WooCommerce product not selling, even though people visit it
A WooCommerce product that gets visits but is not selling usually loses the customer on the product page or even before it. Check in this order: can the customer see the price and availability, do the images and description answer their questions, do the variations work and what does delivery cost. Some causes, such as the season and competitors, lie outside the store.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for WordPress site and WooCommerce store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 7 min read
A Monday scene: a lamp with visits and no orders
You run a garden lighting store. On Monday morning you go through the weekend's statistics. The Aria floor lamp has been near the top of the visits for a month, because a popular gardening blog linked to it. In the WooCommerce sales report it has one order. The lamp next to it, with fewer visits, sells every few days.
The first instinct is to lower the price. Before you do, open the product page in a private browser window, on a phone, like a customer coming from that blog. Often within a minute you see something you would not notice in the admin: a photo of the product in its box, a description pasted from the wholesaler, the “black” variation unavailable with no explanation.
Where to look for the cause: symptom, what to check, who fixes it
| Symptom on the product page | What to check | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| The customer can't see a price or sees “Out of stock” | price, stock, whether all variations have a price | you in the admin or the chat with the Sales switch |
| One image, small or from the wholesaler's catalogue | number of images, a photo of it in use, a photo showing scale | you (photos), the chat adds image descriptions |
| The description is a list of specs from the wholesaler | whether the description says what the product is for and who it is for | the chat, with your approval |
| The short description next to the price is empty or too long | the three most important facts next to the Add to cart button | the chat, with your approval |
| Variations: a choice ends with an out-of-stock message | which combinations are unavailable, whether they can be hidden | you in the admin or the chat with the Sales switch |
| Delivery too expensive or unknown until the cart | the cost and free delivery threshold, information on the product page | you, possibly the chat with the Sales switch |
| Traffic from searches that don't fit the product | which phrases bring people in (Search Console) | you, sometimes a change of the title and description in Google |
Which small details on a product page get in customers' way is described in Baymard Institute's research on product pages. You don't have to rebuild the template straight away. Usually it is enough to fill in what is missing.
The order to check the product page
- Visibility and price. Is the product published, visible in the catalogue and priced in every variation. A product with no price in one variation can block purchase of just that variation, and the customer does not know why.
- Variation availability. Open every size and colour. If the most popular one is unavailable, say when it will be back or remove it from the choice.
- Images. Is there a photo of it in use, a close-up and one that shows scale. Does every image have a description for Google and screen readers.
- Short description. Three sentences next to the price: what it is for, who it is for, what sets this product apart.
- Full description. Answers to the questions customers ask by email: dimensions, material, installation, power.
- Delivery and returns. The delivery cost before the cart and a link to the returns policy.
- Comparison with the category. How similar products at the same price sell, and what they have that this one lacks.
To check sales, WooCommerce has the Products report in Analytics. It shows items sold, net sales and orders for a chosen period, including a comparison of several products.
Before and after: what an improved product page can look like
The Aria lamp example shows where the problem usually lies. The price was fine, the product was visible. The obstacle was the content and one variation.
| Element | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Short description | “LED floor lamp, IP44, 230 V, aluminium.” | “A lamp for the patio and garden, rainproof. Gives a warm light, 1.2 m tall. Plugs into an ordinary outdoor socket.” |
| Images | one, on a white background | four, including the lamp at night on a patio and a photo with a person next to it for scale |
| Image descriptions | empty | “Aria floor lamp on a patio in the evening” |
| Black variation | visible, out of stock, no explanation | a note that it arrives next month |
| Description in Google | none, Google took the specs from the description | “Aria floor lamp for the patio, rainproof. Warm light, 1.2 m tall.” |
This is an example, not a measured result. Whether the changes helped, you check after a few weeks by comparing sales with the same period before the fixes.
What you can't fix on the product page
Some causes lie outside the store, and it is worth naming them before you spend an evening on the description. A garden lamp sells worse in November than in May. The same model may be cheaper at a big retailer. Traffic from a blog may come from people looking for inspiration, not to buy. Google may show the product for searches that don't fit it, and then the number of visits says little. In these situations a better description won't change much.
It also helps to look at it from Google's side. If you want Google to be able to show the price and availability with the product, the store must pass this data in the page's description for search engines. Google's documentation on product structured data describes it. Usually an SEO plugin or WooCommerce itself does this, and you only check that it works.
How the chat looks for the cause for one product
The ready task “Why isn't this product selling” in the TellMyShop plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce reads the product page: the net and gross price, the promotion, stock, variations, images with their descriptions, the descriptions, categories and the description in Google. It checks whether customers and Google can see the product at all. It compares sales from the last 90 days with similar products in the category. Finally it gives the three most likely causes with numbers, and a plan: what your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) will do and what you will do. It does not know the page visits, because the plugin does not read visit statistics. If you have them, give them to it in the conversation.
You: Why isn't the Aria floor lamp selling? In Analytics it has over 600 visits a month.
Your chat: The product is visible in the store and in Google. Sales over 90 days: 1 item, similar lamps in the category average 9. Three causes: the black variation has no stock and no explanation, there is one image, and the short description is only specs. I suggest a new short description:
You: Change the description. I'll take the photos this week.
Your chat: The preview of the short description is above. I'll save it after your ‘yes’ and give you the operation number to undo it.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”old version: LED floor lamp, IP44, 230 V, aluminium.
new version: A lamp for the patio and garden, rainproof. Gives a warm light, 1.2 m tall.
In the free TellMyShop Free you get the diagnosis and a “before → after” plan. In TellMyShop Pro the chat saves fixes to descriptions, short descriptions, image descriptions and the description in Google after you agree, with a preview of every change and undo from the history. Prices, promotions, stock and variations need the Sales switch, which you turn on separately in the plugin panel. Without it, the chat only suggests a change to the price or a variation's stock. Neither the plugin nor the chat promises more sales. Details are on the TellMyShop for WordPress and WooCommerce page, prices on the pricing page.
If the description problem affects a whole category rather than one product, go to the guide on WooCommerce product descriptions. If the analysis shows the product has no future in the store, read what to do with a discontinued product and its address. You will find more guides on running a WooCommerce store on the blog.
Questions and answers
How do I know a product gets visits but no sales?
Visits are shown by Google Analytics or your hosting statistics, and impressions in Google by Search Console. You see a product's sales in WooCommerce under Analytics, in the Products report. Only putting the two numbers side by side tells you whether the problem lies on the product page.
Is a weak product page the most common reason for no sales?
Not always. Some causes lie outside the store: the season, low demand, a lower price at a competitor or traffic from searches that don't fit. The product page is worth improving, but first check whether the people who land on it were looking for this item at all.
Is lowering the price enough?
Sometimes, but it is the most expensive fix. Before you lower the price, check the images, description, delivery cost and variation availability. Customers often give up because they can't see whether a size is available or how much shipping costs, not because the product is too expensive.
Will the chat tell me how many people visited the product?
No. The TellMyShop plugin does not read Google Analytics or visit statistics. The chat sees sales from WooCommerce, the product page, its visibility and what Google sees on the page. You give it the number of visits yourself if you want it taken into account.
Will the product start selling after the fixes?
No honest person will promise that. The fixes remove obstacles: missing images, an unclear description, hidden variations, visibility errors. You check the effect after a few weeks in the sales report, comparing the same period before and after the change.
WordPress is a trademark of the WordPress Foundation. WooCommerce is a trademark of Automattic Inc. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic PBC. ChatGPT and OpenAI are trademarks of OpenAI. TellMyShop is not affiliated with these companies.