Why do my ads get add to carts but no sales?
Short answer
Either the add-to-carts aren’t real (a pixel counting twice inflates them), or real shoppers are stopping between the cart and payment, most often at shipping cost, delivery time or a payment step on mobile. Check the tracking first, then walk through checkout on a phone.
Why it happens
- Inflated add-to-carts. A doubled pixel or a second app makes add-to-carts look higher than they are.
- Shipping surprise. Shipping cost or delivery time appears for the first time at checkout.
- Mobile checkout friction. Most ad traffic is mobile. Slow pages, pop-ups or missing wallets lose buyers.
- Sold-out or broken products. Ads and collections still send shoppers to items they can’t buy.
How to fix it
- Compare with ShopifyCompare Meta’s add-to-carts with Shopify’s sessions with cart additions for the same days. Shopify counts sessions, not clicks, so expect Meta to be somewhat higher; a much larger gap points to tracking.
- Find the dropIn Shopify Analytics, look at sessions with cart additions, reached checkout and completed checkout. The biggest drop is where to start.
- Show costs earlyPut shipping cost and delivery time on the product page, not only at checkout.
- Test on a phonePlace a real order on your phone with a payment method customers use. Note every step that feels slow or surprising.
- Hide what can’t be boughtHide sold-out items from collections or turn on back-in-stock alerts.
Check it worked
Over the next two weeks, the share of sessions that reach checkout and complete it should rise.
Common questions
Is the ad creative the problem?
If people add to cart, the ad is doing part of its job. Fix the steps after the cart before changing the creative.
What is a normal add-to-cart to purchase rate?
It varies too much by product and price to give one number. Compare your own rate week to week.
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