Why do people visit your store, add products to the cart… and disappear?
That's the kind of existential question we all ask ourselves at least once, usually on a random Wednesday at 2:45 p.m., while staring at analytics and half-heartedly eating a snack.
Many online stores have solid products. The prices are fair. The photos look professional. The site feels trustworthy. There's even investment in design…
And still, the carts remain empty.
So… what went wrong?
Often, and this is the core of this article, e-commerce brands focus only on selling. They use the platform to force the sale with whatever they have: banners, emails, pop-ups, urgency everywhere...
But they don't really think about offering a high-quality user experience. With so much happening during the onboarding, something breaks. The illusion is gone. The buying intent dies.
There's no magic fix. And if there is, it probably involves keeping things simple, letting the user interact with the product, feel it, and take their time to decide.
Over two-thirds of global traffic now comes from mobile devices, often via social media. That brings us to two key points:
Mobile devices:
No one wants to wait 3 seconds for a page to load. Phones have limited
resources, so optimization matters. Also, all that sales urgency? On a
small screen, it just feels overwhelming.
Social media:
Your website should be easy to navigate and fast to consume. Think of Zara: big visuals that hold attention, and a buy button
right next to them. That type of flow works.
If you're curious about site speed, check out our related article:
Why Your Ecommerce Site Is Slow — And How to Fix It (2025 Guide)Assuming your site isn't a mess in terms of performance or navigation, then what really matters is this:
Make it fast to consume.
- If your store requires users to register (even with Google or Facebook), you've already lost some of them.
- If they have to calculate the final price + taxes + shipping costs, you've lost more (and trust).
- If they need to fill out a 14-field form, they'll go buy elsewhere. Only ask for the minimum required info (and you'll also be GDPR-compliant).
Traffic doesn't guarantee sales. That's more about who you're attracting, and how your brand sells.
But one thing is certain:
If your store is slow, confusing, or full of friction, it doesn't
matter how much traffic you get; you'll lose customers who were
already ready to buy.
And one last thing:
Just because you can throw cotton and foam into a machine and get 200
units out, doesn't mean the user experience has to be inhuman, or
reduced to some cold, cost-cutting process.
Just because you can automate something, doesn't mean you should dehumanize it.
Good e-commerce doesn't just sell. It walks with the customer.