The Shopify Store Audit Checklist: 50 Things to Review Before You Spend Another Dollar on Ads
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Most Shopify stores have 5–15 specific, fixable problems suppressing their conversion rate. This checklist covers every area I review in a professional CRO audit — use it to find yours.
Before you increase your ad spend, launch a new product, or try to drive more traffic to your store, ask yourself this: is your store actually ready to convert that traffic?
Most stores aren't. They have specific, identifiable problems that are causing visitors to leave without buying — and spending more on traffic just means more people hitting those same friction points.
This checklist covers everything I review when I audit a Shopify store professionally. Work through it section by section. For every item you mark "no" or "needs work", you've found something that's costing you sales.
How to use this checklist:
Go through each section on your actual store — on both desktop and mobile. Be honest. The goal is to find problems, not to convince yourself everything is fine.
Mark each item: Done, Missing, or ~ Needs work
1. Homepage
Your homepage is where most new visitors form their first impression. It needs to answer three questions in under 5 seconds: What do you sell? Who is it for? Why should I buy from you?
Hero headline clearly states what you sell — not a tagline or brand statement
Ask someone unfamiliar with your store: "After 5 seconds, what do I sell?" If they're unsure, rewrite it.
Hero has a clear primary call to action (Shop Now, Browse Collection, etc.)
Value proposition is visible above the fold — what makes you different
Free shipping, Australian-made, 30-day returns — whatever your edge is, say it early.
Social proof appears early — review count, star rating, or customer count
Your best-selling products are featured and easy to find
Navigation is clear and uses customer language (not internal jargon)
Page loads in under 3 seconds on mobile
Test at pagespeed.web.dev
Trust signals are visible (payment icons, security badge, returns policy summary)
2. Product Pages
Product pages are where the purchase decision is made. They need to answer every question a customer might have — because if they have an unanswered question, they'll leave to find the answer and often not come back.
Product title is descriptive and includes key details (size, colour, material if relevant)
Star rating and review count are visible near the top of the page — not just at the bottom
Product description answers the "why buy this" question, not just "what is this"
Who is it for? What problem does it solve? What makes it different?
Multiple product photos are included — product alone, in context, in use
Lifestyle shots in realistic environments consistently improve conversion rates.
Shipping timeframe is stated on the product page
Don't make people go to a separate page to find this.
Return policy is summarised near the buy button
"30-day returns" is worth more than a detailed policy buried in the footer.
Payment options/icons are visible near the add-to-cart button
Size guide or buying guide is included for products with variants or sizing
Stock availability is shown (low stock notices if applicable)
Related or frequently-bought-together products are shown
Customer reviews with photos are visible on the product page
3. Cart
The cart is a critical transition point. Someone has made the decision to buy — don't give them a reason to second-guess it.
Cart page shows product image, name, price, and quantity clearly
Shipping cost (or free shipping threshold progress) is visible in the cart
A progress bar showing "Add $15 more for free shipping" is a proven AOV increaser.
Cart includes a trust reminder — security badge, return policy, or review snippet
Checkout button is prominent and above the fold on mobile
Cart doesn't unexpectedly redirect away or cause confusion on update
Recommended products in cart are relevant, not random
4. Checkout
Checkout is where the money changes hands. Every piece of friction here costs you completed sales. This section is critical.
Guest checkout is the default — customers are not forced to create an account
Forced account creation is one of the biggest checkout conversion killers.
Shopify's one-page checkout is enabled
Enabled in Shopify admin under Settings → Checkout.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are enabled for mobile users
These allow checkout in seconds without typing card details.
Shop Pay is enabled
Afterpay or another buy-now-pay-later option is available for higher-priced items
Shipping cost is shown before the final confirmation step
Surprise shipping costs at the last step are the #1 reason for checkout abandonment.
Security badges are visible during checkout
Only necessary form fields are shown — no unnecessary fields
If you don't need a phone number, don't ask for it.
Checkout works correctly on mobile with no display issues
Abandoned checkout email is enabled in Shopify
Check in Settings → Notifications.
5. Mobile Experience
Over 65% of Shopify traffic is mobile. Do this section on your actual phone, not in a browser simulator.
Text is readable without zooming on a standard phone screen
Buttons and tap targets are large enough to hit without difficulty
Apple recommends a minimum 44x44pt tap target size.
Navigation menu works correctly on mobile
Product images display correctly and are zoomable
Add-to-cart button is always visible or easily accessible on mobile
Ideally a sticky add-to-cart bar on scroll.
Checkout form fields are easy to complete on a small screen
Page doesn't require horizontal scrolling at any point
Pop-ups don't cover the entire screen or block key content on mobile
Google penalises intrusive interstitials on mobile.
6. Trust & Credibility
First-time visitors don't know you. Every trust signal you add reduces their perceived risk of buying from you for the first time.
An About page exists and shows the real people or story behind the brand
Contact information is easy to find — email, phone, or contact form
Return and refund policy is clear and easy to find
Privacy policy and terms are in place (also required legally)
The store has a secure connection (HTTPS) — padlock visible in browser
Shopify handles this automatically, but confirm it's showing.
Reviews are present and appear genuine — not just 5-star ratings with no text
Social media accounts are linked and active
Dead social accounts hurt trust.
Press mentions or media features are displayed if you have them
7. Speed & Performance
Test your store at pagespeed.web.dev before going through this section.
Mobile PageSpeed score is above 50 (above 70 is good, above 90 is excellent)
Store loads in under 4 seconds on mobile — under 3 seconds is the target
All product images are compressed and served in WebP format
Large uncompressed images are the most common speed killer on Shopify stores.
App list has been audited — every installed app is actively being used
Each app adds JavaScript that slows your store. Remove anything unused.
No render-blocking scripts are delaying page display
PageSpeed Insights will flag these specifically.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is under 2.5 seconds
This is Google's primary page speed metric and affects SEO ranking.
Interpreting Your Results
Count up how many items you marked as "missing" or "needs work". Here's what that number means:
Critical issues — fix before increasing traffic
Your store has fundamental problems that are preventing a significant portion of visitors from buying. More traffic will not help until these are addressed.
Significant room for improvement
You have multiple friction points suppressing your conversion rate. Fixing the highest-impact items could meaningfully move the needle in weeks.
Good foundation with specific gaps
Your store is performing reasonably well. The remaining issues are likely costing you 0.5–1% of conversion rate — which is still significant at any revenue level.
Well-optimised store
You've covered the fundamentals. Further improvement requires more sophisticated analysis — A/B testing, heat maps, and customer interviews to find the remaining friction points.
What to Do With Your Results
Once you've identified your missing items, prioritise them using this logic: fix issues that affect the most visitors first, and issues closest to the purchase decision second.
Homepage and speed issues affect every visitor. Checkout issues affect only people who've already decided to buy — but those are the highest-value people to recover, so they're still urgent.
If you've identified more than 8 issues and aren't sure where to start, or if you want a professional review that goes deeper than a checklist — looking at your actual analytics, identifying specific drop-off points in your funnel, and giving you a prioritised action plan — a professional CRO audit is the most efficient path forward.
Every item on this checklist represents a potential customer who almost bought — and didn't. Fix them systematically and your conversion rate will follow.
Want a Professional Audit Instead?
We go deeper than a checklist. We review your actual analytics, record a video walkthrough of exactly what's wrong and why, and give you a prioritised fix list. From $699 AUD.
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