Solved: 17 Add to Carts, Only 1 Purchase - Website Issue?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts on the numbers you're seeing. It's a really common problem, but the good news is that it's usually very fixable once you know where to look.

You're asking if this drop-off is normal. The brutally honest answer is no, it's not. While people do add items to a cart just to check shipping costs, a conversion rate of 1 out of 17 cart additions is a clear sign that something is breaking down in the final steps of your sales process. You've done the hard part – your ads are convincing enough to get people to the site and interested enough to add a product to their basket. The issue isn't the ads; it's what happens after that first click of commitment.

You're essentially filling a bucket with very expensive water (your ad traffic), but it's riddled with holes. Before you spend another pound trying to fill it faster, we need to plug those holes.

We'll need to look at your conversion funnel to see the leaks...

Let's visualise what's happening. Your customer journey, based on the numbers you gave, looks something like this. You have two massive drop-off points: one between adding to cart and starting the checkout, and another one during the checkout process itself.

Seeing it laid out like this makes it pretty clear. You're losing over half your potential buyers before they even start to give you their details, and then almost all of the remaining ones give up during the checkout itself. Let's break down why this is likely happening.

I'd say you have a friction and trust problem...

When we see a drop-off pattern like this, it almost always comes down to two things: friction and trust. People are excited about the product, but something in the process makes it too difficult, too expensive, or too sketchy for them to follow through.

The First Hurdle: Cart to Checkout (17 users -> 6 users)

This is where the reality of the purchase hits them. The massive drop here is typical of one major issue:

• Unexpected Costs: This is the number one killer of online sales. A customer has a price in their head, they add it to the cart, and then on the next page they get hit with a £5.99 shipping fee, plus tax. It feels like a bait-and-switch. Many people use the "add to cart" button purely to calculate the final, all-in price. If that price is higher than they expected, they're gone. You need to be transparent with shipping costs on the product page itself, or in a banner at the top of your site. "Free shipping over £50" is a powerful motivator.
• Forced Account Creation: Are you forcing users to create an account before they can check out? This is a huge point of friction. Nobody wants another password to remember. Always, always offer a "Guest Checkout" option. You can ask them to create an account *after* the purchase is complete, but don't put a barrier in front of the sale.

The Final Hurdle: During Checkout (6 users -> 1 user)

These 6 users were committed enough to start the process. They were ready to buy, but something stopped them. For five of them, the process was too much hassle or raised too many red flags.

• A Clunky Checkout Process: How many fields are you asking them to fill out? Name, email, address, phone number... is it all necessary? Is it spread across multiple, slow-loading pages? Streamline it. Use tools that auto-fill addresses. Make it one single, simple page if you can. Every extra click is a chance for them to leave.
• Limited Payment Options: If you only offer credit card payments, you're losing customers. People want the convenience and security of PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. These options also let them check out faster without needing to find their wallet, which is a massive plus on mobile.
• Lack of Trust Signals: This is probably the biggest underlying issue. The checkout page is where customers are most vulnerable. They're about to give you their money and personal information. If your site looks even slightly unprofessional or untrustworthy, they will bail. You absolutly need:
  • -> A professional, clean design. No weird fonts, low-quality images, or spelling mistakes.
  • -> Clear security badges (SSL certificate, icons for Visa, Mastercard, PayPal). This shows their data is safe.
  • -> An obvious link to your returns policy and contact information. This shows you're a real business that stands behind its products.
  • -> Customer reviews or testimonials. Social proof is incredibly powerful. Seeing that other people have bought from you and had a good experience reduces perceived risk. I remember a campaign for a women's apparel client where building this kind of trust was essential; we achieved a 691% return on ad spend on that project.

You have to look at your website through the eyes of a sceptical first-time visitor. Would you feel comfortable putting your credit card details into your own site? If there's any hesitation, that's what you need to fix.

You'll need to calculate the real cost of these leaks...

It's one thing to talk about drop-offs, but it's another to see the actual money you're leaving on the table. A high cart abandonment rate isn't just a missed sale; it's a waste of the ad spend that brought the customer there in the first place. Use this calculator to get a rough idea of the financial impact. Adjust the sliders to see how a small improvement in your checkout conversion rate could dramatically increase your revenue without spending a penny more on ads.

You probably should use ads to recover lost sales (but only after you fix things)...

Once you've tightened up your website and checkout process, you can use a simple but powerful retargeting strategy on Meta to bring back some of those users who abandoned their carts. Don't do this until you've fixed the other issues, or you're just reminding people about a bad experience.

The idea is to create specific ad sets that target people based on how close they got to purchasing. I'd prioritise them like this:

1. Initiated Checkout (BoFu): These are your hottest leads. They started filling in their payment details. Target them with an ad within 24-48 hours. The copy should be simple and direct: "Did you forget something?" or "Still thinking it over? Your items are waiting." Sometimes a small, time-sensitive discount code ("Use code COMEBACK10 for 10% off in the next 24 hours") can be enough to get them over the line.
2. Added to Cart (BoFu): This is a slightly cooler audience, but still very valuable. Target them within 1-3 days. You can use dynamic ads to show them the exact product they left in their cart. The messaging can be similar to the checkout abandoners, reminding them of the product's benefits.

This approach allows you to spend your retargeting budget more efficiently, focusing on the users most likely to convert first. It's a standard part of any succesful eCommerce ad strategy.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in, but fixing this is the highest-leverage activity you can do for your business right now. Every percentage point you improve your conversion rate drops straight to your bottom line. Here's a summary of the actionable steps I'd recommend.

Working through these points methodically will have a far greater impact on your profitability than any changes you could make to your ad campaigns right now. It requires a bit of work on the website side, but the payoff is enormous.

Optimising a conversion funnel like this is exactly the kind of work we specialise in. It's not just about running ads; it's about making sure the entire system, from click to conversion, is working as efficiently as possible. Sometimes a fresh pair of expert eyes can spot the small points of friction that are costing you thousands.

If you'd like to chat through your specific website and have us do a proper audit of your customer journey, we offer a free initial consultation to do just that. We can walk through the site together and pinpoint the exact areas for improvement.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh