Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out and for sharing a bit about your store and the Meta ads you've started running. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've told me and what I've seen work (and not work!) with other e-commerce stores and SaaS products we've helped promote.
Getting that 4-5% Add to Cart rate is genuinely a positive sign, so good job on that front. It means your ads are attracting the right kind of eyeballs who are interested enough in the product itself to consider buying. That's half the battle won, in a way. However, going from 'Add to Cart' to a completed purchase is where a lot of e-commerce businesses trip up, and it's usually down to things happening *after* they click the 'add' button.
Giving the ads more time...
You mentioned you've spent about £80 over two days. Honestly, whilst I know it feels like money spent with no return yet, in the world of paid advertising, that is a minuscule amount of data for the platform's algorithm to work with, particularly if you're targeting two different countries. Meta's systems need a decent amount of conversion data – actual purchases – to learn who your ideal customer is and find more people like them. £80 won't give it that. The campaign is still very much in its 'learning phase', and you often see performance jump quite a bit once it's gathered enough data, which can sometimes take 5-7 days or even longer, especially for higher-priced items or in competitive niches.
Think of it like training a new employee. You wouldn't expect them to be a top performer on day two, right? They need time to understand the job, the customers, and figure things out. Ad algorithms are similar, they need data to get good at their job of finding buyers. Trying to judge performance or make big changes on such limited spend and time is pretty much impossible and can actually hinder the campaign's ability to optimise in the long run.
We'll need to look at the website checkout flow...
The most common reason people abandon their cart after adding items is something going wrong or changing during the checkout process itself. This is definitely the first place I'd look closely at. You'd want to dig into your Shopify analytics, or any other tracking you have set up, to see the exact point where people are dropping off.
Are they getting to the shipping page and then leaving? This could indicate the shipping costs are too high or unexpected. Maybe you offer free shipping, but the fact isn't prominent enough until that stage, which can be frustrating. Or perhaps delivery times are too long. Are they dropping off on the payment page? This might suggest issues with the payment gateway – is it secure? Does it offer the payment methods your customers expect (credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.)? Are there any technical glitches or slow loading times specifically on the checkout pages? Every extra step, every extra second it takes to load, every moment of confusion can cause someone to bounce.
Unexpected taxes or fees popping up at the end are also massive conversion killers. People calculate what they expect to pay, and if the final price jumps significantly, they're gone. Make sure all costs are super transparent as early as possible.
I'd say you need to build more trust...
Even if the price and shipping are right, people won't hand over their card details unless they feel completely comfortable and trust your store implicitly. For new online stores, this is often a big hurdle. Ask yourself, does your website look professional and legitimate? Is it fast to load? Does it feel secure?
Things that build trust include prominent contact information (a phone number, email address, and physical address if applicable), clear and fair return policies, privacy policies, and terms of service. Trust badges (like secure payment icons, SSL certificates shown, or even trustpilot/reviews.io scores) can help, though you want to be careful they don't clutter the page too much. Customer reviews and testimonials are gold – showing that other people have successfully bought from you and are happy makes a huge difference. We saw this with a cleaning product e-commerce client; getting proper customer reviews displayed really boosted their conversion rates.
Links to active social media profiles can also add a layer of authenticity, showing there's a real business and community behind the store. If your site feels clunky, slow, or outdated, it's hard for a first-time visitor to feel confident buying from you. Sometimes just cleaning up the design and improving site speed can unlock sales.
Reviewing your product pages and offers...
While the Add to Cart rate is good, perhaps there's something on the product page or the way the offer is presented that gives people pause before completing the final step. Are your product images high-quality and do they show the product from multiple angles? Are the product descriptions detailed, persuasive, and do they clearly explain the benefits and features? Sometimes people add to cart as a placeholder to keep considering, but aren't fully sold yet.
Is the pricing clearly displayed and competitive? Could adding a small, low-risk offer, like a discount for first-time buyers (maybe a popup when they first visit), or free shipping over a certain amount, give them that final nudge to buy? It gives them an extra reason to convert right now instead of thinking about it later (and likely forgetting).
Also, don't forget about retargeting. People who add to cart but don't buy are incredibly valuable because they've shown such strong purchase intent. Setting up a specific ad campaign to show them ads again, maybe with a small discount or a reminder of the product they liked, can be very effective at converting them later on. This is crucial because not everyone is ready to buy the first time they see something.
| Area | Recommendation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ads / Time | Allow significantly more budget (£500+) and time (min 7-10 days) for the campaign to run before evaluating performance. | Algorithms need sufficient data (esp. purchases) to exit the learning phase and optimise effectively. £80 isn't enough data. |
| Website - Checkout Flow | Use analytics to identify exact checkout drop-off points. Investigate shipping costs, taxes, payment options, page load speed, and technical glitches at each step. | Unexpected costs or friction in the final steps are the primary reasons for cart abandonment after ATC. |
| Website - Trust Factors | Enhance website professionalism, speed, and transparency. Add clear contact info, policies, reviews/testimonials, secure payment badges. | Buyers need to feel secure and confident in the store before entering payment details. A lack of trust is a major conversion barrier. |
| Website - Product/Offer | Review product images, descriptions, and pricing clarity. Consider testing a small first-time buyer offer or highlighting benefits more clearly. | Ensure the product presentation is persuasive and the offer is compelling enough to overcome any final hesitations after adding to cart. |
| Paid Ads Strategy | Plan for a retargeting campaign specifically for Add-to-Cart abandoners. | These users have shown high intent and are often cheaper and easier to convert with targeted follow-up ads. |
Optimising campaigns and conversion rates is definitely a process, and it takes time, data, and a lot of testing to get right. Identifying the specific bottlenecks like these requires digging into the numbers and having experience with common issues stores face. What you're seeing with the add-to-cart rate is promising, but closing that final step is often the hardest part.
Sometimes having an expert eye look over things – your account setup, targeting, creative, and crucially, your website and checkout flow – can quickly spot issues you might overlook. We've worked with numerous e-commerce businesses to troubleshoot these exact kinds of problems and improve that vital conversion rate from add-to-cart to purchase. It often involves a combination of ad-side tweaks and significant website improvements.
If you'd like a more in-depth look at your specific situation and a tailored plan, we'd be happy to book in a free consultation call to discuss it further. No pressure at all, but it could give you some clearer direction on what steps to prioritise next.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
