Shiny Ads, Leaky Funnels

The Illusion of "Good Performance"

Ad dashboards look pretty, don't they?

CTRs up. ROAS hovering above 2x. Everyone pats themselves on the back.

Meanwhile, 92% of traffic bounces before adding anything to the cart.

The Addiction to Short-Term Metrics

Performance marketers love dashboards. ROAS, CTR, CPC — it's all so clean. So measurable. So addictive.

It's immediate feedback. Dopamine hits. Proof you're doing something.

But here's what those metrics don't show you:

• The customer who clicked your ad, landed on a cluttered homepage, and left in 8 seconds.
• The shopper who added three items, got hit with a surprise A$15 shipping fee, and rage-quit.
• The person who made it to checkout, saw "create an account to continue," and closed the tab.

You're not seeing the funnel. You're seeing the entrance.

How "Good ROAS" Hides Structural Decay

A brand I worked with spent A$450K on Facebook ads over 90 days. Their ROAS was decent. Not amazing, but decent.

They felt like they were winning.

But their site was a conversion graveyard:

• 8.27% session-to-cart rate (should be 10–12%)
• 39% cart-to-checkout (should be 50–60%)
• Hidden shipping costs killing trust at the final step

The ads worked. The funnel didn't.

And because the ROAS looked "fine," no one questioned it. They just kept spending.

The Comfort of Vanity Analytics

Here's the trap:

Ad platforms give you metrics that feel like progress. Impressions, reach, link clicks. You can point to them in meetings. You can build reports around them.

But they're not business outcomes. They're activity metrics.

And activity ≠ growth.

You can have a million impressions and still lose money if your site can't convert the traffic that actually lands.

But it's easier to celebrate reach than audit your checkout flow.

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What's Actually Broken (and Why You Won't Admit It)

Conversions die in silence.

Not in the ad account. Not in the creative. In the clunky mobile site, the overloaded menu, the surprise shipping cost that appears at checkout.

UX vs. Marketing: The Turf War That Kills Sales

Here's what happens in most brands:

Marketing says: "We need more traffic."
UX/Dev says: "We need to fix the site first."
Marketing wins because ad spend is easier to justify than a site rebuild.

So you pour A$50K into ads. Then A$100K. Then A$200K.

Your traffic goes up. Your conversion rate stays flat.

But you're too deep to stop now. So you double down. Again. And again.

Meanwhile, your competitor spent A$10K on ads and A$5K fixing their cart flow.

They're printing money. You're justifying budget overruns.

The Psychology of Checkout Friction (Why the Human Brain Hates Uncertainty)

Your brain processes purchasing as a threat response.

You're about to lose money. Your brain wants certainty that this loss is worth it.

Every point of friction — every unclear button, every hidden cost, every extra form field — increases the perceived risk.

And when risk goes up, trust goes down. And when trust goes down, people leave.

This isn't irrational. It's neuroscience.

Hidden shipping cost = deception signal.
Surprise account creation = time trap.
Cluttered product pages = cognitive overload.

Your brain registers these as threats. Cortisol spikes. Trust crashes. You bounce.

The 8% Problem: Mistrust Disguised as Indifference

That brand I mentioned? Their 8% add-to-cart rate wasn't because customers didn't like the products.

It was because the site screamed "I don't trust this."

• A "Deal Unlocked" pop-up that looked like a phishing scam.
• No clear shipping info on product pages.
• 47 variations of the same pant style, making it impossible to choose.
• A cluttered homepage with no clear entry point.

Customers didn't bounce because they weren't interested. They bounced because the site felt unsafe.

And when your customers Google "is [your brand] legit?" before buying, you've already lost.

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The Fix Isn't Sexy (and That's Why It Works)

Optimising cart flow doesn't get likes. It doesn't win awards. It doesn't look good in a case study.

But it pays.

Fix Your Funnel Before You Fund Your Ads

Here's the order of operations most brands get wrong:

What they do:

1. Launch ads
2. Traffic goes up
3. Conversions stay flat
4. Spend more on ads
5. Repeat until broke

What works:

1. Audit the funnel (Session → ATC → Checkout → Purchase)
2. Fix the biggest leaks first
3. Then scale ads

You can't buy your way out of bad UX. You can only haemorrhage money trying.

Map Dopamine Triggers Into the UX

Your site should make buying feel easy. Not clever. Not artistic. Easy.

Every element should reduce friction:

• Speed: Fast load times = less abandonment.
• Feedback: Drawer cart (side panel) = instant visual confirmation.
• Predictability: Transparent shipping upfront = no surprises, no cortisol spike.

These aren't "nice to haves." They're conversion multipliers.

What That Brand Actually Needed

Not more ad spend. Not a rebrand. Not new creative.

They needed:

• Transparent shipping. Stated upfront. No surprises at checkout.
• A drawer cart. Side panel that opens instantly when you add to cart. Smoother flow, less friction.
• Variant consolidation. So pants didn't look like 16 different products.
• Trust badges on product pages. Fast shipping. Easy returns. Real customer reviews.

Total cost to implement? Maybe A$2K in dev work.

Potential revenue saved? Tens of thousands per month.

But it's easier to blame the algorithm than audit your site.

Metrics That Actually Matter

Stop obsessing over ROAS. Start tracking:

• Session → Add-to-Cart: Are people even interested?
• Add-to-Cart → Checkout: Is your cart experience broken?
• Checkout → Purchase: Is your payment flow scaring people off?

If any of these stages are below industry benchmarks, you've found your leak.

Fix it. Then scale.

The Real Test

Would you hire a salesperson who:

• Hides the price until the last second?
• Shows you 47 versions of the same product with no guidance?
• Interrupts you mid-browse to shove a discount code in your face?

No. You'd fire them.

So why is your website doing exactly that?