Shopify conversion rate optimization: the steps

A shopper moves through a fixed sequence: a product page with choices, a cart that adds up those choices, a line for shipping and tax, then checkout. Each screen can ask something the shopper cannot answer yet. On some themes, a sold-out size turns the button off without saying why. A shipping cost appears only after the address is typed. A discount code fails a minimum the cart never showed. Nothing errors. The visit just ends on that screen.

• Compare the drop between each pair of steps in your analytics, and note the biggest one.
• On a phone, open one product in a private window and find Add to cart without scrolling.
• Choose a sold-out size and note whether the page says why the button is off.
• Enter a discount code below your store's minimum and read the message it gives.

The wrong version opens the size picker on the first option, which happens to be sold out. The Add to cart button turns off, the page shows no reason, and the shopper tries another color, then another product. The right version opens on a size that can be bought and labels each sold-out size in plain words, so the shopper sees the reason before they try.

The phone version adds a second problem. A review widget, a size guide or a sticky bar pushes Add to cart below the first screen. A shopper who has to scroll past a long review block may not scroll at all. Put the button above the first screen on a phone, and test with the sticky bar on, since it can cover the button in some layouts.

The wrong version shows the shipping line only at checkout, after the shopper has typed an address and watched the total change. The right version puts a delivery estimate or a free-shipping threshold on the product or cart page, so the shopper decides with the real price in view. A threshold message helps only if the cart applies the threshold the way the message states it.

Cart apps add a second risk. An upsell drawer or a cross-sell widget can sit over the checkout button, so the shopper sees a total and no way forward. Open the cart on a phone with every app on and check that Checkout is reachable. If it is not, turn off one app at a time until it is. Each new app can add one more of these, so check after every install.

The wrong version asks for a customer account before payment, or requires fields the order never uses. Read your checkout for any required field the order does not use, such as an account or a phone number. Each required field is a place a shopper can stop, and it stops quietly when the field sits low on a phone screen.

Discount codes need the same care. A code that fails with no reason looks like a broken store to the shopper. The right version names the rule when the code does not apply, such as a minimum spend or a product it excludes. Then test one code that should fail and one that should work, and read the message each time.

Review, upsell and sticky-bar apps change the product page or the cart when they are installed. After each theme update or app install, run the same simulated shoppers from a product page to the payment step on a phone and a laptop. Keep the path and the variant identical, so the next run compares like with like.