Start with page speed

Shoppers leave slow pages. Measure your category and product pages with PageSpeed Insights, then work through the largest problems: oversized product photos, too many scripts, and slow server responses.

• Resize product images to the size they are shown, and serve WebP or AVIF where your theme supports it.
• Use page caching for category and product pages, but never for carts, checkouts or account pages.
• Remove plugins and tracking scripts you no longer use. Each one adds requests on every page.
• Check slow database queries on busy product and order pages. See our database performance guide.

Make search easy to use

Many shoppers go straight to the search box. Check that it finds products by common spellings and synonyms, that it handles typos, and that it returns sensible results when a product is out of stock. Showing the number of results and simple filters, such as size and price, helps shoppers narrow their choices.

Keep the checkout simple

• Offer guest checkout, so shoppers do not have to create an account before they buy.
• Show the total, including shipping and taxes, before the payment step.
• Use your payment provider’s hosted payment fields, so card numbers never touch your server.
• Test the checkout on a phone, with a real payment in test mode, after every change.

Make shipping and returns clear

Unexpected costs are a common reason for abandoned carts. Publish your shipping rates and return policy on the product page or in the cart, and state delivery times in plain language.

Test one change at a time

Change one element, such as a button label or the order of checkout fields, and compare results over a full week. Keep the old version available so you can go back. Testing tools add their own scripts, so check page speed again after you add one, and remove the tool when the test ends.

Hosting and infrastructure

A store with a slow server loses sales during busy periods. Choose a plan that matches your catalogue and traffic, keep the platform and extensions updated, and plan capacity before a sale. See our guides to Magento for high traffic and WooCommerce on a VPS.

Review what your store tracks

• Track the steps of the funnel: product view, add to cart, checkout started, order placed.
• Look at the pages where shoppers leave most often, and check them on a phone.
• Compare mobile and desktop results separately.

Check the mobile version first

Most shoppers now browse on a phone. Open the store on a phone with a slow connection, and walk through a purchase: find a product, add it to the cart, and pay. Anything that needs zooming, scrolling sideways or retyping is a conversion problem.

Make product pages sell

• Show the price, stock status and delivery time near the add-to-cart button.
• Use clear product photos from several angles, and a short description that answers the common questions.
• Show reviews and ratings only when they are genuine, and link to the full set.
• Place a clear, single call to action, not several competing buttons.

Reduce cart abandonment

Shoppers leave carts for many reasons: unexpected costs, a long form, or a payment method they do not trust. Show the full cost early, offer the payment methods your customers use, and send a reminder email to shoppers who leave with items in the cart, with your permission and in line with privacy rules.

Build trust at the point of payment

Show the payment methods you accept, a secure-checkout note from your payment provider, and a clear returns policy near the payment step. Use HTTPS on every page, including the checkout, and keep your contact details visible.

Check your payment options

Offer the payment methods your customers actually use, and check that each one works on phones and in every country you sell to. A declined or failed payment is a lost order, so review failures in your payment provider’s reports each week.