How to run an ecommerce funnel audit
Most stores do not have a traffic problem. They have a leak problem. This is the same seven-step CRO framework we use at Ecometry to find where revenue escapes a store, and to decide what to fix first.
Map the customer journey end to end
Write down every step a buyer takes: ad or search result, landing page, collection, product page, cart, checkout, confirmation, and the first 30 days after purchase. Most audits fail because they start at the product page and never look at the traffic promise that got the visitor there. If the ad sells a discount and the landing page sells a story, the gap is your first leak.
- Every paid and organic entry point listed with its promise
- Each step named, owned, and measurable
- Mobile and desktop journeys mapped separately
Instrument every stage before judging it
You cannot audit what you cannot see. Confirm analytics and pixel events fire correctly for view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, and purchase, and that server-side and browser numbers agree within a tolerable margin. Broken tracking is the single most common reason a funnel looks worse (or better) than it is.
- Ecommerce events fire once, not twice
- Revenue in analytics reconciles with your store admin
- Session recordings and heatmaps running on key templates
Measure stage-by-stage drop-off
Convert the journey into a table: sessions, product views, add-to-carts, checkouts started, and orders. Calculate the conversion rate between each pair. The largest absolute drop in units, not the ugliest percentage, is where your money is. Segment by device and traffic source before drawing conclusions, since a mobile-only collapse reads very differently from a sitewide one.
- Rates calculated per stage, not just overall CVR
- Split by device, new vs returning, and channel
- Compared against your own trailing 90 days, not industry averages
Audit the product page
The product page is where intent is either converted or lost. Check that the offer is legible above the fold, that pricing and shipping expectations are stated early, that imagery answers the objections buyers actually have, and that social proof sits near the buy button rather than at the bottom of the page. Load time matters here more than anywhere else on the site.
- Value proposition and price visible without scrolling on mobile
- Shipping, returns, and delivery window stated before the cart
- Reviews and trust signals adjacent to the add-to-cart button
- Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5s on 4G
Audit cart and checkout friction
Checkout drop-off is usually caused by surprises rather than design. Unexpected shipping cost, a forced account creation, a missing payment method, or a slow third-party app can each cost double-digit percentages. Walk the checkout yourself on a real phone, on a slow connection, as a new customer, and count every additional tap.
- Total cost, including shipping and tax, shown before checkout
- Guest checkout enabled and express wallets available
- No unnecessary fields; address autocomplete active
- Abandoned-cart recovery sequence live and tested
Audit post-purchase and retention
A funnel audit that stops at the order confirmation ignores most of the profit. Look at repeat purchase rate, time to second order, and the share of revenue produced by owned channels. Weak lifecycle flows quietly force you to buy every sale twice.
- Welcome, browse-abandon, and post-purchase flows all live
- Repeat purchase rate and 90-day LTV tracked monthly
- Owned-channel revenue share measured against paid
Prioritise fixes by revenue impact
Score each finding by the revenue it plausibly unlocks, the effort to ship it, and your confidence in the diagnosis. Ship the highest-impact, lowest-effort items first and re-measure before starting the next batch. An audit that produces fifty undifferentiated recommendations is a document; an audit that produces five sequenced fixes is a system.
- Each finding tied to a stage and an estimated value
- Sequenced backlog, not a flat list
- A re-measurement date set for every shipped fix
What a good audit produces
A finished funnel audit should leave you with three things: a measured map of where buyers drop off, a shortlist of the leaks that cost the most, and a sequenced plan with an owner and a re-measurement date for each fix. Anything else is commentary.