9 Shopify Store Mistakes That Kill Sales (How to Fix Them)

Why your Shopify store isn’t selling

Shopify store mistakes rarely look dramatic. The store opens, the products show up, and the theme looks fine. People even add things to their cart. Then they leave.

That last part is normal up to a point. Baymard Institute averages 50 studies on cart abandonment and puts the rate at 70.22%. So roughly 7 out of 10 carts never become orders, on almost every store. You can’t fix all of that. But a good share of it comes from problems store owners create themselves, and those you can fix.

I’ve built and repaired Shopify and WooCommerce stores for Indian businesses for over 13 years. The same nine Shopify store mistakes come up again and again. Here they are, with what to do about each one.

1. A slow store, usually because of too many apps

Speed is the first of the Shopify store mistakes I check, because shoppers on mobile data won’t wait. Google found back in 2016 that 53% of mobile visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than three seconds to load. Phones are faster now, but patience hasn’t improved.

The usual cause on Shopify is apps. Shopify’s own help pages say each feature you add, including apps, videos, carousels and social feeds, can affect your store’s performance. Many apps also leave code behind after you uninstall them.

How to fix it:

• Check the web performance report in your Shopify admin’s Analytics section. It tracks loading speed, interactivity and visual stability.
• Aim for Google’s Core Web Vitals targets: LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 ms and CLS under 0.1.
• Remove apps you don’t use, then ask your developer to clean leftover app code from the theme.
• Compress images and avoid auto-playing videos and heavy sliders on the homepage.

2. A store designed on a laptop, used on a phone

In my client projects, most traffic comes from phones, yet many stores are still designed and approved on a big desktop screen. The result is tiny text, buttons too close together, and pop-ups that cover the whole screen.

How to fix it:

• Open your store on an actual phone, not just your browser’s mobile preview, and try to buy something.
• Keep the Add to cart button visible without scrolling on product pages.
• Make tap targets big enough for a thumb, and keep body text at a readable size.
• Delay or remove pop-ups that appear the moment someone lands.

3. Product pages that don’t answer questions

A shopper can’t touch your product, so the product page has to do the talking. Thin descriptions, one blurry photo and no size details send people back to Google to look elsewhere.

How to fix it:

• Use 4 to 6 clear photos per product, including one showing scale or the product in use.
• Write descriptions that answer real questions: material, size, fit, care, what’s in the box and who it’s for.
• Add a size chart for clothing and footwear.
• Show stock status and expected delivery time near the price.
• Add an FAQ section for common questions. Here’s my guide to building a custom FAQ section in Shopify without an app.

4. Surprise costs at checkout

This is the biggest of all Shopify store mistakes. In Baymard’s survey, 40% of shoppers who abandoned a cart did so because extra costs like shipping, tax or fees were too high. Another 12% left because they couldn’t see the total cost up front.

Nobody minds paying for shipping as much as they mind discovering it on the last screen.

How to fix it:

• Show shipping charges, or a free-shipping threshold, on the product page and in the cart.
• Put a simple banner at the top of the store: “Free shipping above ₹999” (use your own number).
• If you charge extra for COD, say so before checkout, not during it.

5. Payment options that don’t match Indian shoppers

Indian shoppers expect UPI, and many still want cash on delivery, especially on a first order with a brand they don’t know. In Baymard’s survey, 9% of shoppers left because there weren’t enough payment methods.

Shopify supports COD as a manual payment method. You turn it on under Settings > Payments. Orders come in marked as unpaid, and you mark them paid once the cash arrives. Shopify doesn’t charge third-party transaction fees on manual payments.

How to fix it:

• Offer UPI, cards and net banking through a gateway that works well in India. If you’re considering PhonePe, here’s how to integrate PhonePe with your Shopify store.
• Turn on COD if your products and margins allow it, and consider a small COD fee or a prepaid discount to reduce returns.
• Test every payment method yourself with a real order before you run ads.

Need help choosing or setting up a gateway? See my payment gateway integration service.

6. A checkout that asks too much

In Baymard’s survey, 18% of shoppers left because the site required them to create an account, and 17% said the checkout was too long or complicated. Every extra field gives someone another reason to stop.

How to fix it:

• Allow guest checkout so first-time buyers aren’t forced to create an account.
• Remove checkout fields you don’t actually need.
• Avoid adding apps that inject extra steps or pop-ups into checkout.
• Place a test order on your phone once a month to catch new problems.

7. Nothing that tells shoppers they can trust you

A new store with no reviews, no address and a vague returns policy looks risky, even if the products are great. In Baymard’s survey, 19% of shoppers left because they didn’t trust the site with their card details, and 13% because of an unsatisfactory returns policy.

How to fix it:

• Show real customer reviews on product pages. You can add a reviews slider in Shopify without an app.
• Write a clear returns and refund policy in plain language, and link it near the Add to cart button.
• Put your business name, address, phone number and WhatsApp on the Contact page and in the footer.
• Use your own domain and a matching business email, not a free Gmail address.

8. Ignoring SEO and product data

One of the costliest Shopify store mistakes is spending everything on ads and nothing on being found for free. Default product titles, empty meta descriptions and copied manufacturer text make it hard for Google, and now AI shopping agents, to understand what you sell.

How to fix it:

• Write product titles the way customers search: “Women’s cotton kurta, indigo block print” beats “Kurta 101”.
• Fill in the SEO title and meta description for every product and collection.
• Add alt text to product images.
• Write your own descriptions instead of pasting the supplier’s.

AI shopping agents read this same product data. My article on how Shopify opened its catalog to AI shopping agents explains why it matters more than ever.

9. Letting abandoned checkouts go without a follow-up

Shopify treats a checkout as abandoned when a customer enters their email address but doesn’t finish within 10 minutes. You can send them an automatic reminder with a link back to their checkout, and many stores never turn it on.

How to fix it:

• In your Shopify admin, open Apps > Messaging > Automations and turn on the “Abandoned checkout emails by Shopify” automation. You choose who gets the email and how long after abandonment it goes out.
• Write the email like a friendly reminder, not a sales blast. Mention the product by name.
• Check Orders > Abandoned checkouts each week. You can also send a recovery link to a customer manually from there.

Shopify only sends these emails for the Online Store and Buy Button channels. It won’t send one if the customer entered a phone number instead of an email, or if the products are no longer available.

A 15-minute audit to catch Shopify store mistakes

Run through this list on your phone. Every “no” is a sale you might be losing.

For a wider check that covers AI shopping too, see my guide: Is your ecommerce store ready for AI shopping?

Which Shopify store mistakes to fix first

If you only fix three things this week, fix costs, payments and speed. Show shipping early, make sure UPI and COD actually work, and remove the apps you forgot you installed. In my experience, those three changes usually help more than a new theme or another ad campaign.

The rest are slower wins. Better product pages and SEO take time to pay off, but they keep paying once they do.

Want a second pair of eyes on your store? I’ll go through your Shopify store and tell you which of these Shopify store mistakes are costing you sales. Take a look at my Shopify development services, or get in touch for a store review.

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