Simple definition
A broken checkout is a purchase-path failure that blocks or degrades orders. It can come from the cart button, session, shipping step, payment method, redirect, cache layer or plugin conflict.
Signals to watch
- Add-to-cart button missing, inactive or producing no observable effect.
- Cart emptied between product page, cart and checkout.
- Checkout visible but form incomplete, blocked or redirected.
- Payment method missing, global refusal, gateway error or validation impossible.
- Confirmation page never reached on a controlled synthetic journey.
Why a ping is not enough
An uptime tool may confirm that a page returns HTTP 200. It does not prove the site still sells. To know whether checkout collects revenue, monitor the steps that actually create a sale: product, cart, checkout, payment and confirmation depending on coverage.
What useful proof should contain
Proof should be readable by business teams and actionable for developers: timestamp, affected page, expected step, observed signal, likely impact, priority and next action. It should not expose customer data, WooCommerce secrets or sensitive screenshots.
First operational response
When the signal appears, avoid both traps: ignoring the issue because the site responds, or sending an alert without context. CashFlowCanary turns the signal into an incident, connects proof and keeps it open until checks return green.
Search intents covered
Searches around a broken checkout do not always name the same symptom. A merchant may search for "checkout not working", an agency may say "broken checkout", and a WooCommerce developer may diagnose an empty cart, inactive add-to-cart button, missing payment method or blocked 3DS step.
CashFlowCanary maps these phrases to observable signal families. The goal is not keyword stuffing; it is to answer each intent clearly: understand the failure, find proof and prioritise the fix.
