My ads get clicks but no sales. Is it the ad or the store?

By Dan BartleyUpdated 11 October 20264 minute read

The short answer

Look at what happens after the click. If people click and leave before the page loads, or leave straight away, look at the ad and its placements. If they stay, browse and add to cart but do not buy, look at the store. The quickest test is the same product page’s conversion rate from other traffic, such as email or search.

Which numbers show whether it is the ad or the store?

Follow one ad’s clicks through to purchases. Ads Manager can show link clicks, landing page views, adds to cart, checkouts initiated and purchases, and the step with the biggest drop tells you where to look.

Where the drop happens, and whose problem it usually is

Where the drop happens	What it usually means	Ad or store
Many link clicks, far fewer landing page views	People left before the page loaded: a slow page, or clicks nobody meant	Both: the page speed and the placements
Landing page views, almost no adds to cart	The page did not match the ad, or did not convince	Usually the store, sometimes the ad
Adds to cart, few checkouts	A cost or a delay revealed in the cart	The store
Checkouts started, few purchases	Payment options, a forced account or a late shipping charge	The store
Orders in Shopify that Meta does not show	Purchases are not reaching Meta	The tracking setup

Add the columns in Ads Manager under Customise columns, and check that the add-to-cart and purchase events are firing before you trust them.

When is the ad the problem?

When it brings the wrong people or promises something the page does not deliver. A hook that is intriguing rather than relevant, or a discount the page does not show, wins clicks that were never going to turn into sales.

The ad promises an offer or a price that is not on the page
The ad is vague about what is being sold, so people click to find out
Most clicks come from one placement and none of them add to cart, which shows in a breakdown by placement
The campaign is optimised for clicks or landing page views rather than purchases
The ad shows a product, colour or bundle that the link does not lead to

When is the store the problem?

When the right people arrive, look around and still leave. If visitors view several pages or add to cart, the ad did its job and something on the page, the price or the checkout stopped them.

Photos that show the size, the material and the product in use
The price, delivery cost and delivery time near the add to cart
Reviews, a returns policy and contact details a buyer can find
A page that loads quickly and works well on a phone

Why a store gets traffic but no sales goes through the store side step by step.

How do I test whether it is the ad or the store?

Compare the same product page across traffic sources. If visitors from email, search or returning customers buy from that page and visitors from the ad do not, the page can sell and the ad is bringing the wrong people or the wrong expectation.

In Shopify, check the product page’s conversion rate by traffic source over the last month
If no source converts on that page, fix the page before spending more on ads
If other sources convert and paid social does not, compare what the ad says with what the page shows
Run two or three clearly different ads to the same page: if one sells, the page works and the others were the problem

Why do the ad and the product page need to match?

Because the click is a promise. A buyer who tapped a sofa in a sunlit living room expects to see that sofa, in that room, near the top of the page, at the price the ad showed.

Use the ad’s main image as the first product image, or at least among the first few, so the buyer recognises the product straight away. If the ad mentions free delivery or a sale price, put it beside the add to cart. More on choosing that frame in what the first product image should be.

What should I fix first, the ad or the page?

Whichever side the numbers point to, and the page when it is unclear, because every ad you run after this sends people to the same page.

If the ads need replacing, Bartley Studio’s ad creative is built to Meta’s placement specs as distinct concepts, with a test plan for each batch (get your price). If the page needs better photos, product imagery is made from a couple of phone photos of each product, with the first look in 2 to 3 working days.