Updated 1 October 2026. First published 3 January 2023.

The most useful ecommerce checks follow the customer’s path: finding the right product, deciding whether it meets their needs, understanding the total cost and completing payment. When visitors are not buying, find where that path breaks before buying more traffic or redesigning everything.

Use these ten checks to turn a broad concern into a specific improvement. A website issue is one possible cause; demand, pricing, stock and traffic quality matter too.

Find the first point of friction

Choose a common product and use a real phone to find it, select a variant and reach checkout. Check the journey for a new customer, rather than relying on an administrator’s account. Use your payment provider’s approved test process for payment tests.

Ten mistakes to check

Product navigation that depends on guesswork

Try finding an item by both its name and the words a customer might use. Check categories, search, filters and empty results. Make useful categories and products reachable through ordinary links. Google’s ecommerce navigation guidance also explains how links help search systems understand a store.

Product pages that leave basic questions unanswered

Check dimensions, compatibility, included items, variants, stock and useful images. Say what is unknown instead of filling gaps with vague benefits. Only use authentic reviews and evidence you can support.

A mobile journey that only works on desktop

Check menus, variant selectors, cart controls and payment fields on a narrow screen. Text should be readable, controls usable and essential information visible without a sideways scroll.

Delivery costs that arrive too late

Make delivery areas, likely timing and the method for calculating charges easy to find. Test a representative postcode and check that the total shown is consistent throughout checkout.

Returns information that is hard to find

Link to clear, current returns and exchange information near the buying decision. Make the contact route obvious. Have the business review the policy itself; improving its presentation does not establish that its wording is suitable.

Checkout that asks for more than it needs

Check required fields, guest checkout where supported, autofill and recovery after an error. Explain any information genuinely needed to fulfil the order. An avoidable account or field requirement can make the task harder.

Payment failures with no useful recovery

Test the supported payment methods and error states using the provider’s test tools. Check that the customer gets a clear message, can retry safely and receives accurate order confirmation. Adding more methods will not repair a broken payment flow.

Slow or unstable pages at important steps

Look for oversized images, scripts that block interaction and elements that jump as they load. Start with product, cart and checkout pages. Test what a person experiences as well as a lab score; one score does not describe every visit.

Store information that disagrees with other systems

Compare stock, prices, discounts and order status across the store and connected software. Trace a test record and check who handles a failed update. Integration work can address the hand-off when a page change alone cannot.

Marketing decisions made without a reliable buying baseline

Separate visits, product views, checkout starts and successful purchases. Check that events are not duplicated and that failed payments are not counted as orders. Review actual customer questions alongside the numbers before choosing the next campaign.

Choose one fix you can verify

Record the problem, the change and a comparable before/after period. Do not claim an improvement from a short run or a single order. Keep a way to reverse the change if it causes a new problem.