Your Shopify Store Has Traffic But No Sales? 31 Possible Causes (& Solutions)

So, your Shopify store has traffic but no sales? Yes?

No worries—’cause in this article, we’ll not only discuss why your Shopify store isn’t converting, but also drop in the exact fixes.

Sounds good? Let’s go!

But, Where Is Your Shopify Store Losing Sales?

Shopify store or not, most online stores lose a good chunk of traffic before making the first sale. Statistics show only about 30% of all traffic proceeds towards the cart stage, on the avg. eComm store. 

The average Shopify store loses the largest amount of traffic in these two scenarios:

→ Visitors bounce off the landing/product page/homepage

OR 

→ Visitors initiate checkout but leave without purchasing

So, the first step: identify where exactly visitors leave your Shopify store. Check your Shopify metrics first, for:

• How many shoppers actually land on your Shopify store (and from where)
• How much time (on average) do shoppers spend in your store
• What searches do they make on your search bar
• What is the difference between the number of add to cart sessions vs the number of sessions that reached checkout

The second step: 

• Check your product pages if: the total number of sessions vs the no. of add to cart sessions has a gap of more than 90%
• Check your collection pages and product listing display if: people don’t move from search to cart
• Check your cart experience if: the number of add to carts and the number of sessions that reached checkout has a drop off of greater than 80%
• Check your checkout experience if: the number of ‘reached checkout’ sessions and the number of ‘completed checkout’ differ hugely (but if you’re getting like 20 people a month to your checkout page, you have to just get more traffic)

We know it does not answer the WHY, but it does tell you WHERE people are abandoning your site.

And it’s a start – you know where to start looking for UX issues.  

And WHY are those shoppers dropping off? We describe 31 possible reasons below 👇

Why Is Your Shopify Store Not Driving Sales: 31 Specific Reasons

1. Your pop-ups could be intrusive

2. Your Homepage could have too many conflicting elements 

3. Your page doesn’t load fast enough (or elements break as they load)

4. Your Shopify store looks odd on mobile devices

5. Your navigation doesn’t guide users or offer support

6. You could be showing zero search results

7. Your product filters are not user-friendly

8. Your categories in your collections - are all over the place

9. Your collections pages do not display enough information

10. You could be showing very few products on your collections page

11. The CTA buttons could be confusing users

12. Your reviews don’t seem too trustworthy

13. Your product description doesn’t answer the “Why,” “What,” “How,” and “When” of the product

14. Your product page looks sketchy

15. Your product images don’t inspire confidence

16. You just maybe too ‘salesy’

17. Your pricing sets off alarms

18. You don’t tease the post-purchase experience

19. You don’t have FAQs or an ‘about us’ blurb

20. You're probably making false promises

21. You are surprising people with added costs

22. You don’t show a specific delivery date

23. You have way too many form fields on checkout

24. You don’t let shoppers remove items from the order

25. You aren’t set up for a long purchase span 

26. What kind of ads are you running – Is your traffic quality traffic? Bad traffic = Zero Sales

27. Is your messaging on landing pages connected with the ads you are running

28. Your SEO strategy isn’t really bringing in quality traffic

29. Your social media game is not strong enough

30. You could be sending shoppers off-your-store for discounts

31. You may be suffering from channel conflict

⚠ A word of caution: If your Shopify store gets less than 1000 visitors a month, you need more traffic. It ain’t nearly enough traffic to even convert into sales.

1. Your pop-ups could be intrusive

Picture this: You have just landed on a Shopify store that you just discovered, and you see this pop-up:

Now, ask yourself this: would you want to stay? 

Getting 10% off on your next purchase doesn’t matter as much—you haven’t made the first one yet. 🤔

✅ Proven pop-up fixes if you’ve traffic but no sales on Shopify

• Show the pop-up as a sticky widget (which users can interact with)
• Trigger the popup on exit-intent behavior (or after the user has made some engagement on the page)
• Consider using  non-intrusive pop-ups, like this one:

💡 Quick Tip: Promote your welcome offer in the notification bar – use contrasting colors to draw attention:

2. Your Homepage could have too many conflicting elements 

When you offer one too many offers or actions—users won’t know what to do next—take a look at this example:

✅ Proven homepage fixes to try on a Shopify store not converting

• Don’t offer more than two promotions per fold
• Use clear CTA buttons to guide users deeper into your Shopify store
• Avoid using too many (or too few) words for every section on the homepage – if needed, use visuals (like iconography)
• Make sure your logo’s not too big or missing—do explain ‘who you are’
• Check if your images are too large or too small – or have some form of consistency (branding-wise)
• Don’t offer way too many items within your navigation – make sure it isn’t too large
• Check if the products display titles and pricing – or discounts everywhere
• Offer clear shipping availability/return policy/money-back guarantee
• Check if your page contains your socials, domain email, phone number, and address
  
• Add sections like 'New Arrivals', 'Featured Collection', and 'Hot Sellers' on the homepage to help keep customers updated on new products and expose them to new collections

💡 Quick Tip: Avoid using a ‘myshopify’ domain – it raises red flags. 🚩

3. Your page don’t load fast enough (or elements break as they load)

32% of users will give you about 3 seconds for your store to load (8 seconds if there’s some evidence of you being trustworthy).

Now, imagine your Shopify store looks like this, as it loads:

✅ Proven load time fixes if your Shopify is not getting sales

• Consider serving all images in WebP—this will help with the load time
• Lessen the use of third-party JavaScript as much as possible (think external analytics tools)
• Regularly check your Google Search Console for better reports on page quality (think Core Web Vitals)

💡 Quick Tip: Check for dead links (links that lead to 404 errors) – they are great at causing drop-offs.

Also Read: How to Speed Up Shopify Website - 17 Practical Ideas

4. Your Shopify store looks odd on mobile devices

Nothing kills sales faster than low-quality pages—take a look at this example:

✅ Proven mobile UX fixes for a non-converting Shopify store

• Open your store on mobile—check how long it takes for you to scroll and see every image and element
• Do you have a sticky header or do you have to scroll up to find a menu
• Are there sticky widgets on mobile that interrupt the UX
• Is there a text-to-image ratio of 60:40 (60% images and 40% text)

💡 Quick Tip: Look at your Google Search Console—specifically the Page Experience and Core Web Vitals—these metrics will help you understand how your users are experiencing the pages.

Also Read: Optimize your Shopify Store for Mobile: Proven Ideas + Examples

5. Your navigation doesn’t guide users or offer support

When a navigation menu just offers a logo, without any additional context – shoppers might not find a reason to stick around. 

Instead:

a. Frame your header navigation to help shoppers explore (and build trust)

✅ Tested header fixes if your Shopify gets visitors but no sales

• Feature your top categories, best sellers, and new arrivals 
• Show your latest brand updates, like ongoing sales, collaborations
• Make sure you include an ‘about’ section – cover brand updates, FAQs (only if space remains)
• Add images to your menu items and in your submenus to feature products (this way, off-screen menus act like a full page)
• Feature options to change currency, search, and view cart (keep the view cart option always on view, no matter the device)
• Use your notification bar to feature quick one-liners about your store ratings, your brand benefits

Pro Tip: 

• Ensure shoppers don’t have to scroll through on mobile for too long (not more than 2 folds)
• Also, it’s not always a great idea to keep the shopper stuck in your navigation, layering in sub-menus to find a specific category (feature 2-level menus at max, so all it takes is 2 clicks to see collection pages)

b. Ensure the footer navigation shows clear support options

✅ Proven footer fixes if your Shopify store’s not selling

• Have options to ‘track my order’, ‘raise a return’ mandatorily
• Provide full addresses, contact nos., for your support, and emails
• Offer clear maps to your policies (think: returns, general terms, privacy policy, loyalty program)
• Feature a section about your USPs, above the footer 
• Link out to your social media profiles with relevant icons, with an option to signup for your email newsletters
• Have a live chat, keep it sticky, but dismissable – offer clear support options through even more FAQs
• Turn the footer into an accordion section on mobile, with neat categorization (note the ‘discover’, ‘customer’, and ‘quick links’ accordions):

Remember: Your navigation must look good on mobile too, without overloading the shopper – but enough to inspire trust. Note how this Shopify store features certification in their logo bar, and a “charities” menu item in the top bar, with a hamburger icon:

6. You could be showing zero search results

This is equally serious as having broken/dead links (links that lead to 404 errors). 

Here’s why: it leads to a horrible UX (and users have no option but to leave).

✅ Proven site search fixes for Shopify stores to convert traffic into sales

• Offer a pre-filled help text on the search bar as suggestions
• Load up error text such as “Uh-oh! We don’t have what you may be looking for – but you may like these”
• Show your bestsellers or use NLP search analysis to show the best possible suggestions

💡 Quick Tip: Take stock of all search queries your visitors have made to find patterns – if there are none – consider changing the design of the search bar.

Also Read: eCommerce visual search: 9 smart optimization tips (+ 4 tools to use)

7. Your product filters are not user-friendly

If your product filters don’t work, they will cause your traffic to drop off—note this example:

✅ Proven product filter fixes, if you suffer from no sales on Shopify

• Remove filters that don’t have products within them
• Test the speed of the filters—if it takes more than 3 seconds, consider a different app

Highly recommended: eCommerce Navigation Best Practices For 2025

8. Your categories in your collections – are all over the place

Too broad a category can be a reason why you get no sales from your traffic on your Shopify store—let’s look at this example:

✅ Tested categorization fixes if you’re not making sales on Shopify

• Consider renaming your collections by the intended use case—for example, “Merchandise” would be a better fit here
• Use a filter instead of a sub-collection—this is applicable if there are more than 10 products

Recommended reading: How Do I Boost My Shopify Conversion Rate? (50 Effortless Strategies)

9. Your collections pages do not display enough information

Let’s pit two product displays against each other to understand this better—which of these two displays would you trust?

Option A ▽

Option B ▽

If your answer is Option B, we wouldn’t be surprised—let’s explore why:

✅ Proven UX fixes on collection pages to convert traffic into sales on Shopify

• Label your products clearly—include sizing, reviews, colors, etc
• Use microcopy on your product displays to show updated stock/social proof/promotions
• Offer clear CTA’s to help users go deeper—note the “add to cart” CTA on Option B
• Avoid irrelevant text such as “No questions yet…question!” on Option A

💡 Quick Tip: Consider apps like Glo Color Swatch, and Swatch King for better product displays on product and collection pages.

10. You could be showing very few products on your collections page

Not having many products in your collections pages looks suspicious to most users—note this example:

✅ Proven collection pages fixes, if no sales on Shopify

• Use enlarged layouts that help users focus better on the collection
• Use image carousels or a quick view to showcase more details
• Showcase your returns and shipping policies better
• Make sure your thumbnails are consistent (but not so much that they look the exact same) – have the same size and background, but have slight differences (like trust badges, and shot angles)

Need more inspiration for your collection pages?

We recommend reading: Double Your "Shopify Collections Page" Conversion Rate

💡 Quick Tip: Use subtle triggers like “best-selling” or “selling fast” to move the sales along. 

11. The CTA buttons could be confusing users

Take a look at this product page below—the sizing options specifically—note how the lack of interactivity leads to increased frustration:

✅ Proven CTA fixes for low sales on Shopify

• Offer error text or help text, when the intended action isn’t made
• Change the colors of the button when it is selected
• Tune your copy to help users select the right option first—“Step 1: Choose your fit” and “Step 2: Choose your size” would have helped deliver better UX

12. Your reviews don’t seem too trustworthy

Believe us when we say, users can smell fake reviews a mile away—take a look at this example:

✅ Tested social proof fixes for a Shopify store not converting

• Embed your social media feed to help with building trust
• If you don’t have reviews just yet—consider using some UGC from your employees
• If required, provide a free sample (and remember to ask them to review it)
• Reply to all kinds of reviews – especially if they are negative ones
• Feature an option to filter through reviews by rating, positive or negative reviews, and buzzwords from the reviews that highlight product features (like “easy to use”)

💡 Quick Tip: Create a product video from your UGC – show the product in use – this can help convert your traffic into customers.

You must also read: Getting Traffic But No Sales? 21 Reasons Why (+ How To Solve)

13. Your product description doesn’t answer the “Why,” “What,” “How,” and “When” of the product

Even if they do—all your work’s of no use if your product descriptions aren’t readable—let’s take a look at an example of this:

✅ Proven product description fixes if you’ve zero sales on Shopify

• Do your product images show the product in use (or inform about what the product has)
• Is there a photo of  “what’s in the box”—this shows what customers can expect when they receive the product
• Is there a clear mention of the returns, shipping, and discounts
• Has the “brand’s USP(s)” like sustainability, minority-owned been mentioned
• Are there visual cues to draw attention—like product benefits, warnings, or ingredient information

💡 Quick Tip: If you can’t include everything within your product description, use an FAQ section.

14. Your product page looks sketchy

Let’s say your socials are on fire—and you lead them to a page like this:

It has all kinds of payment options—yet something just doesn’t look right—here’s why:

✅ Proven fixes for no sales on Shopify product pages

• Your product image isn’t a product image—proof of execution would have worked better
• Uneven formatting within the product description
• There is little to no color contrast—and the branding is inconsistent
• Only one social platform is linked—which raises eyebrows (and sales get lost)

Also Read: Optimize your Shopify Store for Mobile: Proven Ideas + Examples

15. Your product images don’t inspire confidence

If your product images look like they were taken by a phone, in a hurry – shoppers aren’t gonna hit ‘add-to-cart.’

Take a look at these two product pages, and ask yourself which one looks more appealing?

OPTION A ▽

OPTION B ▽

We wouldn’t be surprised if you said Option B – even though it shows one image, it offers a clear and well-detailed product shot, with trust badges. 

✅ Proven product image fixes on a Shopify store getting traffic but no sales

• Make sure the product pulls the main focus – have a clear background, minimal conflicting objects, and some depth (think: shadows, proper lighting)
• Don’t just have one product shot, cover all angles, show labels, the product in use in a lifelike environment (to show the scale)
• Offer the option to zoom in on product images so shoppers can scan for minute details
• Make sure there’s at least one option to get a 360-degree view of the product
• Feature a how-to video if the product has higher value or requires some form of demonstration (like electronics)
• Mark out product benefits – make sure the image isn’t too text-heavy (if needed, feature trust badges like certifications)

16. You just maybe too ‘salesy’

Will your customers like it when you offer the same recommendations twice (at the same time)?

If you think, the answer’s yes—we recommend taking a look at this example:

This example is interrupting enough on Desktop—imagine seeing it on mobile. 

✅ Proven upsell/cross-sell fixes if you’re not driving sales on Shopify

• Ensure you don’t have multiple apps for cross-sells and upsells
• Avoid upsells/cross-selling beyond the cart page—continue after the purchase
• Consider smart value upgrades such as “insurance” or “subscriptions”

Pro Tip: Don't have the ‘subscribe’ option selected by default – and if you do, make sure, you select the lowest cost option – and also the one that offers long gaps between each refill (this way you make the buy-in easy).

Also Read: How to Increase AOV on Shopify: 27 Upselling Ideas

17. Your pricing sets off alarms

Most Shopify stores fail to get sales because of this reason—let’s take a look at these two Shopify product pages:

Both brands essentially are selling the same product—however, the difference is the pricing (and the appeal). 

The first example offers a $6 price, but it lacks any description – and seems to have been updated in 2020. 

Meanwhile, the second example, ensures users read the product description while offering multiple sizes, certifications, and images:

✅ Proven pricing fixes if you’ve no sales on Shopify

• Does your product justify your price
• Does your product page communicate the value of your product as well
• Does your pricing include shipping
• Do you include taxes and duties
• Is it in the right currency
• Is the figure rounded (example: $.99 instead of $.43)

Also Read: 22 Shopify Product Page Mistakes That Drive Customers Away

18. You don’t tease the post-purchase experience

If shoppers don’t know what to expect after buying from you, people won’t even initiate checkout. Even a short section like this one works wonders:

✅Tested fixes to get sales on Shopify — tease the post-purchase experience

• Show the packaging, an unboxing video – in your product and checkout pages (but make the description crisp on checkout)
• Offer value upgrades on checkout for free, to first-time buyers (and smoothen the checkout experience)
• Include a clear depiction of ‘what’s in the box’ within your product images
• Promise free loyalty points – or a part reward on completing a purchase – like $X off and an additional $Y off when they complete a purchase 

19. You don’t have FAQs or an ‘about us’ blurb

Or in simple terms, you make people look for what your brand is about. What you can do instead: showcase your USPs like this Shopify store does:

✅ Proven product page fixes if Shopify has high traffic but low sales

• Show real FAQs people ask – note how the above example not only covers questions as keywords, but also actual shopper pain points 
• Showcase the actual difference between other brands and yours (Limitless Walls summarizes it by terming it as “Museum Quality”) 
• When explaining brand services and other USPs, offer a crisp explanation, pair icons or images for – note this above footer section

20. You're probably making false promises

Let’s say you make an offer on your product page—but, you don’t follow through on your checkout page. 

What do you think happens then? You don’t get the sale—let’s take a look at an example:

• Carthan Co. offers a free product on the product page and 20% off + free shipping:

• However, on the cart page, the free gift gets applied (not immediately) and the 20% off is nowhere to be found:

• At checkout, the discount should’ve been auto-applied—but it wasn’t:

✅ Proven fixes if you get ‘initiate checkout but no sales on Shopify’

• Provide a reminder of your policies (returns, shipping, moneyback)
• Offer options to reach out to you – offer live chat support on checkout
• Remind about the post purchase experience – or offer freebies to ease the decision

💡 Quick Tip: Since the coupon code bar doesn’t disappear (unless you use Shopify Plus) – try auto-applying the discounts – these articles will help:

• How to apply automatic free shipping discounts on Shopify?
• How to auto-apply discount codes on Shopify?

Also Read: How to Customize your Shopify Checkout Page: 28 Proven Ideas

21. You are surprising people with added costs

Sure, you want to increase your AOV while keeping taxes and shipping costs separate – but include it at the get-go.

And if you can’t, give shoppers an option to calculate costs on the cart page:

✅ Tested fixes for checkout, if no sales on Shopify

• Provide a shipping calculator on the product page, itself
• Use geolocation to show the maximum possible rate for shipping and duties
• Try ensuring that the pricing goes down when the actual address is entered on checkout

Recommended reading: 9 Shopify Cart Page Customizations That Boost Conversion Rate

22. You don’t show a specific delivery date

Delivery times are crucial to almost all shoppers, especially last-minute purchasers—let’s dissect this particular example:

The only problem here is that they could have mentioned how long it takes for ground shipping.

Instead, it works as a mild upsell—which can lower sales on Shopify. 

✅ Proven shipping fixes, if no sales on Shopify

• Offer multiple delivery options, such as pick up or collect at drop locations
• Ensure you clearly mention delivery dates to avoid any confusion
• Mention that orders are trackable in your microcopy
• Amp up the urgency with your copy like, “order now to receive by xx/xx”

23. You have way too many form fields on checkout

Shopify doesn’t allow users to modify the checkout page unless they’re on Shopify Plus. 

✅ Proven fixes for checkout forms, if no sales on Shopify

• Consider using a progress bar
• Use geolocation to autofill form fields

💡 Quick Tip: Offer an SSO login (login by Google or Facebook or some platform) – this will help autofill a lot of form fields.

24. You don’t let shoppers remove items from the order

This leads to user frustration, and if you add unsolicited upgrades—you may as well say goodbye to your order. 

Remember: You shouldn't spring on value upgrades on checkout without consent.

Recommended reading: 21 Clever Ways To Reduce Checkout Abandonment Rate

25. You aren’t set up for a long purchase span 

This stands especially true for products with high AOV (especially if your products go above the $80 mark).

The discovery phase happens on mobile and ends on desktop—which is why users may be dropping off.

So, if you’re wondering how long does it take to get sales on Shopify – the answer is: it depends on your AOV – the higher it is, the longer it will be.

✅ Proven fixes for long purchase spans on Shopify

• Assess if your product page copy communicates the value in terms of materials, warranty, etc
• Check if you’ve highlighted purchase protection like easy returns, money-back guarantee 
• Offer some form of flexibility in terms of payment, like BNPL payment
• Do you provide some sort of push for live support when exit intent behavior occurs

💡 Quick Tip: Set up micro-conversions that help users towards a sale (think coupon code contests, newsletter signups, live streams, etc.). 

Also Read: 11 Proven Ways To Reduce Shopify Bounce Rate

26. What kind of ads are you running – Is your traffic quality traffic? Bad traffic = Zero Sales

If you’re advertising on Meta or running display ads for traffic, you may be optimizing yourself for zero sales. 

Your goal should be to make your ad copy as minimal as possible—try using multiple variations of your ad copy to appeal better, as ‘The Pacii’ does (to avoid ad fatigue):

✅ Proven ad fixes for Shopify stores with visitors but no sales

• Check your Ad platform analytics and check who’s seeing your ads—FB Ads Manager offers a feature like this:

• Recheck and reconfirm your choices—also incorporate your existing follower demographic into your audiences:

• Create at least 4 variations of your ad copy/videos (and refresh them at least once monthly, to avoid ad fatigue)
• Repurpose your best-performing TikTok video (or replicate a viral style)
• Focus on other types of advertising, such as Google Search Ads and Shopping Ads—and use them to retarget users who viewed a product
• Stay away from partner site placements—such as the Audience Network (often a reason for low-quality traffic)
• Use the “Sales” objective on FB ads for better performance—you will need to create a catalog on Facebook Ads Manager

💡 Quick Tip: It takes any ad algorithm at least a month to optimize your ads for the best results—which is why it’s a good idea not to use limits on audience targeting at the get-go. 

You may also like: 20 Shopify Product Recommendation Strategies (With Real-Life Examples)

27. Is your messaging on landing pages connected with the ads you are running

If it isn’t, it may as well be the reason for getting zero sales from your traffic. 

Let’s take an example of how to tie a landing page to an ad—it promises a BOGO offer along with a money-back guarantee and a “Gastroenterologist endorsed” microcopy:

Similarly, the first fold of the landing page offers the same along with an expert review from a doctor:

However, what else does this landing page have to tie itself to the ad (and what could’ve been better)?

Pros:

• Interactive product carousel with clear information about the product (and that too in the right size)
• Clear value addition through the free e-book “30-day gut fix guide”
• Live chat on standby—shown as a subtle push notification

Cons:

• Promotion on the notification bar could be toned down 
• The designation of the expert could have been mentioned to help with the continuity
• No mention of the money-back guarantee in the first fold

You might also wanna check out: 26 Secrets to Running Successful Facebook Ads (For eCommerce Stores)

28. Your SEO strategy isn’t really bringing in quality traffic

More specifically, you aren’t bringing in traffic with buying intent. Why? Because your Shopify store doesn’t rank for things that genuine buyers search for. 

Here are some ideas to set up your SEO so you can get your Shopify store to make sales:

a. Optimize product titles to include keywords and key product details

Product titles on your product and category pages need to answer the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of your product. This way, you can set yourself up for people who’re actually searching for exactly what you offer.

✅ Proven SEO fixes for no sales on Shopify

• Mention material, size, color, and product category, with the brand name
• Have subheads to showcase product use cases
• Set up ‘product’ schema markup so search engines and AI agents can pick up information extremely quickly 

Here’s a great example from FirstGear, a Shopify store, showing a clear product title with size, color, and brand name:

b. Build collection pages by use cases for quality traffic

If your Shopify store doesn’t get sales, it might be because you only optimize for broad keywords, like “wireless earbuds deals” or “buy organic skincare set.”

Meaning: you’re only reaching shoppers at the very start of their journey.

Instead, update your collection pages to target a specific use case with strong buying intent – like “best running shoes for plantar fasciitis under $100” or “best waterproof Bluetooth speaker for outdoors under $200.” 

This way, you can attract more quality traffic to convert into sales on your Shopify store.

✅ Proven organic traffic fixes for no sales on Shopify

• Feature collection pages on seasonal gifting ideas – and create subcategories by use case, gender, age, and price (example: Christmas gifts for men under $30, Mother’s Day Gifts for expecting mothers, etc.)
• Create subcategories for your primary product categories to act as pre-made filters (like Fragrances under $X, Skincare under $X)
• Ensure your collection pages have banners with title text, specifying the use case (but make sure the banner is not so big it interrupts UX)
• Add descriptions to category pages, feature short blurbs on best products, and offer pairing ideas

Here’s an example of a collection page from Trendhim, a Shopify store – note how the "Gifts for active men" category is further broken down into more subcategories:

c. Partner with bloggers/influencers to get quality traffic

Backlinks help you rank, but what if they could also solve your Shopify no sales problem?

✅ Proven SEO fixes for a Shopify store with no sales

• Build trackable affiliate links – and send them to top bloggers in your niche
• Curate guest posts that solve pain points – for example, “how to fit a led bulb inside a halogen headlight”
• Match images to product pages, so shoppers don’t bounce off, when they do arrive from those posts

Pro Tip: When you author blogs or place affiliate links, retarget viewers on those partner websites (display ads) and people who visited your site from those links/websites (think: search or Facebook ads).

d. Create your own content

Or else, shoppers are just gonna arrive, and they’re gonna leave. Because they usually need more than just a product description – they want to see your expertise. 

Plus, it’s better for your SEO – someone who comes in after reading a ‘how-to’ from you is far more valuable than someone who just saw an ad – and was curious. 

✅ Proven SEO fixes to convert Shopify traffic without ads

• Create monthly style routines like a ‘this month’s picks’
• Cover contests, how-to content, influencer recs
• Employee-generated content is always a plus (on your socials, blogs, and YouTube)
• Make the content extremely visually appealing, with a clear aesthetic and clear expertise (so it actually ranks)
• Repurpose your content across channels in various formats – and retarget engagers from your content through ads (like someone who visited your blog pages and read an article for more than 30 seconds)

Here’s how Mint Velvet creates 'MV World' to feature their own content, authored by their social media manager:

Need more ideas on how to get traffic to Shopify? Read: How To Drive Traffic To Shopify Stores: 14 Proven Strategies

e. Monitor and update your product feeds daily

Especially the ones for Google Merchant Center. Because: if search engines drive shoppers to out-of-stock product pages, you’re done. 

Also: make sure you de-index permanently out-of-stock products for search engines (like for Google search, use Google Search Console)

29. Your social media game isn’t strong enough

The truth is: a barely functioning website can still make sales, if shoppers know how valuable you are. 

Look at this:

Inconsistent product images, a huge header bar – but the site still makes sales.

Wonder why? Well, here’s their TikTok profile – check out the number of followers:

This simply proves that social proof in social media is always a ‘must have’ – and that you need to keep creating content, so you stay on top of the shopper's mind. 

✅ Proven social media fixes if you’ve no sales on Shopify

• Conduct live streams at least once a month
• Have an option to shop your Instagram feed (also acts as social proof)
• Show proof of collaborations in product pages, landing pages, and homepages
• Feature UGC like unboxings, haul videos, and a ‘how-to’ in your product pages (acts both as social proof and a tool to convince shoppers)

30. You could be sending shoppers off-your-store for discounts

Sure you offer a welcome signup bonus. 

But do you provide the code over email? Yes? Well, that just stops buyers.

✅ Tested CRO fixes for Shopify stores not making sales

• Give X% off immediately and extra XX% more when they verify. This way, you get way way way more completions
• Or, you can simply give shoppers an option to ‘reveal’ their discount:

• Make sure you automatically apply the code – or add it to their account (meaning you create an account immediately on email signup):

Pro Tip: Make sure it doesn’t actually interrupt the shopping experience – don’t go too heavy on copy – and always have a clear ‘x’ button.

Recommended Reading: eCommerce UX: 20 Common Mistakes (The Unnoticeable Ones)

31. You may be suffering from channel conflict

Apart from Amazon, Walmart, and Target dominating search, your Shopify may not even get sales if you list your products on Amazon or any multi-brand eCommerce marketplaces.

Their domain authority is always going to pull away traffic from your store. 

Recommended Reading:

How To Get More Sales on Shopify: 31 Proven Hacks

How to Customize your Shopify Checkout Page: 28 Proven Ideas

How to Speed Up Shopify Website - 17 Practical Ideas

Shopify Metrics: Which Ones to Track + Ways to Improve

We can help you find why your shoppers are dropping off:

98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

This is no different for Shopify stores.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

How we can help you:

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.