Traffic without orders is a conversion problem, and conversion problems are specific. Somewhere between arriving and paying, people are stopping. Find where, then fix that.
First, find the leak
Set up a funnel in your analytics: product page viewed, added to basket, checkout started, checkout completed. The percentage lost at each step tells you where to look.
The typical patterns:
Lots of product views, few basket additions. The product page is not convincing. Missing information, poor images, unclear delivery.
Additions but few checkouts. Basket friction, or a delivery cost that appeared and changed their mind.
Checkouts started, few completed. The checkout itself. Too long, forced account creation, a payment method they wanted missing.
Fix in that order, because volume compounds — improving the product page improves every stage after it.
Product pages
Images
The most common failure. One photograph on a white background does not replace picking something up.
Show it from several angles, in use, at a scale that conveys size, and with detail shots of anything that matters — a fastening, a texture, a connector. Allow zoom. For anything where fit or scale is a question, include something recognisable for comparison.
The information a buyer needs to decide
Dimensions in the units your customers use. Materials. Weight if it affects delivery. Compatibility. What is in the box. Warranty.
Every missing specification is a customer who leaves to look it up elsewhere, and elsewhere sells it too.
Delivery, on the product page
What it costs, when it will arrive, and where you deliver to. Not "see delivery page".
Showing this early loses some visitors on the product page rather than in the basket. Those visitors were leaving anyway — you have simply found out sooner and stopped wasting their time.
Returns
Stated plainly and positively. "Thirty days, free returns" removes hesitation. Buried terms create it. For anything where sizing or suitability is uncertain, this is often the deciding factor.
Reviews
Genuine ones, including the middling ones. A product with only five-star reviews reads as filtered. Reviews mentioning specific details are the ones that convert, because they answer questions your description did not.
Stock honesty
"In stock" that turns out to mean five days is worse than "usually ships in five days". Overstating availability produces cancellations and complaints, both of which cost more than the order.
Most product page failures are missing information, not weak persuasion. Buyers do not need convincing so much as they need their questions answered.
The basket
Keep it simple and keep the shop reachable. Show the total including delivery as early as you can. Allow quantity changes without a page reload. Make continuing to shop obvious.
Do not put a discount code box in a prominent position — customers who do not have one will leave to search for one, and many will not come back. If you run codes, apply them by link instead.
Checkout
Do not force account creation
Guest checkout, always. Offer an account afterwards, when you already have their details and can create it with one tick. Forcing registration before purchase is among the most expensive design decisions in ecommerce.
Ask for less
Every field is friction. Do you need a company name? A second address line as a required field? A phone number? Ask only for what you genuinely need to fulfil the order.
Use address lookup from a postcode. It is faster, more accurate, and reduces failed deliveries.
Show progress and stay on one page where possible
People abandon when they cannot tell how much is left. A short, visible sequence beats an unknown number of steps.
Offer the payment methods people use
Cards, and the wallets that let a phone user pay with a fingerprint. Wallet payments convert noticeably better on mobile because they eliminate typing entirely.
Handle errors gracefully
Validate as people type, not on submission. Never clear a completed form because one field failed. Say what is wrong in words — "we need a UK postcode", not a red outline.
Trust, which underpins all of it
A visible landline and address. A returns policy that is easy to find. Real photographs rather than only supplier images. Company registration details in the footer. An SSL certificate working on every page.
These matter most for shops customers have not bought from before, which is most of your traffic.
Speed
Ecommerce is where slow pages cost the most measurable money, because there is a purchase at the end of the journey. Product pages with a dozen unoptimised photographs are the usual cause — see why your website is slow.
What to do first
- Buy something from your own shop, on your phone, on mobile data. Complete it.
- Find the biggest drop in the funnel.
- Fix delivery information visibility. Cheapest change with the largest effect.
- Enable guest checkout if you have not.
- Add the images and specifications your product pages are missing.
- Then start recovering abandoned baskets — see abandoned basket recovery.
Our ecommerce team works on conversion for UK retailers. Ask us to review your funnel and we will tell you where the money is going.
