1.Broken Upsell Logic That Kills AOV

You can have the best front-end offer in the game, but if your upsell doesn’t fire properly?

Your average order value tanks.

Richard Parkin has seen this too many times to count. A client builds a brilliant front-end flow, even a high-converting upsell, but forgets to connect the actual product. That means:

• Upsell page fires, customer clicks yes
• No product attached, or the wrong one is fulfilled
• AOV drop, refund requests rise, and customer trust evaporates

And it gets worse. Many funnel builders clone previous pages and forget to update core details — like the product ID, the pricing logic, or even the product name. That leads to mismatches between what was offered and what was delivered.

Fix:
Before launch, run through every upsell/downsell path with a real credit card. Confirm the purchase, then go into your fulfillment or CRM system and verify the right product is delivered.

2.Mismatched Pricing and Charges That Trigger Refunds

If your cart says $197 and the customer sees $297 on their credit card statement, you’ve just guaranteed a support ticket or worse, a chargeback.

This often happens when marketers:

• Clone offers and forget to update the pricing across all assets
• Use outdated product names in their payment processor
• Miss inconsistencies between checkout pages and upsell paths

Fix:
Use a live credit card to test every purchase. Match the price on the sales page with what gets charged. Confirm the billing descriptor is clear and recognizable to the buyer.

3.Missing or Non-Compliant Policies That Attract Legal Action

You think your funnel is small enough to fly under the radar? Think again.

There are entire lists of known litigators who sign up for offers just to sue over missing refund policies, privacy disclosures, or terms and conditions. We’re talking real-world threats that send marketers settlement demands for $10,000 per occurrence.

According to Richard, this happens constantly.

Minimum compliance must-haves:

• Clear refund policy linked on every funnel page
• Terms and conditions that outline fulfillment, support, and refund mechanics
• Privacy policy with data usage details, especially if you run affiliate or SMS traffic
• Contact address for disputes

Fix:
Have legal review your funnel copy for claims. Then have your operator or marketing team verify that all footer links are present on every single page, and that the actual policies exist, are accurate, and match what’s promised.

4.Email Sequences That Fail Silently

You made the sale. The money is in Stripe. Now what?

If your welcome email doesn’t fire, or your product delivery link doesn’t send, your customer is already angry.

This leads to:

• Immediate refund requests
• Trust breakdown before upsell opportunity
• Poor NPS and bad reviews

The #1 mistake? Testing the funnel in preview mode or using a test card that doesn’t trigger backend automations.

Fix:
Use a live credit card and go through the funnel. Check if the welcome email fires. Confirm delivery of any digital products, login credentials, or next steps. Also, verify the abandoned cart sequence kicks in if someone exits mid-checkout.

5.Page Load Issues That Kill Mobile Conversions

Mobile traffic dominates. Yet most funnel builders still QA on desktop.

Richard points out that 80 percent of buyers are shopping and buying from their phones. And when mobile pages take forever to load or render incorrectly?

You lose conversions instantly.

Common mobile issues include:

• Images or videos loading too slowly
• Popups not mobile responsive
• Text overlapping or cut off on smaller screens

Fix:
Use mobile devices (not simulators) to test. iPhone Safari. Android Chrome. Run speed tests with tools like GTmetrix. Compress images. Eliminate auto-play background videos unless fully optimized.

6.Pixel Fires That Fail to Report Conversions

You’re spending money on Facebook, Google, or TikTok ads. But if the conversion pixel doesn’t fire after checkout?

Your ad platforms think your funnel isn’t working.

That means:

• Scaling gets cut off
• Retargeting doesn’t trigger
• Lookalike audiences don’t get trained

Fix:
Use browser extensions like Meta Pixel Helper or Google Tag Assistant. Verify that each event (purchase, lead, upsell, etc.) fires correctly. If you use server-side tracking, verify in the backend logs or your platform’s dashboard.

7.Split Testing Without QA is Playing Russian Roulette

Split testing is powerful. But if your variant pages aren’t QA’d?

You’re literally gambling with revenue.

Richard recommends QA before and after every test. Sometimes a new variant causes cookie issues, broken logic, or slowdowns that sabotage performance.

Fix:
Create a split testing SOP:

• Run all test variants through full QA
• Confirm pixel fires
• Check upsell/downsell paths
• Validate product fulfillment and automations

8.Middleware and CRM Bugs That Break Everything

You didn’t touch the funnel. Nothing was changed. And yet, your checkout stopped working.

Why? Because your CRM or middleware updated something behind the scenes.

This happened on New Year’s Eve one year. A CRM update broke every funnel it touched. And marketers running weight loss offers on the biggest buying day of the year lost thousands.

Fix:
Build a weekly QA habit. Assign it to your customer service team. Use a test card and have them run a full flow to catch issues early. Especially before big promotions or affiliate launches.

Conclusion

Funnels break. Even the pretty ones.

If you’re leaking money, the issue isn’t your hook. It’s the infrastructure. The silent backend logic that either delivers seamlessly or sabotages you behind the scenes.

Run a full QA now. Check every path. Click every button. Buy your own product. Read your emails. Monitor your pixels.

Or keep wondering why your 5 percent funnel feels like 2 percent on the bank statement.