How do I troubleshoot an unexpected drop in traffic or sales?

Use the steps below to diagnose and fix an unexpected drop in traffic or sales. Whether you’re an owner of a small online boutique or part of a larger ecommerce operation, these steps will help you methodically identify issues and put effective solutions in place.

1. Verify the Drop with Reliable Data

This is absolutely key. Before rushing off to fix what you think is the cause (and potentially breaking it even more), take some time to collect the right and most accurate data.

Check Multiple Sources

• Analytics Platform: Start by confirming the decline using a reliable analytics platform like Google Analytics (or your preferred alternative). Look at key metrics such as sessions, unique visitors, conversion rates, and revenue.

• Ecommerce Platform Metrics: Compare your analytics data with your ecommerce platform’s dashboard (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.). Discrepancies could indicate a tracking error rather than a genuine drop.

Segment Your Traffic

• Time Frame: Compare the current period against a similar past period (e.g. the same week last month or last year) to account for seasonality.

• Channel Breakdown: Identify whether the drop is across all channels (organic, paid, email, social) or isolated to one. This helps you zero in on where to focus next.

2. Investigate Technical Issues

Use this step in conjunction with step 4 - you'd be surprised at how often a drop in traffic or sales is due to changes on the website that broke something or had unforeseen consequences.

Site Uptime and Speed

• Server Logs: Check if your site was down recently. Even a few hours of downtime can severely impact your traffic and sales.

• Page Speed: Use tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test site speed. A sudden slowdown could send bounce rates soaring and negatively affect SEO.

Broken Links and Errors

• Crawl for Errors: Run a site crawl using a tool like Screaming Frog or an SEO tool (e.g. SEMrush, Ahrefs) to spot broken links (404 errors), missing images, or misconfigured redirects.

• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure recent design changes haven’t broken your mobile layout. A poor mobile experience leads to high bounce rates and lost sales.

3. Check Marketing and Paid Campaigns

Paid Advertising

• Ad Platform Insights: If you rely on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or other paid platforms, verify that campaigns are still running correctly. Ad disapprovals, expired ads, or budget cuts can cause drops.

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): A sudden increase in cost per click (CPC) or a drop in ad visibility might signal over-competition or policy changes on the platform.

Email Marketing

• Deliverability Issues: Check if your emails are landing in spam folders or experiencing technical glitches. A disrupted email marketing flow can quickly reduce revenue from repeat customers.

• Open and Click-Through Rates: Compare recent email metrics to past performance. Low open rates might point to subject-line or segmentation problems.

4. Evaluate Recent Changes or Updates

Website Redesigns or Platform Migrations

• Post-Redesign Dip: If your traffic dropped after a recent redesign, it’s possible that important SEO elements (metadata, URL structures, internal links) weren’t carried over properly.

• Platform Switch: Migrating to a new ecommerce or hosting platform can disrupt SEO if redirects and canonical tags aren’t managed correctly.

Product or Pricing Changes

• Product Availability: If a best-selling product went out of stock, it can cause an overall revenue drop, even if traffic remains steady.

• Price Increases: Significant price hikes without clear added value can deter returning customers, causing a dip in both conversion rate and revenue.

5. Look for SEO and Algorithm Shifts

Monitor Search Engine Rankings

• Keyword Tracking: Use a rank tracker or Google Search Console to see if you’ve dropped significantly for high-traffic keywords.

• Algorithm Updates: Keep an eye on announcements from Google or major SEO communities. Algorithm changes can affect site visibility.

• Manual Penalties: Check your Google Search Console for any Manual Penalties that may have been imposed on your site which is causing rankings to drop.

Content Quality and Freshness

• Outdated Content: Stagnant or obsolete content can cause your pages to lose their organic rankings.

• Duplicate or Thin Content: Having too many low-value or duplicated pages can trigger search engine penalties or lower ranking signals.

6. Assess External Factors

Seasonality and Trends

• Industry Cycles: Every niche has natural ebbs and flows. If your traffic drop coincides with a seasonal downturn or holiday lull, that might be the primary cause.

• Cultural or Global Events: External events (economic recessions, shipping delays, major global news) can impact online shopping habits.

• New Events: Some news events can take attention away from normal day to day behaviour, or cause a change in usual shopping trends (e.g. postal strikes).

Competitor Activity

• Market Share: A new competitor or a big promotional campaign from an existing competitor may have diverted your audience.

• Competitive Benchmarking: Tools like SimilarWeb, SpyFu, or other social listening apps can help you see if a competitor has launched an aggressive marketing push.

7. Monitor User Experience (UX) and On-Site Behaviour

Conversion Funnel Analysis

• User Flow: Use your analytics to identify at which stage of the funnel users are dropping off (product page, cart, checkout). A sudden spike in cart abandonment can highlight checkout issues (payment errors, hidden fees, or complicated forms).

• Heatmaps and Session Recordings: Use tools like Clarity, Hotjar or Mouseflow to visually see where users might be struggling with navigation.

Reviews and Feedback

• Customer Support Tickets: If you’ve received an influx of complaints or refunds, it may indicate a product quality or fulfillment issue.

• Social Media Mentions: Negative press or poor customer experiences can surface on social platforms quickly.

• Visitor Feedback: Use survey apps like Zigpoll on Shopify to quickly create questions visitors can answer that might help you identify any problems.

8. Develop and Implement a Recovery Plan

Prioritise Immediate Fixes

• Technical Glitches: Start by fixing any broken site elements, slow loading pages, or checkout errors as these directly impact your bottom line.

• Marketing Re-Activation: Relaunch paused campaigns or fix campaigns that have been disapproved. If there’s a drop in SEO, begin addressing on-page issues right away or fix manual penalties.

Improve or Adapt Marketing Strategies

• Email Outreach: Send targeted email campaigns to your most loyal customers or those who have abandoned carts, possibly with a limited-time discount or extra offers.

• Social Media and Influencers: Partner with micro-influencers or run a short-term social promotion to recapture audience attention.

Refine and Optimise the Customer Journey

• A/B Testing: Experiment with different headlines, product images, and calls to action to regain lost conversions.

• Personalisation: Implement personalised product recommendations or dynamic content to engage returning visitors.

9. Track Progress and Stay Proactive

Set Clear KPIs

• KPIs to Monitor: Traffic, conversions, average order value, bounce rate, cart abandonment rate.

• Reporting Cadence: Check these metrics daily or weekly (depending on the severity of the drop). Quick detection allows for faster response to any new red flags.

Regular Audits

• Technical SEO: Schedule a monthly or quarterly technical audit to ensure your site remains in good health.

• Content Refreshes: Update product descriptions, blog posts, and FAQs regularly, especially if you operate in a fast-changing industry.

• Competitor Analysis: Keep tabs on what your competitors are doing so you can respond promptly if they launch major campaigns or promotions.

Key Takeaways

1. Verify the Problem: Always confirm the data across multiple platforms to rule out tracking errors.

2. Look Inward First: Check for site errors, speed issues, and problems in the checkout process.

3. Investigate Each Channel: Pinpoint if the drop is isolated to a single channel (e.g. SEO vs. PPC vs. email) or sitewide.

4. Assess External Influences: Consider algorithm updates, competitor behaviour, and broader market changes.

5. Create a Recovery Roadmap: Address the most critical fixes first, especially technical errors and broken marketing campaigns, then move on to longer-term strategic improvements.

6. Stay Vigilant: Monitor your KPIs, run frequent audits, and remain flexible in your marketing tactics and site optimisations.

By following this systematic approach, you can quickly identify the root causes of an unexpected drop in traffic or sales, address those issues, and put your ecommerce business back on a path toward growth. The key is to act methodically, prioritise the most urgent problems, and continue to refine your site and marketing strategies based on real-time data, not guesses or assumptions.