I’m hoping to get some advice from the community. Over the last 15 days, my store has had solid traffic and genuine buying intent, but zero completed sales, and I can’t figure out what’s blocking the conversion.
People are clearly interested.. they’re browsing, adding products, and getting all the way to checkout, but then dropping off at the final step.
A bit of context:
I’m based in the UK, store is on Shopify Basic
Google Ads was paused and recently restarted (currently in learning phase), which brought a spike in traffic, but the same pattern existed before the ads came back
Bounce rate this evening was around 91–97%, suggesting paid traffic quality may be an issue too
What I’ve been considering as potential causes:
Payment options not inspiring enough confidence (I have various buying methods available e.g. PayPal, Klarna, Apple pay, Google pay etc.)
Shipping costs appearing at checkout and causing sticker shock (I currently do free shipping 5-9 days and Express Shipping 3-5 days for £3.99)
Lack of trust signals at the checkout stage
Google Ads learning phase sending broad, low-intent traffic
Has anyone experienced something similar? I’d love to know:
What did you find was the root cause in your case?
Are there specific checkout trust signals or payment methods that made a big difference for UK customers?
Any tips for diagnosing exactly where in the checkout flow people are dropping off?
Check if payment gateways are fully set up and not showing errors at checkout. Test checkout yourself on desktop and mobile to spot issues. Add clear trust badges and customer reviews near checkout. Consider offering free shipping or clearer shipping costs earlier. Use Shopify’s checkout analytics or apps like Lucky Orange to see exact drop-off points. If issues persist, a Shopify expert can dig deeper
“added to cart” and “reached checkout” are a bit on the higher side and are unusually close to each other.
Share a link to your store – it should help diagnosing.
And yes – have you tried to follow entire ordering journey yourself?
You can always cancel order later (and this would be free if your payment gw in “authorize only” rather than “capture automatically” mode).
I’ve already gone through most of these checks. My payment gateways are fully set up and working correctly, and I’ve personally tested the checkout process multiple times on both desktop and mobile without encountering any issues. I’ve also added trust elements throughout the store and have been reviewing Shopify analytics and user session recordings to identify any obvious drop off points.
At the moment, I’m not seeing abandoned checkouts, which is why I’m trying to determine whether the issue is traffic quality, conversion optimization, or something else within the customer journey.
I haven’t tried Lucky Orange yet, so I’ll look into that and see if it provides any additional insights beyond what I’m currently getting from Microsoft Clarity.
I’ve considered that possibility as well. The behaviour I’m seeing in Microsoft Clarity is quite unusual many sessions consist of users landing on a page and either repeatedly clicking random areas of the screen or sitting completely idle until the recording ends. Compared to my own test sessions, the interaction patterns look very unnatural.
That said, I am seeing some add-to-carts and users reaching checkout, which is why I’m not convinced it’s a pure bot issue. It could be low-quality traffic, accidental clicks, or Clarity recordings making interactions appear stranger than they actually are.
I’ve already tested the full ordering journey myself multiple times on both desktop and mobile, including progressing through checkout, and I haven’t found any issues with the process.
If you’re willing to take a look, I’d appreciate any feedback on the store, customer journey, or anything that stands out as a potential conversion blocker.
Dropshipping a few cheap Ali/temu products, fake reviews, and an atrocious refund policy - yeah I wouldn’t buy from that store either. No offense. If I want el cheapo I’ll buy from Amazon. Guaranteed shipping, guaranteed refunds without the hassle.
Clearly you are going out of your way to make these cheap products look legit. “1200+ wishes granted” huh? Yeah I don’t think so… I don’t imagine you have actually tested them yourself? I’m also curious why no About page? Why no address? I see a lot of words but no basic foundation of what the business is, who you are, or why you think people should buy from you instead of Amazon.
Sorry but all I see is fake fake fake and nothing to tell me otherwise. I can’t pretend to know where your sessions came from because you didn’t say, but if they are real people, I’m glad they didn’t purchase. Again, no offense. There’s just nothing here to be excited about. Nothing that people couldn’t get from Amazon for less money, and there’s no apparent reason people should pay more to a complete stranger.
Thanks for taking the time to have a look and for the feedback.
I wasn’t aware my mobile LCP was that high, so that’s definitely something I’ll investigate. I’ve already compressed most of my images, but it sounds like there may be other factors affecting performance.
Would you happen to know what stood out as the main culprit when you checked the site? For example, was it primarily image-related, app scripts, theme code, or something else?
I’ll have a read through the article you linked and start working through the recommendations.
Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it.
Appreciate the detailed look, genuinely. Most people just say “looks scammy” and leave it there, so the breakdown actually gives me something to work with.
A few corrections though. There is an About page. There is a full address on file, in the contact policy and at checkout. Could it be more prominent in the footer? Yes, fair point and already on my list. The refund policy covers UK Consumer Contracts Regulations, 30 day returns and a clear resolution process. I’m not sure what you were reading but atrocious isn’t the word I’d reach for when describing something more detailed than the majority of established stores on this platform.
On the reviews, that’s a legitimate flag. I’m early stage and the social proof numbers need to reflect what’s actually verified. Noted and being addressed. On pricing versus Amazon, also fair on specific products. A couple are being repriced anyway.
Where I’d push back is the suggestion that this is all somehow fraudulent. You’ve essentially described the entire dropshipping model as a scam which is a stretch. Curating products, building a brand, maintaining consistent imagery and actually responding to customers isn’t the same as throwing random Aliexpress listings at people and hoping for the best. That’s just running a store properly.
I’m 24, the store is a few months old and it’s already pulling real traffic. I’ll take the actionable stuff on board and leave the rest. Cheers.
Thanks for the explanation, that’s really helpful.
I’ll start looking into the image optimisation, app loading, and prioritising above-the-fold content. I wasn’t expecting the mobile LCP to be that high, so that’s given me a clear area to focus on.
I’ve already compressed a lot of my images, but I’ll take a closer look at the product pages and see whether apps, scripts, or other assets are causing the slowdown.
Thanks again for taking the time to review the store and point me in the right direction.
It’s great you can take some critique. And yes I have been around long enough to know exactly what I’m looking at. Browse around, there are many “no sales” posts. You’re not alone. This comes up on the daily. I see all kinds of dropshipping schemes. And while it’s not a “fraudulent” business model, most of the time it’s so misleading that normal customers do indeed call it a scam. Just yesterday there was someone in here who asked why their shipment was coming from China, thinking that the Shop app actually does vetting of merchants. Literally saying they will no longer be using Shop or any Shopify store because that trust is now lost.
If you do have an about-us page, you should put it in your mobile menu. And yes the footer is a very good place for your address. That is where most people look for it. It can also go in the About page and the contact page. The point is make yourself known, not hide behind stuff like “you must contact us through email if you want to get approved for a refund”. Seriously, what I would do is make refunds self service. Meaning a complete refund page with a form and an upload. Not too complicated. They fill out the form, you review it, and send the approval email. Easy easy.
I was unable to find your address. Having it highly visible would be a great trust signal
Same can be said for the phone number – get a mobile or virtual number and list it on the site, ready available in footer or announcement bar --99% of your visitors would never call, but it’s another trust factor.
Having a legal entity listed would be another good trust signal.
I guess by now potential shoppers are aware that trust labels mean nothing and reviews can be faked / doctored.
Knowing the seller on the other handgives more assurance.
Also – make sure everything is consistent and do work – say, “Track order” did not work for me and “categories” in the footer are all lowercase…
I would not concentrate on page speed for now – your site is fine and you can work on these metrics later – I doubt page speed is the factor which prevents orders.
Finally – it’s highly possible that most of your “added to cart”/“checkout reached” events are from people who may have wanted to order, but not in UK.
Their journey may be legit and the one sellers are looking for – google search-> click the link-> add to cart-> reach checkout to only discover there that “The products in your cart are not available for delivery to your location.” as it tells me.
Thanks for taking the time to go through the site and for the detailed feedback.
You raise some good points, especially around trust signals. I’m currently operating as a sole trader, but I agree that making business information more visible could help reassure visitors. I’ll also take another look at adding a contact number and making sure key information is easier to find.
Good catch on the Track Order page and the footer inconsistencies as well those are exactly the sort of things that can undermine trust, so I’ll get those fixed.
Interesting point regarding visitor locations. At the moment I only ship within the UK, I’ve set my Google ads to strictly target UK audiences only, checking my analytics on both Shopify and Google analytics also show the majority of my traffic have been coming in from regions based in the UK, though I will take a deeper look to ensure that my ads are not targeting other countries.
I also appreciate your perspective on page speed. A lot of feedback I’ve received has focused on performance metrics, but it’s helpful to hear that trust and user experience may be the bigger factors at this stage.
To further prove the point – consider that according to your stats people were able to reach checkout and stopped there, where you have no control over speed and all Shopify sites are roughly the same speed.
Many of those people just hope you’d contact then asking for help to speed your site up.
Are all your sessions come from ads or some are organic search engine originated?
Of course, page speed matters.
It matters when you fight with your competitors for SEO rankings and click price.
Should Benji focus on it right now? In my opinion – no.
It’s not the critical issue at the moment and not an answer to the initial question.
Yes, bad UX can prevent visitors from interacting with the site, but –
You’ve visited the site – was it exceptionally slow?
That slow that you were unable to add to cart and reach checkout?
Also – the 7.1% add-to-cart rate and reached checkout of 6.8% are on the high side meaning people (of course, if those are real people) are able to follow the funnel and only stop in checkout.
So let them make their first sale(s) and then, of course, consider improving site speed.
I hear you on wanting to keep things lean on the market validation, but a 3/100 mobile Pagespeed score isn’t minor optimization issue - it’s a broken pipe that’s actively draining the ad budget.
While the storefront might feel functional on a fast desktop, that score indicates severe main-thread lag for the 70%+ of users browsing on mobile.
If the tracking pixel or checkout button freezes on a throttled 4G, that 7.1% add-to-cart rate will just turn into silent, frustrated abandons.
We don’t need a heavy frontend overhaul, but stripping out the bloated third-party scripts or unoptimized assets choking the backend sync is a critical baseline fix Benji should implement.
Anyhow, I appreciate where you are coming from too and think your points are valid too and are quick fix that @BenjiOA should obviously implement.
