Short answer
The Shopify reports that explain lost sales are Conversion rate breakdown (where shoppers stop), Sessions by landing page, Sessions by device and Sessions by referrer (who stops), Web performance (whether slowness is involved), Searches with no results and Searches with no clicks (what shoppers couldn’t find), and the Abandoned checkouts list (what was in the carts that didn’t become orders).
Key takeaways
- Read reports in order: where shoppers stop, then who, then why.
- Filter bot sessions out before reading any rate.
- Search reports are the only place shoppers tell you, in their words, what they wanted.
- Reports show where and who. Session recordings show what happened on screen.
All of these are in Analytics → Reports or in the Orders section of your Shopify admin. Before reading any of them, set the “Human or bot session” filter to human traffic, available in sessions reports since October 2025.
1. Conversion rate breakdown
Answers: at which step do shoppers stop? It shows sessions, sessions with cart additions, sessions that reached checkout and sessions that completed checkout (Shopify Help).
Warning sign: one step rate falling while the others hold steady, or one step far weaker on mobile than desktop. Start every diagnosis here; the method is in Shopify traffic but no sales.
2. Sessions by landing page
Answers: where do visits start? (Shopify Help). Your top landing pages are the first impression for most shoppers, often more than the home page.
Warning sign: a page with a large share of sessions that rarely leads to a cart. Open it on a phone and ask whether it matches what brought people there.
3. Sessions by device
Answers: what are shoppers using? (Shopify Help). Combined with a device filter on other reports, it shows whether a problem is a phone problem.
Warning sign: a device gap concentrated at one step. See mobile vs desktop conversion.
4. Sessions by referrer
Answers: are visitors coming directly, from search, or from a referral? (Shopify Help). Different sources arrive with different intent.
Warning sign: a source that sends many sessions and few carts. That’s usually a mismatch between the ad or post and the page, as in TikTok traffic but no sales.
5. Web performance (LCP, INP, CLS)
Answers: is the store slow or jumpy for real visitors? The reports show Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift from the last 30 days, over time, by page type and by URL (Shopify Help: Web performance reports).
Warning sign: product or collection pages rated poor on mobile, or a jump right after installing an app or changing theme.
6. Searches with no results
Answers: what did shoppers look for that the store didn’t return? (Shopify Help).
Warning sign: searches for things you sell under a different name (a synonym, a misspelling, a size format). Fixing product titles, tags or search synonyms turns these into results.
7. Searches with no clicks
Answers: which searches returned results nobody chose? (Shopify Help). The shopper found something, but not the right thing.
Warning sign: a common search where the first results are the wrong products, or sold out.
8. Abandoned checkouts
Answers: what was in the checkouts that didn’t become orders? Find it under Orders → Abandoned checkouts, with the items and any details the shopper entered.
Warning sign: abandoned checkouts clustering on one region, one product or one date. Each points to a specific cause; see why shoppers abandon checkout.
Questions
- Which Shopify report shows where customers drop off?
- The Conversion rate breakdown report. It shows sessions, cart additions, checkouts reached and checkouts completed, so you can see which step loses the most shoppers.
- Does Shopify show add to cart data?
- Yes. The Conversion rate breakdown report includes sessions with cart additions.
- Can I see what shoppers search for on my Shopify store?
- Yes. Behavior reports include Searches by search query, Searches with no results and Searches with no clicks.
- How do I remove bot traffic from Shopify reports?
- Use the “Human or bot session” filter in any sessions report in Shopify Analytics.
Sources
- Behavior reportsShopify Help Center
- Acquisition reportsShopify Help Center
- Web performance reportsShopify Help Center
- Filter out bot traffic in your sessions-related reportsShopify Changelog, 2025-10-27