Your Shopify Store Has Traffic But No Sales? 23 Possible Causes (& Solutions)

Does this sound like you?

→ Your Shopify store has traffic but no sales

Yes?

Well, brace yourself—’cause by the end of this, you’ll be well on to transforming your Shopify store into a sales machine.

Let’s go!

23 Specific Reasons Why People Are Dropping Off Your Shopify Store

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. You could be showing zero search results

6. Your product filters are not user-friendly

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

8. Your collections pages do not display enough information

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

10. The CTA buttons could be confusing users

11. Your reviews don’t seem too trustworthy

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

13. Your product page looks sketchy

14. You just maybe too ‘salesy’

15. Your pricing sets off alarms

16. You're probably making false promises

17. You don’t show a specific delivery date

18. You have way too many form fields on checkout

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

20. You are surprising people with added costs

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

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

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

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. 🤔

How do you show a better welcome and reduce drop-offs?

• 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:

How to ensure that users don’t drop off due to conflicting elements?

• 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

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

3. Your page doesn’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:

How to ensure your pages/images aren’t breaking/looking odd/low-quality?

• 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:

How do you check for mobile UX issues?

• 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. 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).

How to use site search to reduce drop-offs?

• 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)

6. 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:

How to ensure your product filters don’t cause traffic to drop off?

• 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: How To Drive Traffic To Shopify Stores: 14 Proven Strategies

7. 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:

How do you ensure your collections are categorized for user needs?

• 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

8. 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:

How to ensure your collection pages have enough information?

• 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.

9. 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:

How to build trustworthy collection pages?

• 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

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. 

10. 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:

How to ensure multiple CTA’s don’t lead to drop-offs?

• 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

11. 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:

How to ensure your social proof helps get a sale?

• 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

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

12. 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:

How to ensure your product descriptions don’t cause you to lose sales?

• 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.

13. 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:

What visual aspects lead to product page drop-offs?

• 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

14. 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. 

How can you ensure your upsells/cross-sells don’t make you lose sales?

• 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”

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

15. Your pricing sets off alarms

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

What to consider when pricing your product?

• 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

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

16. 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:

How to ensure your checkout flow is consistent?

• Provide a reminder of your policies (returns, shipping, moneyback)
• Offer options to reach out to you – offer live chat support on checkout

💡 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

17. 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. 

How do you ensure users don't drop off because of shipping?

• 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”

18. 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. 

Here’s what you can do instead to reduce the work of filling form fields:

• 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.

19. 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

20. 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.

Want to reduce checkout abandonment due to added costs?

• 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

You May Also Like: 20 Shopify Product Recommendation Strategies (With Real-Life Examples)

21. 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.

Looking for a way out of long purchase spans? 

• 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

22. 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:

Here’s what you can do to make your ads perform better for 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
• 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. 

23. 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

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

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.

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