!
Hi,
Hope this will help
- Install Bot Protection App (if required)
- Understand Why Real People Might Leave
Following will fix if real people are leaving your site
- Add trust badges near your checkout
- Offer free shipping
- Add a countdown timer for urgency
- Simplify checkout process
- Use a cart recovery email
Hi, I’m Wayne from Akohub. We have been working with many brands to run online stores. I believe our expertise could add value to your business. Here are some suggestions for the problem you’re facing:
- Check Customer Behavior in Shopify Admin
You can start by checking your Shopify backend which you can check how visitors interact with your store, including which pages they view, what they add to their carts, and where they drop off in the process. This allows you to spot if the activity is coming from real users or if it looks suspicious like bot traffic.
- Try Microsoft Clarity for Deeper Insights
For more detailed tracking, you can consider adding Microsoft Clarity to your store. It’s a free tool that gives you heatmaps and session recordings, so you can literally watch how visitors move through your site-where they click, scroll, hesitate, or rage-click. This allows you to spot if users are getting stuck, frustrated, or if there’s a technical issue causing drop-offs.
- Retargeting: Bring Back Interested Shoppers
If you’re seeing genuine visitors adding to cart but not checking out, retargeting is a proven way to nudge them back. Retargeting campaigns will show ads to people who’ve visited your site or added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase. These ads keep your brand and products top-of-mind-sometimes all a shopper needs is a reminder to come back and complete their purchase. Here’s a blog I have written previously, feel free to explore more details about Why Retargeting Is the Key to Recovering Abandoned Carts.
To streamline the work of launching retargeting campaigns, check out our Ako Marketing app. It lets you set up retargeting ads for Facebook, Instagram, and Google right from your Shopify admin, creating a higher chance to recover abandoned carts and convert more visitors into buyers.
Mate this is painful when it happens but usually it’s real people just getting distracted or having second thoughts. one thing that saved my conversion rate was adding sms follow ups for abandoned carts because you can actually track engagement better than with emails. been using txtcart for this and their ai actually texts back and forth with customers which feels way more human than automated stuff.
you can also segment your audience to see patterns like are people from certain locations dropping off more or is it specific products. definitely worth checking your analytics to see where people are bouncing in the funnel too.
It could be bots or genuine visitors dropping off at checkout. Try checking session recordings or using smart popups to engage users before they leave—sometimes a small nudge helps convert. Tools like ConvertBoost can help with that.
Totally get the frustration. Sometimes it’s not bots — it could be real people from outside your selling region landing on your store. If you’re only selling in one country, check if your Shopify market settings reflect that. I’ve seen cases where international traffic gets through even when the store isn’t set up for it, which leads to cart adds but no conversions. Could be worth narrowing your regions or adding a note early in the shopping flow.
A good first step is checking Shopify Analytics to see where the traffic’s coming from. If it’s showing odd locations or devices, could be bot traffic. You can also use Microsoft Clarity or Google Analytics to replay sessions — that helped me figure out if real people were dropping off or if it was just noise. Definitely worth a look before making changes.
Sometimes it’s not bots — it could be real people from outside your selling region landing on your store. If you’re only selling in one country, check if your Shopify market settings reflect that. I’ve seen cases where international traffic gets through even when the store isn’t set up for it, which leads to cart adds but no conversions. Could be worth narrowing your regions or adding a note early in the shopping flow.