why people hit checkout and still don’t buy
The speaker addresses why customers reach checkout but don't complete purchases, identifying two primary culprits: incorrect ad conversion optimization (tracking the wrong events like add-to-cart instead of purchases) or broken checkout functionality. Diagnosing the issue requires analyzing the drop-off point between initiating and reaching checkout to determine if the problem stems from ads/traffic or payment processing.
Summary
The speaker discusses a common e-commerce problem where customers reach the checkout page but fail to complete purchases. The root cause analysis hinges on two potential issues. First, advertisers may be optimizing their sales campaigns for the wrong conversion event—such as initiate checkout or add to cart—rather than optimizing directly for purchases. This tracking mismatch means ads are being guided by incomplete conversion signals. Second, there may be technical issues breaking the actual checkout funnel itself. To diagnose which problem exists, the speaker recommends comparing the rates of customers who initiate checkout versus those who reach checkout. If the drop-off occurs at the initiate checkout stage, this indicates a checkout functionality problem, most likely related to the payment processor. The speaker recommends testing the checkout flow personally and having friends make test purchases to verify the payment processing works correctly. If instead the drop-off is at the reach checkout stage, the issue traces back to traffic quality or ad performance—a problem that originates in the advertising strategy rather than the checkout infrastructure.
Key Insights
- Many advertisers optimize sales campaigns for intermediate conversion events like initiate checkout or add to cart rather than for actual purchases, which misaligns ad optimization with business goals
- The drop-off point between initiate checkout and reach checkout reveals whether the problem is checkout functionality versus traffic quality
- When customers drop off at the initiate checkout stage, the payment processor is the most likely culprit rather than the ad campaign
- Testing the checkout flow personally and having friends make test purchases is a diagnostic method to verify payment processing functionality
- When customers drop off at the reach checkout stage, the root cause traces back to ad performance and traffic quality rather than funnel mechanics
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] I have 25 reach checkout but no purchase either. You're optimizing for [snorts] the wrong conversion event on your ads. So, you're not doing a purchase conversion in your sales campaign. Maybe you're optimizing for initiate checkout or add to cart or something like that. Or you actually are optimizing for purchase and there's something broken in your funnel. If it's reached checkouts but no purchase, I would want to see how many reach checkout versus initiate checkout. And then if the drop off is on the initiate checkout, that's something with your checkout functionality. Most likely your payment processor. So, if you haven't already, you should go and buy from your own store. Have some friends buy from…
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