Solved: Zero Purchases Despite High Traffic - POD Store

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your campaign. Your situation is incredibly common, so don't feel disheartened. The good news is that your data is telling a very clear story, but it's probably not the one you think it is. You're getting traffic, which is a start, but the real problem isn't your ads; it's what happens after the click. Let's get this sorted.

You're asking the wrong question...

Right, let's get one thing straight. A 6.86% CTR and a $0.27 CPC are completely and utterly irrelevant if you have zero sales. They're vanity metrics. They make you feel like something is working, but all they really confirm is that your ad creative is decent enough to get a click. That's it. It's the first step in a long journey, and right now, all your customers are falling off a cliff at the final step.

Think of your business as a bucket. You're spending money ($43.92 so far) to fill that bucket with water (traffic). But there’s a massive hole in the bottom of your bucket – your checkout process. You've got 29 'Adds to Cart' and 9 'Initiate Checkouts', which means people *want* your t-shirts. They like the design, they're interested in the price. But something is happening between them saying "I want this" and them actually giving you their money. That's the only thing we need to focus on. Pouring more money into ads right now is like trying to fill a leaky bucket by turning the tap on full blast. It’s expensive and it won't fix the hole.

I've seen this dozens of times. We worked on a campaign for a women's apparel brand, and they had amazing CTRs but sales were flat. Everyone was high-fiving over the ad metrics. The problem wasn't the ads at all; it was their confusing sizing guide and a surprise £8 shipping fee that only appeared on the final payment screen. Once we fixed that, the conversion rate tripled almost overnight with the exact same ads. Your problem is almost certainly on your website, not in your Ads Manager.

You've trained Meta to find window shoppers...

This is probably the most critical mistake you're making, and it's a bit of a contrarian view, but you need to hear it. You said your objective is 'Initiate Checkout'. By doing this, you have literally instructed one of the most powerful machine learning algorithms on the planet to find you people who are brilliant at starting the checkout process but have no intention of finishing it.

Meta's algorithm is not magic; it's a literal-minded beast. You gave it a goal, and it's achieving that goal perfectly. It's finding users who, based on their past behaviour, click 'Add to Cart' and 'Initiate Checkout' all the time across different websites, but rarely buy. These people are cheap to reach because serious advertisers who want actual sales aren't bidding for them. You're fishing in a pond full of people who just like to look.

You MUST change your campaign objective to 'Purchase'. Immediately. I don't care if you have zero purchase events on your pixel right now. You need to send the right signal. The algorithm needs to know that a purchase is the only outcome you value. For the first few days, your cost per result will show as 'N/A' or be very high, and that's fine. It's learning. It will be more expensive to reach actual buyers, so your CPC will likely go up and your CTR might even go down. This is a good thing. It means you're starting to reach a higher quality audience who actually spend money online.

You asked if it's a pixel issue. It's very unlikely. The pixel is recording the 'Initiate Checkout' events, so it's clearly working. The data in your Ads Manager is almost certainly reflecting real user behaviour. Nine different people went to your checkout and decided "nah, not for me". That's not a technical glitch; that's a business problem.

We'll need to look at your checkout process...

This is where the battle is won or lost. The moment a customer clicks 'Checkout', their mindset shifts. They go from being an excited shopper to a cautious buyer. Their guard is up. They are actively looking for reasons *not* to complete the purchase. Your job is to make this process as smooth, transparent, and reassuring as possible. Let's break down the likely culprits.

1. Surprise Costs (The #1 Conversion Killer)

I would bet my house that this is your main problem. You get a customer all the way to the final page, they've entered their address, and then BAM! A wild $7.99 shipping fee appears. It feels like a betrayal. It doesn't matter if the final price is reasonable. The shock of an unexpected cost at the last second creates massive friction and destroys trust. I've seen stores with 70-80% abandonment rates purely because of this.

You need to be completely transparent about costs.

• -> If you can offer free shipping (and bake the cost into the product price), do it. It's the most powerful offer in ecommerce.
• -> If you can't, state the shipping cost clearly on the product page itself. A simple "Shipping from $4.99" underneath the 'Add to Cart' button works wonders. No suprises.
• -> Use a shipping calculator in the cart, before the checkout begins. Let them see the full cost early on.

Remember that $43.92 you've spent? It generated 9 high-intent potential customers. If your t-shirt costs, say, $25, you've potentially lost out on $225 in revenue because of something as simple as a hidden shipping fee. Let's make that a bit more tangible.

2. Friction and Hassle

Is your checkout a pain to get through?

• -> Forcing Account Creation: Never, ever force users to create an account to buy from you. Always offer a 'Guest Checkout' option. You can ask them to create an account on the thank-you page *after* they've paid.
• -> Too Many Form Fields: Are you asking for their life story? Only ask for what is absolutely necessary to process the order. Name, address, email, payment. That's it. Ditch the 'Phone Number (Optional)' field if you can. Every extra box is another chance for them to give up.
• -> Lack of Payment Options: If you only offer credit card payments, you're losing sales. You need to have PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay enabled. These express checkout options are built on trust and convenience, and they can significantly boost conversion rates.

I'd say your store probably doesn't look trustworthy...

Let's be brutally honest. You're a new POD store. Nobody has ever heard of you. Why should they trust you with their credit card details? Trust isn't given; it's earned. And on a website, you have to earn it in seconds. This is often the biggest hurdle for new ecommerce businesses.

Go and look at your store right now, but try to see it through the eyes of a sceptical customer who's been burned online before.

• -> Your Product Images: Are you using the generic, flat mockups that every other POD store uses? They scream 'dropshipper'. They look cheap and untrustworthy. You need to invest in better mockups. There are services that provide high-quality lifestyle photos where your design can be placed. Better yet, order some samples yourself and take photos of real people wearing them. A simple video of you or a friend wearing the shirt and talking about the quality can be more powerful than any glossy ad.
• -> Product Descriptions: Is it just "4th of July T-Shirt"? Or does it tell a story? What's the material? How does it fit? Why is your design better than the thousand others available? Put some effort into the copy.
• -> Social Proof is Everything: You probably don't have reviews yet, and that's a huge disadvantage. You need to get them ASAP. Give some shirts to friends and family in exchange for an honest review with a photo. If you sell on Etsy or another marketplace, put a banner on your site that says "See our 5-star reviews on Etsy!" with a link. Anything to show that real people have bought from you and were happy.
• -> The Boring but crucial Stuff: Do you have a clear 'Returns Policy' page? A 'Shipping Information' page? An 'About Us' page that tells a story and shows a real person is behind the brand? A physical address or PO Box? A contact email that isn't a generic gmail account? Without these, you look like a scam. It's harsh, but it's true. These are trust signals.

I've created a simple flowchart to illustrate how these trust elements should be layered throughout your customer's journey. It's not just about one thing; it's about creating a consistent feeling of safety and professionalism from the moment they land on your site.

You probably should rethink your retargeting strategy...

To directly answer your question: yes, you absolutely should retarget the 9 people who initiated checkout and the 29 who added to cart. These are the warmest leads you have. They are one small nudge away from buying. But just showing them the same ad again won't work. You need to give them a reason to come back and finish what they started.

This is where you build your BoFu (Bottom of Funnel) campaign. It should be separate from your main prospecting campaign, with a smaller budget.

• -> The Audience: Create a custom audience of everyone who has performed the 'AddToCart' or 'InitiateCheckout' event in the last 7 days, and EXCLUDE people who have 'Purchased'. This targets them precisely.
• -> The Offer: Don't just show them the t-shirt again. Hit them with a simple, compelling offer. "Still thinking about it? Here's 10% off to help you decide. Code: JULY10" or "Complete your order now for free shipping!". A small incentive is often all it takes to overcome that final hesitation.
• -> The Urgency: Add some urgency. "Your cart expires soon!" or "Offer ends tonight!". This prompts immediate action.

I remember one subscription box client we worked with saw a 1000% Return On Ad Spend. Their main prospecting campaigns were doing okay, but their business was transformed by a ruthless retargeting campaign aimed at abandoned carts. They used a carousel ad showing the products in that month's box and offered a small free gift for completing the order within 24 hours. It was incredibly effective. Your 9 ICs and 29 ATCs are a goldmine you're currently ignoring.

You'll need a proper structure and testing plan...

Okay, that's a lot of information. Let's boil it down into a concrete action plan. This isn't about tweaking one little thing; it's about fundamentally fixing your sales process and then setting up your ads for success. Trying to optimise ads before your website converts is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You need to fix the hole in the ship first.

Your priorities for the next 48 hours should be:

1. Audit Your Checkout: Go through the purchase process yourself on both mobile and desktop. Is it easy? Are there any surprise fees? Be honest. Get a friend to do it too and give you unfiltered feedback.
2. Improve Your Store's Trust: Add shipping and return policy pages. Write a compelling 'About Us' section. Get at least one or two testimonials on the site, even if they're from friends. Upgrade your product mockups.
3. Restructure Your Ads: Pause your current campaign. Duplicate it, but change the objective to 'Purchase'. Then create a second, smaller budget campaign specifically for retargeting your cart abandoners with an offer.

This is the main advice I have for you. It’s a framework for moving forward that prioritises fixing the actual problems over chasing vanity metrics.

Implementing all of this correctly takes time, experience, and a lot of testing. It's not just about flipping a few switches; it's about understanding the deep psychology of online buyers and building a system that addresses their fears and motivations at every step. This is where getting some expert help can make a huge difference. You can spend the next six months and thousands of dollars figuring this out through trial and error, or you can work with someone who has already made those mistakes and knows how to build profitable campaigns from day one.

We do this for ecommerce businesses every single day, turning leaky buckets into well-oiled conversion machines. If you'd like to jump on a quick, completely free 20-minute call to go through your store and ad account together, we can pinpoint the exact issues and lay out a more detailed strategy for you. There's no obligation whatsoever, but I'm confident it would be incredibly valuable for you.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh