r/PaidSocialAdvertising

Running a Shopify dropshipping store, live for about 6 weeks now. Here's the full picture, trying to be as transparent as possible because I'm genuinely stuck.

Timeline:
First 4-5 weeks: ran ATC-optimized campaigns, ~$650 spent total across multiple ad sets and creative angles. Decent engagement the whole time (best cost-per-link-click around $0.70-1, CTR in the 10-17% range depending on the creative). Got 26 real Add-to-Carts. But the site had an actual cart bug during this period — some sessions had broken checkout flow, double add-to-carts — so I don't fully trust that data.

Fixed the bug, rebuilt the entire landing page from scratch (long-form advertorial style, follows a structured copywriting framework), then tested Purchase-optimization for 3 days on the clean setup. Day 1 was great (CTR 3.3%, $0.69 CPC). Day 2-3 the CPC spiked hard ($5-10), so I killed it — with zero purchase history ever, I figured I'd never hit the ~50 weekly events needed to exit learning on that objective anyway.

Went back to ATC on the clean funnel with my two historical best creatives (a receipt-style static image and a UGC testimonial video, both previously proven at $0.65-0.81 cost-per-click). Less than 3 days in on this clean run: CTR 16-19% and 9-11% on the two ad sets, CPC $0.50-0.70, already 14+ Add-to-Carts.

The actual problem: Still zero purchases. Not one, ever, across any campaign, any angle, in 6 weeks.

What I've already ruled out:

• Checkout technically works — I've done a full real test purchase myself, completed it, and confirmed the Purchase event fires correctly in the pixel.
• Payment methods are all there (Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, cards), Shop Pay express checkout available.
• The brand shows correctly at checkout (logo, not generic).
• Shipping cost/policy is clearly communicated on-site and on the landing page, not a surprise at checkout.
• I checked the cart→checkout funnel breakdown recently: out of ~52 sessions, 19% added to cart, but only ~6% even reached checkout — so there's a real drop-off between cart and checkout start, not just at the final payment step. I just found and fixed one likely cause (a cross-sell item in the cart drawer that was confusing about what's already included in the main product, which was quietly increasing the perceived price by ~25% for anyone who added it), plus fixed a discount threshold that wasn't applying to single-item purchases. Too early to know if this moves the needle.

Constraints:

• Meta account is capped at ~$40/day total (business verification not possible right now on my end), so I can't just "spend more to get more data" as a lever.
• Limited overall budget, so I can't afford months of pure trial and error.

What I'm trying to figure out: is this still a volume issue (too few Add-to-Carts to expect a statistically meaningful number of purchases yet), a trust gap specific to checkout for a new/unknown brand, or something in the offer itself that Add-to-Cart behavior doesn't reveal? Genuinely not sure where to focus next, and would rather ask people who've actually dealt with this than guess.

If you've been through something similar — where did the real problem end up being, and how did you find it?

Selling a supplement through Shopify and marketing via Tiktok ads.

One campaign, all of USA, no special interests / gender restrictions / age restrictions
Budget at $100/daily, one ad set and 5 ads within ad set. All ads are UGC style designed to be as native feeling to Tiktok content as possible.

Supplement is an anti anxiety supplement selling for $49 one time purchase / 20% discount if subscribed for monthly shipments. Free shipping, delivering in 3 - 5 business days. 30 day money back guarantee offered. Doing a buy one get one free offer code to drive conversions. Been about a week on a new ad account & new pixel. as of today:

Spend $644.33
Average CPC: $5.24
Average CPM $29.16
Impressions: 22,093
Clicks: 123
CTR: 0.56%
Add to cart: 1
Conversions: 1

Shopify Analytics within the same time frame shows (Tiktok ads is the only platform pushing traffic to product page):
323 Sessions
9 Add to Cart
8 Reached Checkout
1 Purchase

Events manager is sharing maximum data via pixel and all events are firing correctly. EMQ for Add to cart / Initiate checkout / add payment info / purchase are all above 80/100.

Something broken in my set up, or does the pixel just need more time?