The short answer
If your shop's analytics show real visitors and genuine time on page but orders stay flat, the fault almost always sits in a handful of specific places: delivery costs shown too late, a checkout that forces account creation, missing payment options shoppers expect, product photos that don't work on a phone, or simply not enough visible trust (reviews, returns policy, who you actually are). Run through the ten points below in order. Most shops find at least two or three things worth fixing within the first five.
Why "traffic but no sales" is different from "no traffic"
These are two different problems with two different fixes, and it's worth being sure which one you've actually got before spending time or money on either. If your analytics show a reasonable number of sessions, people spending real time on product pages, and some items added to baskets, the shop itself is where sales are going missing, not your visibility. If sessions are low to begin with, that's a different problem, covered in our guide to customers not finding your shop on Google. This audit is for the first case: real interest that isn't turning into orders.
1. Delivery costs shown too late
The single most common thing we find. A shopper adds something to the basket believing the price is final, gets to the last step of checkout, and discovers delivery adds more than they expected. Many simply abandon rather than feel caught out. Show delivery cost (or a clear estimate, like "from £3.95" with a link to full rates) on the product page or basket, not only at the final step.
2. Forced account creation
A checkout that demands a full account, a password and an email confirmation before it'll take payment is one extra barrier a first-time buyer didn't sign up for. Guest checkout, with an option to create an account afterwards if they want one, removes a step that costs you some portion of buyers every time it's there.
3. Payment options shoppers expect
Card payment alone isn't necessarily enough any more. Apple Pay and Google Pay let a phone shopper pay in two taps, no card details to type. PayPal still matters to a meaningful slice of UK shoppers who trust it more than typing card details into an unfamiliar shop. A buy-now-pay-later option such as Klarna or Clearpay can matter for higher-priced items, though it's worth weighing the fees against your margins before adding one. None of this means offering everything. It means checking which of these your actual customers expect and are missing.
4. Photos and pages that fail on a phone
Most browsing happens on a phone, so a product photo that needed pinching to see the detail on a laptop is often unreadable on a small screen. Square or near-square crops, a close-up of material, texture or label detail, and text that doesn't shrink to nothing on mobile all matter more than they look like they should. If a product needs a size guide or a dimension chart, make sure it renders properly on a phone screen, not just as a tiny image that needs zooming.
5. Trust: returns, reviews and who you are
A first-time visitor on an unfamiliar domain is deciding, often unconsciously, whether this is a real, safe business to hand card details to. A visible returns policy, genuine reviews (not just a star rating with no text), and basic signals like a real address and a working contact method all do real work here. Our guide to returns, refunds and the 14-day rule covers what the policy itself needs to say.
6. Checkout length and unnecessary fields
Every field in a checkout form is a small chance someone gives up. A phone number that isn't actually needed, a company name field with no obvious purpose, an address lookup that doesn't work properly on mobile: each one is a tiny bit of friction that adds up. The fields that are genuinely needed are usually name, address, email and payment. Anything beyond that is worth questioning.
7. Page speed, especially on mobile
A product page that takes several seconds to load on a mobile connection loses people before they've even seen it properly, particularly if they're comparing you to a competitor's tab open alongside yours. Large, unoptimised photos are usually the biggest cause on a shop site specifically, more so than on a typical brochure website.
8. What UK basket abandonment figures actually tell you
Various industry sources publish UK basket abandonment figures, and they vary depending on who measured them and when, so treat any single number as indicative rather than exact, and check the source and date before repeating one. What they consistently agree on is the pattern: unexpected costs, a forced account and a complicated checkout are named as the leading causes, which matches what we see on shops we look at directly. The useful takeaway isn't the headline percentage, it's that these specific, fixable causes keep showing up.
9. Stock that doesn't match reality
If a product shows as available but isn't actually in stock, because the till and the website aren't properly synced, a shopper who completes an order only to get an apologetic email afterwards won't come back for a second try. This is a separate, upstream problem from checkout itself. Our guide to keeping till and website stock in sync covers the fix.
10. Run the audit yourself
On your phone, with a cup of tea rather than mid-shift: add a real product to the basket and go all the way through to the final payment screen without actually paying. Note every point where you hesitated, every field that felt unnecessary, and the exact moment delivery cost first appeared. Do the same on two competitors' sites if you can bear it. The comparison is usually more useful than auditing your own site in isolation.
When to get help, and what we'd do
Most of what's on this list, delivery cost placement, guest checkout, payment options, photo sizing, trust signals, is fixable without rebuilding the shop, and that's our web-refresh work: keeping your products, domain and order history while fixing the specific points costing you orders. If the audit points to the platform itself being the real limit, no guest checkout option at all, no way to add Apple Pay, that's usually when a proper web-shop rebuild is worth it instead. We'll tell you honestly on the free call which one actually applies, rather than assuming the bigger project.
See our website service for how a project like this runs, or the main guide to a shop's website not converting visitors into orders for the wider picture this audit sits inside.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my problem is traffic or conversion?
Check your analytics for sessions and time on page. If both look reasonable but orders don't match, the shop itself is where sales are being lost. If sessions are low to begin with, visibility is the more likely issue, covered in our local SEO guide.
Is basket abandonment always a bad sign?
Not entirely. Some abandonment is just window shopping or price comparison and always will be. The useful signal is whether specific, fixable friction (unexpected delivery costs, a forced account, a broken mobile checkout) is adding to it beyond that normal baseline.
Do I need every payment option on this list?
No. The point is checking which ones your actual customers expect and are missing, not adding everything available. Apple Pay and Google Pay matter most for mobile shoppers; PayPal matters most where customers don't yet trust your own checkout with card details.
Will fixing checkout alone guarantee more sales?
It removes friction that's quietly costing you some of the interest you're already generating, but it isn't a guarantee of a flood of new orders. Think of it as recovering sales you're currently losing rather than manufacturing demand that wasn't there.
How long does a checkout fix usually take?
Smaller fixes like showing delivery costs earlier or enabling a guest checkout option can often be live within a couple of weeks. A fuller refresh covering photos, speed and trust signals together usually takes two to four weeks.