When a store doesn’t sell enough, the tinkering usually starts in the wrong place: a new app installed, a countdown timer added, a discount popup on top. From the stores we run and take over, we know the pattern – and we know the big levers sit elsewhere. Mostly they are inconvenient, unglamorous things: product photos, shipping costs, load time. Here are the points we check first on every store, sorted by impact.

Measure first: you can’t fix what you can’t see

Before optimizing anything, it has to be clear where visitors actually drop off: on the product page, in the cart, or only in the checkout? Shopify shows the steps of the purchase funnel in its own reports; a properly configured analytics setup covers the rest. Without these numbers, every measure is a shot in the dark – and every agency selling you optimizations without looking at the data is selling guesses. Outside benchmarks are of limited help here: Statista puts the average conversion rate in global online retail at 1.6% for the third quarter of 2025, while personalization vendor Dynamic Yield arrives at 2.95%. When two sources sit that far apart, the only number you can rely on is the one from your own store.

A practical example: if most users abandon at the shipping step, the most beautiful product page won’t help. Then your problem sits three sections further down in this post.

The product page: photos sell, copy answers questions

The single biggest lever in almost every store we take over. One mid-resolution manufacturer photo and two sentences of description don’t sell – you wouldn’t buy that product in a shop either. What works: several photos of your own, the product in use, scale made visible, a short video where it helps.

For the copy, the rule is: answer the questions that would otherwise arrive by email. Material, dimensions, care, what’s in the box, who it suits and who it doesn’t. If you address the customer’s objections on the page, you save yourself the support tickets and win the sale. Reviews from other buyers reinforce this – but only real ones; purchased reviews are spotted faster than sellers believe.

Shipping costs and delivery times: early and honest

Shipping costs that only appear in the checkout are one of the most reliable purchase killers we see in funnel data. The fix costs nothing: show shipping costs and delivery time on the product page, not two clicks later. If there is a free-shipping threshold, it belongs somewhere prominent – as a side effect, it raises the average cart value.

Honesty also covers delivery times to Austria and Switzerland if you sell there. Swiss customers additionally want to know before buying what happens with customs and import fees. A short, clear shipping page answers that better than any app.

Payment methods: in the DACH market, the selection decides

Credit card alone doesn’t cut it in Austria and Germany. Selling here means offering the payment methods customers are used to: PayPal, Klarna, invoice purchase, EPS bank transfer in Austria, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay for the quick close on mobile. If the preferred method is missing, a share of buyers leaves without comment – and you won’t see it in any statistic, because those customers never enter the checkout at all.

Setup on Shopify is straightforward; the trade-off sits in the fees, which differ by payment method. Our advice: offer the selection first, then trim it based on actual usage.

Load time: it’s usually the apps

Slow Shopify stores are rarely slow because of Shopify. The platform and the current standard themes are fast – until apps enter the picture. Every app that displays something in the store loads its own scripts, and many keep doing so after uninstallation, because code leftovers remain in the theme. Add uncompressed images at original size, and mobile visitors in particular end up waiting.

The remedy is unspectacular: clear out the app list, remove orphaned script leftovers from the theme, upload images at sensible sizes. This is craftsmanship, not wizardry – and immediately noticeable on the phone, where according to Statista (2025) roughly 78% of visits to retail sites happen and about 70% of orders are placed.

Trust: the quiet deciding factor

Before anyone sends money to an unknown store, they look for proof the business actually exists. A complete imprint with address and phone number, a reachable contact, clear information on returns and withdrawal, real photos instead of stock images – each of these signals costs little and is still missing surprisingly often. Trust seals can add to this, but they don’t replace it.

And what about countdown timers, exit popups, and “only 2 left in stock” notices from the app crate? Our experience: pressure tactics of this kind work on an audience that buys once on price – and hurt with everyone you’d want as a returning customer. If your business model depends on repeat buyers, keep your hands off them.

The order of work if you start tomorrow

If your time is limited, work through the list from top to bottom:

Look at the purchase funnel report: where exactly do visitors drop off?
Rework your ten most-visited product pages: photos, question-answering copy, reviews
Bring shipping costs and delivery time onto the product page
Compare your payment options against what your audience expects
Audit the app list and load time, especially on mobile
Check imprint, contact, and returns information for completeness