ATCs, initiate checkouts, then not purchasing

Shopify Discussion
1

Hello,

My store is zarre.co and I’m running Google ads where people are adding to cart, initiating checkout, and then not completing the purchase. I’m assuming it’s something at the checkout that’s stopping these people from purchasing, but I keep making changes and the problem is still happening where people are dropping off at checkout. I’ve tested the checkout myself and had other people test it, all is good and it’s able to place orders.

Can anyone look at my site and tell me what could be stopping people from completing a purchase?

Thanks so much.

2

I took a look at your site and I don’t see any problems with check out or payment process, however, from a consumer standpoint, I think I can provide the following feedbacks:

  1. The express check out option tends to prompt to lots of sign in, and as a consumer who wants everything to be as fast, convenient and annoynomous as possible, it seems reluctant when I see a prompt to sign in and not sure if there are more to follow. So maybe you should add all the neccessary information fill out in one spread.

  2. The shipping is 4-5 business days, which is not a lot but considering that some shops are shipping for much faster, having the information right on upon check out can be somewhat of a let down, but this is just my point of view.

About the google ads though:

Most Google Ads traffic is mobile. Even if checkout technically works, a slow or confusing mobile experience can cause drop-offs.

If your ads are attracting people who are only browsing or aren’t a good fit for your products, you’ll naturally see high checkout abandonment.

Also, the nature of your products are that they are of medium-high price range, and not a neccessity, more like a luxury item so people might take more time to juggle their choices.

However, I like the cleanliness of the app, and really hope you get more orders ^^

3

Hi @JSacks

Just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with checkout. Customers just think one more time and decide not to buy. Some are just checking the process, but most ask themselves, “Do I trust this store so I can leave my personal and credit card details?” Well, I hope that they do ask themselves.

It is a trust issue. What information you provide about your company is just email. That is not enough. How can customers contact you, email only?

For me your content is a big problem; you do not have much text, but when you do it is so cliché that it hurts.
" Zarre creates premium tech with quality, precision, and simplicity for a seamless experience." You do not create anything, right, it is all dropshipping products ?

"Welcome to Zarre
We craft luxury tech to elevate life.

Why Zarre?
Our products blend seamless innovation with timeless style.

Exceptional Quality: Built to last.

Elegant Design: Modern and unforgettable.

Effortless Technology: Fits your life.

Customer-Focused: Designed for you.

Our Mission
To redefine luxury tech with innovation and style.

Our Vision
To create tech that transforms everyday moments.

Zarre. Elevate Life."

Can you read that and truly get behind those words? Elevate, redefine, innovation, unforgettable..

You are not Apple, and even for them that is too much.

I mean, the store is clean, minimal, the products are fine, just that text, even in product descriptions. And a good sign of a dropshipping store is all those images in description; that is not their place.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but that is my opinion but also what some customers could see or what they find missing.

5

Why do you assume? Why not test it yourself? Before you run ads, you should know that there is nothing wrong or broken. This is not rocket science. If you install an escalator, you best be testing it before you put customers on it.

You also go to sites and not checkout. Every single person you know does this. This is a common thing that people do. It’s not something to get upset about. Let them do what they want. Focus on improving you and your business.

Also, do you know what it takes to get a good conversion rate? Do you even know what the average conversion rate of successful and long-standing companies is?

6

Hey, measure how people clicks, and interact before jumping on the conclusion.

Earlier in my projects I used posthog (I am not associated with the company) session recording (you get something like record what each user is doing, like what is clicking, how is moving mouse, you see everything except what they are typing like credit card numbers, etc.). It is very useful in changing the layouts, finding problems in your sites etc. You get to see what kind of problems users are facing.

Though there are some privacy concerns like recording user session. Or use any other kind of analytics tool.

7

Check for hidden shipping costs, payment options, and any friction in checkout. Session recordings or analytics can also show exactly where people are dropping off. It may be more about user behavior or ad traffic than a checkout issue.

9

In your admin under Orders, Abandoned checkouts, there’s a row for every one of these people. And for anyone who got past the contact step, you get their email and their country. That tells you immediately whether they’re coming from places you don’t ship to, and how far in they actually got.

The second thing is that “initiate checkout” may be counting more than you think. Shop Pay and PayPal fire that event the moment someone taps the button, and then the shopper lands in a sign-in wall for an account they might not have.

So a chunk of those initiated checkouts could be people who tapped an express button, saw a login prompt, and backed out without ever reaching your checkout at all.

Compare Shopify’s own funnel, sessions to reached checkout to converted, against what Google Ads reports. If Shopify shows far fewer reached-checkouts than Ads claims, that’s your answer and nothing is broken.

Honestly though, with four smartwatches at $159 to $199 from a brand someone met through an ad thirty seconds earlier, I’d expect a lot of last-minute comparison shopping. The fix for it lives on the product page rather than in checkout: warranty terms, what happens if it arrives faulty, who stands behind it, etc.

Your volume is low enough that the highest-signal move available is just emailing a handful of those abandoned checkouts and asking what stopped them. People reply more often than you’d expect, and one honest answer beats a month of theorising.

Full disclosure, I built Carti, an AI sales assistant for Shopify, and it’s relevant for the same reason. At $199 from an unfamiliar brand, the hesitation is almost always a specific worry: whether it’s genuine, what the warranty covers, what happens if it dies in month four.

Carti answers those questions instantly, boosting your conversion rate. Plus, it logs what people asked, so you can stop guessing at why they left. It’s totally free at your size, and only takes about five minutes to set up.