> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zigpoll.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zigpoll.com/guides/how-to-find-out-why-visitors-arent-buying.md).

# How to Find Out Why Visitors Aren't Buying

Analytics tells you *where* people drop off. It never tells you *why*. You can watch a thousand session recordings of visitors bouncing from your product page and still be guessing at the reason.

The fastest way to find out is to ask — at the two moments when the answer is still fresh: right as someone is about to leave, and right after someone has bought.

***

## The two surveys that matter

### Survey 1: Ask the people who are leaving (exit intent)

Catch visitors as their cursor heads for the close button.

1. Create a survey and add a **Single Choice** question: **"What's stopping you from buying today?"**
2. Give them the honest options — the ones you'd rather not hear:
   * Price is too high
   * Shipping cost or delivery time
   * I couldn't find what I was looking for
   * I need more information about the product
   * I'm just browsing
   * Something on the site wasn't working
3. Enable a dynamic **"Other"** answer so people can type a reason you didn't anticipate. These write-ins are where the surprises live.
4. Add a **Long Answer** follow-up with [Question Logic](/questions/question-logic.md) — when someone picks anything other than "just browsing," ask "What would have changed your mind?"
5. Set the delivery method to **exit intent**. See [Exit Intent Survey](/tutorials/exit-intent-survey.md) — including cart conditions to fire it only for visitors who matter — and [Exit Intent on Mobile](/tutorials/exit-intent-mobile.md), where there's no cursor to track.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Resist the urge to sanitize the answer options. If "price is too high" isn't on the list, you will never learn that price is the problem — respondents will just pick the closest available excuse.
{% endhint %}

### Survey 2: Ask the people who bought (post-purchase)

Counterintuitively, buyers are the better source. They navigated every obstacle on your site and *still* converted, which means they remember the obstacles clearly and are in a good enough mood to tell you.

1. Create a post-purchase survey with a **Single Choice** or **Long Answer** question: **"What almost stopped you from purchasing?"**
2. Deliver it on the post-purchase page or in an [order paid survey](/tutorials/order-paid-survey.md).

Every answer here is a conversion killer that survived. For every buyer who mentions it, assume there are others who hit the same wall and simply left.

{% hint style="info" %}
This question is one of the highest-leverage in ecommerce. One brand found that customers almost didn't buy because a colorway was missing — launching it turned into a six-figure product line.
{% endhint %}

***

## Targeting the right visitors

A blanket survey to all traffic produces mush. Narrow it with [Targeting Settings](/polls/targeting-settings.md):

* **Cart abandoners** — Visitors with items in the cart who are about to leave. Highest intent, most actionable answers. See [Abandoned Cart Survey](/tutorials/abandoned-cart-survey.md).
* **Product page bouncers** — People who viewed a product and are leaving without adding to cart. The blocker is usually information or price.
* **Repeat visitors who haven't bought** — They keep coming back but won't commit. Something specific is holding them, and they'll usually tell you.
* **Checkout abandoners** — The most expensive drop-off you have. On Shopify, use [Advanced Shopify Targeting](/tutorials/advanced-shopify-targeting.md) to reach them precisely.

***

## Reading the results

Sort your answers into three buckets, because each demands a different fix:

| Bucket                  | Example answers                                          | The fix                                                                                                       |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Friction**            | "Checkout was confusing," "the size chart wouldn't open" | Ship a fix. These are bugs and they're cheap to solve.                                                        |
| **Missing information** | "I couldn't tell if it would fit," "no returns info"     | A copy or merchandising problem. Also cheap.                                                                  |
| **Genuine objections**  | "Too expensive," "found it cheaper elsewhere"            | A pricing or positioning problem — see [How to Find Optimal Pricing](/guides/how-to-find-optimal-pricing.md). |

Start with friction and missing information. They're the cheapest to fix and they usually account for more lost revenue than price does.

Zigpoll's Z-GPT Insights will cluster your open-ended responses into themes automatically once you have volume, so you can see which bucket dominates without reading every response. Pipe high-signal answers into [Slack](/integrations/slack.md) with a Question Logic action so the team sees blockers the day they appear.

***

## Close the loop

* **Offer help in the moment.** Use Question Logic to redirect someone who says "I couldn't find what I was looking for" to a collection page or a support form, or to show a [Promo Code question](/tutorials/adding-discount-codes-to-your-survey.md) to someone who says the price is too high. A survey that solves the visitor's problem pays for itself immediately.
* **Re-run after you fix things.** The mix of reasons should shift. If "shipping cost" drops from 30% to 8% after you introduce free shipping over $50, you've measured the impact of that change on the objection itself, not just on the conversion rate.

***

## Related

{% content-ref url="/pages/9xBXm6PozK3sah7dBXuN" %}
[How to Find Optimal Pricing for Your Product](/guides/how-to-find-optimal-pricing.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/uZzmwXRquTBAxLPBAgeA" %}
[How to Test Your Messaging and Positioning](/guides/how-to-test-your-messaging-and-positioning.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/YjmbuRNE1gP4XkLRiICy" %}
[Top 4 Surveys to Start With](/polls/top-4-surveys-to-start-with.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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